When preparing for a backpacking trip, most people are concerned with what to pack. However, how you pack and carry your backpack is just as crucial for a successful hike.

If you are wearing your backpack correctly, nearly all of the weight should be resting on your hips, through the use of the straps that tighten around your waist. These are the most important straps and should be very snug. If the backpack you are using doesn’t have waist straps, it might be time to invest in one that does. It makes a world of a difference on longer hikes. The only function of the shoulder straps should be to keep the bag close to you. You can check this by leaving the waist strap secured while removing the shoulder straps. There should be very little shift in weight, except that the bag may start to tip away from you. If you do notice that you were carrying some of the weight on your shoulders, tighten the straps around your waist.

The way you pack your backpack is also a critical thing to note. All heavier items should be placed as low and as close to your body as possible. Packing heavier items away from your body and higher up in the pack will cause the load to feel heavier than it is. (Imagine carrying your suitcase or purse at the end of a stick that you were holding instead of directly in your hand.) This will also save the lighter items from being broken or deformed under the weight of other objects. You will want most of the weight near your center of mass; this will make it easier to balance and prevent falls while climbing. This is why most backpacks designed for overnight hikes provide a place to secure your sleeping bag underneath the bulk of the pack.

Properly wearing and packing your backpack will help prevent unnecessary shoulder or back pain associated with hiking. It also allows you to comfortably hike for a longer distance, because weight on your waist doesn’t really feel like weight at all. Pack smart, hike happy.

I mentioned in a previously posted article, “Share My Excitement,” that I would be attending the National Youth Science Camp. Well, I’m back, and it was everything that I expected and more! The 3.5 week stay in the middle of the Monongahela National Forest (without any cell service, I might add) truly brought all of the campers close to each other, but more importantly, to nature. I greatly enjoyed many of our outdoor activities, and will certainly post a few articles about the specific experiences I had doing the various outdoor activities such as rock climbing and kayaking. However, before I am able to describe those experiences, it seems essential to write about a policy that the National Youth Science Camp took very seriously: leave no trace.

Naturally, as outdoor fanatics, we respect nature. We wouldn’t leave an aluminum can behind on a trail, or mark rocks with graffiti. Before camp, I wouldn’t think twice about leaving some crumbs on a campground. They decompose, right? Yes, they do, but before they get a chance to do that, they will attract some animal, and that animal might assume that the campground is a natural place for it to come and find food; as you can imagine, this can cause problems.

And what about throwing an apple core or an orange peel into the brush? Would you do that? Before tossing something, one needs to ask himself or herself, is this something that naturally grows here? If the answer is a no, then it should be put into a trash bag that he or she carries out of the area, even if it decomposes. The general rule is, “Pack out what you pack in.”

Another thing to note is that, when one comes across a muddy area on a trail, the best thing to do is trudge through it, not around, as unpleasant as the idea might be. Going around the mud causes the trail to widen, increasing our infringement upon nature.

“Leave no trace” means more than not leaving any plastic behind; it’s about trying to prevent even the slightest disruption in nature.

One of the first things one must learn when setting up camp in the wilderness is how to build a campfire. Rubbing wood together (like in Cast Away) is probably one of the least effective ways to build a fire today, provided that you bring a small amount of supplies with you on your trip. Certainly, using a matchbox can make lighting a fire quite easy. However, if your matchbox is not waterproof and you run out of matches, then what do you do? (Using a simple lighter is cheating!) Starting a fire using friction can be very tiring and time-consuming.

One of the most well known ways to start a fire without matches is to use flint and steel. All you need is a piece of flint, a steel item, and some tinder. Stores often sell kits that include flint and an ideal type of steel. The basic idea is that you use the flint to strike the steel and create sparks that land on the tinder, which should catch fire after enough sparks are made. Common materials for tinder include dry pine needles, leaves, grass, birch bark, char cloth, or cotton swabs, essentially anything with a lot of surface area and edges. The flaming tinder is then used to light the kindling. See the full instructions here.

Have your heard that you can actually start a fire with a can of coke and some chocolate? Sure, this is a less traditional way to make fire, and it is also quite inefficient based on the available methods, but doesn’t it sound like fun? Apparently this was featured on Mythbusters and really works; it involves using the chocolate to polish the bottom of the can until it is shiny enough to set a small stick (or something similar) on fire at a certain focal point! See the full instructions here. However, using any other object that focuses light to one point (like a magnifying glass) can also allow you to start a fire. Just make sure you start with smaller, dry sticks that will definitely catch, before you add the larger logs.

When I was younger, my family took a trip to Costa Rica. It is nearly a decade later now, and I have forgotten much about that vacation. However, there is one activity that I remember well: the canopy tours.

What’s a canopy tour? Canopy tours will vary from company to company, but the basic idea is that participants will be able to travel across zip lines that span from one platform to another, sometimes hundreds of feet away.

How safe is this? Naturally, when you’re zooming across treetops there are risks involved. You be rest assured that all of the equipment is safe to use. Since these canopy tours first came about, millions of tourists have enjoyed them in safety. You will not fall. There was one problem that I remember encountering when I went, though this has probably been fixed by now. The weather was not ideal and neither my sister nor I were heavy enough to gain enough speed going down one of the zip lines to make it to its very end. We were only short a few feet from the end, but one of guides had to hook himself on the line and climb out to drag us in! However, I never felt unsafe. Conversely, I got to spend some extra time checking out Costa Rica’s awesome ecosystem from above.

How much do the tours cost and how long do they last? For children the tours can often be as inexpensive as $20, but most charge around $50 for an adult. Tours generally last for a couple hours, which provide plenty of time for adventure, learning, and excitement. How long are the zip lines? The Poas Canopy Tour has a cable that is nearly 2000 feet long!

As an outdoor enthusiast, if you take a trip to Costa Rica, canopy tours are definitely worth the money. Not only is it thrilling, soaring above the treetops, but it gives you a wonderful view of the outdoors. This close view from above is perhaps one you won’t get a chance to see anywhere else. It is truly an unforgettable experience.

Every once in a while, things come up that we just can’t wait to tell the rest of the world. This is also known to some as bragging. Okay, maybe it is bragging, but in my opinion, a little bragging is okay sometimes, right? I’m saying all this because I have something that I’m too excited about to keep to myself: I was selected to take part in the 2010 National Youth Science Camp.

What is the National Youth Science Camp? It is a month-long camp for students in the summer after their senior year to explore various fields of science, learning both from hands-on experiments and exciting lectures made by scientists from around the nation. The delegates also will have a chance to travel to special locations, such as NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and several national museums. The National Youth Science Foundation (NYSF) sponsors this event, which is free to each of the two high school seniors chosen to represent each state nationwide. There also will be two delegates from Germany.

What does all this have to do with the outdoors? NYSC is set in the Monongahela National Forest. The delegates will be staying in Camp Pocahontas, near the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in the eastern mountains of West Virginia. There will be several opportunities to take overnight expeditions into the Monongahela National Forest; the excursions will include backpacking, rock climbing, kayaking, and similar(ly amazing) activities.  NYSF writes, “The area provides an outstanding natural laboratory for teaching and experimentation. Isolation from the usual distractions of cities or college campuses provides a nurturing atmosphere.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. What better way is there to learn science than to be immersed in the outdoors?

As fellow outdoors enthusiasts, I hope you can understand and share my extreme excitement for this upcoming summer. I can’t wait to attend this camp, which offers such an amazing experience, much of it in the outdoors. Expect a post on how this experience actually goes sometime after the end of July! Until then, I will be bursting with excitement.

Did anyone else love the weather as much as I did this weekend in New England? Blue skies with a bright sun, it seems that spring is finally here. Have you ever wondered about ways you can predict the weather, without having to look at the forecast? The sky, and specifically clouds, can tell a person a lot about what Mother Nature has in store for us. Here is what you can look for and what they mean:

Cirrus Clouds – Cirrus clouds look long and wispy and are high in the sky; they are also known as “a mare’s tail,” because of their appearance. If you see cirrus clouds, you can expect bad weather in the next day and a half.

Altocumulus Clouds – These clouds look like thinly scattered puffs or “mackerel scale.” They also are indicators of bad weather in the next 36 hours. Altocumulus clouds can be present at the same time as cirrus clouds; such a scene means that the likelihood of bad weather is very high. Sailors use a rhyme to remember this: Mares tails and mackerel scales, tall ships carry short sails.

Cumulus – Cumulus clouds are the ones that look large and fluffy. If you see a big, tall “tower” of cumulus clouds, you might be seeing rain later that day.

Clouds on a Winter Night – If you notice that it is very cloudy on a winter night, you actually can expect warmer weather the next day because less heat escapes from the earth on that night.

Clouds Going in Different Direction – Have you ever seen two layers of clouds going in different directions? Did you happen to notice that bad weather followed this phenomenon? When you see clouds going in different direction, bad weather might be on its way, possibly even hail!

Of course, this type of weather prediction won’t tell you about the weather beyond a few days, and there are no guarantees on any given day.  But if we are being honest, even professional forecasters do not get their predictions right all the time.

Sometimes it can be fun to go on walks or hikes in the outdoors without a planned route or destination. However, such an adventure only stays fun as long as you can navigate your way to where you need to be. Being able to determine your cardinal directions (north, south, east or west) without a compass is one of the most important navigational tools.

You’ve probably heard about this one: moss grows thicker on the north side of the tree. This tip is handy if you live in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, otherwise it might not do you any good. Moss grows thicker on the north side because it grows better in shade; this side, in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, receives the least amount of light. However, if you’re in a thick forest, all sides of the tree will receive the same amount and that quick trick won’t do you any good.

If you don’t have a compass but you have a watch on you, that can be just as useful. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, the first step is to hold your watch horizontally. Then, rotate the watch until the hour hand is pointing towards the sun. South will lie exactly halfway between the half hand and the numeral twelve on the watch. (If it is a digital watch you will have to imagine where the hour hand would be on an analog watch.) From this, you can determine the other three points of the compass you have created from your watch. In the Southern hemisphere, the same first few steps will lead you to the North rather than the South.

RunThePlanet.com encourages avid hikers to take advantage of the expansive outdoors that our planet has provided for us. For more navigation tips, you can read their article “Outdoor Navigation Tips” that explains a method of finding North without a watch. There are also methods to keep course with clouds so you don’t need to know your cardinal directions at all! Know a way out of the woods before you go in.

Nature is an art in itself. However, the Andres Institute of Art, located on Big Bear Mountain in Brookline, NH, takes this idea a step further. At the Andres Institute of Art, anyone can take a nature stroll and enjoy countless artistic surprises along the trails.

The Institute is a privately owned, but publicly open, land that is nearly 140 acres. The founder, engineer and innovator Paul Andrew purchased the area in 1996 with the idea of placing sculptures throughout the landscape, based on a previously founded love of nature and art. Fortunately, there was a sculptor already living there, John M. Weidman. In 1998, they co-founded the Andres Institute of Art.  It quickly grew to encompass large permanent sculptures, but also has smaller sculptures that come and go.

Each year, the Andres Institute of Art invites artists from around the world to come and design their own art during their annual symposium. The artists are paid a small amount, but their true reward is being allowed the freedom to place their art on the park wherever they please. They are provided with the tools and materials, thus all they need to bring is their own creativity. You can imagine that this symposium brings great results.

The Andres Institute of Art is open to the public every day of the year from dusk to dawn. There are trails that take just 15 minutes, such as the Picnic Trail, the Halfway Trail, the Headwall Spur Trail, and the South Way Trail, while others can take up to an hour, such as the Summit Loop Trail and the Parkway Road Trail. Many decades before, the Big Bear Mountain was used for skiing, and just like its former slopes, the trails range from easy to difficult. If you are in the area, it is definitely worth a visit, and if you ever come back, it is worth another one. The views around the park change drastically with the changing of the seasons, and the sculptures themselves change, coming from different artists, new and familiar.

In the past three days Loon Mountain in Lincoln, New Hampshire, has received over eighteen inches of fresh snow! Over eighteen! Add that to a base depth between 18-30 inches, and you have got some amazing snow conditions!

With forty-five new trails open, 274 acres open, 21 miles open, 3 parks open, and the weather being not too cold and windy– the conditions are looking good for one of New Hampshire’s biggest resorts.

I have a college pass. At a low $329 for unlimited skiing at Loon, Sunday River, and Sugarloaf, this is probably the best deal you could ever get at mountains like these but not everyone is fortunate enough to be in college. If you are not someone who is looking for an unlimited ski pass because they do get a little pricey, one way to save a lot of money is to invest in a Frequent Skier Pass. You can get them at any time, and they are definitely worth the cost of one. All you have to do is go skiing twice, and you already have made back your money! At around $90, this pass is valid for one free ski or snowboard pass. After that, it becomes a discount card.

What happens is on weekends you can receive a lift ticket for $15 off by presenting a card and a valid form of identification. During the weekdays you can get $25 off. So, just by going skiing on one weekend day and one weekday day, you have made your money back! This, of course, is assuming that the lift ticket you buy is around $75–which it probably will be.

The frequent skier card is perfect for someone who knows that they will go skiing or snowboarding a handful of times. However, if you are a college student like I am, buying that college pass is the best decision you ever could make!

Note: This article is focused on Mont-Tremblant, the mountain itself as a ski resort. For more about the surrounding pedestrian village, visit our sister site, GoodLifeReview.com.

In English, “Mont Tremblant” translates to “trembling mountain”. With a peak of 875 meters, Mont Tremblant is one of the tallest mountains in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Canada, making it an ideal mountain for the Mont Tremblant Resort. This past weekend, my family decided to make the drive there. (It’s about a 1.5 hour drive from Montréal.) My final reactions to the resort are a bit muddled.

Before visiting Mont Tremblant, I only had heard great things about the mountain. I heard that the trails were awesome, and the surrounding village was quite cute. My experience on the mountain was quite different. A large portion of the trails was closed, and the majority of the open trails were simple greens and blues. I realize that going during December vacation, without any recent precipitation (aside from rain), explains my less than positive reaction to the mountain. The conditions were less than ideal. I can imagine that with another layer of snow, this mountain would be tremendous fun; however, the ice I dealt with was not.

Though the views are incredible, those strictly looking for a solid mountain to ski or snowboard on should look elsewhere. The lodging and dining around the mountain is extremely expensive; this certainly would be considered a luxurious, if not extravagant, destination. Experienced skiers will find themselves quickly running out of interesting options when most of the difficult trails are closed.

The lifts are quick, and the overall atmosphere is pleasant, but I would not go back unless I knew that the conditions were considerably improved. The lesson learned from this experience is that, even if a mountain has been consistently, positively reviewed, bad conditions can sour the visit quickly. If you do decide to ski or ride at Mont Tremblant or any other expensive ski resort, you should check to see if the conditions are fair, and that most of the trails are open, before you book.