What To Look For In A Top Rated Tactical Backpack

Posted by Arthur Joyner on Jul 23, 2016 in Backpacking, Gear | Comments Off on What To Look For In A Top Rated Tactical Backpack

Tactical backpacks are great for travel, hunting, sports, and even just everyday use. While a lot of tactical backpacks are advertised as being available in camo, it’s important to remember that you can usually purchase them in dark green or black as well.

Fast Access to Everything You Need

A top rated tactical backpack is going to be an all-purpose backpack that has a lot to offer people for general use. They usually come with a single shoulder strap, so you can easily ‘swing’ the pack in front of yourself while you’re wearing it so that you can easily access the items stored in the pack.

Easy to Expand Storage

Another thing that the best backpacks offer is the ability to attach them to other packs so that you can clip smaller bags or satchels to them. You can often get them with a heavy-duty internal frame, which will make them far more comfortable when you are carrying heavy loads.

Multiple Uses

Some heavy-duty packs, especially medium-sized ones that are intended to be 3-day packs for tactical use, will have a bladder pocket that you can use as a laptop pouch when you’re using the bag as an EDC. They will have other pouches that could be used for handguns, or just for general storage, and they’ll have a hydration bladder – perfect for long distance runners.

Choosing a Bag

Picking out a bag will never be easy. A part of the decision-making process will involve deciding whether you’re buying a bug-out bag, a bag for travel, an EDC, or something that you would use for camping and survival situations.

Depending on the intended use of the bag, things like space, waterproofing, ruggedness and comfort will come in different spots on your priority list. Organization, for example, will be incredibly important for people who carry a lot of items that they will need easy access to (e.g. climbers), and for business travelers or backpackers too. The occasional traveler might not care if they just pack everything up into one central compartment, but those who need some items ‘right now’, and others when they make camp will appreciate more flexibility.

Comfort will matter more for someone that is going to be carrying their bag on their back all day, every day. Most people will find that a standard tactical backpack will be ‘comfortable’ with about 45lbs in it, but they can hold as much as 60 – but if you’re going to be carrying that much it’s important that you get a bag with good waist straps, nice shoulder straps, and a sturdy frame took.

Visit this page to learn more about tactical backpacks.

Price and Build Quality

A good tactical backpack is not an inexpensive item. When you’re spending that much, you will want to know that the backpack can withstand the abuse you will give it. A good choice is a backpack that is made of 1000D water-resistant nylon fabric with double stitching on the seams, strong zippers, and cover flaps to prevent rain from seeping in. The best backpacks will have compartments in them that will keep the items you’re storing separated, and that will have zips themselves, as well as strong stitching so that they don’t tear or come loose. The zips are usually the first things to go on backpacks, so pay close attention to them – especially if you’re spending a lot of money.

Try the Pack in Person

It’s a very good idea to visit a camping store and try the backpack on in person if you can. Load it up with a lot of items, and make sure that it’s comfortable. Inspect the zippers and the stitching, and make sure you’re completely happy with the pack. If it isn’t comfortable, try another one. Buying a bag sight unseen is rarely a good idea. It will usually lead to you being disappointed because the fit, comfort, size or quality may not be what you expected. It doesn’t take long to test a bag, and feel for yourself whether it’s something you’d be able to wear for a long time without it putting stress on your shoulders or strain on your lower back.

Additional Resources

• edc Forums
• Blade Forums

 

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Tactical Gear – Compass, Survival & Mapping

Posted by Arthur Joyner on Jun 2, 2016 in Backpacking, Compass | Comments Off on Tactical Gear – Compass, Survival & Mapping

Understanding how to use basic navigation is extremely important when you are starting your backpack adventure, without proper navigation tools, you may lose your trail. Therefore, navigation gear is crucial for any serious exploration.
Understanding Your Map
The topographic map is the basic and the most important tool that you need to understand if you want to have a successful trip. Travel manuals often have a simple map that shows tracks over plain land. Such map comes in many different shapes and sizes, giving you comprehensive information about the area you’ll be traveling to. From other side, a detailed topographical map is a useful tool that will help you to route in the wilds; it is much more detailed, accurate and it provides an altitude outline of an area.

Because contour lines signify various elevations points, they never intersect, but if you travel along the elevation, you will come to a new contour line that signifies another elevation on a map.

Understanding Your Compass
Even if you plan on staying on track for your complete trip, knowing how to use a compass can be very helpful. Your compass is a very important tool that you should use with your map to help you locate yourself in the wilderness. You will need to understand the basic parts of a compass if you wish to learn how to use it properly. The needle always points towards North and the dial is a circular part on top of the compass that spins. Orienting lines are on a back and spins when a dial spins. The Index lines or degree lines are the marks around the dial, and the direction of travel arrow is the direction that you go after you’ve taken your compass bearing.

Finding Your Current Location with a Compass
Here is a handy technique that you can use for your backpacking trips. If you need to find your exact location by using only topography clues around, you should use survival method called triangulation or line location. In the first step, just take your compass and point at the first prominent feature that is also on your map with the direction of travel arrow pointed that feature, turn dial into the North.

To use your device, you will need to find several large objects in the landscape like a hill, mountain or high rock, that are also on your map. In next step, take a compass and place it on the map, line up the edge of your compass with the object that you just pointed out.

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Tactical Gear – Backpacking Blades

Posted by Arthur Joyner on Jun 2, 2016 in Backpacking, Gear | Comments Off on Tactical Gear – Backpacking Blades

In the unpredictable wilderness a reliable knife is a very important tool and knowing how to use it correctly sometimes can make a dramatic change in your travel. There are almost unlimited situations when you need to use a knife – to build an emergency shelter, to make a fire, defend yourself against wild animals or even fix broken equipment. On the other hand, ignorance may be very dangerous; not knowing how to use this tool properly can put you in serious danger. In the wilderness you might be hungry and exhausted; using sharp knife hastily can make a bad situation much worse than you can imagine.

Choosing a Perfect Blade
The most important decision that you must make before your trip is to choose a reliable knife. There are many criteria that you should look for as having the right type of blade depends on what you want to use it for. There are several types of knives, the most common is a fixed blade knife.

First of all, such knife is heavy, so you will not see many backpackers with such knife on a road. The second type is locking blade or folding knife. It is a more practical blade for daily activities, but it doesn’t have the strength of a fixed blade knife, still it is a consistent tool. Pay special attention when closing a locking blade, accidents with this type of knife are very common. At last, you can choose multi tool blade that comes in combination with other tools.

Knife Sharpening

To have a sharp knife in a wilderness is essential, but it is not so simple procedure as you may think.
If you have an expensive blade, make sure you do a proper research about used materials as there are a lot of ways to sharper a blade, some ways may damage certain knives.

Use rougher side at the beginning and fine-grained side at the end of a process to create a sharp edge. Hold a knife at 20 to 25-degree angle and do not forget to sharpen the lower part of the blade, in the fact, that is the most used part of a knife.
Knife Safety

You are almost ready for an adventure; still one important issue demands your full attention – knife safety. There are many rules that are important, but the most important rule is never to cut toward yourself, instead make strokes away from your body. Knife safety is very important, even the most skillful backpackers can make faults, so always be careful with a knife.

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Outdoor Survival Tips – Toxic Plants

Posted by Arthur Joyner on Jun 2, 2016 in Backpacking, Toxic Plants | Comments Off on Outdoor Survival Tips – Toxic Plants

Most plants in the wilderness are totally harmless, but it is a decent idea to be able to recognize ones that could cause you a few weeks of dealing with aching reaction. A Poison Sumac, Ivy, and Oak are toxic plants that are known for horrid rashes, the last thing that you want to occur during your backpack trip. Fortunately, the poisonous plants can be easily evaded if you know how to spot them in the wilderness.
Learn about Local Poisonous Plants
It is commonly a good idea not to touch poisonous plants that you cannot classify as risky, especially in the winter when they are without foliage, so you cannot easily categorize them.

About 65 % of the worldwide population is highly allergic to Poison Ivy or some other noxious plant. The harshness of the reaction can vary, so to avoid to deal with the painful reaction, you must learn how to recognize toxic plants in all seasons. Specifically in North America, the Poison Sumac, Ivy, and Oak are most common poisonous plants that you need to look out for.

Proper Identification of Poisonous Plants
Nonetheless, if the plant is a vine or small shrub, Poison Ivy and Oak will always have two leaves close to a stock and one leaf on a small stem. Poison Ivy and Oak can be spotted, and they always form their leads on a group of three. In the summer, the bright green color and in the fall the bright red colors are easily visible.

The complete plant is highly toxic; therefore, it is the best policy to avoid any interaction. It leaves grow in pairs of four to twelve, with one single leaf at the end of a long stem. The leaves are elliptical, and they form a short tip at the end.
Additional Protection Tips

It is not enough to evade toxic plants in the wilderness, be cautious not to burn any poisonous plant, the smoke can aggravate your skin and cause very severe reactions. Be sure to check your gear as it can remain on your outfit or shoes for a long time. At all times be sure to check your wears and wash it if needed. If you think you might have made a contact with the risky toxic plant, wash your skin carefully as quickly as possible to evade agonizing reaction.Some of the dangerous plants can be unfairly attractive, but they may give you stark problems, including convulsions or severe headaches. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the most common problems with poisonous plants can be avoided if you learn how to spot them in the wilderness.

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Survival Tips – Insect Protection Avoiding Strategies

Posted by Arthur Joyner on Jun 2, 2016 in Backpacking, Insect Protection | Comments Off on Survival Tips – Insect Protection Avoiding Strategies

Insects like mosquitoes can be carriers of numerous dangerous viruses and rare deceases, so it is best to totally avoid them and protect you whenever possible. Most of the time in the wilderness you are in danger to encounter various insects, animals or even poisons plants that can harm you on your journey. Luckily, there are few effective chemical treatments and standard evasion strategies that will help you to seriously reduce such pesky problems.
Bugs, Annoying Bugs!
The winter, early spring, and fall are usually much cooler times of year with fewer insects all around. The best way to have an enjoyable bite free journey is to avoid bugs altogether! You should also control insect exposure by wearing an appropriate protecting outfit with sturdy sleeves so that mosquitoes won’t be able to bite you. An additional way to limit such possibility is to wear a bug defending mesh. Such mesh is a light, effective and cheap method of defense.
Ticks and Bees – Avoid the Danger

If you find a small tick on your body, you may use a pair of tweezers to grip as close as you can to the skin and pull away evenly. To avoid annoying and dangerous ticks, regularly check your body for ticks while you are on a break and keep far away from tall grass.

Though, if you get stung by a bee, pull up the sting as quickly as you can with your fingers and take a pain killer if necessary. It is also tremendously important to know if you are allergic to bee stings or not. If you are, you should bring an Epi-pen and be sure to know how to use it.
Mesquites, Fragrances, and Campfire
Avoid all kind of scents and perfumes when you are on your journey, the even fragrant dryer can attract insects and pests. To stay away from mosquitoes, avoid hiking in dawn and dusk as they are the most active at that time. Keeping yourself very clean will be useful as mosquitoes and other bugs may also be attracted with your sweat. Try to camp in the wide open area to avoid large bug exposure; chose a plain soil for a camp where small campfire may keep insects far away. Avoid making a camp near a lake or pond, as that is the exact place where you will find the most of the irritating bugs.
Chemical Treatments for Additional Protection

Along with escaping irritating bugs techniques, you can also use some biochemical treatments to seriously increase the level of your protection.

It is reliable repellent, but it is also a very tough chemical, so try to use it as little as possible. It can damage leather, synthetic fabrics, and plastic, so try to be careful not to get it on your equipment. Combine it with Permethrin and you will be safe for eight hours even in areas that are heavily occupied with mosquitoes and other bugs

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Survival Gear – Ultralight Backpacking Stoves

Posted by Arthur Joyner on Jun 2, 2016 in Backpacking, Stoves | Comments Off on Survival Gear – Ultralight Backpacking Stoves

Most travelers do not cook their meals on the road, as much as they rehydrate their food, but it is going to take more work than just putting a dehydrated food into boiling water. Having an enjoyable, tasty meal on a journey after a time-consuming day of hiking can be one of the best parts of the whole day.
Lightweight Cooking Options
What you need is a simple cup for water, singe pop to boil the water, and a simple spoon. If you are looking for something very cheap, use plastic cups, they are very easy to find. Titanium pots tend to be very light, but they are also the most expensive. Typical spoons are also very light, so they will not affect the total heaviness of your backpack. If you use modest, lightweight cooking options you will save a lot of weights on the trip.

Alcohol Stoves – Alcohol stoves are among lightest options out there and for that reason they are very common for skilled hikers.

Fuel sources can be easily found in gas stations. They tend to be cost effective; you can make them by yourself. Alcohol stoves may have a little bit slower cook time then a liquefied gas stove and using windscreen proficiency can help.

Liquefied Gas Stoves – Liquefied gas stoves are pretty common options as they are very simple to use. They can be somewhat weightier than the rest of stoves on a market, and the fuel canisters are non-refundable. They can be sometimes hard to find., but all you need is a fuel canister, and it is ready to light up for a quick dinner.

Furthermore, fuel pads can be sometimes hard to find, especially in small, rural towns. They also have few downsides; they are a little bit slow as far as cook time goes, and they are dependable on wind conditions.
Wood Stove – Another option that is becoming prevalent among travelers is a wood stove. There are some very light wood stove choices out there, and you will also save weight with fuel because you will just use sticks from around your camp. A wood stove works by creating an efficient system that you can put small sticks into to build up your fire. Still, wood stoves have some disadvantages; they have slow cook time, and you must make sure that you endure feeding fuel into the fire, so it’s going to take a little more time and effort. If you are a person who likes to cook your meals, rather than re-hydrate food from a plastic bag, then a wood stove may be a flawless option.

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Backpacking Survival Gear – An Ice Axe

Posted by Arthur Joyner on Jun 2, 2016 in Backpacking | Comments Off on Backpacking Survival Gear – An Ice Axe

It is usual for first spring and summer travelers to encounter large snow fields on the way, especially at higher regions. Even if you do not planning winter backpacking expedition, you may still have to deal with crossing snow fields on a road. However, it is important to cross snow carefully; it will mean the difference between having an effective trip and either jeopardizing an awful fall and sudden injury.
Hidden danger – Sudden fall
In such situations, it is crucial to consider all possible options, what you would do if you slip? In such surprising weather circumstance, tracking pools may help you keeping balance, but they are not intended to stop you from sliding if you slip and fall.

 

Use them for steadiness on flat ground, but you should bring an ice axe if you might face a hazardous slide. The problems may occur, especially if you are not confident in yourself, therefore always take an ice axe when crossing snowy hills and mountains.
An Ice Axe – Practical Use

An Ice Axe is a universal tool, but mainly it is designed to prevent a sudden fall. When you are holding an ice axe on a slope, always carry axe up with the pick of the axe facing backward. It is an imperative skill, and it is desirable to take a snow skiing course where you can exercise your ice axe usage in an adequate learning atmosphere.

If you slip down the slope, it is imperative to place safe in the correct position and stop yourself from moving as soon as possible.

Hold Your Feet Up!
In a case of a sudden fall, retain your feet up until you slow your slide significantly. If you try to stop quickly, you might find yourself in a hazardous situation. It is particularly important if you ran traction devices or crampons on your feet, as such sudden stoppage that can cause grave lag injuries.

Falling down with your feet facing downhill will make it fairly easy to stop, but in a real slip, your body may be in any position while you are falling down. Therefore, it is important to practice proper sliding technique.
It is always better to be skillful and trained in ice axe technique, self-assured and safe then to take pointless perils that could put you or your group in unnecessary threat.

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