Outdoors | Heath McConnell

Archive for Outdoors

Paddling up river is NOT a joy…

…in a wide fishing kayak. That was tough (never thought I could do it)…paddled to Gazeebo Island today…up river.
Next time I need to Bing the poles…there are big trout jumping all over.

Beautiful Sky

I was on my way deep into the coast range to fish one morning and caught this glimpse of the sky.
It never ceases to amaze me…the art in nature, how my god can use it to my pleasure and enjoyment. The seasons, the colors, the wildlife… I can’t help but be in awe.

Kayak Fishing

My wife said, “You said you would never get in a kayak, what changed”?

Firsts | Backpacking and Hammocks

I was typing a post over at the Hammock Forums when I started to get lost in nostalgia. It was my first official backpacking trip out in the Mojave Desert and my pack was 60+ pounds… OUCH!

Aperture 3 Feature for Backpackers and Photography

Here is a feature in Apple’s Aperture 3 that I ALWAYS wished I had…visual map reference of all my outdoor and backpacking adventures tied to all my images and GPS tracks for cataloging my adventures

Backpacking for a Portrait

Recently I decided to kill three birds with one stone (who hasn’t). I decided to go backpacking, take a few portraits and train my son in location photography techniques, as well. I know you may be saying, “yah, so what’s the problem”. I‘ll tell you… Let me start by saying I love backpacking as much [...]

Welcome to the Outdoors Page

Your source for outdoor skills information and advice, and destinations for backpacking, camping, hiking, and other outdoor activities.
Check out our outdoor photos! We plan to start offering a “Destinations” page real soon where we discuss destinations and the like, so Stay tuned!

Fire Building | Basics

Today we are going to talk about that all important thing that man can create but animals can’t… FIRE! That’s right folks. There is nothing that can make an evening in the great outdoors more pleasant than a fire. Actually a fire and a cup-O-joe. Fire building is an essential outdoor skill for survival, cooking, [...]

Screencast | Convert Between Google Earth and National Geographic Topo and GPS

I have created a screencast here to show how you can convert between Google Earth and almost any mapping format. Basically we are using an open source program called GPSbabel+. This is a great program no matter what you use. It is designed to be used in conjunction with your GPS unit, however, I am using it [...]

The Pitfalls of Map-n-Roulette Camping

So, as I mentioned earlier (I think), the way that I find camping or backpacking spots is by going over topo maps for hours looking for that perfectly secluded spot. Yup, that small white area within a large green shaded area where the contour lines spread ever so gently, that’s the spot. I guess that [...]

New Outdoors Category Added

We have added a new category, OUTDOORS, for our new outdoor page that will soon be receive postings. The official description is:
“Your source for outdoor skills information and advice, and destinations for backpacking, camping, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Plan trips, download hikes, find gear, and learn outdoor and survival skills”.
P.S. When we mention camping, we are [...]