Review: Casio Pro Trek PRW-6000
Writing fair reviews can often be a bit difficult as it requires balancing your own personal preferences, needs and desires against both the designers’/makers’ ambitions, and also against the more generic readers’ need for an independent perspective....
The sacred simplicity of nature
At a spiritual level there are two reasons that drive me to regularly spend nights alone in the woods, all through the ever changing year. The two are first, the undisturbed solitude, and second, the relative asceticism that inevitably comes with it. Although it is...
Review: Therm-a-Rest Trail Pro 4-Season Sleeping Pad
Sleeping well is essential to all our experiences in life, and no less so when we are outdoors. And we all know how numb and tired we feel after having been unable to sleep on hard ground in freezing cold. Not least in the North, where the cold from the ground will...
Review: Carinthia High Insulation Garment 3
Continuing our journey of testing internationally lesser known, high-end brands, we will today look at Austrian Carinthia, a top quality maker which targets both military and civilian use, with a reputation for offering products of reliable, durable and very...
Review: EKA Nordic W12 knife
The EKA Nordic W12 knife is designed and manufactured by one of the oldest Swedish cutlers, EKA-knivar AB, a company founded already in 1882 under the name Hadar Hallström Kniffabriks AB, but already in 1917 changing its name to Eskilstuna Kniffabriks Aktiebolag...
Review: Belleville Minimalist Boots
Most countries have fantastic inventors and manufacturers that are little known outside of their national borders, some even having been Royal purveyors for many decades, and it is a bit of a shame that we for this reason miss out on some fantastic gear, simply...
Customs, life and generations
I love Mora knives. There, I’ve said it. I know not everyone agrees to their greatness, but I grew up with Mora knives being the only knife everyone used, outdoors, in the garage, at school woodwork class, at work, literally everyone, and everywhere. I love...
Nature, solitude and company
As a father of two fantastic boys, hiking & camping means different things to me, depending on for what reasons, and how it is all done. And the resulting experience is therefore for me also quite different. This can, at times, also be a source of concern and...
The Fall of Western Civilization, or just a bump in the road
It might seem odd writing about civilization and city life on a site that focuses on nature and traditional way of life, but as the latter connects to history and our reading of it, and to our way of applying our understanding of it to our own time and our place in...
Review: Terävä Skrama & Jääkäripuukko
We have already talked about how your different needs as a bushcrafter, prepper, survivalist or general outdoors person dictate what kind of knife, or knives, you should look for. A survivalist, for example, looks for a single general-purpose knife that is decent at...
Review: Leo Köhler Multicam KSK-Smock
If you want to go outdoors in all seasons and weather, then good clothing is essential to your whole experience and your comfort in nature. What you need may vary a little bit depending on how you tend to spend your time when you are out, but some things are generally...
Review: Mora Bushcraft Survival Knife
Being Swedish, the town Mora more or less equates to knives and I would even go so far as to claim that “Mora” is pretty much a synonym for the word “knife”, here in Sweden, much like Wellingtons are a synonym for rubber boots in the UK. Say...
Review: BE Bushbox XL Combination Kit
While carrying a certain romantic image, cooking food outdoors over open fire has up until recently been a rather inefficient method, requiring both a lot of firewood and a lot of work for preparing it. However, in the last decade or so, a very fuel efficient type of...
Review: Peltonen Sissipuukko Ranger Knife m95
Being Swedish and having lived my whole life with Mora knives which are typical of the traditional Nordic knives with their simple grips, flat “Scandi” grind and very sharp edges that are wonderful for everyday outdoors chores, I am very much coloured by...
What’s in a name? Some thoughts on Norse culture, nature and name choosing.
It might seem a bit odd writing about old Norse gods and mythology on a blog that primarily focuses on nature, hiking and bushcraft, but living in Scandinavia, surrounded by locations, streets and structures that still carry their names and relate to their worship...
The Sound of the Raven
Some of my favourite sounds in the woods are the sounds that the raven make. After the raven disappearing almost completely, the forests I go into now have quite a lot of them and on a lucky day you can see 10-15 of them together, although more commonly you see or...
Sviðna, Svedjebruk and Slash & Burn cultivation
Out of the ashes that is left after the burning of peat, bushes and sticks a remarkable fertility now arises, so that especially if you therein sow winter rye, beets, poppy, flax or hemp, a rich and plentiful harvest is generated. Olaus Magnus, Historia de gentibus...
Why go on solo hikes?
Camping and hiking for most people means a group activity, something you do with your friends and family to provide company and comfort in an environment that is unfamiliar, and at night for many even a bit scary. Going solo however, has its own merits and I will here...
Dangers of winter and how to prepare
Wintertime and cold weather pose their own particular challenges, discomforts and dangers and you need to know a few basics to make life easier and safer under the conditions these seasons offer for your outdoors life. This article collects advice that attempt to...
Nordic words for snow
In the parts of the world, or more specifically, the regions and places where snow has a direct influence on people’s lives, it is quite common for people to have different words describing the characteristics of the snow based on how it influences their lives...
On the differences between Bushcrafting, Survivalism & Prepping
In today’s society we have a few different groups and sub cultures that all take an interest in non-urban life as well as in nature and ways and methods for living and working in it. The three I will discuss here are bushcrafting, survivalism and prepping. These...
Let kids play with knives
I was fortunate to grow up in a time and place where it was quite normal for kids, and boys in particular, to use knives, cutting twigs and branches into various usable items, like sausage sticks, bow and crossbow arrows, staves etc, etc, not to mention a whole lot of...
Review: The Knife Connection ESEE knife handles
Some time ago we reviewed the fantastic ESEE-4, ESEE-5 and the ESEE-6 knives. These are great, rugged knives, primarily designed for survival rather than regular outdoors situations, and in spirit the American equivalents of the Swedish Fällkniven F1, S1 and A1...
Review: Ricoh-Pentax WG-5 GPS Adventure Camera
Although I have worked as a commercial photographer with various system cameras as well as VR photography kits, this is not the angle I will be writing from today. Instead, I will be writing from the perspective of an outdoorsman with the particular considerations...
Review: Fällkniven A1, S1 & F1
Today we will review three knives by a Swedish brand that oddly enough is little known to the common Swede, but which is a proper success story of a company that enjoys great respect for their high quality knives, by professionals and civilians alike, worldwide....
Review: Katadyn Basecamp Pro 10L
When you go outoors for a few days or more, you have a three basic needs you need to satisfy; something to eat, something to keep you warm & dry, and something to drink. Food is often difficult to find in large enough quantities in nature and thus needs to be...
Learning to handle being lost
Getting lost for some time in the wild isn’t necessarily a bad or dangerous experience and also something you can practice in gradually more difficult environments. Here are some tips based on personal experience of getting “lost” in the woods every...
Review: Warbonnet Blackbird XLC Hammock
As an outdoorsman, or -woman, moving from sleeping on the ground to suspended in a hammock is one of the most revolutionary steps you can take. It really changes things quite dramatically. Many suffer from lack of sleep when camping, commonly due to feeling...
Canoeing alone the easy way
So having just gotten back from a couple of days of canoeing and having watched a flock of highschool teens loudly struggling with little resulting movement and control, here are a few basic tips primarily for those who would like to learn to paddle alone, but with...
Life in circles – small ponderings
Happy the man, who, remote from business, after the manner of the ancient race of mortals, cultivates his paternal lands with his own oxen, disengaged from every kind of usury; he is neither alarmed by the horrible trump, as a soldier, nor dreads he the angry sea; he...
A list of things you should get to better enjoy nature
The range of products available for hiking and camping is today pretty overwhelming, with specialized high tech gear and gadgets that can often cost a fortune or two. However, much of it is quite unnecessary, and only a few items are strictly needed, while a few more...
Walking with ease and awareness
We all have a natural tendency to try to choose the shortest and the easiest route as we travel to a location. The fundamental desire is to not exhaust oneself unnecessarily, preserving energy, which of course is wise. However, finding the middle way between those two...
On George Washington “Nessmuk” Sears
George Washington Sears (December 2, 1821 – May 1, 1890), might not be so internationally famous, but among American bushcrafters he is without doubt one of the most well-known and influential early fathers of the whole lifestyle, inspiring other renowned outdoorsmen...
The importance of knowing a basic set of skills for nature
Despite being vaguely aware of history and what came before us it is almost impossible to emotionally not feel as if everything has always been more or less the way it is now. As humans we are very much focused, for natural reasons, on the absolute present and it is...
Review: ESEE-4, ESEE-5 & ESEE-6 knives
ESEE Knives, formerly R.A.T Cutlery is one of the most well-regarded cutlers in the USA, a cutler with a strong reputation for quality, and with the owners Jeff Randall and Mike Perrin standing by their products no matter what. Their personal integrity is...
Everyman’s Right in the Nordic countries
While most countries in the western world designate certain remote and less populated state or commune-owned areas for camping and hiking, most of the Nordic countries handle this quite differently and in a way that surprises many from other parts of the world....
Hiking alone for the first time?
So, you are considering hiking alone for the first time? What can you expect from that experience? Well first of all, it will be an amazing and strong experience. There will be no distraction from other people (hopefully) and it is just you and nature, meaning you...
Review: KA-BAR D2 Extreme Fighting/Utility Knife
This article was originally published on HROARR.com When it comes to combat knives, next to the classical Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife, few are as iconic as the USMC “KA-BAR”. However, while the Fairbairn-Sykes represents a more elegant design and...
Review: Ontario Knives Chimera
This article was originally published on HROARR.com Among the countries of the world one stands out as truly blessed with excellent knife makers manufacturing big utility/combat knives. Why that is, is hard to tell. Size is of course one factor, but perhaps also a...
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