The Art of Manliness - Boots, Tents, Sleeping Bags, and More： How to Choose and Use Outdoor Gear

00:00:00.000 brett mckay here and welcome to another edition of the art of manliness podcast

00:00:10.960 a fair amount of gear is involved in making a camping or backpacking trip a success

00:00:15.300 and choosing that gear can be a little intimidating as there are lots of options

00:00:18.860 and it's expensive to boot here to offer some tips on selecting gear and getting the most out

00:00:23.020 of it is craig coddle an avid outdoorsman the director and lead instructor of the nature reliance

00:00:27.720 school and the author of ultimate wilderness gear everything you need to know to choose and use the

00:00:32.920 best outdoor equipment today on the show craig and i discuss some things to know when purchasing

00:00:37.220 things like boots tents sleeping bags and more and we offer some specific recommendations as to the

00:00:43.040 gear that's worked for us respectively craig also offers tips on using outdoor equipment including

00:00:47.460 how to dry wet boots without damaging them whether you should put a tarp under your tent what to do

00:00:52.180 if you get hot and sweaty or cold in your sleeping bag a hack for sleeping more comfortably on the

00:00:56.200 ground and the best kind of knife for an outdoorsman to carry after the show's over check out our show

00:01:00.980 notes at awim.is outdoor gear all right craig coddle welcome to the show oh brett thank you for

00:01:21.920 having me on it's a pleasure so you are a backcountry skills expert and an instructor so you teach people

00:01:28.120 about wilderness survival how do you end up doing that as a career well it's kind of a wild path to

00:01:34.100 where i am now but i i started out as a kid like a lot of people my age i'm in the mid 50s now and i was

00:01:40.620 one of those kids where my mom said can you just go outside and play for a while or do something and got

00:01:45.620 to explore creeks and woods and farms and all that sort of fun activity so just being outside was a

00:01:51.700 very natural thing for me back then and i've just stayed that way my family's really heavily involved

00:01:57.000 in camping and my dad and i were active very avid hunters and fishermen and that kind of stuff doing

00:02:03.100 all the outdoor activities of stewardship and taking care of ourselves but the thing that kind of

00:02:07.920 started pushing me off in a different direction i did this with my family too was we also did period

00:02:14.080 correct reenacting like pre-revolutionary war era reenactments where we dressed up like daniel boone

00:02:19.460 and lived in teepees and shelters and sustained ourself through foraging and hunting and all the

00:02:24.780 things that happened in a reenactment where you know you're basically recreating history so that's a

00:02:29.660 little bit different than what path most people have taken as an outdoors person i think and it kind

00:02:35.680 of prompted me later on in my young 20s to complete what i've commonly referred to as 230 day

00:02:42.120 sabbaticals i wanted to test myself was what i wanted to do and i went out in the woods with

00:02:45.760 nothing but a knife and i existed two different periods of time for 30 days and quite frankly it

00:02:52.380 led to real i don't know what else to call it but a profound personal growth and development i learned

00:02:57.160 a lot about what i can do well i learned a lot about what i didn't do very well at all and i've been

00:03:02.880 spending a good deal of my time from that point forward trying to develop those skills i attended

00:03:10.340 myself a survival school a friend of mine who has another survival school i didn't realize

00:03:15.220 that people passed on skills the way the way i do them now in a survival school i thought all these

00:03:21.380 outdoor skills hunting and fishing and fire building and rubbing two sticks together and all the stuff

00:03:25.740 that we do i thought that was just a family lineage type of thing and i went to this school found out what

00:03:32.740 was happening at that school was all the stuff that i've been doing for fun you know basically my entire

00:03:39.040 life so in 2006 i started what we now call nature reliance school that's my school i'm the director

00:03:45.000 and lead instructor and so we've been teaching survival and tracking both animal and man tracking

00:03:50.460 land navigation nature immersion type coursework since that time and now later on in life in the

00:03:57.620 last 10 years or so i started going after and enhancing i don't know if it's the right way to say it but

00:04:03.960 basically my academic understanding of the outdoors i became a certified master naturalist

00:04:08.040 i've gone through some wildlife habitat and forest stewardship coursework just to basically

00:04:13.660 understand better what's going on in the outdoors so that i can both steward it and teach other people

00:04:20.280 about it that's fantastic so and the instruction that you do you're you're doing some of the primitive

00:04:25.760 skills stuff the daniel boone skills but you also teach people you incorporate how they can use

00:04:30.880 modern gear in their outdoor pursuits as well yeah absolutely since 2006 our motto has

00:04:37.920 been where practical meets natural so it's not just living off the land and making you know

00:04:43.240 bow drill fire hand drill fire with a couple of sticks it's also learning how to use a lighter

00:04:47.800 correctly and how to pack your pack and what kind of packs to get all the things that go along with

00:04:52.420 water whether it be filtration or purification all those things and how to use modern gear because

00:04:58.400 that's where most of us are is is in the modern world we don't necessarily want to reenact history we

00:05:04.760 don't want to preserve it a lot of people do and we do have instructors that come in and teach with us

00:05:10.160 some of those things that i teach as well but we also try to appeal to those that just want to be

00:05:15.480 outside and i do everything i can to help them get what they need to to be able to do that safely and

00:05:21.580 enjoy themselves so you spent pretty much all your adult life outdoors and in the process you've had

00:05:27.080 the opportunity to test out different kinds of outdoor gear and i think a lot of people who have an

00:05:33.520 interest in getting outside backpacking backcountry hunting things like that it can be easy to get

00:05:40.360 overwhelmed by gear selection because there's just so much out there nowadays i mean i imagine like 30

00:05:46.700 years ago it probably wasn't overwhelming because you just had you had the coleman white light land that

00:05:52.440 was it but now there's so many options it can get expensive outdoor equipment can get expensive so

00:05:57.740 you're afraid to make the wrong purchase so what i want to do today for our listeners is do a deep

00:06:03.760 dive into outdoor gear so our listeners can get ready for their next outing and in your book you

00:06:09.700 talk about three general factors to keep in mind when you're buying gear personal experience budget and

00:06:16.740 geography and we're going to talk about these as we go along you also recommend trying out gear first by

00:06:22.200 borrowing it from friends or you know looking for an outdoor club nearby you're in your town so you

00:06:28.080 can see if you like a particular item or even like a particular outdoor pursuit before you start

00:06:33.720 dropping tons of money to buy gear but let's dive into specifics and want to talk about the real

00:06:40.100 foundation of any outing and that's what goes on your feet so let's talk about hiking boots what should

00:06:46.220 people consider when purchasing a pair of hiking boots when i wrote this book that you and i are discussing

00:06:51.820 ultimate wilderness gear i interviewed two different podiatrists on just basically what would they

00:06:58.500 tell me about getting hiking shoes i know what kind of answer i'm going to get if i go to a store and

00:07:03.360 say hey tell me what i need as far as hiking shoes and boots and things that go along with it but i

00:07:08.240 wanted to understand from a podiatrist what do they recommend and one of the things that kind of jumped

00:07:12.940 out at me talking to those folks was that they called it memory like our feet have a certain way that

00:07:20.280 they like to fit inside of a shoe and they get formulated for that shoe and so for me like i wear

00:07:27.420 a lot of merrells and merrells feel really good on my feet and i was wearing merrells before they were

00:07:32.280 cool and all that you know i've been wearing them for 30 years it's it's been there they my feet like

00:07:36.820 them and so a friend of mine that i was training at the time he had a really high-end boot and he's

00:07:45.140 like man these are the greatest boots i've ever had in my life i got them and man my back hurt my feet

00:07:49.160 hurt my knees hurt my hips hurt they just didn't work for me and discussing that with a podiatrist

00:07:54.960 that's where that memory comes into play so it's not the best thing to get a recommendation from

00:08:00.320 a friend on hey this shoe works for me other than the fact that it lasts a long time but the style

00:08:07.340 and the fit you need to go to a store and i'm a big fan of going to small outdoor stores not the

00:08:13.260 big box stores where somebody's basically making minimum wage to sell you a pair of shoes go to a

00:08:18.300 place where there's a small mama pop shop and usually in those type of stores you've got somebody

00:08:25.140 in the store that will nerd out on shoes they know everything they can tell you on shoes and so they'll

00:08:31.800 help you with that and so they'll listen to you they'll take your information and then they'll try

00:08:36.500 to find a shoe that fits for you and a big part of that is being able to wear the shoes in the store

00:08:40.680 which most of the small shops will be able to do that for you have an incline where you can walk

00:08:44.760 up a hill down a hill some sort of steps or something where you can walk up and down and

00:08:49.020 find the fit because walking downhill is different than walking uphill and your feet feel differently

00:08:53.260 in a pair of boots and so that's going to be critical no that's great advice i'm a big proponent

00:08:58.400 to of going to small mom and pop outdoor shops the one that i like i think we've already given the

00:09:03.160 shout out before on the podcast but it's a shop out of my hometown of edmond oklahoma called native summit

00:09:09.880 and uh small place on the down on the the main strip there in town but they're just they they're

00:09:15.100 really knowledgeable the people that work there they actually they're avid outdoorsmen right

00:09:19.740 backpacking and so they can definitely help you out and they got the shoes and i love that tip you

00:09:23.560 have in the book about what whatever shoe or boot you go with walk around with it in the store and

00:09:29.640 then a lot of these stores they get that incline because something i've noticed in my own experience

00:09:34.040 as you said going uphill is completely different from going downhill and i had a bad experience with

00:09:40.720 a pair of not so good fitting boots going on the downhill right end of my trip because my toe kept

00:09:48.480 sliding in to the front and my toenails ended up falling off oh wow yeah that's bad that's not good

00:09:55.340 don't do that brett yeah i don't recommend doing that you know i'm also a big fan and a lot of people

00:10:00.340 see me out doing some of the things that i do and i wear a pair of just regular sneaker

00:10:04.680 tennis shoe type shoes quite a bit in the outdoors because they're comfortable i like them they're not

00:10:10.260 necessarily hardcore hikers if i'm going to do something under pack like i ruck in the mornings

00:10:14.720 for exercise i'll i have my hiking boots on then because i'm going up and down hills here in kentucky

00:10:20.640 and i've got a pack on and the stuff that goes along with it so i want a little bit more

00:10:24.260 security there but general just going out and doing a day hike or walking through the woods and

00:10:29.320 studying trees or whatever it is that i'm doing that day that's you know i'll typically just have

00:10:34.460 a pair of tennis shoes on yeah what are your thoughts i know a lot of companies have been

00:10:37.520 putting out trail sneakers so they're like a sneaker they don't have the high top of a hiking boot

00:10:43.080 but the tread is like a hiking boot and a friend of mine the other day told me they're they're seeing

00:10:48.640 them even on through hikers yeah those are great i've actually got two really good friends that have

00:10:53.480 hiked the at the appalachian trail in those types of shoes they didn't wear any high top shoes of that

00:11:00.220 nature at all didn't wear boots they just wore those shoes and were incredibly comfortable you

00:11:04.160 know it's a long trip right there incredibly comfortable in those shoes again if i'm going

00:11:09.180 under a load with a pack on i'll probably have something that helps secure the bottom of my foot

00:11:14.760 a little bit better but other than that i'm tennis shoes those type of trail shoes work great for me

00:11:21.840 any advice on breaking in your hiking shoe or boot yeah i think a big part of that is to

00:11:28.440 go on short hikes really short hikes you don't want to put on a brand new pair of boots and then

00:11:34.340 hit the trail and go 10 15 20 miles that'll be problematic if you're wearing an all leather boot

00:11:40.240 a good mountaineer friend of mine recommended hey craig just get in a creek and walk with your all

00:11:44.540 leather boots and let them get soaking wet right as you get them and let that boot form fit around your

00:11:49.760 foot drying as you're walking and that helps quite a bit another thing is just to get out and walk

00:11:56.180 through a neighborhood walk on a day hike do something where you're breaking them in start a

00:12:00.480 mile here do two miles later do five and make sure that they're going to work for you because again as

00:12:05.600 you found out and and i have too i've had similar experiences where i learned lessons the hard way

00:12:10.900 you don't want to find out that that boot's not going to work 15 miles in right so you want to break

00:12:16.060 them in slowly that's for sure and be in and know what you've got on your feet before you head out

00:12:19.720 another thing you do in this book ultimate wilderness gear in the sections where you talk

00:12:24.360 about what gear to buy you also provide like little hacks tips get the most out of it and one you have

00:12:29.740 in the the section about shoes is how to dry your hiking boots out if they get wet when you're out on

00:12:35.320 the trail so how do you do that yeah that's one of the things that the folks that come to nature

00:12:40.200 line school i'm i'm fond of fire i use fire a lot so it's one of those things you want to avoid with

00:12:45.580 your footwear because it most people will take their shoes and sit them right next to the fire

00:12:50.640 and then sit back and get to talking and not pay attention and then the synthetic materials and the

00:12:55.920 leather dries out so quickly that they're just not going to be effective moving forward or they melt

00:13:01.220 or they melt yeah i've had that happen as well when i was a kid i had a pair of shoes that i put them

00:13:05.920 right next to the fire and the whole bottom of the shoe melted off in the fire at night i my uncle

00:13:10.160 let me learn a real valuable lesson that night the hard way i had to hike out barefooted but that's

00:13:15.340 definitely one of the things that can happen so we're all about slow slowly drying your shoes out

00:13:20.780 one way to do that is to take the insole out and because that's going to hold a lot of moisture

00:13:25.460 and dry air dry it around campfire don't necessarily have to put it on the fire but around you

00:13:31.060 and then another thing is just take some dry material and stuff it into boots and it'll soak

00:13:36.360 up a lot of moisture and then discard it once it gets damp and then put more in there whether it's

00:13:41.040 dry grass or something of that nature it's going to pull a lot of moisture out of the inside of the

00:13:45.260 boot next morning when you're ready to rock and roll again stick those insoles back in and and you'll

00:13:50.100 have as dry boot as you can get without damaging them by putting them by the fire so another thing you

00:13:56.280 recommend doing if you're going backpacking or maybe you're doing some car camping and you're

00:14:01.380 just hanging out around the camp you're not actually on the trail is to have a camp shoe

00:14:05.440 something else you put on that's not your hiking boot so what do you recommend for a camp shoe

00:14:10.940 find that one works for you everybody i enter in my way is not the way of doing things it is a way

00:14:17.580 of doing things but i love helping people find their way of doing things i that's my perspective but i

00:14:22.740 love crocs they are they yeah i am a croc guy man i love my crocs take off those stinky boots

00:14:30.800 where i've been man tracking or backpacking whatever it is that i'm doing and put those

00:14:34.800 things on i feel good so you can crocs dry really quickly so you can get into a creek or pond or

00:14:40.440 whatever it is you might need to do and get your feet damp moisture and wash them off if you need to

00:14:45.020 they dry really quickly you can put them on and off you know you can put the strap on the back put

00:14:49.740 them in four-wheel drive mode and go up a hill if you need to and short jaunts and they just they're

00:14:54.440 just great shoes they're easy to clean they are very lightweight which is great for backpackers

00:14:59.660 that way you take your regular shoes off and or while you're wearing your regular shoes down the

00:15:04.760 trail your crocs are hanging off the back it's not going to weigh you down they're they're just a

00:15:08.720 fantastic shoe and they're durable so i got a funny story about crocs so this past december we went to

00:15:14.900 hawaii for the first time as a family and we did some hikes on maui there's a national park there

00:15:20.220 and there's a volcano and we drove out there and we get there and when we get out there we realize

00:15:26.300 our kids they didn't bring any like sneakers they they were wearing their crocs and it's all they had

00:15:31.780 and we're like oh my gosh it'd be too late to drive all the way back to the condo so okay you're

00:15:38.340 gonna they hiked this giant volcano it was a long hike in crocs and i'm like how are your feet and

00:15:43.780 they're like oh it feels great it was comfortable and it's funny we were on the trail and there's

00:15:48.520 these like hikers who were just decked out and all the synthetic i mean they just look like they were

00:15:52.980 just gonna be out there for three days and they were giving our kids the side eye it's like you're

00:15:58.360 just wearing crocs and like yeah crocs were crushing it too weren't they i mean kids are so

00:16:02.540 resilient man i love hanging out with kids in the woods they're resilient little individuals and

00:16:06.560 they can handle crocs like a boss all right let's talk about uh tents uh because tents can get really

00:16:12.840 expensive especially backpacking tents because they're lightweight anything we should consider

00:16:16.800 when purchasing a tent you know you can get really expensive with tents but you can take it from me i

00:16:23.600 had a tent that i used for 25 years that was basically a very inexpensive kelty tent and the

00:16:30.520 only reason i'm not still using it is i loaned it to somebody and they didn't return it i would still

00:16:35.840 be using that thing but it requires that you take good care of your equipment meaning whenever you use

00:16:41.300 it get it back when you get back home set it up let it air dry make sure it's completely dry there's

00:16:46.600 no moisture so you're not building any bacteria up in it and mold and stuff of that nature and

00:16:51.500 setting it up and taking it down you just take good care of it and and those things will last quite a

00:16:55.780 long time the tent that i like for backpacking is the hubba hubba the two person it's it's so easy to

00:17:02.540 set up and take down especially at nighttime here's a question i always have whenever i'm setting up a tent

00:17:08.200 is it necessary to put on the rain fly every single time you set up a tent no no i spend a lot

00:17:14.060 of time without a rain fly on i like seeing the stars when i'm laying there that's one of the

00:17:17.520 reasons i get out so i like doing it that way what i do in that process though is i'll you know if it's

00:17:23.760 a four point tent i'll clip in two of the clips of my rain fly in case a surprise shower comes up or

00:17:31.360 something of that nature and i can get out and and put it back on and there's been numerous times in

00:17:35.300 summertime where i want the dew to hit me in the middle of the night and cool me off a little bit

00:17:40.380 because it's 95 degrees outside and humidity is terrible so getting a little moisture on your

00:17:45.500 skin is going to help cool me off and so i don't sleep with a rain fly on it's just one of those

00:17:50.620 things for sure that you have to make that decision based upon your experience what the weather's doing

00:17:55.500 what you know if you're expecting rain or not that's for sure because tents will hold a lot of heat in

00:18:00.180 with that rain fly on so yeah it's great in cold weather right but in hot weather if you're going

00:18:06.180 to spend more than just the winter months outside then you're going to try to do things to keep

00:18:10.580 yourself cool and that's one way you can do it is just remove it let it go another habit i got into

00:18:15.820 when i was a boy scout was setting a tarp underneath your tent do you have to do that these days or can

00:18:21.620 you set them up without the tarp underneath it i use a tarp still just because if the bottom of the

00:18:28.100 tent gets damaged or scratched or cut or something of that nature then now you know your tent is

00:18:33.500 suspect and so i usually use a tarp you know i'll clear the ground from wherever i want to set it up

00:18:38.880 and then i'll set the tarp up but one thing i do love to point out about tarps under a tent setup is

00:18:44.600 that most people i see because i see a lot of people come into our classes and they'll set up any number

00:18:50.340 of ways and one of the things i always do is i walk around and chat with them and try to help them

00:18:54.040 learn things from the experiences and our other instructors do the same but one of the things i

00:18:59.380 see that's real common is to take a tarp that's really big and spread it out and set your tent on

00:19:03.940 top of it and you basically got a lot of tarps sticking out from the outside of the bottom layer

00:19:10.160 you know the bottom footprint of your of your tent that's not good because if it does rain then that's

00:19:15.700 basically a guttering system it's going to seep water in underneath of you and so when you do set a

00:19:22.140 tarp up it should be as close proximity to the bottom of the tent as possible and some companies

00:19:28.100 even make what they call a footprint which is going to fit directly underneath the tent that you've

00:19:32.920 purchased well another question about tents that i have because i've had this happen a few times

00:19:38.740 yet sometimes you have to set up a tent in the rain any advice on there to make it less miserable

00:19:45.500 yeah keep the rain fly on the tent when you stuff it and definitely stuff it those things are called

00:19:52.080 stuff sacks because you stuff things in them you don't roll them up or fold them up and put them

00:19:56.220 in there one of the things that causes the the waterproofing layer on the tent to start to break

00:20:02.320 down is putting folds in a tarp or a tent or whatever because that stretches that fiber at that fold so

00:20:09.440 the more you can stuff something in a stuff sack the better off you're going to be and stuff it with

00:20:14.280 that i usually like to stuff it with the bottom of the tent down in the bag first and so as i'm

00:20:19.380 pulling it out i'm pulling it out with a rain fly on top that way everything that i'm pulling out is

00:20:24.220 coming out and it's going to have at least the rain fly on top of it is not going to be for example

00:20:28.500 the bottom of the tent where i'm getting ready to put my sleeping bag or something of that nature

00:20:31.540 i love that tip we've been talking about tents but you prefer to sleep in hammocks why is that

00:20:37.080 i've gone through stages i go back and forth hammocks are fantastic i love hammocks but i'm a big

00:20:44.000 fan of what's referred to as asymmetrical hammocks your typical forty dollar hammock for example

00:20:51.140 your whole body is going to be in that banana shape and that's okay if you can just lay there

00:20:56.840 and not move your shoulders get pinned in on you that ends up not providing very good sleep so

00:21:01.880 asymmetric hammocks are those that you basically sleep across the center line of the hammock and

00:21:06.980 they're designed for that purpose so even side sleepers like me i can sleep on my side in a hammock

00:21:12.980 but it has to be an asymmetric hammock and with a good pad in there that's some of the best sleep

00:21:18.880 i've gotten in the outdoors it's very comfortable it you know keeps rain off you rather easily for me

00:21:24.660 here in kentucky it's really easy because there's rocks and hills everywhere there's also trees so it

00:21:30.640 makes it easy for me to be able to set a hammock up don't have to worry about if i'm on a 45 degree

00:21:35.500 slope i can still set that hammock up and i'll sleep fine right there so the hammocks you're talking

00:21:40.840 about it's kind of like a tent it's got like a covering over the top right yeah exactly so they'll

00:21:45.540 have a tarp some of them are integrated some are removable hennessy is a great company that's what

00:21:50.840 i use warbon is another company that i've used in the past great hammocks great asymmetric hammocks

00:21:56.920 they work really well we're gonna take a quick break for your word from our sponsors

00:22:00.660 and now back to the show all right let's talk about sleeping bags do you have a go-to sleeping bag

00:22:11.020 this is probably the piece that might surprise most people i've got one of those no name

00:22:16.140 i can't even remember where i got it sleeping bags that i've been using for almost 35 40 years now

00:22:22.400 it was one of those and i think it has to be paired with a good sleeping pad but the key is

00:22:29.700 the insulation that's in it as well as taking care of it and there's a few things that i recommend on

00:22:35.700 taking care of your sleeping bag the first would be when you're storing it this is one of those

00:22:40.780 things you never ever under any circumstances should store in a stuff sack a lot of people probably

00:22:46.120 have them on their shelf right now their stuff because it takes up little space but you should find a

00:22:50.360 spot in the back of a closet somewhere where you can just toss it leave it on the floor or hang it up

00:22:55.900 so that it continues to maintain its loft that loft is really important something like an insulation

00:23:02.780 such as primaloft gold or something of that nature that is filling in these sleeping bags oftentimes have

00:23:08.100 hollow fibers and that's part of the thing that helps it retain its warmth and if you stuff it in a

00:23:15.240 stuff sack that gets squeezed out and it has memory therefore when you pull it out the next time

00:23:19.920 it won't do that very well it won't loft very well and so it won't retain heat if you need it to be

00:23:26.220 doing that so stuffing in the back of the closet is going to be really really good for it the other

00:23:31.280 thing is no matter what you think has happened at night we all put off a lot of moisture and so one

00:23:37.360 of the best things to do first thing in the morning when you get up is to reverse your sleeping bag and

00:23:42.420 let it air out if it's raining then at least do it inside the tent and if it's not raining take it out

00:23:48.300 hang it on a branch lay it on the ground whatever you need to do hang it and set up a guideline so

00:23:53.080 you can put it over a piece of rope and let it hang out and get a lot of air to it but get a lot

00:23:57.720 of that moisture out before you put it back in your backpack and move on to the next campsite will help

00:24:03.120 you tremendously in saving the life of that thing as well as saving the function of it while you're

00:24:07.980 utilizing it what are the advantages and disadvantages of say a down filler so using like feathers

00:24:13.680 versus a synthetic filler oh that's a great question it's it's one of the things that most

00:24:18.440 of us that spend much time in the outdoors know how warm down is and it's fantastic the way it's put

00:24:25.300 into a vest jacket a sleeping bag whatever it is that you have is very key but the problem with all

00:24:33.200 down is it starts to lose its ability to insulate if it gets wet now there have been some downs that have

00:24:39.360 been formulated where they're basically coated with a coating to help them retain their their warmth but

00:24:45.520 my experience is that that doesn't work really well and i say that because i see hundreds of students a

00:24:51.480 year and some of them come in with the best gear that you know money can buy and and then they get

00:24:55.880 cold well i think it's one of those things where you know moisture inside the sleeping bag is problematic

00:25:00.480 because of the down i'm a huge fan of the synthetic materials in my sleeping bag because most of them

00:25:08.300 will continue to insulate some even if they're damp which is a good thing the hollow feel is really

00:25:13.360 you know primal off gold and stuff of that nature is really good for that one of your tips you have

00:25:17.960 if you feel like you get hot and sweaty in your sleeping bag one tip you have is just like well

00:25:22.680 leave one leg out yeah absolutely that's one of the things my dad taught me deer hunting years ago

00:25:28.100 was because we would go out in eight degree weather and sleep in the back of the truck under 20 blankets

00:25:33.760 or a sleeping bag or something and i'll never forget him teaching me that the first time and it worked

00:25:37.380 really well but basically most people know you lose a lot of body heat through your head if you're

00:25:42.200 hiking or something of that nature so you're losing heat because it's an exposed portion of your body

00:25:47.300 that's true about any portion of your body that's exposed so if you're laying in a sleeping bag

00:25:52.280 and you stick your leg out or a foot or what have you then a lot of heat will escape both from the

00:25:58.160 opening where you've stuck it out as well as a lot of heat will come off of your leg and so you will

00:26:04.080 you will definitely reduce your body heat inside the bag by doing that temporarily then if it starts

00:26:10.080 to chill a little bit put your leg back in zip it back up or whatever you need to do and you're back

00:26:13.900 to getting warm again what if you get cold in your sleeping bag even if you have a cold weather bag any

00:26:19.240 tips on staying warm i think what i see a lot brett is that a lot of people just they feel like the

00:26:25.680 answer to staying warm in cold weather is to put as many clothes as they can on and then get in the

00:26:31.060 sleeping bag so sleeping bags are made to be utilized without basically any clothes on if you

00:26:39.160 can stand that because i like to say it this way our bodies are the only heaters that we take into

00:26:45.520 the outdoors with us unless we're taking something like hand warmers or something like that so if you

00:26:50.040 set your body up for success inside that sleeping bag it will succeed if you set it up for failure it's

00:26:55.280 going to fail and one of the big things that causes failure is when your blood is not flowing properly

00:26:59.680 so one part of that is make sure you're going into the sleeping bag hydrated and the second part of

00:27:05.420 that is make sure you don't have constricted clothes on like there's some tactical type classes that i

00:27:10.700 teach where i have to wear boots and gear and chess kits and stuff of that nature even in the sleeping

00:27:16.280 bag i have to be ready to go but i'll loosen up my belt and loosen up my shoes a little bit so that

00:27:22.160 the blood is flowing from my core down to my legs that's really important most people have

00:27:28.680 something that's tied around their waist inside the bag and blood just can't get to their legs

00:27:33.640 properly and if the blood's not flowing to your legs and feet your arms if it's constricted then

00:27:39.900 you're not going to get warm you're going to get chilled pretty quickly another little hack that i've

00:27:44.780 seen my wife does is a lot before you go to bed heat up some water and then put it in like a nalgene

00:27:50.680 and then you just stick that at the bottom of your sleeping bag and that they'll keep you warm

00:27:54.620 oh absolutely it's one of the things in survival class where because i take students out sometimes

00:27:59.680 we do knife only where we go out without any gear except a knife and one of the things that we are

00:28:04.440 very fond of doing is warming up rocks in a fire that we've built and put them in our pockets

00:28:08.800 and letting that help keep us warm same thing with a nalgene bottle in the bottom of your sleeping bag

00:28:13.640 you know it works great to keep your toesies warm down in the bottom of that bag sure and we've done

00:28:17.980 hot hands too we've had oh yeah just kind of that's that's a nice thing to have too and then also

00:28:22.980 with sleeping bag that's one of those things we have to really consider geography if you're going

00:28:26.760 to be doing a lot of cold weather camping you'll want to get one that can handle those low temperatures

00:28:32.960 but you know for me i live in oklahoma we do when we do our backpacking it's either new mexico and

00:28:38.400 colorado so we're up in the mountains and we typically go in the summer and early fall so it

00:28:43.200 doesn't get too cold so we just get kind of one of those sleeping bags that works year round and that

00:28:47.500 that seems to be all right but i imagine if we were in canada we'd want to get like a sub-zero

00:28:52.280 sleeping bag yeah that's that's really key and one thing that i haven't mentioned that's a really

00:28:56.820 good setup is united states military has what they call the military sleep system which is basically

00:29:02.160 a summer bag a cold weather bag and a bivy sack that goes around it and when it's extremely cold

00:29:07.940 weather you can put all three pieces together and i've utilized that in sub-zero temps like we had

00:29:12.320 a class this past year where we had students out in nine below zero here in kentucky which is

00:29:19.100 very uncommon for us and that's what i used was military sleep system and it worked great i slept

00:29:25.200 like a champ in nine below zero weather with just basically the winter bag and the bivy sack without

00:29:31.000 the other bag added to it and that that gives you what i call modularity you can add to or take away

00:29:36.300 whatever it is you need based upon wherever it is that you're going so in your book you said you would

00:29:41.480 spend more on your sleeping pad than you would on your sleeping bag why is that oh no doubt about it this

00:29:48.280 is this is another one of those things that's really critical for people to get and that is

00:29:53.320 the earth is a fantastic it does well it does a fantastic job of conducting heat away from your

00:30:01.280 body if you're on it so think about it now in the summertime if you need to get some heat out of your

00:30:06.120 body lay down on the ground let it pull some of that heat out same thing is true in the wintertime if

00:30:10.340 you lay down on the earth it's going to pull heat away from your body so if you've got a sleeping bag

00:30:15.600 and you've got a five thousand dollar sleeping bag if that even exists and lay down on the earth

00:30:20.460 without a pad it's not going to do you any good because it's going to pull the heat away from your

00:30:24.940 body where you're because the insulation that's underneath of you is going to compress and there's

00:30:29.580 basically no insulation there so the pad is critical it's absolutely critical to this process so

00:30:36.080 if i'm going to spend more money on one item or the other i'm going to spend the most money i can

00:30:40.680 afford on my pad versus my sleeping bag now keep in mind i'm not doing northern boreal forest you

00:30:47.620 know arctic temperatures in canada or alaska i've only done that a couple times but but i don't have

00:30:52.960 to get that sort of sleeping bag but for me here and in most situations most of the people that i work

00:30:59.280 with a sleeping pad is the key to insulate you from the ground and sleeping pads today are made with

00:31:04.580 r values so get something with the highest r value that you can afford they work exceptionally well a lot

00:31:10.340 of them have insulation inside of them and it works really really well for that what's an r value

00:31:15.940 r value is just a designator just like insulation in a home that tells you the value of its warmth

00:31:22.560 to ratio and so r value is going to help you you can see this number it's basically easy to

00:31:28.640 quantify a sleeping bag's value as a warmth insulator and so the higher the r value is going

00:31:35.160 to be more effective so yeah there's lots of options for sleeping pads i use regularly the big

00:31:40.720 agnes just the inflatable on backpacking kate she uses this i forgot the name of the brand but it's

00:31:47.320 like a combo air plus foam pad that's where i'm at that's where you're at you like that one yeah i do

00:31:54.340 i like it because it just adds a little bit of uh comfort away from some of the rocks and stuff that

00:31:59.660 are there as well as if it's just air though you know for you know i'm not a little guy i'm a bigger

00:32:04.800 guy so if i'm laying on that then i might find that rock that i didn't realize was there so having

00:32:11.760 both is really comfortable for me i'm a big fan of climate pads i use them in my hammocks as well as

00:32:18.080 my tents they work exceptionally well have you tried a backpacking cot i have not now i have some

00:32:24.400 cots that i do when i what i call glamping you know when i'm glamour camping but and i love sleeping

00:32:30.140 on a cot because it provides an area for storage underneath but i have never used one on a backpacking

00:32:34.640 trip i know yeah i've got one they're all right i don't i don't think it was worth the extra weight

00:32:40.620 so what's the structure made out of it's this like metal tubing and i mean yeah just rolls up it's

00:32:47.280 really compact and i keep it on the outside of my pack of my backpack but yeah i just i didn't think

00:32:53.720 it added much comfort the other other thing too i noticed is that it got colder because i just felt

00:32:58.700 like cold air would get underneath there and it wasn't it wasn't as warm yeah that's definitely

00:33:04.480 something that i don't use cots in cold weather situations i want something that's going to

00:33:08.600 insulate me for sure underneath me if i'm going to use a cot then i would use a pad on top of it too

00:33:12.780 yeah which is you know that's adding way too much for a backpacking trip for sure you actually have

00:33:17.580 some advice a great tip on making your sleep a bit more restful and when you're sleeping on the

00:33:23.660 ground so how do you do that yeah this is a great man i hope your listeners love this because i've

00:33:29.080 taught this to so many people and they're like that's the greatest thing ever craig i call it the

00:33:33.180 butt divot but basically you create a divot in the ground before you put your tent down before you put

00:33:39.400 your sleeping pad down that is around the circumference of your bottom and dig it one to two inches deep

00:33:47.460 and that way when you lay flat on your back your bottom goes down into it and helps to align your

00:33:54.040 spine if you sleep on your side then your hip goes down in it and does the same thing because the thing

00:34:00.120 that gets most people to be uncomfortable sleeping on the ground is that spinal misalignment and so by

00:34:08.460 digging that little divot out it'll help align your spine you'll sleep better i promise you you'll sleep

00:34:14.340 better everybody's listening you'll love it and it works exceptionally well it's really easy to do

00:34:17.940 you can use this you don't have to take carry a shovel just grab a stick or a rock or something

00:34:21.880 and dig out a little divot it doesn't take very long and you'll sleep much better another thing i

00:34:26.560 recommend if you're a backpacker the roi on it is incredible a backpacking pillow oh yeah they're

00:34:34.440 amazing yeah yeah i love a good pill um this one the favorite father's day gifts that my kids give

00:34:40.120 me i've got six or seven of those things and i love them all some of them are made that you blow

00:34:45.480 up others or come with some sort of material inside of them others are just something that you

00:34:49.960 stick your clothes into and make a pillow out of it tough possum gear i've got a piece of equipment

00:34:55.620 of theirs that i utilize for that to make a pillow impromptu in the field it's uh fantastic have a good

00:35:01.580 pillow i love it too yeah the one i got it's really small but it fills up nice and it's just really

00:35:06.360 comfortable nice let's talk about water and one decision you have to make when you go out

00:35:11.420 backpacking or on a hike is how you're going to carry your water there's the bottle option like

00:35:16.740 the nalgene bottle or the bladder option like the camelback what are the pros and cons of either one

00:35:22.280 i use both at different times but just for ease of use putting the bladder on and being able to get

00:35:29.620 to water whenever i want to easily just super easily is you know that's very attractive and you know

00:35:35.620 because i love getting kids outside too my kids are grown now but having a water bladder for you for

00:35:40.980 your child their own little backpack with a water bladder on it is the coolest thing for kids to

00:35:46.540 carry their own water and they think they're super cool because they get this big massive straw so if

00:35:51.080 you're wanting to get your kids involved in the outdoors get them a little camelback or something

00:35:55.020 of that nature that that's fun but i've gotten to wear from a survivalist perspective because i teach so

00:36:01.400 much survival i usually have either a plastic water bottle and a metal cup that nests right on top of it

00:36:07.940 or i have a metal water bottle so that i have something there that i can boil water in in a problematic

00:36:15.400 situation and i love having access to that from a survival perspective gotcha yeah i use the um i like to

00:36:22.720 use the bladder but one downside with the bladder is they're painting the butt to clean when you get home

00:36:27.460 they are i end up buying the whole kit and and i have it and i use you know you have the wire brush

00:36:33.500 that you can stick all the way through the tube make sure everything gets good clean and it's one

00:36:36.620 of them things you've just got to do it if you don't take the opportunity when you get home to clean

00:36:41.720 your equipment then you're going to have to rebuy equipment it's a great way to save money in your

00:36:46.680 budget because buy it once take care of it and it'll last a very long time for you

00:36:51.400 what's your go-to for water filtration when you're out backpacking saw your saw your mini saw your

00:36:58.000 squeeze that's the easiest one that i found that works really well i train a lot of folks on the

00:37:03.700 federal level in law enforcement the united states military and so we've looked at a bunch of these

00:37:08.680 things like a bunch of different filtration and purification devices and those are two very

00:37:14.080 different things by the way purification versus filtration but as far as filtration is concerned

00:37:18.520 i like the sawyer you basically get a saw your squeeze for example it has a little bag you put

00:37:25.100 your water that's suspect and possibly contaminated in the bag and then you put your you screw on the

00:37:31.280 filter on top of it and if it's new and hasn't been used a lot then typically it you can gravity feed

00:37:37.820 the water out of it you don't have to do anything else with it except hang it upside down if it has been

00:37:42.680 used a lot and there's you're starting to get some of the the sediment that's blocking it then you can

00:37:47.740 squeeze it through and it makes it easy to squeeze through and that's a nice little package to have

00:37:52.280 a saw your squeeze system yeah i've been using the i want to check that out but i've been using the

00:37:57.300 katadin hiker the pro that's a pump filter it's worked out good i used one of those for years brett

00:38:04.200 they are great yeah and and keep in mind and i'm glad you brought it up what i just recommended is a

00:38:09.860 personal go-to like i've got one somebody else that's with me will have their own if i'm gathering

00:38:15.440 something like maybe what you're describing where you're taking the kids out because i did the same

00:38:18.980 thing when my kids were little i would take that pump because i can stick that in the water everybody

00:38:23.640 can bring their water bottle around or their bladder whatever they've got we can pump it and

00:38:28.100 everybody gets filled up rather quickly because you can get more water quickly from a katadin pump than

00:38:33.800 you can a sawyer that's for sure and yeah going back to the distinction between filtration and

00:38:38.460 purification filtration like the pumps we've been talking about that will get pretty much

00:38:43.880 everything except for viruses did i get that right yeah you've got that exactly right and that's a

00:38:48.440 thing that a lot of people miss you're going to almost and there's a lot of debate on this and

00:38:52.860 i've taken this to the kentucky division of water here in my state where we've looked at devices and

00:38:58.440 tested them against what what basically the marketing says and the best thing out there for viral

00:39:05.140 contamination water source is some sort of chemical additive whether it's chlorine dioxide or an iodine like

00:39:10.760 they've used in the military for years some of that variation is is going to be the best thing for

00:39:15.000 viruses however i caution people because in a what i call diminished decision making it's easy to say

00:39:23.940 okay one of these tablets is good then this looks really dirty for whatever reason because you've got

00:39:30.360 diminished decision making then three will be better well that causes problems for your organs and you

00:39:35.020 don't want to do that so usually what i do is i write how many tablets are needed on the packaging

00:39:40.160 and on my bottle so that if i'm tired dehydrated not making good decisions i just follow my own

00:39:45.900 directions on the packaging gotcha and i think for most instances when i've been backpacking up in the

00:39:51.240 mountains i'm not particularly worried about viruses in the water i'm just worried more about the

00:39:55.960 bacteria and the sediment things like that correct that's that's the main thing any go-to for heating up

00:40:01.800 water do you like the jet boil i like jet boil i've got a fire maple now that's a new company that

00:40:07.320 started to send me products a few months ago just to test and and see how they perform it's you know

00:40:12.400 it's a new type of system like that that's on the market and it's more affordable i mean it's one of

00:40:17.240 those things that it goes with your budget i've used jet boils for years i've used msrs for years i use

00:40:22.420 you know fire that i make in the outdoors from wood depending upon the area that you're in sometimes

00:40:27.240 you cannot do that so you have to take a stove of some sort but yeah any of those things make it

00:40:31.320 really super quick i would like to add from a safety perspective is is it there's a lot of burns

00:40:37.320 that are happening from using things like jet boils because people get them started and then they walk

00:40:41.360 away from them or they sit down and put that thing between their legs because hey i put my hands over

00:40:47.320 it there's been a lot of serious injury from that don't make that mistake when you set it up and you're

00:40:52.200 going to use it keep your eye on it have it on a stable rock or or the ground use the stand that

00:40:58.400 comes with it a lot of people don't use the stand use the stand that comes with it it's there for a

00:41:02.620 reason something i'd like to talk about too you talk a lot about in the book you have a whole chapter

00:41:08.580 dedicated to it i think a lot of guys love talking about this tool a knife yes and uh you recommend

00:41:15.480 your primary knife when you're out out in the outdoors is a fixed blade knife over a folding knife why is

00:41:21.600 that definitely because anything that has more moving parts or mechanical parts to it that introduces

00:41:29.520 an opportunity for something to break so a fixed blade knife doesn't have that problem and when i

00:41:35.320 say a fixed blade knife i'm talking about a fixed blade knife with a full tang the tang goes from the

00:41:39.580 tip of the knife all the way down to the hilt i'm a huge fan of lt wright handcrafted knives they're

00:41:45.080 built here in in united states in ohio great guys great knives they've built the knives that i've

00:41:51.020 designed those are just go-to tools that you can utilize for all your cutting and i do say cutting

00:41:56.760 not chopping so a lot of people try to find that knife that works both as a chopper and a cutter and

00:42:02.820 it just doesn't ever turn out very well i'm a big fan of just a really good solid fixed blade knife now

00:42:08.960 that doesn't mean that i don't utilize or have with me a multi-tool or something like that

00:42:13.780 i do have it i just don't want that to be my go-to cutting tool now i want something that i know

00:42:19.660 that when i pull it out and i use it i'm going to be able to use it and i don't abuse my tools ever

00:42:24.440 but if i use it properly it's going to last me forever okay so a fixed blade bring along a leatherman

00:42:31.160 just to have the i always have a leatherman always have a fixed blade what do you recommend

00:42:35.800 backpackers take out or even just you're out for you're doing car camping what do you take out for

00:42:41.680 starting a fire this might surprise people but i carry a lighter and i carry a lighter in my pocket

00:42:48.360 and the backup for that lighter is another lighter and the backup for that is a ferrule cerium rod

00:42:53.240 and because they just work and you're talking like a bic lighter yeah a bic lighter i mean nothing

00:42:59.720 nothing fancy at all i mean this is one of those things where i do save money because i'm going to

00:43:03.740 buy good shoes and i'm going to buy a good sleeping pad i don't have to buy some fire starter that's

00:43:08.460 going to cost me a lot of money but you know understanding fire is important you need a fuel

00:43:13.680 source you need a ignition source you need oxygen so to make that fire that fuel source of a bic lighter

00:43:19.580 and i usually keep at least one of my bic lighters in some sort of waterproof container whether that's

00:43:24.720 the one in my pocket or the one in my pack something that is a waterproof container so it doesn't get

00:43:29.660 wet because they don't work real well when they're wet and then some sort of accelerant fast fire is a

00:43:35.560 company that makes some great products you can get some less expensive versions that are basically

00:43:40.180 backyard grill you know starters that you can start a grill in the backyard take those with you because

00:43:46.600 most of those accelerants are something that when you light them they're going to burn a little bit

00:43:51.060 longer and hotter they'll go quickly but it's going to help you in that situation where you got damp

00:43:56.960 conditions and damp materials that you're working with and so you might need that little boost to help

00:44:01.860 you get that fire because everything out there is wet at the time and so having fire accelerant

00:44:07.020 cubes of some sort are good to take with you as well let's talk about backpacks any recommendations on

00:44:12.780 picking a backpack yeah i think the big thing people need to look for and i and i just came up with a

00:44:17.960 number here many years ago but if you're going to carry something over 20 pounds for most people

00:44:24.680 then i recommend getting something that has a waist belt on it because you don't want anything

00:44:30.540 from again most people and this is different depending upon your health and fitness and your

00:44:34.720 experience but anything more than 20 pounds just on the shoulders is going to cause a fair amount of

00:44:39.500 stress particularly when you're not used to it if you have a waist belt on your pack and put it on you

00:44:44.140 and utilize it then it transfers that weight to your core where you've got these big huge muscles

00:44:50.920 there your buttocks and your hips and your abdomen and all the things there that are going to help

00:44:55.100 carry that weight a lot better i'm a big fan of hill people gear packs they're made in

00:44:59.860 colorado those are good guys out there they make great packs they've got different belt systems

00:45:05.460 that you can utilize depending upon what your needs they've got real hardy backpacks

00:45:09.060 and whether you get something like from a hill people gear you go to a store either one

00:45:13.980 again i would recommend going to a small store where you've got like we talked about before where

00:45:19.620 you had the shoe guy or the shoe gal in a small store you might have the pack person you know the

00:45:24.980 person that's really good at sizing you up they've got frames that can put on you and measure your

00:45:30.080 spine and your hip distance and they'll find a pack that fits you better or they'll set it up to

00:45:35.020 fit you better and in companies like hill people gear again they have forums and social media groups

00:45:40.880 where you can ask questions of the owners of the company and you can talk to people that carry those

00:45:46.480 packs and there's groups like that on social media for every product out there and that way you can get

00:45:52.100 your questions answered that's one of the things that i do like about social media yeah for sure

00:45:56.860 any advice on packing your backpack yeah everything that's the heaviest needs to be at your core

00:46:02.200 that's where the big muscles of your body work from and you'll be better served if you do that rather

00:46:07.660 than hanging it off the top and that's another thing everything needs to be tied tightly to your

00:46:12.600 pack and not swinging that causes problems but the big thing there is put it as close to your core as

00:46:18.260 you can well craig this has been a great conversation we covered a lot of ground there's a lot more

00:46:23.040 people can learn where can they go to learn more about the book and your work yeah thanks brett it's

00:46:28.000 been great to be on here with you naturereliance.org is my website naturereliance.org is the hub for

00:46:35.320 everything that i do i've got a robust online school where you can train with me from anywhere in the

00:46:40.140 world you can find our calendar of classes come study with us in person all my socials are there i'm on

00:46:45.800 youtube facebook instagram all those i've got links to my books on my website you can also pick

00:46:51.080 those up the one we've been talking about today is ultimate wilderness gear it is one of eight books

00:46:56.300 and or field guides that i've written and i love for people to get outside any way that i can help

00:47:01.620 you i'm happy to help you and being on here with you brett's been a great way to do that and i

00:47:05.660 appreciate it well craig coddle thanks for time it's been a pleasure yeah thank you brett my guest

00:47:11.160 today was craig coddle he's the author of a number of books including ultimate wilderness gear

00:47:14.560 he's also the chief instructor at nature reliance school which you can find more about at nature

00:47:18.760 reliance.org also check out our show notes at awm.is outdoor gear we find links to resources

00:47:24.440 we delve deeper into this topic including links to the specific gear recommendations craig and i

00:47:28.780 mentioned in our conversation

00:47:29.920 well that wraps up another edition of the awm podcast make sure to check out our website at

00:47:41.100 artofmanliness.com where you find our podcast archives as well as thousands of articles that

00:47:44.800 have been written over the years about pretty much anything you think of and if you haven't

00:47:47.760 done so already i'd appreciate if you take one minute to get you know the podcast or spotify it

00:47:51.000 helps out a lot and if you've done that already thank you please consider sharing the show with

00:47:54.740 a friend or family member who you think is something out of it as always thank you for the

00:47:58.240 continued support until next time it's brett mckay reminding you to listen to the awm podcast

00:48:01.880 but put what you've heard into action

00:48:03.880 you

The Art of Manliness - August 19, 2024

Boots, Tents, Sleeping Bags, and More： How to Choose and Use Outdoor Gear

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