Great Outdoor Blog

Imagine kayaking the volcanic Aleutian Islands, exploring the aquatic environment of water moccasins, joining Orcas in their predatory pursuit of baleen whales, or delighting in the suspenseful maiden flight of fledgling Mergansers as they leave the nest for the wild. These are among the captivating and varied themes of more than fifteen independent and documentary films to be screened at the Third Annual Neuse Riverkeeper Film Festival which opens at two venues in Raleigh in late January, and later moves to Kinston, New Bern and Oriental.

The collection showcases the documentary work of local filmmaker Art Howard, whose films entitled “George Divoky” and “Sturgeon City,” will be shown along with the works of award-winning artists as Klaus Toft who produced “Killers in Eden,” the extraordinary story of killer whales incredibly cooperating with humans in the deadly hunt for baleen whales.

The Raleigh showings are scheduled for January 19 at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences at #11 West Jones St. and the nearby North Carolina Museum of History at #5 Edenton St. The Showtime’s are 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at both venues and each of the screenings will last about 90 minutes. While the films to be shown at the History Museum are different than those to be screened at the Natural Science Museum, ticket holders will be allowed to move between the two adjacent venues during periodic intermissions, thus permitting them to view the films of their choice.

A complete list of the films, which vary in length from four minutes to sixty minutes, and a brief explanation of their respective story lines can be found at the Neuse River Foundation’s website at: www.neuseriver.org/filmfestival.html

Film festival tickets, at $10 each, (good for the entire evening), may be purchased at the door or in advance by either visiting the foundation’s website: www.neuseriver.org/filmfestival.html

Give Good Green! Be a tree hugger!

Promote Open Space, clean rivers and fresh air with your $4 donation to Earth Share of North Carolina. You receive a recycled tree planter complete with a Colorado Spruce for you or your favorite tree hugger! Available at your local Great Outdoor Provision Co. Shop

John Flowers (Greensboro Staff) will be conducting paddling sessions in Burlington for paddlers of all skill levels

When: Every other Wednesday Evening, 7:30-9:30pm
Jan 16 & 30, Feb 13 & 27, Mar 12 & 26, Apr 9

Who: All paddlers!
$7 per session

Where: Maynard Aquatic Center
1402 Overbrook Road - Burlington, NC 27215

For more specific questions you can contact John at 336-851-1331

POSTED on SNEWS 12/03/2007:
The hottest development in stove technology the past few years has been heat exchangers—devices that transfer heat directly from a stove burner to a pot to avoid heat loss and make stoves more efficient. The trend began with the Jetboil, and other manufacturers now offer their own variations on the theme. MSR’s Reactor may be the best of the bunch, and this is not only due to the performance of its heat exchanger. The burner itself represents a leap forward, allowing the stove to cook quickly while remaining whisper quiet and pretty much impervious to wind.

The Reactor cooking system includes a 1.7-liter pot with an enclosed heat exchanger welded to the bottom. The pot also has a metal handle that is very stable when in use yet flips up easily for tidy storage, plus a clear lid. The final piece is the lightweight burner, about the diameter of a hockey puck, which accepts fuel canisters. The stove kit weighs 21 ounces, and the burner and a fuel canister can be stored inside the pot. MSR even supplies a small pack towel that can be used to wipe moisture from the pot after cleaning, while it also prevents the burner and canister from clanking inside the pot.

The burner has a couple of unique elements that make it perform exceptionally well. A perforated metal shield surrounding the guts of the burner captures surrounding air and prevents this air from escaping as it is forced into the burner. This not only makes the most effective use of available air, but also speeds it to the burner to increase efficiency. While most stoves just use convective heat (heat rising from the burner), the Reactor burner also has an enclosed piece of metallic foam that delivers radiant heat for greater effect. Basically, these technologies allow you to cook quickly and save fuel.

The shield around the burner and the encased heat exchanger also block wind. We tested the stove by placing a high-speed fan about 6 inches away and we were able to light it with no problem. The convex mesh screen atop the burner fits into the concave bottom of the pot, further eliminating the effects of wind.

The stove is also extremely quiet, even when running full bore. Dinner around the campsite is so much more pleasant when you don’t have to shout at your buddy over the roar of a stove.

We also appreciated that the Reactor is easy to light, and we didn’t suffer any flame-ups or singed hair. To light the stove, you simply place a flame at a spot at the burner’s edge, (marked with the MSR logo), and then turn the flame adjuster (a flip-up tab) to the position of maximum heat. In less than 30 seconds, the steel mesh atop the burner transitions from being covered with a blue flame to glowing orange, indicating that you’re set to cook.

We tested the Reactor in warm temperatures and cooler, 40-degree weather, and it boiled 1 liter of water in 3.5 to 4 minutes (running at full strength with a half-full canister). That’s pretty swift. A half-liter of soup (Campbell’s Chunky Grilled Chicken and Sausage Gumbo…mmm) completely heated in less than three minutes. But we had to keep stirring the stuff to prevent scorching, and this is the one drawback.

The Reactor burns extremely hot, even when the flame adjuster is nearly cranked to the off position, so this stove is not suited for meals that require simmering. On the other hand, if you have been slogging through rain and cold and need a hot drink pronto, this is an excellent product.

Compared to its main competitor, the Jetboil PCS, the Reactor has a simple, yet distinct advantage—the cook pot is larger. The Jetboil pot can be filled with 0.5 liters of liquid (without it boiling over), while the Reactor can be filled with 1.6 liters. Therefore, the Reactor does a better job serving the needs of more than one person.

One negative about the Reactor is that the convex burner prevents it from being used with other pots. Integrated systems such as the Reactor and Jetboil PCS simply do not allow a person to match the stove with the variety of pots from other manufactures already in the gear closet.

Despite this limitation, the Reactor excels at its job. We definitely recommend it for anyone seeking lots of heat, delivered immediately and in the nastiest weather conditions.

SNEWS® Rating: 4.5 hands clapping (1 to 5 hands clapping possible, with 5 clapping hands representing functional and design perfection)

$139.95

POSTED on SNEWS 11/19/2007:
The Walkstool from Sweden made us stop in our tracks when we saw it at a trade show earlier this year. It looks like a regular tripod stool, but we noted some intriguing differences we wanted to examine more closely.

The stool comes in five models, with three made in Sweden with higher prices and more features and two made in China with slightly downsized features and prices that are correspondingly lower.

On first sit we were in love with the comfort of the mesh seating and the practicality of how easily it could fold and transport in a small, lightweight package. We especially liked the feature that allows a user to not telescope the legs, leaving it looking almost chopped off where the three legs would normally join in the tripod before they flare back out again to the ground. This allows a user to sit on the stool in situations that require seating for very low uses such as gardening, working on a bike, or perhaps getting closer to a campfire, while still having the option of reaching, turning and even pivoting on the foot pods without having to get up or dare toppling over.

We and the SNEWS® team used it in a variety of situations – on dirt, gardening, indeed working on a bike, on asphalt, while throwing a ball to the dog, and even on carpet. While we still like the low seating option that avoids forcing someone to crouch, kneel (ouch!), or sit on the ground, and we generally liked the mesh seat, we discovered a couple of negatives:

First, the stool doesn’t work well on carpet. In fact, the feet stick to the carpet and can cause difficulties in spreading the three legs to their largest diameter, which causes the mesh seat to bunch up and become a narrower and deeper seat. The feet can also catch on rugs, so you can’t just slide it or move it without closing it up or even knocking it over. OK, we can go with the fact that it’s not really meant for carpet. But the first reason, above, caused this second negative to some users: Our male testers found that if the seat wasn’t spread out tautly — i.e. the legs weren’t fully extended — the top of one of the tripod legs that ended up in front of you could, well, jab uncomfortably in all the wrong places. To avoid that … uh … jabbing, you had to make an extra effort to tighten the mesh seat outward, sit farther back in the seat or sit slightly askew. Now, that didn’t seem to happen as often on smooth surfaces, such as asphalt or flat dirt. Nevertheless, our male testers were put off a bit.

Where the Walkstool really shines is in its packability as well as in that ability to sit in low positions while saving strain on the back. Or to have a quick seat available for other situations such as hiking, birding or photography outings.

The stool comes in several sizes so you can determine how high or low you want to be, which height works better for your leg length, or which seat width best fits your back side. The “comfort” models made in Sweden have bigger rubber feet, higher quality metal, and more comfortable seats. The “basic” models, made in China, have smaller plastic feet, slightly smaller seats, and unventilated seat material. The three made-in-Sweden models also come in a lightweight pouch for no-brainer schlepping.

We still like the stool for certain uses – it WAS a dream when we worked on our bike or gardened in a low position – and would be great for a million other uses — as long as it’s not on carpet.

SNEWS® Rating: 4.0 hands clapping (1 to 5 hands clapping possible, with 5 clapping hands representing functional and design perfection)

We stock the Comfort models, $70-$100

Umstead caters to runners and cyclists http://www.newsobserver.com/print/friday/city_state/story/802585.html