camping | The Filson Journal

Grit: Marc Warnke’s Pack Goats

Will Kutscher — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 20:27:32 +0000

Goats are one of the earliest animals domesticated by humans. While they’ve been utilized for countless purposes, it’s still oddly uncommon in America to use them as pack animals, but one man hopes to buck the trend.

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Filson in the Field: Searching for Muskox in the Alaskan Arctic

Angela Becia — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 22:53:57 +0000

As a company founded on equipping folks headed into the frozen desolation of the Klondike goldfields in 1897, we knew that we needed to do something that was a bit off the beaten path. With this in mind, we decided to head to the western edge of Alaska, above the Arctic Circle to tell the tale of the remarkable rebirth of an animal that was hunted to extinction in North America over a century ago, the musk ox.

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Filson Fundamentals: The Anatomy of a Knife & Choosing the Right One

Will Kutscher — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 22:01:38 +0000

We reached out to local knife maker, Robb gray of Graycloud knives, to give us the full rundown of the anatomy of a knife and how to choose the best for one’s intended use.
"I’ve made over 3000 knives in my shop and I get a lot of the same questions from my clients. “I want a knife: I’m just not sure which one I need!” To help them answer that question, I first ask them to describe what they want to use it for and how they want to use it."

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Ski Hunting the Alaskan Arctic

Will Kutscher — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 03:22:06 +0000

For untold millennia humans have been strapping skis to their feet and heading out to hunt prey. In the Altai Mountains of western China, 10,000-year-old rock art depicts paleohunters engaging in the practice, while 4,000-year-old rock carvings in Norway show the same thing. Its DNA is even found in the biathlon of the Olympic Games.

Hunting for game on skis is not easy. It requires commitment. The weather is often harsh, the trails challenging, and the quarry difficult to find. It's a more organic way of stalking prey. The advantages that the modern hunter has are fewer. It's more akin to times past when hunting was much more rugged and dangerous. Skiing into the backcountry off the highway can be deadly, especially in the spring. Storms can blow up unexpectedly, the temperatures often top out at twenty below, equipment fails, and there is no lifeline. You are on your own.

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Filson Community: Campfire Ghost Stories

Will Kutscher — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 04:19:16 +0000

Cheers to everyone who wrote in with their scariest campfire ghost stories. Read on for our favorite submissions, and be sure to commit one to memory for your next night around the campfire...

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DIY Stock Tank Hot Tub

Will Kutscher — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:26:22 +0000

In this how-to, we show you how to make your very own wood-fired hot tub with simple materials you can get right at the hardware store. You’ll be up and running in just a couple hours for about $200.

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Filson Food: Pork Shoulder with Foraged Asparagus & Wild Spring Onions

Angela Becia — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 15:39:26 +0000

Spring onions are truly wild and much more abundant than asparagus. They can be found in drier climates in open clearings and among sparsely treed Douglas Fir forests. The challenge is that the green onion shoots often look just like grass. Look for clumps of 4–6 green cupped or folded shoots that all meet together where they come out of the ground. Use your fingers or a knife to dig out the root slightly before pulling them out as a whole cluster. Once you get an eye for them you will notice them absolutely everywhere.

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Why We Must: On Diversity in the Outdoors by Eddy Harris

Will Kutscher — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 00:12:15 +0000

“It’s easy to imagine that Black Americans don’t ski, don’t fly-fish for trout, don’t camp out, don’t kayak or surf, and don’t appreciate nature – don’t do a lot of things. Somewhere along the way, the Black experience, at least in the eyes of so many people – Blacks included – became an urban phenomenon, as if living in cities precludes the desire and possibility of re-creating in the great outdoors and appreciating the natural environment.

I have done all of those activities, and then some. I fish, I camp, I hike in the woods, I hike in the mountains. I even like opera. I have canoed the length of the Mississippi River twice. If there is a reason we don’t see Blacks taking part in a lot of those activities, perhaps it has more to do with economics and exposure and less to do with the activities themselves.” – An excerpt from Why We Must, by author and storyteller Eddy L. Harris.

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DIY Camp Chuck Box

Will Kutscher — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 00:48:17 +0000

One of the biggest challenges of any camping trip is having a proper cooking loadout. The solution is one that dates back to the 1800s Oregon Trail: the chuck box.
A chuck box is essentially a kitchen in a box. It stores your cooking stove, fuel, pots, pans, utensils, and food. When open, it offers a flat prep surface for a proper fireside meal and helps keep all of your kitchen items neatly organized in one place. Since a chuck box is portable, it’s very versatile as you can leave it the trunk of your rig or set it up on any flat surface. In this how-to, we’ve teamed up with Peter Capar to provide you with a full build design for a simple, customizable, chuck box using a single sheet of plywood.

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Filson Food: Drunken Bacon S’mores

Will Kutscher — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 00:38:05 +0000

You know what a s'more is. They've been a camping staple around the fire for as long as any of us can remember. But what we have here today is a clever and boozy upgrade on a camping staple. Read the Recipe on the Filson Journal for Drunken Bacon S’mores These s’mores are irresistible thanks to their sweet and salty combo. Bourbon, bacon, and chocolate are the stars of the show and make for a campfire treat that upstages the classic version.

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