GPS Accuracy- Who Needs It?

I'm really impressed with the accuracy of my latest GPS receiver, the Garmin eTrex 30. Capable of receiving the Russian GLONASS satellites as well as the aviation WAAS satellites, it has been achieving accuracy of 7 or 8 feet in the few days that I've been testing it. The eTrex 30 seems to consistently be several feet more accurate than my other trail GPS, a Garmin GPSMAP 62s. The 62s can receive the WAAS satellites but not GLONASS.

So what? The guaranteed civilian GPS accuracy of 30 feet is plenty good enough for road, trail, and cross-country navigation. The most accurate maps available (at least in the U.S.), USGS 7.5-minute series topographic maps, are not as accurate as civilian GPS.

If you can't find a trail, road, or campsite when you're within 30 feet of it, your basic wilderness skills need a bit of work.

More accuracy will certainly make it easier to find a geocache, but on the other hand being able to walk right up to a geocache instead of using the written clues to find it seems to take some of the fun out of it. Of course, when you hide a new geocache, you should take advantage of all the accuracy features of your GPS receiver, including WAAS, GLONASS, and waypoint averaging, if your GPS receiver supports them.

The only other time the 30-feet accuracy standard fails to be good enough is when you're hiking and trying to measure trail distance and speed on the GPS receiver. As I've written previously, the track points recorded at walking speed are too scattered to allow the GPS to accurately measure distance and speed. The more accurate your GPS receiver is, the less scattered the track points are, and speed and distance measurements become more accurate. You can improve speed and distance measurements on most GPS receivers by setting it to record less track points, thus averaging out your route.

Far more important than accuracy is the sensitivity of the GPS receiver and the number of satellites it can receive simultaneously. GPS satellites are in 12,000 mile orbits and the signal is extremely weak by the time it reaches the Earth. Also, the radio signals are line-of-sight and are easily blocked by forest cover and buildings.

The first civilian GPS receivers were not nearly as sensitive as current units, and even worse, they multiplexed. Just one receiver channel was available and it was switched through each of the satellites in turn. These receivers rarely worked well if a significant portion of the sky was obstructed. In forest, I'd usually have to stop in a clearing to get a satellite lock.

So what really impresses me about the eTrex 30 and GPSMAP 62s are their ability to lock on to satellites and stay locked on in forest and canyons where the sky is partly obscured. Even the cheapest of the current trail GPS receivers from the major manufacturers all have high-sensitivity receivers that receive 12 or more satellites simultaneously. Since a minimum of 4 satellites are required for an accurate position fix, the newer receivers stay locked on and generate an accurate position fix even when part of the sky is hidden.

The moral of the story is- don't buy an old, used GPS receiver for serious back country navigation. And don't depend on smartphone GPS for the same reason. The GPS in phones is intended to let 911 dispatchers locate you in an emergency, and is not nearly as sensitive as dedicated trail (or street) GPS units.

One more rant- don't hike along staring at your GPS screen! GPS is a very useful tool. It makes my job as a hiking and outdoor guidebook author much easier. I can set the GPS to record a track as I hike, save waypoints at trail junctions and other landmarks, and then download the data and map the trail back at home. But it's all too easy to pay too much attention to your GPS instead of the trail and the (presumeably stunning) scenery you're hiking through. Put the GPS in your pack as a backup and follow the trail!

Ultimate Trail Reader

For those of us that just have to have reading material on a backpack trip, Amazon has started shipping the ultimate book reader, the Kindle Paperwhite. It weighs just 7.8 ounces and has the same 30-hour battery life as the Kindle Touch that it replaces. Like the Touch, the Paperwhite will last through all but the longest wilderness trips.

The Kindle Paperwhite has built-in front lighting so it can be read in anything from full, direct sunlight to a dark and stormy night in a tent. And the lighting doesn't noticeably decrease the battery life, at least in my tests so far.

How does this work? Unlike a tablet or a computer, which have backlit LCD screens, the Kindle Paperwhite uses E Ink technology like the older Kindles. E Ink uses tiny black ink capsules controlled by electric charges to draw the screen, so the page created much like a printed page, with tiny black dots on a white background. The process uses power only when a new page is drawn, so E Ink Kindle's only use power during page turns. In contrast, LCD screens are constantly refreshed so they use much more power.

Since E Ink screens work like a printed page, the brighter the light, the easier it is to read- just like a printed book. LCD tablet screens, which are dependent on backlights, work better under lower light and wash out under bright light. And the LCD backlight uses even more power, so most tablet computers have a battery life of about 8-10 hours.

Until now, reading an E Ink Kindle in the dark required an external light, just as a printed book does. Since we backpackers carry efficient LED flashlights or headlamps these days, that hasn't been a problem. But the Kindle Paperwhite goes this one better with it's built-in LED front lighting. Four white LED's light up the screen from the edges, and a special screen layer "pipes" the light evenly across the screen. With the light off, the screen looks like the older E Ink Kindles, black type on a light gray background. With the light on, the background becomes white and the black type stands out even more. The light can be adjusted different levels with an on-screen touch slider. This Kindle looks more like a printed book than any other e-book reader.

The Kindle Paperwhite comes in two basic models, the Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi and the Kindle Paperwhite 3G. Each of those comes with or without Special Offers- adds that appear as "screensavers" when the Kindle is off, and as small banners on the bottom edge of the Home screen when it is on. Ads never appear when you're reading. Most people don;t seem to mind the ads, and many like them because they save money on the discounts offered. I suggest you save the $20 or 30 and buy the Special Offers version, because you can pay the difference at any time and the ads will be removed. As an aside, I have to say I really like the "screensavers" on the models without Special Offers- they are really elegant.

A more important decision is whether to buy the Wi-Fi-only Paperwhite or the 3G model. For wilderness use the difference is not critical since you should have the wireless off most of the time to save the battery. The 3G models use the At&T cell phone data network to allow you to connect to the Kindle Store on Amazon to shop for and download books. The Wi-Fi-only models require you to be in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot. Since most backcountry areas have neither signal, you'll need to make sure you have enough reading material on the Kindle to last the trip. Since the Paperwhite holds more that 1000 books, this shouldn't be a problem!

Personally, I prefer the 3G model so that I don;t have to look for a Wi-Fi hotspot while traveling to and from the trailhead, and on other non-wilderness trips as well.

You'll want a protective case or cover for the Kindle Paperwrite- see my forthcoming post in Travels With Kindle for reviews.

Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi, $119 with Special Offers, $139 without
Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi plus 3G, $179 with Special Offers, $199 without

Arizona Summer Hikes

As an Arizona-based hiker, I often get asked where to hike in the state. Usually I'm asked by summer visitors. While summer is the prime hiking and backpacking season on most parts of the United States, it is NOT the best season in Arizona- unless you like hiking in a kiln. We're talking about desert temperatures of 115 F and 2% humidity.

Fall and spring- and even winter in the desert- are the best times to hike in Arizona, But since we can't control the seasons, what to do?

One caution- this post is not a hiking guide to specific trails. I've already written plenty of those- see my booklist. Instead, I'm going to point you to state regions and activities that make sense in the summer.

Actually, Arizona is not all desert, contrary to the Hollywood-TV image. Elevations ranges from 70 feet to 12,633 feet. And there is a lot of Arizona above 8,000 feet, where the highest summer temperatures rarely reach 90 F and high 70's are common. The four major high elevations of the state are the Kaibab Plateau, the San Francisco Peaks, the White Mountains, and the sky island mountain ranges in southeast Arizona.

Forming the highest portion of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the Kaibab Plateau rises to just under 10,000 feet and is covered with a beautiful mixed forest of ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, blue spruce, and quaking aspen, broken by alpine meadows. The Kaibab National Forest contains about 75% of the plateau and features plenty of hiking trails, the most famous of which is the 800-mile Arizona Trail. The south end of the Plateau is in Grand Canyon National Park and has some especially scenic hiking trails.

The San Francisco Peaks has the highest summit in the state and rises about 1,000 feet above timberline. An extensive network of trails covers the mountain and its nearby satellite mountains- see my book Hiking Northern Arizona for plenty of suggestions.

Eastern Arizona's White Mountains is the states second highest mountain area, topping out at the 11420-foot summit of Mount Baldy Mountain creeks tumble down from the rounded summits, forming the headwaters of most of Arizona's rivers. Much of the area lies above 9,000 feet and never gets really hot. There are many hiking trails, including two trails to the summit of Mount Baldy. To the east of the White Mountains, the Blue Range Primitive Area straddles the Arizona-New Mexico state line and offers some superb wilderness backpacking at elevations from 5,000 to 9,000 feet.

The basin and range country of southern Arizona reaches its culmination in the isolated sky island mountain ranges in the Tucson area and to the south and east. Several ranges reach above 9,000 feet and offer a network of high elevation trails. The summit area of the Santa Catalina Mountains is reachable by paved road, as the the high ridge of the Pinaleno Mountains. Both ranges have plenty of trails and backcountry wilderness. The Chiricahua Mountains are a bit more remote, though a good dirt road leads to a high elevation trailhead at Rustler Park at the north edge of the wilderness.

For hikes in the White Mountains and southeast sky islands, have a look at my state-wide hiking guide, Hiking Arizona.

Another great summer activity is canyoneering, the sport of descending desert canyons. Because most canyon descents in Arizona involve a lot of wading and swimming, they are best done during the summer when the water is a tolerable temperature and the warm air temperatures make it fun to get wet. Although some canyons require technical means such as rappelling to traverse, others require just swimming and floating your pack. See Todd Martin's book,  Arizona Technical Canyoneering, for descriptions of some of Arizona's classic canyons.

Late summer, July through September, is the monsoon season in Arizona, when tropical moisture moves in from the Gulf of Mexico and sets off almost daily afternoon thunderstorms over the mountains. When the monsoon is active, plan your hikes for the morning hours and get off exposed ridges and summits  before the clouds start to build. Temperatures can drop 50 F during a thundershower, and heavy rain can cause canyons and drainages to flood. Avoid camping in dry streambeds and stay out of slot canyons during the monsoon.

With this post I'm introducing a new subject- where to hike in Arizona by season. Although my published books break out hikes by season, I'm going to offer a few specific suggestions here.

Finding the Trailhead with GPS

Navigating to a trailhead with GPS is not as simple as it sounds because most street GPS receivers don't have trailheads in their points-of-interest (POI) databases, unless the trailhead is located at a park or other general attraction. And street GPS mapping, while remarkably good for highways, county roads, and city streets is often poor for back roads, especially in the western U.S. And finally, when street mapping does show back roads, it often doesn't distinguish between maintained, gravel dirt roads that are passable to most cars and unmaintained roads that often need a high-clearance or four-wheel drive vehicle to travel. Trail GPS units don't do road navigation unless you buy optional street maps, and then you still have the limitations of street mapping.

The solution to this problem involves a bit of planning at home before trying to find a backcountry trailhead at the start of your wilderness adventure. Just look at it as an extension of the planning for the wilderness part of the trip, where you're traveling on foot, by paddle, or other self-propelled means. The secret is to use a variety of resources to solve the problems:

• Locating the coordinates of the trailhead
• Finding the best route to the trailhead
• Setting up your GPS receiver to navigate the route to the trailhead
• Determining if you need a four-wheel-drive vehicle

Unless you're planning to depart cross-country from an unusual starting point, these days you can find descriptions of trailheads and driving directions in guidebooks. Newer guidebooks often publish the GPS coordinates, so all you have to do is type them into your GPS receiver and save the trailhead as a named waypoint. If the coordinates aren't published, use the guidebook description and an online or computer topo map or Google Earth to locate the trailhead and get the coordinates.

If you have a guidebook description of the route, you can follow along on a topo map and mark GPS waypoints at critical intersections. With a trail GPS, you can create a route and download that to your receiver before the trip. It is very helpful to have detailed topo maps of the approach route in your GPS, and you probably already have such maps loaded for the wilderness part of the trip. The guidebook should also tell you if you need a four-wheel-drive vehicle to reach the trailhead.

You can use a street GPS receiver to create waypoints and a route to the trailhead, but most street units won't download waypoints and routes directly from a computer mapping application. You may be able to save the route as a GPX file and transfer that to the street GPS via USB cable. This is worth the effort because of the road routing capability of street GPS receivers.

 If you don't have a guidebook description of the trailhead, then you'll have to work a little harder. You'll need to locate the trailhead on a topo map and then work out the best roads to reach that trailhead. Use caution with U.\SGS topo maps- they are often out of date and don't show changes to roads (although they are the most accurate maps for natural features such as terrain.) Often, you can get a road map from the land management agency in charge of the area that is much more up-to-date on the road system. Privately-produced printed recreation maps and online or computer-based maps are often the most current road maps. And Google Earth is a valuable resource, especially in desert areas where you can often get a good look at roads. Even in forested areas, you can at least tell if a road is likely to be maintained- if the road shows in a cut through the forest, it is wider and therefor more likely to be paved or at least graveled.

Whatever you do, don't blindly charge off onto backcountry roads trusting your street GPS receiver. That's a good way to find yourself at a dead end, or worse, with a broken or stuck vehicle.

One GPS to Rule Them All

A natural question for GPS users is, "Why can't I use one receiver for both trail and street navigation?" The short answer- you can. The long answer- you shouldn't, mostly.

There are more and more trail receivers that can be used for road navigation by buying optional street mapping. And many street GPS units can be used with optional topographic mapping. (By trail, I mean all backcountry uses, including hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, hunting, fishing, paddling, etc. By street, I'm referring to navigation in cities and on highways and roads.)

The problem is that the the two uses are completely different. On the road, a touchscreen GPS works best, preferably one that accepts voice commands. You need loud spoken directions including street names. You also need a large, bright screen. On the other hand, battery life is not important, because the unit will be powered from the vehicle except for short periods.

On the trail, you need a unit that can be operated easily with gloves. Rubberized buttons work much better than touchscreens in the field. With a little practice, you can operate the buttons by feel and location without looking at them. Though touchscreens do work with gloves, accuracy suffers and even without gloves you have to constantly look at the screen to operate it.

You also need long battery life and batteries that can be replaced in the field. Trail GPS units have replaceable batteries that last 12 to 25 hours, as opposed to 30 minutes to 4 hours for street receivers. And nearly all street receivers have internal, rechargeable batteries that can't be swapped out for a fresh set.

Few trail units have speakers, so they don't give spoken directions. (A few units have headphone jacks and can be connected to the AUX input on your car audio system or to a mount with a speaker.) Trail units have much smaller screens than street units. Trail receivers usually have screens measuring about 2.7 inches diagonally, while street receivers have 3.5 to 7-inch screens.

Many street GPS units come with lifetime map updates and free, ad-supported, lifetime traffic. Traffic information alone is a good reason to buy a street GPS because no trail units give traffic information. Street maps are usually an extra-cost option on trail GPS receivers and you will have to buy updated maps to keep your unit current.

That said, the best two choices for combined trail and street use are currently the DeLorme PN-60 series and the Garmin Montana series.

If you primary use is trail, check out the DeLorme PN-60 series. The PN-60 has a small screen but is light and compact, weighing 7.6 ounces with NiMH batteries. The unit comes with DeLorme Topo North America, which covers the US and Canada with vector topographic and street mapping at 1:24000 scale. Both trails and roads are routable, which means the unit will not only give you directions to the trailhead but also turn-by-turn trail directions to your favorite fishing lake. There is no headphone jack so you will have to look at the small screen while driving, although it does beep to warn you of upcoming turns. With this unit it is safest if a passenger does the navigating.

The Garmin Montana series is one of the heaviest and bulkiest receivers on the market at 10.2 ounces but it has a 4 inch touchscreen that automatically orients to to horizontal and vertical positions. A headphone jack allows to you connect it to your car stereo or an optional vehicle mount with speaker. For street use, you'll have to buy street maps for the area of interest, and then pay to update them. Traffic service is not available.

Here's the clincher- for the price of the Montana 600 you can buy an advanced street receiver such as the Garmin nuvi 2595LMT with lifetime maps and traffic, as well as a mapping trail receiver such as the Garmin Etrex 20 which accepts Garmin topo maps as well as custom maps and weighs just 5 ounces. And if you want, you can load topo maps on the nuvi and street maps on the Etrex.

Why Hike in the Grand Canyon?

The average visitor to Grand Canyon National Park spends two hours. In contrast, Professor Harvey Butchart spent 1,500 days hiking about 12,000 miles in the Canyon during his 40-year Arizona hiking career. Why? This piece says it pretty well- http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/lure+grand+Canyon/6281454/story.html

More on the Kindle Touch Battery Life

Now that I've had time to put some more miles on my Kindle Touch 3G as a backcountry reading device, I've noticed that the battery sometimes gets depleted pretty quickly, even when I'm not using it. There are a couple of possible reasons for that.

One is leaving the Kindle on and closing the cover. That's a real no-no if you then stuff it in a bag, as I learned with the Kindle Keyboard. Until the device goes into sleep mode, any pressure on the cover could press keys and cause it to stay on and possibly do page turns. I know that happened with the Kindle Keyboard because I'd turn it on and find it was on a different page than where I left it.

Accidental key presses can happen with the Touch also, because of the Home button on the front. Every it gets pressed, the Home screen is refreshed, even if you're already on the Home screen. Of course, the solution is to manually turn the Kindle off with the power button when you're done reading. It's become a habit and now I turn the Kindle's off even when I'm just going to set it down.

The other cause of battery drain appears to be the 3G connectivity. I've noticed that when wireless is on and I'm in an area with little or no 3G service (and no Wi-Fi), the battery often loses half it's charge in about eight hours without ever being turned on. The answer is to make sure wireless is off if you'll be out of 3G and Wi-Fi range for long periods of time and don't have an easy way to charge the Kindle.  On a long wilderness trip, you'll do this to extend the battery life to weeks, but you may not think to turn off wireless for the drive to the trailhead.

By the way, I haven't noticed such quick battery drain on the Kindle Fire. This is probably because there are no buttons on the bezel to be pressed by the cover, and also that the current Fire only has Wi-Fi, not 3G.

"Everyone is Entitled to Enter National Forests Without Paying a Cent."

So says one of the three judges who just shot down the illegal US Forest Service fee program on the Santa Catalina Mountains on the Coronado National Forest near Tucson, Arizona. The case is the result of four Tucson residents filing suit against the Coronado National Forest for requiring an entrance fee on the Catalina Highway, which imposes a fee for backcountry access that is clearly illegal under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA).

The three judges soundly rejected the Forest Service argument that since the amenities required by FLREA are present within the Mount Lemmon area, everyone entering the area has to pay for them, even though they don't plan to use the amenities and intend only to park, travel through the forest, visit scenic overlooks, camp in undeveloped areas, or hike into the backcountry. The judge further wrote, "The statute is abundantly clear that a standard amenity recreation fee cannot, under any circumstances, be charged for those activities."


Have a look at the Appeals Court decision- it contains such gems as "The Forest Service fails to distinguish—as the statute does—between someone who glides into a paved parking space and sits at a picnic table enjoying a feast of caviar and champagne, and someone who parks on the side of the highway, sits on a pile of gravel, and eats an old baloney sandwich while the cars whizz by."


http://www.westernslopenofee.org/pdfuploads/2012_02_09_Mt_Lemmon_Decision_Reversed_and_Remanded.pdf

For more information on the fight to restore free access to the public lands which YOU own, see http://www.westernslopenofee.org

Forest Service Recommends Eliminating Many Fees

The US Forest Service has sent memos to its regional offices recommending that fee areas be greatly reduced or eliminated in order to comply with the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA): http://www.kvsun.com/articles/2012/01/24/news/doc4f1f237de8cae097339429.txt. It's up to the individual National Forests whether they comply with the recommendations.

FLREA is the law that replaced the original Fee Demo program. For background information, see http://westernslopenofee.org/.

Kindle Battery Life with Wireless On

Just a quick update to say that I finished testing the Kindle Touch 3G with wireless on continuously. The Touch had a strong Wi-Fi connection the entire time, and I used the reading light once for about an hour. To my surprise, the Touch lasted at total of 10.57 hours before the low battery warning came on the screen, which is almost exactly what Amazon claims.

Keep in mind that the Touch will use more power in areas of weak W-Fi or 3G coverage, partly because the data rate slows down and the wireless transceiver stays on longer to transfer books and other items. If you don't have access to a charger at least every few days, it's best to leave wireless off, turning it on for a few minutes at a time to sync and check for new items.

Kindle Battery Life

I just completed testing my Kindle Touch 3G with wireless off. The test conditions were as follows:

• Wireless off except for 5-10 minute periods to sync and check for new items
• Wireless usually Wi-Fi but occasionally 3G
• Reading periods of 5 minutes to an hour
• Some use of the reading light on the Amazon Lighted Cover for Kindle Touch

Unfortunately, I blew it toward the end of the test when the battery was down to about 40% by leaving wireless on overnight by mistake. In the morning the charge was down to about 10%. By that time I had logged 23.25 hours of reading. That matches up well with Amazon's claim of 30 hours battery life with wireless off based on 30 minutes per day for two months.

I'm partway through a test with wireless left on continuously with a strong Wi-Fi connection. So far I have 5.65 hours logged with about 30% left on the battery indicator. It looks like I'll fall a little short of Amazon's claim of 10.5 hours with wireless on, based on 30 minutes per day for three weeks.

The difficulty of testing battery life with wireless on is that battery drain varies with the strength of the wireless signal. Data transfer slows down with weaker connections so that transferring a book or blog takes more time and uses up more battery.

My conclusions so far are that the battery on the Kindle Touch 3G will last through most wilderness trips as long as wireless is off. Using the light on the Amazon Lighted Cover for Kindle Touch seems to add little to the battery drain, which makes sense because the cover uses a single LED.

Since most backpack trips are a week or less, wilderness hikers should be able to read as much as they like, unless they read for hours on layover or storm days. River runners on extended trips (such as the full three week trip through the Grand Canyon) are going to need a way to recharge the Kindle, which usually means a solar charger. I'm going to look at some solar chargers over on my new blog, Travels With Kindle. I'll also look at travel accessories such as covers and sleeves.

E-Readers on the Trail

If you're an avid reader like me, having reading material on a backpack trip, especially a solo trip, is an essential. You know you're in trouble after you zip through that paperback book you brought on the first two nights of the trip and then find your self reading food packages and tea labels over and over.

My traditional solution was to bring a book that fell short of being a page turner so I wouldn;t be tempted to stay up until the wee hours reading. Like the time a couple of friends and I were camped on the first day of a week in the Sn Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado. The weather was fine so we just laid out our bags on our unpitched tents and slept under the stars. Well, one of us sleep. At midnight Larry was snoring away but I was still reading by headlamp. A pool of light next to Larry gave away the fact that his wife, Sherry, was still reading too. I switched off then and sacked out but in the morning the horrible truth emerged- Sherry had finished her book. On the first night.

When PDA's came out I did some reading on my Palm Pilot but the screen was tiny, the type coarse, the battery life limited, the book selection very limited, and the eyestrain immense. Later PDA's improved, but not enough. To fair, they weren't designed as book readers.

So I followed the release of the original Amazon Kindle with interested, but it soon became apparent that the first generation had problems that needed to be addressed. Of course Amazon did that and any Kindle from the Kindle 2 onward makes a great wilderness e-reader.

Of the current crop, the lightest and cheapest is the Kindle basic with special offers. At 6.0 ounces or 170 grams it is lighter than a paperback and holds approximately 1,500 books. Even Sherry couldn't read that many books on a hiking trip. Amazon claims a month of battery life based on half an hour a day with wireless turned off. For a week hiking trip, that works out to 2 hours of reading per day.

For more battery life with just lightly more weight, the Kindle Touch starts at $99, weighs 7.5 ounces or 213 grams, and has double the battery life. For me the Touch is pretty much the ideal e-book reader.

Avoid the Kindle Fire or any other tablet computer for backcountry reading. They are too heavy, the battery life is only 8-10 hours, and the screen is unreadable in bright light.

Note that to get long battery life wireless must be off- in the backcountry you're not going to have a WiFi signal anyway. If you have a 3G Kindle Touch, and you're in an area with 3G service, turn wireless on only when you need it.

My use of the various Kindles pretty much verifies that battery life is close to what Amazon claims, but I'm going to run a real-world test. Unfortunately I can't go on a long backpack trip right now because of a looming book deadline (yes, I have to write about hiking rather than doing it.) So instead I just started a test with my Kindle Touch. It's a month old, so the battery should be close to its original capacity. Starting from a full charge today, I'll read with the wireless turned off and keep a log of my reading until the battery runs down.

When that happens I'll report back and also review some Kindle accessories that are useful in the wilderness.