When disaster strikes having your bug out bag ready at a moments notice will ensure your safety and security in the hard days ahead – right?
The answer to this is not as simple as we think. Bug Out Bags are just one type of Go Bag and may not be ideal in all situations. It’s not just about having a good bag with reliable gear. It is about having the right bag and gear for the situation you are about to face!
A great wilderness bag may have little application in an urban setting. A fully stocked bug out bag may slow our movement when seconds matter. Choosing the appropriate bag and gear for the unique emergency you are facing is essential to improving your survival odds.
We know it can be difficult to plan for the unknown – that is why RECOIL OFFGRID has partnered with ARC to give you the tools and knowledge you need to get your kit dialed in.
Combining ARC’s expertise with the latest technological innovations has led to the creation of a powerful tool that will help you build the ideal Bug Out Bag, WUSH Bag, INCH Bag, or Get Home Bag for the emergency situations you are likely to face in the area you are living in or operating in.
This tool goes beyond providing a generic packing list – it takes emergency type, expected duration, climate, threat level, speed of egress, and much more into account while putting together your ideal kit packing list.
Your Custom Go Bag List is Just the Beginning
Having an ideal Go Bag for your unique needs is valuable, but having the knowledge and skill to use the tools in your Go Bag in a real emergency will give you the edge you need to not just survive but thrive!
RECOIL OFFGRID has curated topic specific content to provide you with recommendations on gear, teach you vital survival skills, provide advice to enhance your mindset, and offer guidance to keep in you in peak physical condition.
Expert Advice to Trust Your Life With
Every aspect of this program has been created by industry experts with the intention of removing gimmicks and fluff to provide sound recommendations based on real world experience.
American Reconstruction Concepts was founded by Michael Caughran a U.S. Air Force SERE Instructor that has survived in the world’s harshest environments and hostile locations. Today American Reconstruction Concepts trains civilians, law enforcement organizations, and military professionals the art and science survival, evasion, resistance, and evasion.
The RECOIL OFFGRID team has a diverse range of skills deriving from military experience, wilderness and urban survival expertise, firearms instruction, and more. OFFGRID’s rigorous standards for gear testing and article content ensure the readers are getting the best in equipment recommendations and up-to-date survival knowledge in each article.
Grab Your Bag, It’s Go Time!
Are you ready to take the first step to becoming more prepared to handle the uncertainty of a chaotic world? Click the links below to learn more about different types of Go Bags utilize ARC’s free tool to build your ideal Go Bag. Remember, one bag can’t handle every situation. Use ARC’s Go Bag building tool to help you put together Go Bag kits for different situations!
Familiarize yourself with different bag types, learn more on how to properly utilize your go bag resources and see our recommendations for bags and the gear that goes into them!
This fall CANCON packed up and moved to a new venue. The latest event occurred, October 22 through 24, and was hosted by the Boulder Rifle & Pistol Club in Boulder City, Nevada, just a short drive outside of Las Vegas. Vendors took the opportunity to release a slew of new products, which is a bigger deal than it sounds at face value.
New releases have traditionally debuted at events like SHOT Show, a trade-only event that is largely closed to the public. Most firearm enthusiasts read about a new can months before they’re ever able to get their hands on one. CANCON breaks that pattern by not only giving attendees a first look at new gear, they also get to test it out on the firing line. This gives first-hand feedback directly to the people who designed is, and even the opportunity to purchase if it earns it’s keep. You could say it is a try-before-you-buy event with the engineer standing right there with you.
On VIP Day, we walked the line, and asked attendees what grabbed their attention the most, and several vendors kept getting pointed to. However, before we get into the list, a short disclaimer. We didn’t have the resources to interview every VIP, and most of the ones we pinned down had a difficult time naming just one favorite. So, this is no verdict on “Best of Show.” Instead, this is a snapshot of booths that earned more than one recommendation, with specs and MSRPs pulled from each manufacturer so you can run your own comparison.
Polite Society Industries
There were three things about Polite Society’s cans that VIPs kept circling back to: price, weight and how they performed. Especially the Fortitude 5.56. Polite Society is a relative newcomer on the silencer scene, a group of industry veterans founded the company in Tampa, Florida, this year, and launched with six suppressors running from rimfire up through .36 caliber. Each can is printed by laser powder bed fusion in either Grade 5 titanium or Inconel 625. Both the titanium and Inconel versions have the same price point, and the company backs them with a fix, replace, or refund warranty.
The Fortitude 5.56 comes in two flavors. The HD is the Inconel 625 version the VIPs singled out. Inconel 625 is a nickel alloy that Polite Society utilizes for its strength under sustained heat. The Ti version drops about 5 ounces for shooters who are concerned with front-end weight.
Model
Material
Length
Diameter
Weight
Mount
Rated
MSRP
Fortitude 5.56 HD
Inconel 625
5.0 in
1.69 in
11.5 oz
HUB 1.375×24, 1/2×28 device included
.223 Rem / 5.56 NATO
$600
Fortitude 5.56 Ti
Grade 5 titanium
5.0 in
1.69 in
6.4 oz
HUB 1.375×24, 1/2×28 device included
.223 Rem / 5.56 NATO
$600
Wraith Metalworks
Ask a VIP about Wraith, and you’ll get as many answers as there are possible ways to combine their baffle system. Wraith has turned a suppressor into a configurable platform instead of a sealed tube, and attendees were ecstatic over the myriad ways they could be set up.
A Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned small business, Wraith Metalworks was founded in 2020 as a self-made think tank for suppressor problems. It moved into full-scale research and development in early 2025, and officially launched at SHOT Show 2026. The Wraith Modular Suppression System pairs printed Ti-64 outer tubes with Inconel 718 baffles, and the company says that It has developed more than 200 baffle designs. Because the baffles share one standard size, a stack built for one housing drops into any of the three, and every can is rated for full-auto fire.
Model
Role
Diameter
Length
Weight
MSRP
Raider
Most compact, for pistols, PCCs and compact rifles
1.456 in
5.7 to 7.5 in
11 to 16 oz
$900 to $1,100
Ambush
General purpose
1.575 in
6.5 to 8.3 in
14 to 18 oz
$1,100 to $1,400
Sentinel
Flagship, largest volume
1.88 in
7.7 to 10.1 in
18 to 25 oz
$1,300 to $1,800
Resilient Suppressors
Resilient was creating buzz, not because of the latest 3D printing method, or newest alloy, but because of a uniquely tried and true can. It’s Putnik 7.62mm silencer threaded onto an AK kept pulling a crowd. Resilient is a veteran-owned shop founded in late 2021 by Tyler Reeves. Their catalog includes the Jolene and Jolene S rifle cans, the Simple Man 7.62, the RS9 and the Jessie’s Girl rimfire can.
The Putnik was built specifically for the modern AK, and they set out to keep it as close to the original as possible while updating the baffle technology. They used their patent-pending baffles from the Jolene line and add a tri-axial design meant to cut back pressure. AK muzzle threads are known for tolerance problems, so Resilient gave the Putnik a progressive bore with extra clearance. The result is a full-auto rating on 5.45×39, 5.56, 7.62×39 and .300 BLK.
Spec
Putnik
Material
17-4 stainless steel and 6Al-4V titanium
Length
5.86 in without mount, 6.2 in with mount
Diameter
2.365 in
Weight
20.3 oz without mount
Mount
M24x1.5 direct thread, HUB compatible
Rated
7.62×39, 5.45×39, 5.56, .300 BLK (8 in min. barrel), .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor (14.5 in min. barrel)
Finish
High-temp black Cerakote
MSRP
$899
BOE Suppression
Balance of Energy (BOE), is another company printing in Inconel, and VIPs loved how affordable its IncoLite 9, 9S, and 9M cans are. BOE is a division of C Products Defense in Bradenton, Florida, and the company behind DuraMag magazines. Their name is also their goal. They model sound reduction, recoil and back-gas pressure, and utilize feedback from university physics, engineering and audiology departments to make a design that captures the best balance. The IncoLite 9 series debuted at SHOT Show 2026, and is fully printed from Inconel 718, picked over titanium for its durability.
Three cans make up the IncoLite family. The 4 ounce 9S is light enough for most semi-auto pistols. The 9 ads an inch of length, and the 9M is modular with a removable front end and the ability to swap cores.
9mm plus supersonic intermediate and some rifle cartridges
$699
Dead Air Silencers
Two things kept VIPs at the Dead Air booth, how quite the Nomad Ti OTB ran, and how good it looked doing it. Plenty of them also wanted to talk about the KeyMo attachment. The Nomad is the company’s first over-the-barrel design. Part of the blast chamber extends rearward over the barrel, so the can measures 7.65 inches overall, but adds only 4.6 inches past the muzzle. Moving all of that mass back towards the shooter also improves balance, something that hunters will appreciate as they spend a long time sitting behind the glass.
The OTB ships with Dead Air’s DA870 Xeno radial brake in 5/8×24, which fits most threaded barrels up to an inching in diameter. KeyMo is Dead Air’s quick-attach mount system, and it’s HUB adapter fits Nomad-series cans as a separate purchase.
Spec
Nomad Ti OTB
Material
3D-printed 6Al-4V titanium
Overall length
7.65 in
Length added past muzzle
4.6 in
Weight
10.5 oz
Rating
Up to 4,400 ft-lbs muzzle energy, .30 cal
Mount
HUB compatible, DA870 Xeno radial brake 5/8×24 included
Finish
Black or FDE
MSRP
$1,049
KeyMo HUB adapter
17-4 stainless, 4.3 oz, $225 (sold separately)
North Country Armory
VIPs were excited to find North Country Armory (NCA) Selling quality suppressors in the $300 to $400 range. NCA is headquartered in Gillette, Wyoming with a second Shope in Havre, Montana, and doubles as a Fort Knox and American Security safe dealer. Every suppressor is designed and machined in-house and carries a limited lifetime warranty.
The CAS, short for Completely Affordable Suppressor, is their entry level can. It pairs lightweight aluminum construction with serviceable stacked baffles. NCA calls their Max Core its quietest option on most platforms. Their new Reduced Heat Signature (RHS) features a titanium mono core that keeps the outer tube cooler.
Series
Diameter
Construction
Calibers
Lengths
Weights
MSRP
CAS
1.1 in
Aluminum, stacked baffles
Rimfire, 9mm/.35 cal
6 in
3.7 to 7.3 oz
$231 – $349
Slim Core
1.5 in
Monolithic core
.223, 6.5mm, .30
6.2 or 8.2 in
13.3 to 17.9 oz
Contact for price
Max Core
1.75 in
Monolithic core
.223, 6.5mm, .30
6.5 or 8.5 in
17.3 to 25.1 oz
Contact for price
RHS
1.75 in
Titanium monolithic core
.223, 6.5mm, .30
6.5 or 8.5 in
18.0 to 25.6 oz
Contact for price
Wren Metal Works
It doesn’t matter who you are, everyone loves a lever-action rifle. So why not crank the cool factor up to 11 by making it integrally suppressed? That’s exactly what Wren did, and the VIPs couldn’t get enough.
Wren is a custom gun and machine shop in Philomath, Oregon, that works under the motto that the lever will never die. Somebody told the crew that no one could integrally suppress a lever gun, and they built one anyway. They start with a Henry, Marlin, or Smith & Wesson host, and then they rework the barrel and front end around its own suppressor system of titanium, 17-4 stainless steel, and 7075 aluminum. The barrel and can together run longer than 16 inches, which keeps the whole rifle a single NFA item instead of two. And the look is unrelentingly cool.
Build
Host
Calibers
Suppressor materials
Price
Integrally Suppressed Lever Action
Henry, Marlin, Smith & Wesson
.357, .44 Mag, .45 Long Colt, .45-70
Titanium, 17-4 SS, 7075 aluminum
$6,200 to $7,200
Henry Supreme .300 Blackout
Henry Lever Action Supreme
.300 BLK
Titanium, 17-4 SS
$7,200
Henry 8.6
Henry
8.6 Blackout, 1:5 twist match barrel
Titanium, 17-4 SS, 7075 aluminum
$8,200
Off Grid Suppressors
VIPs liked Off Grid’s affordability and its new release, the Menace. We’re also partial to the company name for reasons that should be obvious. Off Grid i9s based in Shevlin, Minnesota, and builds its lineup with additively manufactured titanium and Inconel. The company’s calling card is its Scorpius .22, which posted a 115.4 dBA muzzle reading at the 2025 Thunder Beast Arms Silencer Summit, and which Off Grid claims is the quietest .22 suppressor in the country. At CANCON, it dropped five new models at once!
The Menace is a 6-inch can printed from Grade 5 titanium, and is rated from .223 up to 6mm Creedmoor, and comes in two colors, black and FDE. And if their epic company name wasn’t enough, have you seen their mascot? Anyone who appreciates the battle prowess of the tactical feline has our respect!
Model
Material
Length
Weight
Calibers
Mount
MSRP
Menace
Grade 5 titanium
6 in
10.9 oz
.223/5.56 to 6mm Creedmoor
HUB, adapter included
$849.99
Mini Menace
Inconel
5 in
4.6 oz
5.56/.223 bolt gun
1/2×28 direct thread
$499.99
Merc
Grade 5 titanium
7 in
12.5 oz
.223 to .300 Win Ultra Mag
HUB, 5/8×24 adapter included
$899.99
Scorpius
Titanium
5 in
1.95 oz
.17 HMR to 5.7×28
1/2×28 direct thread
$469.99
Final Thoughts
We wish we had enough pages to cover every great product on the range. If you attended CANCON Vegas this year and saw something that you loved, let us know on the socials @RECOILOFFGRID and @CANCONEVENT. And if you couldn’t make it, hopefully we’ll see you at the next one in Clinton, South Carolina, May 13 to 15, 2027.
If you’ve ever seen a Forged in Fire test you’ve probably heard a certain line from one of the judges: “It will KEAL”.
Doug Marcaida has been a judge on that show since it’s inception in 2015 (eleven years!) and those words are his calling card. Doug is a US Air Force veteran, has practiced Filipino martial arts for his entire adult life (he’s developed his own system: Marcaida Kali), and has taught edged-weapon skills to military and first responders around the country.
So when Doug makes a knife, it’s informed by decades of experience with edged weapons and thinking about what works, and what doesn’t, when things get dicey.
Lately, though, he’s been developing back stories for his knives.
LINEAGE is a comic series that Doug has developed with Kid Heroes Comics, and it features three of his designs. Two are available on his website now: the BattlBolt machete and the Kali Hawk tomahawk. The third is a karambit, pictured here, and it’s the star of the show: not just in the book, but in real life, because this is the knife that’s narrating the story! It’s a story about a knife that has waited a long, long time to be picked up and used again.
Lots of knife companies will develop a story around a knife, but with LINEAGE the story and the knives are being developed together. And you can own a piece of that story, too.
The BattleBolt
Doug’s other design we have looked at is the BattlBolt, originally created for the first season of BattlGames, a limited-release tactical machete. The BattlBolt has since appeared in his comic LINEAGE, wielded by the skull-masked BattlGames fighters, and issue #2 even sports a limited-edition chrome cover featuring the blade.
Like many of Doug’s designs, the BattlBolt was informed by his martial arts teaching, focusing on fluidity of motion and transitioning smoothly between targets and attacks. The 13-inch blade is D2 tool steel with a tanto-like tip for penetration and a small serrated section near the spine for sawing. The handle is G10 and FRN, and the whole thing weighs in at 1 pound 7 ounces and is 18.5 inches long. The special edition has a stonewashed finish to help hide the inevitable scratches and scrapes.
While many machetes can be awkward to thrust with, the BattlBolt’s tanto-like tip makes for a useable point. Most machetes can be had for less money, but for $130 you’re getting a versatile blade that can saw, thrust, and of course chop.
The BattlBolt ships with a Kydex sheath with a 360-degree rotating belt clip, making it easy to carry on a belt or pack strap and a nice improvement over the floppy nylon sheaths machetes usually ship in.
Doug also offers trainers for many of his designs, so if you want to practice your machete skills without injuring your training partners he also makes a BattlBolt trainer for $75.
The Kali Hawk
The Kali Hawk is a full tang axe with an overall length of 14 inches and a head width of 7 7/8 inches. The head is made of 1065 carbon steel, which is tough, can take a beating, and can be field sharpened easily. Choose from a FRN handle or a paracord wrapped handle. The handle also features textured scales, and a lanyard hole, paracord included. A sheath with a slot for MOLLE attachment is also included.
Doug has practiced the Filipino blade art of Kali his whole life, and it shows in the Kali Hawk’s design. The blade has a lot of flow to it, with many angles for different tasks. Being shorter than many tomahawks, it can be used more as a tool up close.
Axe, tomahawk, hatchet… pick your favorite name for the tool/weapon hybrid. No matter what you call it, chances are you have one in your kit. Some are more axe and less hatchet, and vice versa. Doug’s Kali Hawk is equal parts axe and tomahawk.
Every good fight scene needs an axe. In LINEAGE #3 the Kali Hawk takes center stage on the limited-edition cover, and inside the pages you’ll find the brothers getting tomahawked a few times.
The Kali Hawk is $130. A trainer is also available for $70.
LINEAGE, Told by the Blade
The Kapatiran ng Talim, or as the English subtitle suggests, the Brotherhood of the Blade, is a blood cult operating out of a temple hidden away in the jungle east of Manila.
The cult worships a mystical artifact known as the Markado, and it’s also the name for the karambit at the center of LINEAGE. That’s the weapon narrating events in the series. It’s Miguel’s weapon. He’s taken it with him from the Philippines to his new life in Los Angeles, and he’s used it ever since. But its true nature is unknown to him. The Markado remembers everyone who’s ever held it. And it’s been hungry for a long time.
Miguel is a private investigator in Los Angeles, keeping to himself and hiding his past. His younger brother Vergil is a livestreamer, chasing down urban legends and occult mysteries for his show, On the Verge. They were raised together in the Philippines, learning the blade from their father, until the day a demon-like figure wearing a skull mask took him from them.
Doug’s brother RJ made guest appearances on Forged in Fire during Season 4, standing in for his brother during kill tests while Doug recovered from a shoulder injury. Here, Doug and RJ are the two stars of LINEAGE, with Doug as the quiet, brooding older brother and RJ as the wisecracking, camera-happy younger brother. The fight sequences they’ve choreographed together are incredibly detailed, breaking down the finer points of their moves to show traps and counters and specific blade angles in painstaking detail.
LINEAGE began as a Kickstarter project, with issue #1 being fully funded within 28 hours. There are three issues out so far, with a fourth on the way to bring this first storyline to a close.
Doug and RJ’s father was taken from them by a cult that worships a mystical knife called the Markado, known as the Brotherhood of the Blade. But in real life, the cult’s smiling elder Balthazar, who wheels around on a cane, presides equally over food drives in town and blood sacrifices beneath the mountain. I don’t know if he’s based on anyone, but if he is, I sure as hell don’t want to get on that family’s bad side!
The Markado serves as narrator in LINEAGE, opening with a sinister edge: “If only you could see through the edge of my existence,” it begins on the first page, laid atop a candle-lit altar, “you would hear the tales that I know… tales where every blade has a story to tell.” As the series progresses, the knife’s narration takes on a darker edge, hinting at the sinister secret it’s been keeping all this time.
By issue #3, you may even begin to suspect that it’s not Miguel who’s wielding the karambit, but the other way around!
The Markado Karambit
Doug’s catalog also has a few different karambits as well as karambit trainers, so he is well versed in this type of blade. While other artists might make karambits that look the part for a movie prop, it’s another level for the person writing the story to be intimately familiar with karambits, down to exactly how the curve should move through a cut.
The Markado’s karambit is the third blade fans will be able to purchase, and the one we are most excited about. It has not been listed on Doug’s site yet. The Markado’s karambit is very distinctive. It’s a deep hawkbill with a finger ring that has three colored stones set into it. There is an etched pattern that runs down the length of the spine and the cult’s glyph etched into the flat of the blade. Vergil’s first issue begins with him searching for a karambit that has the same glyph etched into the blade. It is central to the plot. At one point he even receives one in the mail that looks like it but when he opens it up on his stream he says it’s fake. Knife people will appreciate that one. Even in the comic a fake gets busted by the way it handles. The shape is just a tad off, the balance is wrong, and it’s missing the symbol.
The comic-accurate version from Doug is very important to us. Backers of the LINEAGE trade paperback Kickstarter had the option of adding pendants replicas of the blades from the comic but we are looking forward to showing off the full-size karambit!
Steel With a Story
It’s not about how many you hurt, it’s about how many you protect.
That’s the motto that Marcaida’s Doug lives by, and it’s a good one. But in LINEAGE we get to see if Doug can stick by it as two brothers and a bloodthirsty karambit test his morals and his mettle.
Every knife comes with a spec sheet, and a lot of knives come with a story from their maker. What almost no knives come with is an actual story, three chapters deep, complete with a jungle cult, family secrets, and a first person narrator that’s the knife you happen to be wearing.
Doug’s put more knives to the test on camera than almost anyone in the industry, and with designs like the BattlBolt, Kali Hawk, and Markado karambit, he’s making some excellent knives. But after reading LINEAGE, picking one of them up won’t just be grabbing another tool off the pegboard. It’ll be picking up a character, and we can’t wait to see how their story ends.
Shooters refer to this phenomenon as a “training scar” when under stress your actions don’t match your intentions because of ingrained bad habits formed during training.
· Riding the safety instead of pressing the trigger.
· Short stroking the action of a semi-auto pistol because that’s all you’ve ever done on the range.
· Pumping a shotgun using a short-stroke because that’s all you’ve ever practiced.
· Sweeping the muzzle across your support hand because no one has ever corrected your bad habit.
Training scars are ingrained behaviors resulting from inadequate or improper training that was practiced to a level of instinctive response.
Use extra caution with training weapons—if done incorrectly, muscle memory teaches us to reactively pass a weapon back after a drill.
Medicine suffers from this problem too, and almost no one talks about it.
After teaching Wilderness Medicine courses for many years, I can tell you that the most dangerous student is almost never the one that doesn’t know anything. It’s the student that has had some sort of medical training before. CPR, Boy Scouts first aid, an EMT card that hasn’t been refreshed in a decade, a Combat Lifesaver card received during military service. They walk in with a sense of confidence that is based on ingrained behaviors that either were incorrect to begin with or have since been replaced with better care.
People under stress don’t rise to the occasion, they revert to ingrained behavior. If those ingrained behaviors are incorrect or out-dated that is what they revert to.
Medicine Changes. Your Training Might Not.
Here are a few examples.
The latest guidance teaches us that broken ribs should not be wrapped.
Rib fractures
For years the standard of care for rib fractures has been to wrap the chest tightly to minimize chest wall motion and therefore pain. We now understand that this leads to splinting and shallow respirations and therefore an increased chance of pneumonia, especially in the older patient. Current wisdom is to actually encourage deep breathing
and only splint gently with one hand while moving. This would be especially important in an older patient who may be subject to a long evacuation process in the wilderness.
Don’t be “that guy”—high and tight every time!
Control of hemorrhage
Have you ever been taught to control hemorrhage by applying pressure over an artery more proximal to the extremity than the wound? If so, you probably won’t be using that trick any more. Arterial pressure points have fallen out of favor as a hemorrhage control measure. The reasons are pretty clear cut, as it’s tough to do under stress, most people aren’t going to remember where those points are and in general it just doesn’t work as well as other options such as, well, direct pressure. If this is in your tool box, you’ve got a training scar.
How about using a tourniquet? Many of us were taught that a tourniquet is to be the last option for controlling extremity hemorrhage and should only be used if willing to sacrifice the limb. Casualty data from combat theaters has shown this just isn’t true. Tourniquets work, they are easily applied, and are unlikely to result in loss of the limb if used appropriately. Use early and often if you are dealing with life threatening extremity hemorrhage. If you’re still reaching for the tourniquet after elevation and pressure points have failed you may have just cost a life.
Control of anaphylaxis
Benadryl (diphenhydramine) is in nearly every first aid kit I’ve ever seen and most people know it as “the allergy medicine.” The problem is that an antihistamine doesn’t really help with the potentially life threatening manifestations of an anaphylactic reaction, thinking of airway swelling and closure, hypotension, etc. Benadryl should not be your first medication when treating anaphylaxis. Your first medication should be epinephrine. If you automatically reach for the pink pills before the auto-injector, you’ve got a training scar.
See a pattern? These are all pretty common concepts that likely have been passed on from medical provider to medical provider (and layman to layman) for the last 20 years with no one pausing to consider whether or not these practices are still valid. No one is going to send you an update, you need to seek out changes in medical management on your own.
Do you have the right training, tools and mindset for the mission and the environment?
The Sterile Room Scar
The second type of training scar comes not from technique, but from environment. I once taught a class that included a physician assistant and an anesthesiologist – more credentialed, medically speaking, than almost anyone else in the room. Both admitted to me that they would freeze outside of their normal work environments. They were
accustomed to sterile fields, brightly-lit exam rooms, monitors, imaging, climate control and so on, and without these things they froze.
How do you avoid developing scars like these? Practice your skills outside of your comfort zone. Get your hands cold and numb. Practice with bad or no lighting. Practice without your team. Practice with the wrong equipment. Practice in sideways rain. If the first time you practice abdominal palpation is in a nicely-lit, climate-controlled classroom, and the next time is at a dark, 40 degree F. trailhead, you’ll notice the difference.
Why the Scar Wins Under Stress
Autopilot is a double-edged sword. Deliberate practice is effective because of it, and that makes thoughtless practice incredibly dangerous. You will not perform actions you have never or infrequently performed correctly, no matter how well you understand them in theory.
Your improvised sling you made once in a classroom several years ago will not magically manifest itself in front of you when your hands are shaking and slick with sweat. The tourniquet you’ve only seen in a slideshow won’t suddenly become intuitive to use correctly at 0200 while your patient is screaming at you. Under real-world stress, with degraded fine motor skills, impaired cognition, tunnel vision, and flooding hormones/adrenaline you’re not going to be able to work a decision tree from first principles. You’re going to fall back on whatever is the most well-grooved. That’s why you have to practice until you can perform an assessment, apply a tourniquet, or manage an airway on autopilot. Your conscious mind will be occupied with trying to control the situation. It won’t be flipping through pages in its memory trying to remember what was on page 114.
The same goes for documentation. A lot of newer providers will avoid writing things like “signs consistent with heat exhaustion” or “possible fractured femur” because they feel like it amounts to making a diagnosis. This isn’t so much a product of old training as it is fear of being wrong. Unfortunately, fear of being wrong paralyzes people and makes them freeze up at exactly the times when clear-headedness and effective communication are required. Remember, a documentation is not a diagnosis, it’s simply documenting the best information you have so that the next provider can make better-informed decisions.
Adrenaline-induced tunnel vision is very real, and it will get you killed. Better to learn how your body reacts before you fall into this trap.
Burning It Out
Your training can help or hurt you. Ideally, your training will serve as an automatic set of instructions to help you respond appropriately in a crisis. However, sometimes, your training can hurt you, too. Those training scars are ingrained in you, and under stress, you will revert to them.
Here are a few tips to help make sure that, if and when your training takes over, it’s taking you in a helpful direction instead of a harmful one.
Audit your knowledge. Have you taken a refresher course in the last couple of years? Three? More? Medical knowledge and best practices change. Make sure you’re up to date.
Practice your skills with the actual equipment you carry, and under conditions that simulate a realistic stress response. Practice applying your tourniquet one-handeded, with limited light, after doing 30 push-ups, with your jacket on, etc. A CAT is not a SWAT-T. A blowout kit is only familiar if you’ve practiced with that exact blowout kit. Practice reveals how your skills hold up under pressure.
Find a good instructor. Ask prospective medical course instructors if their course has changed in the last five years to keep up with current evidence and best practices. A good instructor will be able to answer this question for you without hesitation. If not, be warned: you may be picking up some of their training scars
MSRP: $225 URL: jimgreenfootwear.com OG Rating: 8 out of 10
NOTES Your feet carry you, so you should take care of them. That’s particularly true when every step matters and every mile counts.
That said, modern conveniences and comforts have led to modern weaknesses. Jim Green’s Barefoot Rangers buck the modern trend.
The Barefoot Rangers are a vegetable-tanned leather boot with a tough but flexible sole. There’s no padding, arch support, or even a liner. The goal is to get you as close to the ground as possible.
That might not sound very comfortable, but the Barefoot Rangers have served me well for just shy of 18 months now. I’ve taken them through the Michigan woods, the Nebraska prairie, range days, training classes, and even a couple jumps from 15,000 feet.
They’re not insulated boots, and thus not for deep winter use, but barring that, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by their performance.
The Barefoot Rangers are just that, ranger boots. They’re meant to let your feet do what they’re supposed to do. Your heel strikes the ground first when you walk, and then your foot rolls forward and your weight shifts from the outside of your foot to your big toe. When that happens, your toes need room to spread, which most shoes don’t give them. In fact, most shoes squeeze your feet, causing hot spots and blisters and, over time, can lead to more serious problems like infection and ingrown toenails.
By contrast, the Barefoot Rangers have a wide toe box that gives your toes room to move and breathes better, and has room to spare if you want to wear thick socks.
Let’s face it, once your feet start to hurt, that’s all you’re going to think about. You’re not going to be thinking very clearly or moving very well when that happens, because your mind is as much out of the fight as your feet are. Returning to more natural footwear is a good first step.
The concept of helmets is hardly revolutionary – people have been using them for as long as there’s been organized combat, and the concept hasn’t changed all that dramatically from the original steel pots that were designed more-or-less by educated guesswork.
However, modern helmets have evolved in tandem with other protective gear, and have grown in features, protection, and overall capabilities. One such example of this is the Ops-Core FAST XP Gen II, which is designed with law enforcement in mind. Available in medium and high-cut configurations, this helmet isn’t intended to stop rifle threats, but is instead focused on the more realistic handgun and fragmentation threats that officers are likely to encounter.
Rated to NIJ IIIA and HG2, this helmet is capable of withstanding handgun rounds up to and including the .44 Magnum, while also controlling back face deformation. This allows for a high level of protection that won’t sacrifice awareness or mobility, representing an important balance to strike when you don’t know what you’re getting into.
This helmet’s biggest strength, however, is its integration into a system. The high cut version, for instance, allows for the use of over-ear comm headsets, while the ARC rail system provides mounting for an array of lights, cameras, and other add-ons. The front shroud is even designed to accommodate night vision gear in a way that allows its weight to be better managed.
Internally, Ops-Core’s LockDown Liner System provides a ton of customization, allowing the user to tweak padding and the suspension to dial in the perfect fit for their head, and also improve airflow and general comfort over long wear. This can make all the difference in the world after a couple of days in the helmet.
Overall, the Ops-Core FAST XP Gen II is a very capable helmet that’s perfect for those whose biggest threats are going to be fragmentation, debris, and other secondary threats.
Aero-Hill Blades is a new name in the knife world, but the company’s founder has spent a lifetime designing products that people rely on every day. Michael Sciulli may not be a name you are familiar with, but there is a good chance that you have seen or wore his work as he spent 3 decades designing footwear for major companies including Reebok, Calvin Klein, and Coach just to name a few.
Sciulli has since retired from his career in footwear design and spends his time in the mountains of Northwestern Connecticut which inspired him to start making knives and found Aero-Hill Blades. To make his dream a reality Sciulli partnered with designer Aasin Thomas, experienced knife maker Joe Carey and Precision Machinist’s Richard Stebbins and Don Coffin.
Several knives from the Aero-Hill Blades line up
Aero-Hill Blades Design Approach
Aero-Hill Blades have a unique aesthetic that conveys the importance of both form and function. Each model was clearly designed to perform heavy duty outdoor tasks and look good while doing it.
All the materials used to build each Aero-Hill Blade are among some of the toughest in the industry including CPM-3V blades, micarta handles scales, and kydex sheaths.
Design sketches from Aero-Hill Blades Gear Up line
For those who enjoy customization and the finer details Aero-Hill Blades has you covered! Each knife is made to order in Connecticut allowing the buyer to choose from a number of blade finish options including Cerakote, various patinas and even detailed laser engraved finishes. There are also several handle color choices, all made from custom jute micarta Finally the kydex sheath also offers customizations and multiple mounting options.
Several versions of the Camp Fireside highlighting different finishes and handle scale colors.
The Aero-Hill Blades Camp Fireside Design
Aero-Hill’s website describes the Camp Fireside as “one bad ass blade” and at first glance you’d be hard pressed to disagree! The Camp Fireside features and aggressive 5.25 inch compound grind blade made from 7/32 inch thick premium 3V steel. The slightly shorter handle brings the overall length to just below 10 inches. The version I tested weighed just under 14 ounces which is some pretty considerable heft that lends to the functionality of the design.
The handle fills the hand well tanks to the contoured handle scales and maintaining control of the Camp Fireside during use is no concern thanks to the jimping found both on the spine of the knife and finger relief. The addition of a blade guard ensures there are no accidental injuries during hard use tasks.
The sheath is made from kydex and has a cool two-tone effect that adds to the overall aesthetic of the package. The sheath is designed to accept both a wide Tek-Lock for belt carry and Ulti-Clips for varied carry styles even in your pant pocket provided you are wearing outdoor or work style pants with large pockets.
Putting the Camp Fireside to Work
Sciulli created the Camp Fireside to be an all purpose knife for use around the campsite and outdoor pursuits – and I can confidently say he achieved his goal!
The compound blade style does more than just look awesome, it also allows the user to accomplish a number of different outdoor tasks easily and efficiently. The Tip of the blade has a swedge to help provide excellent piercing performance while maintaining tip strength and the blade section behind the tip offers a nice bit of belly. These features are exceptional for processing game or prepping your next camp meal.
The curved section of blade towards the rear of the blade is reminiscent of the famed Tom Brown Tracker Knife and offers a ton of functionality for wood processing tasks including wood shaving, carving, and splitting. Combined with the robust blade stock and tough CPM-3V steel, there are no issues hard using the Camp Fireside for extensive wood processing in both camp and bushcraft related tasks.
The handle fits the hand well, allowing for excellent control and retention with minimal hand fatigue during extended use. The jimping helps ensure there are no slip ups during use. My one caveat with the jimping on the underside of the handle is that can cause some discomfort during extremely prolonged use if you aren’t wearing a work glove – but during regular use it was not problematic and you should be wearing some kind of work glove during real world extend use any way!
Final Thoughts
The Aero-Hill Blades Camp Fireside is a truly premium custom-made knife that blends artistic design, rugged looks, and purpose driven function that is sure to please the most discerning outdoors person or avid knife collector. Being a premium custom knife that is made in the USA, the Camp Fireside knife is not inexpensive, but pricing is in line with what I would expect from a custom made to order knife. If you are in the market for an amazing custom knife that you can truly use and want to turn some heads while using it, the Camp Fireside will not disappoint!
America’s most visited mountain tops out at 14,115 feet, providing RECOIL OFFGRID travelers with a true alpine tundra environment teeming with marmots, bighorn sheep and white-tailed ptarmigan (that camouflages in by turning snow-white during the winter).
The endless amber sweep of the Great Plains give way to the Sangre de Cristo range, a view that so inspired Wellesley Professor Katharine Lee Bates when she summited in the summer of 1893, she penned “America the Beautiful.”
Choose your route: the hard way, via the 13-mile, 7,000-plus-foot climb known as the Barr Trail, one of Colorado’s great fourteener day-hikes; the restored Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway; or by driving the famous switchbacks yourself.
The peak seen through the red-rock fins of Garden of the Gods, free and open at the mountain’s foot.
Survival Readiness
Don’t be fooled by easy access – altitude is still a concern! Between Colorado Springs and the summit, you gain about 8,000 feet in elevation, so take it slow and drink plenty of water to avoid headaches, dizziness and other symptoms of altitude sickness (including nausea). Know when to turn around!
Even in summer, temperatures at the top can be 20 to 40 degrees cooler than at the base of the mountain. Winds pick up, it can even snow, and thunderstorms are common in the afternoon, so get an early start whether you’re hiking or biking and follow the locals’ advice – be off the mountain by early afternoon.
Barr Trail is long, exposed and unforgiving if you start too late or aren’t prepared. Make sure you have extra layers, food, water, sun protection and a headlamp. On the way down, drivers should ride their brakes gently to avoid overheating (rangers check for this!), and everyone should be on the lookout for fast-changing weather above tree line.
Topo map of Pikes Peak (Source: CalTopo)
Getting There
Located just west of Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak is a popular trip for folks visiting anywhere on Colorado’s Front Range. During peak season (from the Friday before Memorial Day through September 30), visitors must reserve a timed-entry permit in order to drive up Pikes Peak Highway, in addition to paying the required vehicle toll. Prices fluctuate, but are currently about $18 per adult and $8 per child (with a maximum price for family vehicles). Reservations can be made for specific entry windows in advance. Otherwise, the Pikes Peak Highway is accessible year-round to points along the way. Weather conditions permitting, full access to the top by car is generally from mid-May through early October. The 19-mile Pikes Peak Highway begins at US-24 near Cascade.
Another option is to take a cog railway trip up Pikes Peak. Seats for the popular cog railway ride can sell out weeks in advance in summer, so plan ahead. The Pikes Peak Cog Railway can be boarded in Manitou Springs, off of Ruxton Avenue, and makes it to the top in around 90 minutes.
For those that want to hike, the Barr Trail also begins in Manitou Springs. It’s a good option for those that want to split up the hike over two days, and Barr Camp is located about halfway up the mountain.
The mountain from the plains that moved Katharine Lee Bates to write “America the Beautiful.”
Local Perks
Add historic Colorado Springs and the Garden of the Gods’ free, dramatic red rock formations at the foot of the mountain, and the Pikes Peak region has more color than just the mountain.
Manitou Springs, the artsy spa town at the foot of Pikes Peak, is known for its historic mineral water and has a main street brimming with cafés and shops. There’s also the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum, the grand old Broadmoor resort, and plenty of family-friendly attractions, like the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and the depot at Cog’s. Adventurous types can take a guided spelunking tour at Cave of the Winds.
Get the fourteener experience, with the comfort of a classic Colorado mountain town, with hiking, Cog Rail or driving trips to Pikes Peak.
Grab a lever action rifle and something primal stirs in your mind. Leverguns evoke the pioneer spirit. The rugged individualist that trumped all others in an era long past.
Leverguns tend to get pigeon-holed these days as “old timers” and are relegated to a niche that’s overshadowed by the more modern AR. Leverguns are seen as cowboy guns, or grandpa’s rocker-upper front porch rifle. And you know what, they can be either of those things.
I set out to design a rifle that would break through the ceiling of what people think leverguns are and what they can do. I wanted to design a rifle that can take down coyotes or brown bears, as well as be used for a slew of short to midrange tactical roles. It’s a Cowboy’s rifle, and an Alien’s rifle all rolled into one.
It’s called the Cowboys vs. Aliens Lever Action, and yes, it’s silly. It could have been even sillier, but I wanted to walk that fine line between silly and purposeful. I think we hit that line dead on. If this article opens your mind up to the potential of leverguns, then we’ve accomplished our goal.
Original Smith & Wesson1854 Stealth Hunter without modifications.
Modernizing the Smith & Wesson 1854
Out of the box the Smith & Wesson 1854 Stealth Hunter has an eight-round tube, a 16.3-inch threaded barrel and a stainless action, all covered in a black finish.
I chose .44 Magnum because it can deal with anything you might encounter in the backcountry from brown bear to moose to that bipedal threat. The trajectory is similar to throwing a shot put, but for a gun intended to be effective at close to mid-range, .44 Magnum’s power compensates.
I chose the Stealth Hunter because it comes out of the box without a glint of silver or gold to ruin my light discipline. I’ll make some modifications to mine, mostly in the vein of dropping weight and adding accessories, but I wanted to start with the best foundation.
Ranger Point Precision PewView (Root Beer)
Cutting Weight with Ranger Point
The PewView stock in Root Beer colorway (developed with competition shooter Nick Johnson) includes a 13.25-inch M-LOK handguard, an adjustable aluminum buttstock, a cheek riser and an M-LOK accessory panel. I appreciate that the handguard still allowed for use of the rear peep sight. And I was able to dial in length of pull and comb height to fit my shooting style (I shoot mostly offhand these days with the trendy “thumb over” method instead of the stock’s default settings).
I also installed a takedown screw and loading gate from Ranger Point Precision. Ranger Point Precision provided most of the upgrades to this gun and I appreciate each one.
Ranger Point’s tool-less takedown screw makes it a 30-second process to take the lever apart for cleaning.
Ranger Point’s Flyweight Loading Gate makes loading the lever significantly easier than using the factory gate. Anyone who has stuffed a lever tube against the factory spring will appreciate this one.
And Ranger Point’s six-round quiver attaches to the M-LOK panel, keeping six additional .44 rounds right next to your support hand. And thanks to O-ring retention, they’re not going anywhere.
Timney lever action trigger.
Trigger and Muzzle
Out of the box, the trigger pulls cleanly in the 3- to 5-pound range, fine for a working gun and not much better than fine. But if you’re after refinement, there are some excellent aftermarket triggers available.
I installed a Timney single-stage trigger built for the 1854, and the factory trigger turned into a glass-smooth 2.5- to 3-pound trigger job with a nice, flat shoe. It’s improved my trigger control and finger placement, and it’s made me a more effective shooter.
Wilson Combat Q-Comp .458, 11/16×24
The Stealth Hunter’s thread pattern is 11/16 by 24 and I screwed on a Wilson Combat Q-Comp which is designated as a .458 brake, but the thread pattern is the same. It cut muzzle rise nearly to nothing. A must for this bucking cartridge.
If I lived in a sane state I would’ve screwed on a can instead, but alas common sense isn’t universal yet.
EOTech HWS EXPS3 (tan) with G33 magnifier on STS mount.
Glass, Magnifier, and Light
A thousand lumens should be more than enough to blind somebody’s eyes or clear out an interior space. It’s bolted to my rifle so it can come with me to the range, but I’ve rigged it with a Streamlight ProTac HL-X. I like that this light has the TEN-TAP programmable switch, so I can have the features work the way I want them to, not the way Streamlight thinks I want them to work.
Glow-dot irons aren’t my favorite sights for this rifle, but they come stock and I’ll admit they get the job done. For a rifle that’s meant to have a tactical flavor to it, though, it’s hard for me to go wrong with a quality holographic sight. I’ve elected to use an EOTech EXPS3 with the one-dot speed ring reticle. Aside from the fact that it’s rugged, reliable, and virtually indestructible, I love that I can still utilize the speed advantage of shooting with both eyes open. As a bonus, it’s night vision compatible, so if I ever find myself rustling cattle behind a pair of green image intensifiers, I’m all set.
On a switch-to-side magnifier mount behind the holographic sight sits an EOTech G33 magnifier. Flip it out of the way and I still have a speedy both-eyes-open optic for shooting, flip it into line and I get a 3x magnification to use for target identification and impact confirmation (nothing’s easier than spotting a .44 hole, but this makes it even easier).
All of this gear is quick detach, so in a pinch I can revert back to the factory-provided iron sights in a couple seconds flat if I need to ditch the glass.
Maztech Industries X4-LRF-15K
The Alien in the Room
The item that truly takes this rifle into “vs. Aliens” territory is the Maztech Industries X4-LRF-15K.
This is a weapon mounted laser rangefinder that has an Applied Ballistics ballistics solver as well as its own suite of environmental sensors built in. When you range a target it calculates a firing solution which it then displays on a large OLED display. The firing solution accounts for atmospheric conditions measured by its own suite of sensors. The X4-LRF-15K has both a visible red laser as well as an IR laser for true day and night capability. I’m not going to lie this device costs more than the rest of the rifle combined, but I know of no other product that takes a lever action rifle and makes it feel like it belongs in the far future.
Hellhound Leather Co. wrap kit (brown).
A Classic Touch
A few hours in the shop and a YouTube video was all I needed for most of the swaps, but threading sinew through the hand-tooled, hand-stitched, full-grain leather Hellhound Leather Co. wrap around my trigger guard and lever took patience and a steady hand. It’s the most traditional part of the build, and it looks like it would feel at home on an 1890s rifle despite sitting next to nearly $5,000 in ranging tech.
It all comes together nicely. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Would I recommend it to anyone? Also yes. Would I wrap my next lever action in leather and sinew? I don’t know. That part took quite a while and I don’t think I could speed it up much, either.
Fully upgraded and modernized Smith & Wesson 1854
On the Range
The action broke in quickly and smoothly, noticeably so after just a dozen shots, and just kept getting smoother from there. Recoil is mild, as the PewView’s flat comb and lighter-triggered Timney trigger means recovery is quick and easy, and follow-up shots are fast and easy to deliver. With the Q-Comp, muzzle rise is next to none, and follow-up shots are flat and fast. This is a stout cartridge, and I didn’t expect that kind of performance from a lever-action, but there it was, a mild-mannered, quick-shooting, almost-pistol-like shooting experience.
Accuracy-wise, the EOTech is faster and more forgiving than the factory dots, and with the magnifier flipped to the side I can shoot with both eyes open and get a nice crisp sight picture. Then, with the flip of a switch, the magnifier’s in place and I can get a nice look at my target (or lack thereof). The X4-LRF calculates atmospheric conditions and gives you your hold for you, which pretty much eliminates the guesswork. Now, admittedly, .44 Magnum isn’t exactly a long range cartridge out of this particular rifle, so windage doesn’t punish you quite so badly as it would on a dedicated LR rig, but if I had a LR scope on instead of the EoTech, the X4-LRF would be right at home.
Fun to play with, easy to work on, and more multi-tasking than you’d expect a lever to be.
Modernized Lever Action Rifle Build Sheet
Base Rifle Smith & Wesson 1854 Stealth Hunter, .44 Magnum $1,399
Mobile whitetail tactics have changed significantly in the last decade. Because of this, hunters need a pack system to meet their ever-changing needs. Hunting conditions dictate gear configurations from trip to trip and even hour to hour. As tactics and needs change so does the gear that we carry. For many hunters this means owning more than one pack system. Why? Because one pack that does it all simply doesn’t exist… until now.
From comfortable all day backpack to full-fledged meat hauling frame, the Praxis Frame Pack can do it all.
Lightweight 7075 aluminum and carbon-fiber frame weighs in at only 2.5 lbs!
Entire 27 liter pack weighs in at a mere 4.5 lbs!
From climbing sticks to a saddle platform to optics and camera gear to extra layers, the Praxis can be configured for nearly any mobile hunting situation. Multiple compression points keep gear secure while eliminating excess bulk and maintaining proper balance.
Quickly transition from carrying your hunting kit to packing out a big buck using the integrated cargo panel and stowable load shelf, with no need to rearrange your gear!
After filling the Praxis with all the gear necessary for mobile whitetails tactics, hit the trail. The lightweight carbon-fiber and 7075 aluminum frame adds structure and support where you need it most. After the shot, use the integrated cargo panel and stowable load shelf to evenly distribute the weight of a trophy buck. The result is an efficient and controlled pack-out no matter how far the buck fell from the trailhead!
Although Alaska travel vets tend to keep it to themselves, Ptarmigan Creek campground (16 sites) at Mile 23 of the Seward Highway (just south of the hamlet of Moose Pass) is well worth the trip. Not only is the campground tucked into spruce forest and situated on a clear, cold (and often sockeye-filled in late summer!) milky-turquoise glacial-silt stream that attracts bald eagles (and occasionally bears), but it’s also the trailhead for a genuine alpine hike (the Ptarmigan Creek Trail). The roughly seven-mile round-trip hike leads through spruce and cottonwood forest to a finger of glacier-fed Ptarmigan Lake hemmed in by steep peaks inhabited by mountain goats and Dall sheep. It’s unusual to find an easy creekside evening and a true alpine hike accessible from the same parking lot. Kenai Lake, Seward and the icefields of the Kenai are also nearby.
Glacier melt gives Ptarmigan Creek its color even under snow. The same water that looks unreal fills with sockeye by late summer.
Survival Readiness
There are black and brown bears around Ptarmigan Lake. They’re especially likely to be near the creek during salmon runs, when you’ll see lots of bears fishing. Keep your campsite clean, store food securely, and keep bear spray handy (on your hip, not buried in your pack).
The Kenai can be sunny and warm one minute, and windy and raining the next (even in July!). Layers, rain gear, and extra warm clothes are good ideas.
Ptarmigan Lake is true backcountry, and help is hours away. Tell someone where you’re going, and bring water treatment if you plan to use the lake as a water source. There are stretches of this highway where cell phone coverage is spotty to non-existent.
The trail to Ptarmigan Lake goes over avalanche terrain that can remain snow-covered well into the summer.
Getting There
This popular camp is open from mid-May through September 30. Some campsites are reservable on Recreation.gov (1-877-444-6777) and others are first come, first served (summer weekends can fill up, so get there early or reserve ahead).
The Kenai Lake campground is on Ptarmigan Creek, about two hours south of Anchorage and 25 minutes north of Seward. It’s one of the more easily accessed true-wilderness camps in Southcentral Alaska. From Anchorage, head south along the Seward Highway (which follows Turnagain Arm and goes over a couple of passes) to Mile 23, just south of Moose Pass. The campground entrance is on the east side of the road.
Get gas and supplies in Anchorage, Seward or Girdwood, as there aren’t a whole lot of options once you’re out of town. Fees are around $19/night and the maximum stay is 14 nights. From camp it’s just a short walk to Kenai Lake.
Ptarmigan Lake at the top of the trail. The slopes above it hold snow and slide risk well into summer.
Local Perks
Kenai and Trail lakes are nearby as well, offering salmon runs and lake-trout fishing.
A mere half-hour south of Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward offers day cruises past whales, sea otters, puffins and tidewater glaciers on Resurrection Bay, as well as access to walk-on Exit Glacier.
The storied Resurrection Pass trail, plus plenty of shorter hikes, crisscross this area, while the tiny community of Moose Pass puts on a beloved summer solstice festival each year. And don’t forget that a wild trout stream runs right past camp, and trout and Dolly Varden fishing can be had right on Ptarmigan Creek!
It’s hard to find a basecamp in a better location.
