Book Description: This one-stop, easy-to-use collection of practical advice, time-saving tips, problem-solving techniques, brilliant improvisations, and Everyday Wisdom shows hikers how to make their way and make do in the backcountry. The secret is preparing for the predictable and solving problems by avoiding them. Learn about the basics, food and kitchen, travel across backcountry terrain, creating comfort, weather issues, staying healthy, water, field repairs, equipment maintenance between trips, and a whole lot more. Can't find the hole in the air mattress? Need tips for backcountry meals? A surprise cold front has rolled in... Need some improvised gloves, fast? Everyday Wisdom will help. Knowing a few seemingly small tricks will enable backpackers to take big strides in increasing their comfort, safety, preparation, and improvisational skills. This guide is a source of to-the-point, practical hints and tips that only a seasoned expert could bring together.

Synopsis: Knowing a few seemingly small tricks will enable backpackers to take big strides in increasing their comfort, safety, preparation, and improvisational skills. Author Karen Berger covers everything from packing and planning to field repairs and emergency improvisations. A great gift for any hiker or backpacker. 80 photos. 15 illustrations.

Here is a small sample of the tips found in the book:

• Burn off extra fuel
  No stove fuel on planes means no fuel, period. Burn off any excess that might be lurking in your stove's tank or gas lines.

• Consolidate batteries
  Try to choose battery-powered items that use the same type of batteries. For instance, many flashlights, cameras, and portable radio or tape players (if you bring them) use AA batteries. You'll save weight on spares, and you can take the battery out of your camera and use it as a spare for your flashlight.

• Check with the airlines
  Some airlines refuse to transport camping stoves, fuel or no fuel. It's better to check before you go. These rules are arbitrary and differ from airline to airline, so before you make your plane reservation, be sure the airline accepts stoves.

• Compass tricks
  Get a compass with a folding top, which protects the housing from gumming up with fine particles of dirt and sand. The folding top usually contains a mirror, which can be used as a signaling device.

• Packing for convenience
  Carry your lunch and snacks where you can get at them without having to unpack your stove, your fuel, and your extra clothing. Ditto for your toilet paper and trowel. Keep your rain gear and pack cover handy.

• Doing double duty
  One of the best ways to lighten the gear load is to look for items that do double duty. An example: A water bag blown up with air like a balloon can be a pillow. So can a stuff sack filled with extra clothing.

• The value of a trial run
  Check out the fit of your pack when it's loaded down with actual gear (as opposed to those sandbags you used to try the pack on in the store). Put some real trail miles on your boots, and see how they feel when you bang your toes against a few rocks. Make sure your shorts don't ride up between your thighs, your shirt doesn't have seams exactly under your pack's shoulder straps, and everything that's supposed to fit inside your pack actually does.

Paperback - 224 pages (September 1997) Mountaineers Books; ISBN: 0898865239 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.50 x 9.01 x 5.91