Save your self the hassle and find yourself a good plumber! Just a quick post this evening – I was watching some different tv shows this weekend about different disasters that had hit areas of the U.S. and how the people that we recovering from them were going about doing so. One of the major points you noticed was that everyone was pretty focused on the plumber that they used. Many of the families that were profiled were victims of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Having seen the affects and damage caused by the Hurricane, I can totally understand why someone would not want to have to go through anything like that again.

After these people had basically gutted their whole house…or completely demolished it, they rebuilt. A key point of focus was on the plumber or plumbing company that they would be using to redo some of the pipe work. They searched for a company that had good customer service, high ratings from referrals, and lots of experience. They made it very clear that they even though it would not be on the same scale as Katrina, they didn’t want to experience any type of flooding within the house, any pipes bursting, or any other bad thing that could happen. If they were in Chicago, I’m sure people would have recommended them to Handrau Chicago Plumbing.

I know this was a bit of an ordinary post for us here at TheGearHouse, so to relate it to being outdoors and on the trail, you have to make sure you have the most trustworthy and “fit for the job” equipment that you can. Your life depends on it…seriously. So be sure you don’t skimp on things like a tent or sleeping bag. Get gear that works, will hold up to the elements, and that will last a while. There’s nothing wrong with spending a couple hundred dollars on a sleeping bag that will last you 5 years.

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A few months back I partnered up with Menasha Ridge Press to bring more guide books, hiking books, and hiking trail guides to everyone. So, with that being said, I have posted a bunch of books up in the Store for you to check. Ranging from 60 hikes within 60 miles guides, The Best In Tent Camping guides, and also a few different river maps!

The Book section now features 31 books in stock and many more will be added shortly. If there is a book by Menasha Ridge that you are looking for, or one that is relevant to a specific city, location, geographical area, or activity, please leave a comment about it and I can get it added right away to the store.

Thanks for stopping by!

As awarded by Evan Balkan, author of The Best in Tent Camping: Maryland, A Guide for Car Campers
Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos, which is published by Menasha Ridge Press.

Best for Beauty
1. Assateague Island National Seashore
2. Swallow Falls State Park
3. Catoctin Mountain Park
4. Pocomoke River State Parks
5. Garrett State Forest

Best for Privacy
1. Assateague Island National Seashore – Backcountry Sites
2. Patuxent River Park
3. Garrett State Forest
4. Potomac State Forest
5. Savage River State Forest

Best for Quiet
1. Potomac State Forest
2. Garrett State Forest
3. Assateague Island National Seashore – Backcountry Sites
4. Savage River State Forest
5. Hart-Miller State Park

Best for Spaciousness
1. Patuxent River Park
2. Garrett State Forest
3. Potomac State Forest
4. Green Ridge State Forest
5. Maple Tree Campground

Best for Handicapped Accessibility
1. Assateague State Park
2. Cunningham Falls State Parks
3. Deep Creek State Park
4. Greenbrier State Park
5. Pocomoke River State Parks

Best for Boating
1. Deep Creek Lake State Park
2. Big Run State Park
3. Youghiogheny River Lake
4. Hart-Miller Island
5. Assateague State Park

Best for Fishing
1. Assateague Island National Seashore
2. Youghiogheny River Lake
3. Rocky Gap State Park
4. Susquehanna State Park
5. Tuckahoe State Park

Best for Swimming
1. Assateague Island Parks
2. Deep Creek Lake State Park
3. Hart-Miller Island State Park
4. Rocky Gap State Park
5. Elk Neck State Park

Best for Horseback Riding
1. Garrett State Forest
2. Potomac State Forest
3. Green Ridge State Forest
4. Susquehanna State Park
5. Pocomoke River State Parks

Best for Mountain Biking
1. Potomac State Forest
2. Garrett State Forest
3. Savage River State Forest
4. Green Ridge State Forest
5. Patapsco Valley State Parks

Best for Snowmobiling
1. Garrett State Forest
2. Potomac State Forest
3. Savage River State Forest
4. Green Ridge State Forest
5. Deep Creek State Park

Best for Hiking
1. South Mountain State Park: Appalachian Trail Sites
2. Catoctin Mountain Park
3. Cunningham Falls State Park
4. C & O Canal Hiker/Biker Sites
5. Assateague Island National Seashore – Backcountry Sites

Best for Cross-Country Skiing
1. New Germany State Park
2. Swallow Falls State Park
3. Garrett State Forest
4. Rocky Gap State Park
5. Green Ridge State Forest

Best for Children
1. Deep Creek State Park
2. Cunningham Falls State Park: Manor Area
3. Fort Frederick State Park
4. Swallow Falls State Park
5. Little Bennett Regional Park

You can get your copy of The Best in Tent Camping: Maryland at TheGearHouse store!

The nForm nesting mug and bowl from GSI Outdoors is an ingenious cookware system that provides an ultralight and space efficient solution, perfect for camping and backpacking when pack space is at a premium. It’s also not expensive, costing under $9, making it a great value if you’re trying to stretch your money this year.

The mug and bowl can be used separately or together to form an insulated container for drinking hot cocoa or soup. I consider an insulated mug to be essential, particularly in winter, when I want to sip hot chocolate while I’m melting snow at night for drinking water. The sip lid is extra useful in this situation for keeping the contents from spilling and adding more insulation.

Weighing just 3.3 oz  and holding 14 oz of liquid, the mug and bowl are a lot lighter, hold more liquid, and are better insulators than the comparable insulated titanium mugs (which are also 5X as expensive) that I own today.

But while the benefits of this product are impressive for the solo hiker, I think they’re even more impressive if you are hiking in a group because multiple nesting mugs and bowls can themselves nest in a larger cook pot, using a lot less space in your pack.

This gear review was contributed to TheGearHouse by Philip Werner who regularly blogs and reviews more gear at his website, SectionHiker. If you’re interested in being a gear reviewer for TheGearHouse, feel free to contact us.

I love firestarters. Not as much as the American Bushman does, but I do love them. So when I got the chance to get my hands on a small lot of the Adventure Medical Kit Spark-Lite Firestarter and Tinder Quik, I knew I had to jump on it. So I did, and now I have them in stock and they are on TheGearHouse store.

This is a great little firestarter that weighs less than an ounce and produces a nice set of sparks, while using only one hand. I’ve put together a video for the full review and to so show how it works but thought I’d mention it real quick too. Within the package, you get the firestarter as well as a little baggie of Tinder-Quik. These are sort of like a braided rope but I’m not sure what the actual material is. Anyway, you get a baggie of 4 of them. They are reusable and they will even light when wet which is extremely important when you are in a survival situation and need to get a fire going. Each little piece, which are about an inch long, will burn for 2-3 minutes.

Here’s my video review of the Adventure Medical Kits Spark-Lite Firestarter and Tinder-Quik.

It is available in TheGearHouse store for $8.25 and the normal retail is $10.00.

I’ve gotten some new products in for TheGearHouse and am working on putting together video reviews of them. Today’s review is of the GSI Outdoors Spice Rack.

A couple highlights:

• The spice rack holds 6 different spices in BPA free lexan containers.
• The spice rack also comes with 18 preprinted labels to help you keep your spices straight.
• Rubber banding to help keep all 3 containers together.
• Large and small screens for different size spices
• Weight: 3.3 ounces
• Price: $9.95 in TheGearHouse.

Over the weekend I tested out the Coghlan’s Emergency Tinder. While reviewing a fire starting material is pretty easy to do in writing, it is one of those things that is better off done on video. So, here is a review and run through of how to use the Coghlan’s Emergency Tinder that would make a great addition to any firestarting kit.

Show notes:

• Coghlan’s Emergency Tinder – $4.25 at TheGearHouse.
• Fire starting kit video

I have also started carrying many other Coghlan’s products if you’re looking for something, so feel free to leave a comment. And also look out for more video reviews coming soon.

The other day a friend of mine from college tweeted at me about a great resource on backpacking and I wanted to throw the link out to you all.

Ryan Moulton has put together a very comprehensive article covering all the related topics to backpacking and hiking. He covers picking boots, finding the right gear (tent, sleeping bag, etc), common trail foods, how to hike and much more.

Based off of his own experiences from age 8 to 25 the article is full of great info.

Take a look at it, read through it as you can since it is long and let me know your thoughts!

Also if you are on Twitter, then be sure to follow me @chrispund.

I’ve been looking for a new tent. It seems like I always need a new tent. I guess its just something with being a gear junkie that I always look for reasons to get new gear. Well, it happened again and I bought one this weekend.

Sunday I went to REI with my Finace and checked out the Mountain Hardware Lightpath 3 tent. The tent is a 3 person backpacking tent but will be perfect for the two of us and our gear. I hadn’t seen one set up before, so I asked one of the salespeople if I could set up the tent right there in the store. The girl said “sure, go ahead and play with it.” Now that is awesome customer service and dedication to your industry. Allowing potential customers to set up tents or play with gear inside your store is a great way to push them towards the checkout counter.

Read more…