Cooper State Park

People in the Northeast Texas area have a lot of great state parks and lakes to check out and experience, but one of the best is right down the road from Texas A&M University-Commerce. Cooper Lake State Park is located around Cooper Lake on both the Cooper side, and the Sulphur Springs's side. There are great outdoor opportunities throughout the park. If you are looking to get outside, but don't want to travel to far, you should definitely check it out.

Here's a video shot at Cooper State park from the Outdoor Adventure crew here at Texas A&M Commerce -

Storing and Transporting Water

So now that you've got some ideas of how to get clean, safe to drink water, how are you going to carry that with you? There are several options available, ranging in costs from free to quite expensive. Here are a couple of options:

1. The common, everyday disposable plastic water bottle. These are available everywhere, are cheap, lightweight, and can be disposed of to get rid of weight.

2. A hydration pack. These are flexible, compact, tough water bladders that hold large quantities of water that you can carry on your back. These are great for when you don't or can't use both hands opening and closing a water bottle. Most of these have tubes that can attach/detach from the bladder and allow you to drink straight from the bladder via the tube. The only downsides to these that I have found are that they can be pretty expensive (although you can find cheap versions too), and don't let you easily pass the water around to others.

3. Metal or plastic water bottle. These are tough, yet still lightweight and can be reused indefinitely. They also allow you to pass around the water source to others. Some of the designs, like the Naglene bottles have several available attachments that will allow you to do everything from filter water, to self-sealing spouts for drinking. The downside to these bottles are they can be bulky, and cumbersome to open for drinking.

Staying Hydrated
Hydration Pack Choices
Water Bottle Choices

Coleman 8 Person Tent

I posted earlier this week about the Coleman Instant Tent lineup and how I thought the 8 person model was an ideal tent for camping if you aren't going to be going to far from your car or truck to set it up. I decided to make a video showing how easy it is to set this tent up. My video only included me for setup, yet I still managed to completely set it up in less than 5 minutes.

There are several websites and reviews out there that claim the tent can be setup in under 60 seconds if a couple people are involved, and I would have to agree with those claims.
These tents are so quick and easy to setup, allowing you to spend more time having fun instead of trying fight with the tent poles, flaps, ropes and stakes of other tents.

Check this video out and let me know what kind of tent do you use when size or weight doesn't matter, but comfort and ease of use do.

A Tent for the Whole Family

If you aren't worried about carrying a tent 3 or 4 miles off the beaten path, you should look into a big tent. This gives you a lot of room to set up various stuff, and more people can sleep in the tent compared to backpack tents, which barely allow room for one person.

One of the best tents in this category is the Coleman series of instant tents. These tents have the poles built into the tent so there is no fumbling around with inserting poles, trying to make sure they don't come apart, and accidentally snapping.

I have used the Coleman Instant 8 Person Tent on several occasions, and have never had a problem, I can set it up by myself in less than 5 minutes, and take it down by myself too. The tent is very spacious, even with 4 or 5 people in it. You probably wouldn't want to put 8 people in it unless you don't mind being a little cramped. There is also a divider that divides the tent into 2 rooms. The windows are large and can be unzipped to allow air to circulate in hotter months. All in all, if you are looking for a bigger tent, don't care about weight, and want easy set up and take down, look at the Coleman Instant Series of tents.

This is what Coleman says about the tent -

Coleman Instant 8- Person Two Room Tent

The Coleman Instant 8 person 14- by 10- Foot tent is perfect for the family that is looking to get their campsite set up quickly to start enjoying the outdoors. This is an 8 person, two room tent that has straight walls that make standing up in this tent easy with plenty of head room at 6'5" center height. Fully taped seems with 150D fabric allows Coleman to provide the keeps you dry guaranteed without the need to install a rain fly.

Features
• Spacious 8-person, 2-room tent designed for quick assembly
• Poles come pre-attached to tent, ensuring setup in 1 minute or less
• Exclusive WeatherTec system with thick waterproof walls and welded floor
• 2 doors and 7 windows for full ventilation; removable divider between rooms
• Base measures 14 by 10 feet; center height of 6 feet 5 inches; 1-year warranty

Link - 

Coleman Instant Tents

Staying Hydrated

Staying hydrated is essential just sitting at home on the couch, but that need is magnified when you are outside doing something physically taxing or rigorous. There are several ways to purify, store, and consume water when outside.

As far as purification of water goes, there are three basic methods that I am willing to use in the outdoors. The first is the most reliable, and least complicated at least the way I see it, is boiling water to get rid of unwanted bacteria and other pathogens. Most sources recommend boiling water for at least 1 minute to sterilize it. But remember, any time heated or boiling is better than nothing as far as getting rid of bacteria and other nasty stuff is concerned. I have used my Jetboil Zip to boil water on hiking and camping trips in the past.

Another method of purifying water so that is safe to drink is by using chemicals. Usually the recommended chemicals are iodine or chlorine. Iodine tablets are available for purification purposes at most outdoor retailers. As far as chlorine goes, simple household bleach can be used. Simply mix 1/4 teaspoon of bleach per gallon of water, and let it sit for 60 minutes before drinking. 

The last, and quickest way to make water safe for drinking is by using a handmade, or store-bought filter. There are several filters available for sale at most outdoor retailers like Academy, Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's, Gander Mountain, and even most Walmart stores. I have a simple Lifestraw Personal Water Filter that I keep in my bag for this specific purpose. I can fill up a water bottle, and drink through the Lifestraw to get clean safe water.

 If you find yourself in an emergency where none of these options are available, you can always crush some charcoal from your fire, put it inside a t-shirt, bandana, or any other type of cloth, and filter water through that. The charcoal will filter out most of the impurities and bacteria.

Link - 

Purifying Water

Knife Sharpening

I already posted the reasons you should have a sharp knife, and a couple different methods to get your knife sharp, but here is a video of how I sharpen MY knives. I know there are better methods, and I know I don't have completely perfect technique, but so far, this method has worked good enough for me. I use a Smith's 3-in-1 Sharpener, with ceramic rods to get the knife pretty sharp, then I finish it off with 10-12 passes on my homemade leather strop that I made from a fence picket and an old belt rubbed with some car polishing compound. Check the video out, and let me know what you use to keep you knives sharp.

Sharpening Knives

If you are going to be doing anything outside, where you think you may need your knife, you owe it to yourself to have a sharp knife.

Having a sharp knife is actually safer than having a dull knife. It takes a lot less force to cut something with a sharp knife so you are less likely to put too much pressure on that rope, fabric or piece of wood and force the knife all the way through what you are trying to cut and into you or something you didn't want to cut.


If your knife is sharp, you can also get more done, quicker. It doesn't take as much force so you can do more. One of the biggest reasons most people don't have sharp knives is because they don't know how to sharpen their knives. Today, with the multitude of electric sharpeners and guided sharpeners, there's no reason not to have all of your knives razor sharp.

Electric Sharpeners-
Work Sharp Sharpener
Chef's Choice Sharpener
Guided Sharpeners-
Gatco Sharpener
Manual Sharpening Systems-
Spyderco Sharpmaker
Smith's Bench Stone

I personally have developed a pretty cheap, but quite effective system for sharpening my knives. I first use a $19.99 Smith's 3-in-1 sharpener to get the knife pretty sharp, then I use my homemade leather strop* to finish the edge off, ending up with a knife that is sharp enough to shave with.

My homemade leather strop is simply portion of an old, wide leather belt rubbed with car polishing compound and secured to a small section of wood. It may be a bootleg version of a real strop, but it works and it was cheap.