We here at Backcountry Secrets hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Hopefully Santa brings you the perfect gear to let you get outside and enjoy the outdoors for the next year. 

The other day I was driving past one of my friend's home and saw a canoe sitting under a large spruce tree in his front yard.  I thought to myself, "Oh, how I wish that were my Christmas tree on Christmas morning."  I think that canoeing on a lake is one of the most peaceful and enjoyable sports to enjoy, and I don't even fish!

We are kicking off our new giveaway.  This time we are giving away a $15 Amazon.com gift card.  Contest runs from today through March 31st.  Submit your points for a chance to win. 

The winner of the propane stove giveaway is Cees Hofman.  The winning submitted point was Old Dam Rope Swing

Here's an image of our winner.  Thanks Cees for contributing to the community.

So after yesterday's post I decided it was time to pull out the S'mores gear and put the good old camping treat to the test.  So I built a little fire in our backyard tonight, gathered my family, our roasting sticks, marshmallows and some chocolate.  We built a great little fire, let it burn down to coals and roasted marshmallows.  I decided that these are definately the best camping treat out there.  While cooking them I decided there are some tricks to making the perfect smore:

1. The perfect s'more starts with the perfect fire.  If you try to cook s'mores on a fire that is too large the marshmallow won't be cooked right.
2. Cook two marshmallows per s'more.  The heat from each s'more will help to melt the chocolate more and it's always fun to clean up a gooey mess.
3. When the marshmallows are brown all the way around, quickly transfer them to the graham cracker and shove the chocolate in the marshmallow
4. Perhaps one of the most overlooked steps in eating a s'more is to let it cool down a little before eating it.  This will minimize the mess and allow the chocolate inside to melt completely.
5. Don't pay attention to the nay saying co-workers who want instant gratification with marshmallow cooked in the microwave.  Yeah they are good, but it's just not the same as cooking s'mores over the campfire. 

There you have it.  I decided for myself the s'mores are the best camping treating around.

So today at work my co-workers started dissing on 'Smores claiming that they are way overrated.  They said that they don't understand why people make such a big deal over Smores.  One of them mockingly said, "Oh Smores, you just can't go camping without Smores."  Other comments like, "The marshmallow is just too much" and "'Smores are just too messy" were a couple of the reasons my co-workers gave for not enjoying Smores. 

After a few minutes of discussion, my other co-worker spoke up and I think he hit it on the head.  As campers we are too spoiled with modern day candy bars.  Our generation wants everything instantly.  Why wait for a marshmallow to slowly roast over the fire then mix with a graham cracker and chocolate, when you can pull a Snickers out of your pocket and start eating instantly?

I for one think Smores are awesome, perhaps the best camping treat of all time.  Everyone can make them, the kids love scorching roasting marshmallows.  So what do you think?  Do you agree with me or am I off in left field?

A couple of nights ago I got a NASTY mosquito bite on my right forearm.  It feels like a bruise when I touch it and is about the size of a silver dollar.  Worst part is that it itches like crazy, but yet it hurts to scratch because of the bruise type feeling. 

This made me think about the few hiking / camping trips I've been on when mosquito's were just horrible and I decided I would set out to find some ways to stop the mosquito bite itch sensation.  Here are a few natural ways that I found that worked for me.  Try some for yourself and let me know how it goes:

1. Heat or hot water.  This is one that can be used in the backcountry if you get one of these nasty mosquito bites.  Apply heat to the bite, as hot as you can stand.
2. Ice or cold water.  Interesting how my first suggestion is heat and second is ice.  For some reason, luke warm just doesn't cut it when it comes to mosquito bite relief.
3. Rub the bite with a dry bar of soap. Yeah I know weird...
4. Tea Tree Oil (aka Melaleuca oil.  If you need access to this stuff, let us know and we can hook you up)
5. Banana Peel that is open.  Rub the opened banana peel over the bit.
6. A pocket knife.  Bite on a stick and just cut the bite out.  (No, don't really do this.)

Some of these might not work for you and may not work for different mosquito species bites.  Different species cause different reactions.

As part of our new site release, Backcountry Secrets is giving away a Stansport Single Burner Flat Propane Stove.

If you want to win it, Submit a Point to our site between 12:01AM Jul 01 2009, and Midnight September 30, 2009 Mountain Time, have it approved by us and you'll be entered in to the drawing.  A "point" is anywhere to recreate in the outdoors that falls within our categories of outdoor sports.

Stove is made with durable heavy gauge steel with baked on enamel finish. Features: Individual regulator on/off control knob adjusts burner up to 5000 BTU's. Stove to cylinder tube has on/off valve and fits 16.4 oz. disposable propane cylinder (not included). Wind baffles supports cookware and shields burners. Low profile base for stability.

• Retail Value: $39.99 - For you, maybe FREE!
• Durable heavy gauge steel with baked on enamel fin
• 10,000 BTU stainless steel burner
• Wind baffles supports cookware and shields burners
• Uses 16.4 oz disposable propane cylinder, not included
• 7-3/4" x 7-3/4" x 3"

I just finalized the update to Backcountry Secrets and wanted to summarize some of the highlights for you.

1.  A new design.  I'm hoping that the new design will bring more attention to the fact that users can update descriptions, submit reviews, upload images, and upload KML files for all of the different outdoor sports.

2.  Outdoor Gear Deal of the Day page.  This page helps users to find great deals on products that are killer deals from major companies such as backcountry.com and more.

3.  KML file support and Google Earth view.  On each of the point detail pages, users who have submitted atleast one point will be able to view KML files in a Google Earth type environment.  This feature is great to show the elevation gain of a hike, or directions to a point. This image is of Table Rock Hike and Campground in Wyoming.

4.  The site in general just loads faster.  We optimized a lot of the code to help the search pages and detail pages load faster.  The biggest difference will be seen on the search pages.

5.  Flickr images integrated.  We are no longer hosting the images submitted to the site on our own server.  This will allow us to have larger image sizes and share great photos with more people. 

We made it right in the nick of time.  We uploaded the new blog on June 30 just before midnight.  We are going to have some fun with this new site.  Give us some feedback.  What do you think of the new design?  Any elements we need to add to the site?

I think my favorite "whoops" quote of all-time is from Al Gore, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." Sure I've heard the claims that he wasn't saying he invented the Internet and I've even read Snopes.com's input on it, but he still said what he said and it makes me laugh. I'm not here to pick on slip ups of politicians though - we'd be here for years on that one - I'm here to discuss the great outdoors.

Coleman has a new campaign running with the slogan, "The Coleman Campsite. The original Social Networking Site." You can check it out here. The ad claims that they pretty much invented camping, and pretty much invented social networking because they've been helping people get together and socialize for years. I do have to admit that long before I ever used Facebook or MySpace, I was eating pancakes, bacon, and eggs at Canyon Campground in Yellowstone National Park.

Even though people camped LONG before Coleman was ever around, I do have to say this is a really fun campaign and it's worth watching the videos on it just to enjoy the ugly...I mean the old clothes and hairstyles.

Saturday night I was doing some yard work. My next door neighbor was also outside planting his garden. He hollered over to me asking, "Have you ever been to the Ice Caves?" I asked, "Why?" He said his daughter and three other teens had gone on a prom date out to the Rexburg Ice Caves and that she was supposed to call him when they got out of the cave. He hadn't heard from her and was starting to get a little worried.

I asked him if he knew for sure if they went to the Ice Caves or if they went to the Civil Defense Caves? A lot of people get the two caves confused and claim they are the same thing, when in reality they are two totally different caves. He said he wasn't sure, but that he thought it was the ice caves. He then said that if he didn't hear from them within the next couple hours he'd give me a call. I told him I'd be more than willing to go caving.

About five minutes later, he received a text message from his daughter. She said the cell reception was bad in the area so she couldn't call, but her date lost his keys in the cave and they were locked out of the car.

Thankfully the night turned out good for all involved, but it's just a simple reminder that caving can be dangerous. Always let someone know where you are going, GPS coordinates of the cave location, and when you expect to be out when you go in to a cave. It may just save your life, but it won't save you from an upset dad when you bring his daughter home late from prom.