I'm starting a second channel - "Oscar Hikes V2". I've been wanting to do some gear reviews for a long time, but I'm always hesitant to upload them on my main channel, because honestly, it's not for everyone, and I don't want to lose potential subs. SO if you're interested in hiking gear reviews, make sure to subscribe to my second channel! I'm planning more frequent uploads there, and leave this main channel for more general stuff about hiking, with more researched, higher quality videos. BTW, I'm working on more videos for this channel as well!
Have you ever had any problems when flying with hiking gear on airplanes? I'm making a video on this topic, and I'm wondering how many of you actually experienced problems. Would appreciate if you could share it down below in the comments. For example, stuff getting confiscated by security (trekking poles, tents and tent stakes, pocket knives, sporks, tripods, alcohol camping stoves, lighters, crampons, gas canisters, etc). Or maybe your backpack got lost while being checked in? If you have any interesting stories, bad experiences, or tips regarding traveling with hiking gear, please share them down below!
Hey everyone! First of all - I'm still here. 👋 You know how some people like to sell courses? Well, I think free courses are better, so I created a completely free hiking course, where you will learn pretty much everything there is to know about hiking/trekking. No hidden upsells/paywalls/etc. I'll be releasing it on my channel today at 18:00 Italy Time. I've been wanting to make this beast of a video for a very long time, and I started writing the script for it back in November 2024. The script ended up being on 37 pages. After filming, cutting, and everything, it ended up being over 2h long 🤯. This definitely took a lot of willpower to finish, but I'm glad that I did it and that I can finally share it to everyone. Make sure to tune in tonight at 18:00 (Italy Time)!
I just wanted to share a comment from ‪@justinw1765‬ which he made on one of my recent videos. Lots of useful stuff here! I've been wanting to experiment with thinned silicone on regular fabrics myself, so this info is really useful! 👇👇👇
@justinw1765 • 8 hours ago
Silicone is great for a lot of things. I've thinned out silicone with naphtha and treated clothes to add a very long lasting DWR. You have to use clothes/fabrics that haven't had a DWR treatment though (if you use something that had a DWR treatment, the silicone will not bond to the clothing). Also, you want the clothes/fabric to be sufficiently breathable to begin with, because it will lose some breathability depending on how much silicone per volume of naphtha you use. (A couple thin, light, breathable baselayer shirts both treated with thinned silicone and worn over top of each other, in combo with a windshirt with the right water resistance, breathability, etc over a fishnet baselayer makes a great wet weather combo for all but the hardest, worst rain. Sort of works like Paramo, but far longer lasting between treatments and not as hot. Important that the windjacket be made out of polyester and not nylon, as nylon swells too much with moisture and loses breathability).
You can do DIY anti odor treatments with a fresh 9 volt battery, some pure salt dissolved in some hot water, and some copper wire (attach a copper wire to each battery terminal and suspend it over a glass jar with the copper wires in the water). After a 4 hours or so, you have a decent amount of small particle copper chloride ions in the water. Buy some do it at home dye, follow the dyeing process and put that water-copper chloride suspension in with the dye, and it will bond the ions to the fibers, making a copper based version of the silver based Polygiene (silver chloride bonded to clothing fibers during the dyeing process). If I remember correctly, copper is even stronger and more broad spectrum of an antimicrobial than silver. Obviously works best with clothes/fabrics that have had little to no pre dyeing (hint, white clothes work best for this typically).
Bamboo layered with a couple of layers of S-glass fiberglass cloth and high strength, lamination epoxy, and then with the inner diaphragms punctured and spray foam sprayed in the middle, makes some remarkably tough and strong for the weight fixed length, budget poles. (Though, carbon poles seem to have gotten less expensive in recent years and there are some good deals out there).
Ghee keeps longer than olive oil. Refined coconut oil probably keeps the second best. Avocado oil, while it doesn't keep as well as the former two, is more multi-functional, as it works as a great pot/pan non stick because it has an unusually high smoke point. Rub some on the pot/pan for low water cooking. If you're just boiling water or the like, no real point.
A flat piece of strong for the weight fabric with some loops attached in combo with a stick in the ground, makes a great and lighter windscreen than metal ones. Make a sideways V with the sharp point facing towards the wind and the stove in between the open part. Obviously the fabric goes over the stick in the ground to make the > or <.
Thinner alpaca-synthetic blend socks, with thicker and larger polypropylene socks over them, make a great combo for colder and/or wetter (and not warm) conditions, as you can wring or swing out almost all the water from the polypropylene socks fast (the PP material itself doesn't absorb any water, water just gets in between the fiber and yarn spaces, hence the wringing and/or swinging out). Meanwhile, since they are not directly on your skin, they don't get near as stanky as they would if you wore them as a direct, first layer on your feet. I prefer such combos in combo with hiking sandals, even for cold weather, because it all dries so much faster than socks in combo with trail runners and especially boots. (But if it is really windy, and/or very wet, having an "over sock" made of of thin, wind and water resistant, polyester with DRW treatment, fabric, is very helpful to necessary. Or if it is very cold, you need a make an insulated over sock [kapok fiber or perforated butyl rubber in combo with quick drying liner fabric] works great for the insulation]. Unfortunately, these have to be homemade. But not hard to do with basic sewing skills).
Not my idea originally, but a piece of copper flat bar strip, attached to a gas stove to go down the side of the can canister (top part is near the flame area), helps a canister stove to work much better in colder temps (the copper conducts heat to the canister warming it up). If you want to look it up, I believe it was dubbed the Moulder strip after the guy (Bob Moulder [spelling?]), who came up with it (and shared it on the backpackinglight forum).
Hey everyone! After my video on BRYNJE mesh, a lot of you went ahead and purchased it for yourself. Some time has passed now, and I'm wondering - how's it going for you so far? I'd love to hear your own experiences! Personally, I keep using it as my main base layer on colder days, and after months of testing, I'm still convinced that it's warmer & drier compared to regular weave base layers. But what about you?
Hey everyone! We're super excited to launch a new topographic design on our website! We've been working on it for the past two months and right now we're launching it for 10 of our most popular maps. We've made them using satellite data elevation from NASA and other international agencies and then transformed them into beautiful prints using mapping software. Essentially, they consist of colored contour relief data mixed in with some hill-shading. This makes the relief really pop and stand out. We offer them in 3 different color options - minimalistic blue, vintage red, and realistic green to look good in most interiors.
Which trails would you like to see next made in this topographic design? You can comment below, and we'll add them as a priority to our list of upcoming maps. :)
If you didn't know, these are made by me and my wife. We've been selling them on Etsy and our website for the past 2 years. In this time, we've made minimalistic maps for 120+ hikes and thru-hikes. And we're glad to take a step forward and also start offering maps in another style!
I'm back on Youtube! After a year of silence, I will be publishing my newest video this evening at 8 pm Italy timezone (or 2 pm EST if you're from the US). This one took a long time to film/edit, so I hope you'll like it. Make sure to tune in!
I just finished an interview with ‪@Jorditoms‬ about hiking the GR11! If you're thinking about hiking the GR11 yourself, there are plenty of valuable tips you'll find out by checking out this video.
I'll be doing an interview with ‪@Jorditoms‬ tomorrow at 8pm Central European Time (CET) about the hiking the GR11. Feel free to tune in! You'll be able to see it live by following this link: youtube.com/live/QrbIgGMP3uY?feature=share
Oscar Hikes
Oscar Hikes
I'm starting a second channel - "Oscar Hikes V2". I've been wanting to do some gear reviews for a long time, but I'm always hesitant to upload them on my main channel, because honestly, it's not for everyone, and I don't want to lose potential subs. SO if you're interested in hiking gear reviews, make sure to subscribe to my second channel! I'm planning more frequent uploads there, and leave this main channel for more general stuff about hiking, with more researched, higher quality videos. BTW, I'm working on more videos for this channel as well!
1 week ago | [YT] | 10
View 0 replies
Oscar Hikes
Have you ever had any problems when flying with hiking gear on airplanes? I'm making a video on this topic, and I'm wondering how many of you actually experienced problems. Would appreciate if you could share it down below in the comments. For example, stuff getting confiscated by security (trekking poles, tents and tent stakes, pocket knives, sporks, tripods, alcohol camping stoves, lighters, crampons, gas canisters, etc). Or maybe your backpack got lost while being checked in? If you have any interesting stories, bad experiences, or tips regarding traveling with hiking gear, please share them down below!
1 week ago | [YT] | 21
View 15 replies
Oscar Hikes
Hey everyone! First of all - I'm still here. 👋 You know how some people like to sell courses? Well, I think free courses are better, so I created a completely free hiking course, where you will learn pretty much everything there is to know about hiking/trekking. No hidden upsells/paywalls/etc. I'll be releasing it on my channel today at 18:00 Italy Time. I've been wanting to make this beast of a video for a very long time, and I started writing the script for it back in November 2024. The script ended up being on 37 pages. After filming, cutting, and everything, it ended up being over 2h long 🤯. This definitely took a lot of willpower to finish, but I'm glad that I did it and that I can finally share it to everyone. Make sure to tune in tonight at 18:00 (Italy Time)!
2 months ago | [YT] | 151
View 16 replies
Oscar Hikes
I just wanted to share a comment from ‪@justinw1765‬ which he made on one of my recent videos. Lots of useful stuff here! I've been wanting to experiment with thinned silicone on regular fabrics myself, so this info is really useful! 👇👇👇
@justinw1765 • 8 hours ago
Silicone is great for a lot of things. I've thinned out silicone with naphtha and treated clothes to add a very long lasting DWR. You have to use clothes/fabrics that haven't had a DWR treatment though (if you use something that had a DWR treatment, the silicone will not bond to the clothing). Also, you want the clothes/fabric to be sufficiently breathable to begin with, because it will lose some breathability depending on how much silicone per volume of naphtha you use. (A couple thin, light, breathable baselayer shirts both treated with thinned silicone and worn over top of each other, in combo with a windshirt with the right water resistance, breathability, etc over a fishnet baselayer makes a great wet weather combo for all but the hardest, worst rain. Sort of works like Paramo, but far longer lasting between treatments and not as hot. Important that the windjacket be made out of polyester and not nylon, as nylon swells too much with moisture and loses breathability).
You can do DIY anti odor treatments with a fresh 9 volt battery, some pure salt dissolved in some hot water, and some copper wire (attach a copper wire to each battery terminal and suspend it over a glass jar with the copper wires in the water). After a 4 hours or so, you have a decent amount of small particle copper chloride ions in the water. Buy some do it at home dye, follow the dyeing process and put that water-copper chloride suspension in with the dye, and it will bond the ions to the fibers, making a copper based version of the silver based Polygiene (silver chloride bonded to clothing fibers during the dyeing process). If I remember correctly, copper is even stronger and more broad spectrum of an antimicrobial than silver. Obviously works best with clothes/fabrics that have had little to no pre dyeing (hint, white clothes work best for this typically).
Bamboo layered with a couple of layers of S-glass fiberglass cloth and high strength, lamination epoxy, and then with the inner diaphragms punctured and spray foam sprayed in the middle, makes some remarkably tough and strong for the weight fixed length, budget poles. (Though, carbon poles seem to have gotten less expensive in recent years and there are some good deals out there).
Ghee keeps longer than olive oil. Refined coconut oil probably keeps the second best. Avocado oil, while it doesn't keep as well as the former two, is more multi-functional, as it works as a great pot/pan non stick because it has an unusually high smoke point. Rub some on the pot/pan for low water cooking. If you're just boiling water or the like, no real point.
A flat piece of strong for the weight fabric with some loops attached in combo with a stick in the ground, makes a great and lighter windscreen than metal ones. Make a sideways V with the sharp point facing towards the wind and the stove in between the open part. Obviously the fabric goes over the stick in the ground to make the > or <.
Thinner alpaca-synthetic blend socks, with thicker and larger polypropylene socks over them, make a great combo for colder and/or wetter (and not warm) conditions, as you can wring or swing out almost all the water from the polypropylene socks fast (the PP material itself doesn't absorb any water, water just gets in between the fiber and yarn spaces, hence the wringing and/or swinging out). Meanwhile, since they are not directly on your skin, they don't get near as stanky as they would if you wore them as a direct, first layer on your feet. I prefer such combos in combo with hiking sandals, even for cold weather, because it all dries so much faster than socks in combo with trail runners and especially boots. (But if it is really windy, and/or very wet, having an "over sock" made of of thin, wind and water resistant, polyester with DRW treatment, fabric, is very helpful to necessary. Or if it is very cold, you need a make an insulated over sock [kapok fiber or perforated butyl rubber in combo with quick drying liner fabric] works great for the insulation]. Unfortunately, these have to be homemade. But not hard to do with basic sewing skills).
Not my idea originally, but a piece of copper flat bar strip, attached to a gas stove to go down the side of the can canister (top part is near the flame area), helps a canister stove to work much better in colder temps (the copper conducts heat to the canister warming it up). If you want to look it up, I believe it was dubbed the Moulder strip after the guy (Bob Moulder [spelling?]), who came up with it (and shared it on the backpackinglight forum).
1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 58
View 0 replies
Oscar Hikes
Hey everyone! After my video on BRYNJE mesh, a lot of you went ahead and purchased it for yourself. Some time has passed now, and I'm wondering - how's it going for you so far? I'd love to hear your own experiences! Personally, I keep using it as my main base layer on colder days, and after months of testing, I'm still convinced that it's warmer & drier compared to regular weave base layers. But what about you?
1 year ago | [YT] | 21
View 15 replies
Oscar Hikes
Hey everyone! We're super excited to launch a new topographic design on our website! We've been working on it for the past two months and right now we're launching it for 10 of our most popular maps. We've made them using satellite data elevation from NASA and other international agencies and then transformed them into beautiful prints using mapping software. Essentially, they consist of colored contour relief data mixed in with some hill-shading. This makes the relief really pop and stand out. We offer them in 3 different color options - minimalistic blue, vintage red, and realistic green to look good in most interiors.
Which trails would you like to see next made in this topographic design? You can comment below, and we'll add them as a priority to our list of upcoming maps. :)
If you didn't know, these are made by me and my wife. We've been selling them on Etsy and our website for the past 2 years. In this time, we've made minimalistic maps for 120+ hikes and thru-hikes. And we're glad to take a step forward and also start offering maps in another style!
Check them out on our website and get 10% off with the discount code "OSCARHIKES": trailgoals.com/collections/topographic-trail-print…
1 year ago | [YT] | 40
View 8 replies
Oscar Hikes
I'm back on Youtube! After a year of silence, I will be publishing my newest video this evening at 8 pm Italy timezone (or 2 pm EST if you're from the US). This one took a long time to film/edit, so I hope you'll like it. Make sure to tune in!
2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 43
View 8 replies
Oscar Hikes
We will be going live again on ‪@Jorditoms‬ channel in 15 minutes! Topics for today: GR10, GR11, and the HRP, or thru-hiking the Pyrenees.
2 years ago | [YT] | 2
View 0 replies
Oscar Hikes
I just finished an interview with ‪@Jorditoms‬ about hiking the GR11! If you're thinking about hiking the GR11 yourself, there are plenty of valuable tips you'll find out by checking out this video.
2 years ago | [YT] | 7
View 0 replies
Oscar Hikes
I'll be doing an interview with ‪@Jorditoms‬ tomorrow at 8pm Central European Time (CET) about the hiking the GR11. Feel free to tune in! You'll be able to see it live by following this link: youtube.com/live/QrbIgGMP3uY?feature=share
2 years ago | [YT] | 5
View 0 replies
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