Domestic and international travel is ramping up as we all escape from our COVID bubbles. But even before the pandemic, growing tourism was wreaking havoc through trash buildup and environmental degradation. So, as eager as everyone is to get out there, let’s make the travel reboot more sustainable. With a little extra diligence in trip planning, these five tips could flip the trends, so you are leaving less of a trace on the places you visit.
One of the easiest behavior changes anyone can make is to remember to bring your reusable water bottle. Most people use reusable water bottles in their daily life, so why not pack them? If you are flying, carry the bottle empty through security and refill it at before you board the plane. If your trip does entail outdoor adventures, you definitely want to stay hydrated, but travelers tend to find convenience in buying large packages of single bottles of water. However, most public places, parks and visitor centers have refilling stations with potable water. The average American uses 167 disposable plastic bottles each year, yet only 20 percent of these get recycled!
Along the same note as water bottles, bring as many reusables as you can pack. You’ll likely need a coffee cup, straw, cutlery and napkins during your travels. Most take-away food services have remained open through the pandemic and make for convenient travel food. Refuse the disposables and be prepared with your own cloth napkins, portable utensils and straws. Items like disposable coffee cups, straws and utensils are a high source of contamination in recycling streams because people think they can be recycled, but they cannot be. And when they go to the landfill, they don’t break down very easily or quickly. Every year, 500 million single-use straws are tossed in the landfill, and end up in undesirable locations, like our oceans and other waterways.
Speaking of single-use, if you’re doing any camping or cooking on the go, those disposable green propane bottles are a real pain on the environment. Using a refillable propane tank while camping or traveling can save hundreds from ending up in a landfill.
Another packing item: reusable bags. They are certainly portable enough to bring when you travel to use for groceries or souvenirs. Plus, many areas have plastic bag bans in place, something your advance research might reveal. If you don’t use reusables, consider checking if the store has a take-back program. Each year, the average American family uses 1,500 shopping bags and Americans throw away 100 billion plastic bags annually.
Be a responsible traveler by reading signage, especially before throwing your trash out. Several airports, and even some hotels and campgrounds, recycle. Recycling is complicated and varies according to specific areas, so what you might be used to recycling at home might not be accepted where you travel. Sometimes recyclables are mixed, other times they are sorted. If items are source-separated, bins should be labeled, and following their protocols prevents contamination.
Take the human-powered route. This isn’t possible for all vacations, but it’s just something to think about. If you are exploring a city, walk from point A to B to C, or take public transportation versus a taxi/Uber/Lyft. There are bike rentals in many cities, and especially in and around national parks. Consider shuttle services when available.
We are all looking forward to escaping everyday life and doing some traveling. Even taking small steps can help to make big change. Be The Change!
Here at Ignik, sustainability isn’t just a trend. It’s our business model. You may have heard our story, but it bears repeating as we celebrate Earth Day. For us, it all started on a sailboat in the Arctic. Our founder, Graeme Esarey, was attempting to sail the Northwest Passage with his wife and two young daughters—a journey inspired by a love of adventure, but also a deep-seated curiosity.
For most of Graeme’s life (and human history, really), the NW Passage was blocked to non-icebreaking boats. At the turn of the 21st century, that changed because of a warming climate, meaning regular cruising boats can now navigate the formerly frozen Arctic at certain times of the year. Graeme wanted to explore what that means for the people, animals, and marine mammals of the region, along with the physical environment: the glaciers, tundra, and oceans. As he and his family navigated the Passage over Alaska and Canada, the effects of climate change were unmistakable: no ice where there was supposed to be ice, salmon where there weren’t supposed to be salmon, and so much garbage…floating islands of manmade debris in the middle of the sea, hundreds of miles from the nearest human.
As he headed home to the Pacific Northwest, Graeme knew what he wanted to do. To “be the change” he wanted to see in the world, he would start a company focused on creating high-quality, environmentally thoughtful products that offered people a sustainable way to get outside earlier and stay outside longer. These ideals not only drive every product we make at Ignik, but also inspire our adventures and partnerships.
You don’t have to sail to the Arctic to care about climate change, and sometimes small steps (even just a couple of clicks on the internet) can make a big difference. With that in mind, we want to highlight some organizations working on the front lines of climate change and share simple ways that you can pitch in right now. Whether you’re motivated by Earth Day or an ongoing drive to combat climate change, here are some great places to lend your support:
Alaska Wilderness League works to protect Alaska’s wild spaces for future generations through a combination of advocacy and lobbying in Congress, collaborating with key partners, and meaningful relationships with the state’s native and indigenous people. The national organization includes a strong focus on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, and works to reduce oil and gas dependency in Alaska by exploring new energy options.
Act Now: Pledge your support for the Arctic Refuge Protection Act, a bipartisan bill that will repeal the Trump-era oil leasing mandate for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and protect its coastal plain; or donate anytime.
The Arctic Ice Project is a science- and research-based organization working on innovative solutions to restore the Arctic’s natural heat shield in order to mitigate the impact of global warming. Their focus is on developing open-source, stop-gap technologies to slow the melting of Arctic ice to buy more time for decarbonization efforts. This includes testing novel materials, such as a thin layer of small hollow glass microspheres, which could potentially be distributed across targeted regions of the Arctic to improve the reflectivity of sea ice and slow the melt.
Act Now: Join an educational webinar to learn more about the disappearance of Arctic ice and its devastating impacts, or donate anytime.
Northern Alaska Environmental Center
The Northern Alaska Environmental Center is dedicated to protecting the land, waters, and wildlife of interior and Arctic Alaska. With an emphasis on grassroots activism, legislative advocacy, legal intervention, and public education, the Northern Center seeks a more responsible and sustainable approach to resource development on subarctic and arctic wildlands and seas, while addressing environmental issues that affect Alaskans’ quality of life.
Act Now: Donate to the effort, submit content to the Northern Center’s semi-annual publication, or if you’re in the Fairbanks area, volunteer your time.
Protect Our Winters turns outdoor people into passionate activists committed to protecting the places and lifestyles they love from climate change. POW’s overarching goal is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 through a combination of renewable energy, electric transportation, carbon pricing policies, and preventing fossil fuel extraction from public lands. The organization’s three core tactics are 1) turning outdoor lovers into advocates, 2) providing opportunities for advocacy, and 3) building a movement to shift cultural norms.
Act Now: Reach out to your local members of Congress to let them know you support the United States’ renewed commitment to the Paris Agreement, volunteer with POW’s regional opportunities, or donate anytime.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. Through its nonpartisan network of volunteers across hundreds of local chapters, CCL builds relationships with community leaders and federal policymakers alike to generate support for climate action.
Act Now: Write your representatives about the newly reintroduced Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, join a chapter near you, or donate anytime.
Polar Bears International is an organization dedicated solely to the conservation of wild polar bears and the sea ice they depend on. Made up of passionate conservationists, scientists, and volunteers, PBI exists to help secure a strong future for polar bears across the Arctic through media, science, education, and advocacy.
Act Now: Explore PBI’s Earth Day campaign, learn more about actions you can take for the greatest impact, or symbolically adopt a polar bear to support PBI’s research and action efforts.
]]>The leaves are changing colors, from their deep summer green to bright shades of red, orange and gold. The air is crisp, the nights are cold, and the smell of pumpkin lattes drifts out of neighborhood coffee shops. It must be fall!
While summer is coming to an end, spending time outside doesn’t have to. Camping in the shoulder season (in the fall or spring) can be more challenging but also more rewarding. The weather may be less predictable but you will also find smaller crowds in popular areas, fewer bugs, and plenty of beautiful vistas all to yourself.
To fully enjoy shoulder season adventures, you’ll want to feel confident and prepared for any conditions you may encounter. If you're considering venturing out for some cold-weather camping, here are 12 tips to help you stay warm camping and make the most out of your shoulder season adventures.
The weather conditions are much less stable in the shoulder season and can deteriorate quickly. Try not to get your heart set on one particular destination, but instead have a few in mind depending on localized weather conditions. In the days preceding your trip, watch conditions closely and pick the one with the best forecast. If the weather looks terrible everywhere, it might be better to pick another weekend
It’s easy to cram a lot of activity into summer camping trips; action-packed days full of hiking, fishing, climbing or biking. Between the variable conditions and shorter days, it’s less feasible to accomplish tough 20-mile day hikes in the shoulder season. Instead, keep the planned activities easy and relaxed. There are fewer hours of daylight to work with and the cold mornings might not energize you to jump out of bed and get a move on. Relax and enjoy that slow cup of coffee at camp.
Weekend adventures might equate to high-alpine camping, but in the shoulder season, that can mean snow, wind, freezing temps, and hazardous conditions. Use this time of year to explore lower elevations where winter shows up a bit later and clears out a bit earlier. Find areas with protection from possible weather changes.
The key to happy shoulder season camping is feeling warm and comfortable at camp at the end of the day. You are probably asking yourself, "How do I stay warm camping in colder weather?" Bring along plenty of hand warmers and cozy blankets. The Ignik Heater-Stove combo makes an easy low-fuss way to invite some heat into the evening. Snuggle around the heater on camp chairs or inflatable mats to avoid sitting on the cold ground.
Food is so important to our comfort and happiness, especially on outdoor adventures. Put some effort into meal planning for your shoulder season trip. You’ll need more calories when it’s cold, so don’t skimp! Big hearty bowls of chili, dense burritos, or my favorite – tomato bisque soup with buttery grilled cheese. Make sure to pack a good thermos to keep soup, tea or cocoa hot.
There’s no reason to suffer as you climb into your sleeping bag! Here are some of our favorite hacks to keep warm in your tent. Pre-warm your bed with a water bottle of hot water, some warm rocks from near the fire (not too hot or they can melt tent and sleeping bag material), or some Ignik sleeping bag warmers. Put the base layers you will wear the next day into your sleeping bag too, so they are warm when it’s time to get dressed in the morning. If you prefer the more high-tech route, just press a button to turn on the heat of a portable Heated Blanket, Heated Pad Cover, or Heated Sleeping Bag Liner to get your setup nice and toasty!
Avoided the dreaded sputtering of a stove on an empty tank. Have an abundance of cooking fuel with you so you can always make a cup of hot tea or cocoa, fire up the Ignik Heater-Stove combo, or pour hot water into a bottle to warm up your sleeping bag.
The temperature can swing widely in the shoulder season, from a calm sunny day in the 80’s to a windy snowy night in the 20’s. Be thoughtful about your layers so you can easily dress up or down as conditions change. Make sure you bring plenty of warmth for the areas of your body that lose heat the fastest – your hands, feet and head.
There is a good chance you will spend more time at camp than you would during summer trips. Pack games, books, and plenty of headlamps to stay entertained in the evenings or on a bad weather day. My favorite camping games (aside from a sturdy deck of cards) are Bananagrams, Yahtzee, Catch Phrase, and Cribbage. They are all small enough to pack away and can provide hours of entertainment.
This might not be the most popular tip, but it turns out the warming effects of that whisky around the campfire is counter-productive. Alcohol lowers your core temperature (by sending blood to the blood vessels near your skin, which is what makes you flushed, and away from your core). It can also inhibit your ability to recognize how cold you really are. So, to stay warm and wake up refreshed, trade in the booze for a hot cup of tea before bed.
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It’s a truth so widely acknowledged it’s a platitude: “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” The corollary is also true: “It’s coldest before the sun comes up.” This is just a scientific fact, because when the sun rises and the atmosphere heats up the warm air pushes cold air down into the valleys and hollows, and it gets colder in the low places and in the shadows, by a LOT…
These are the things I think about when I’m sitting in a tree stand before first light, watching the frost settle on me in thick white ribbons. I’ve climbed big mountains in the Arctic, been up over 8,000 meters on a Himalayan Peak, traversed the Wind Rivers by ski in January, and yet when I think of being uncomfortable in the cold it’s almost always, always a memory of sitting in a tree stand right here in Wisconsin.
I grew up hunting in places where tree stands aren’t often used. They’re ideal tools for hunting whitetail deer because these animals live their lives on relatively small patches of ground. If you’re patient, if there are whitetails around eventually one will walk right past you. The mule deer and elk that I grew up hunting range more widely – they were either there or they weren’t, and if they’re not there they can be miles away - so to hunt them you need to move, too. So I like to move when I hunt, because it’s what I’m used to, it’s more fun, and it’s easier to stay warm. I’m not a huge fan of tree stands; to me, they’re at best an acquired taste, and most often they’re a necessary evil.
As you might expect, I’m game for anything that’s going to make the experience of being in a tree stand more pleasant. I’m learning to live with the boredom – listening and watching for what’s happening around me has become more of an active meditation – and managing the (how shall I say?...) “biological requirements” through timing my intake of fluids has become second-nature. But staying warm has been a real problem. I more often leave the stand because my hands and feet have gone numb and my lips are blue, than because I’m bored or have to pee.
Naturally, I jumped at the chance to test Ignik’s Air Activated Warmers last hunting season. My wife has always used similar warmers because she has Reynaud’s and medically she needs help keeping her fingers warm, but I’ve never been a fan of the category. In part, it’s because I don’t like the waste, both of materials and money. A lot of this point-of-view came from having tried other warmers. I found that they didn’t always work, that they didn’t last long if they did, and they were just something else I had to throw away. It just seemed wasteful to pay money to use something that you’re only going to throw into a landfill almost immediately when you can just toughen up.
One of the things that brought me to Ignik is the fact that we align so strongly when it comes to waste. The company was conceived primarily to reduce the use of the ubiquitous green propane canisters that you see literally EVERYWHERE. For example, I found this one in the middle of nowhere on the private land where I hunt. How did it get there? Why is it there? We don’t know, but if I hadn’t picked it up it would rust-in-place until it’s gone, and that’s not for a very long time.
Ignik’s Air Activated Warmers have a similar mission and were created under “REDUCE-REUSE-RECYCLE” benchmarking guidelines.
For REDUCE, Ignik addresses this two ways: 1) They work when you open them because they use high-quality packaging materials that don’t let air in, so you don’t need to throw away 10% to 20% of every box before you use them; and 2) They maintain usable heat for a longer time, and you can use ALL of the available heat for every unit, so you’re using fewer warmers to get the job done.
For REUSE, Ignik’s packaging has a zipper closure. This means that if you’re out for just an hour, you can zip your warmer back into its package and save it for use later; when the warmer is all used up, you can use the resealable bag for other things.
For RECYCLE, Ignik uses biodegradable materials in their warming matrix: You can cut them open and put it into a compost bin, or sprinkle it into your garden or yard. There are a few more things that can be done to reduce the impact of single-use air-activated warmers, and Ignik is working on them, too. (I’d love to tell you all about this, but – well – you’ll just have to wait.)
However, none of this would mean anything if the warmers didn’t actually work. Buying and discarding something that doesn’t work as intended is the definition of waste. My experience with hand-warmers prior was just on the edge of this definition, as more often than not the warmers I bought didn’t work, or didn’t work well enough, and so I’d rather just suffer numb fingers without them than throw money away and material into landfills.
Ironically enough then, the first thing I did when preparing for hunting season last fall was to buy a box of every other brand of hand-warmers on the market. I had seven different models from several different brands, along with Ignik’s entire catalog of air-activated warmers. To make it a fair test, I decided to treat them all the same, even though right out of the gate there’s a major difference: Ignik’s resealable packaging is unique and essential. With other warmers, if you open one for the pre-dawn sit in the tree-stand, even if you only use it for an hour it’s done and you need to use another one for the sunset sit that evening. With Ignik, you use it while you’re sitting, reseal it in its case, then open it again the next time you go out. That’s a game-changer, right there. So what I did for the test was pack along some extra resealable bags, and used every warmer from every brand as if it had the same feature, but it doesn’t. At the end of every session, I resealed all the warmers and saved them for the next time.
I did this so I could conduct a blind test. With all of the warmers out of their original packaging and consolidated in the same gallon Ziploc bag, I reached in without looking and selected two for each session, putting one in one pocket, and the other in the other. Then I went to sit in the tree stand as they began to do their thing.
What I found: Some of the warmers got hot very quickly, like almost uncomfortably so, and then began to lose heat just as fast. After not very long, you could tell that they were kinda-sorta working still. You didn’t want to change them out because there was still some heat left, but they weren’t doing a very good job. In fact, this describes most of the warmers. Others built to a fine warmth and then maintained that warmth for a very long period of time. Then, they cooled off and at that point, you knew it was time to change them out.
The other thing I noticed was how the warmers felt in my hand. Some were quite thin, which also made them very light. These became something I would knead in my pocket, trying to milk the last warmth out of them. They felt like wadded Kleenex in my pocket, pretty quickly. Others had a decent weight in my hand and felt like something you could grab onto. They were just a little bit bigger and heavier. The alpinist in me wondered whether they weighed a lot more, but then I remembered: I wouldn’t be taking these on long backcountry trips; these are for sitting in the tree stand or on the chairlift, so weight and bulk doesn’t matter that much. I found I preferred to grab onto the heavier ones, and these were also the longest-lasting, warmest warmers.
It’s probably not a surprise that after not very long I could distinguish the Ignik warmers from all the others, even though I grabbed them blindly from the bag – most often in the dark – and didn’t look at them again until the end of the day. The Ignik warmers were the ones that maintained consistent warmth all day and felt good in my hand.
I found out later why this was so: The patented feature on the Ignik air-activated warmers is that the warmer shell controls how much air gets to the warming matrix. By manipulating this ratio, Ignik can control both the temperature as well as the burn time. Ignik sets their hand warmers at about 140F, and at this temperature, they burn consistently for about ten hours. Others will get hotter, more quickly, and then cool off to about body temperature for a very long time, which hardly does the job. Ignik provides a usable heat for the duration of the warmer’s use; other brands provide a measurable heat for perhaps a longer duration, but it stops being usable very quickly.
All of this is true of the Ignik’s other warmers, as well. Ignik doesn’t market their Air Activated Device Warmers for use on the body, but the truth is they work quite well for this. They’re calibrated to burn at a lower temperature – about 120F – for a longer period of time relative to their unit weight. I found that they were perfect to attach to put on my sternum and over my kidneys, and on my glutes and thighs. This maintained a very comfortable and very even heat throughout my clothing system, with no hot spots and I wasn’t cold.
I tried other brands of body warmers, too. My experience was similar to the hand warmers: They got very hot and uncomfortable, and I had hot spots in sensitive areas where you really don’t want to feel like you’re burning. Then, just about the time that they got “comfortable” they also seemed to stop working, and I got cold.
I also put an Ignik device warmer on my iPhone, which helped a lot. Over the years, I’d grown used to sitting down before dawn in a tree stand, expecting that my phone wouldn’t work as I walked out at about 9 am. It’s hard to keep the phones both warm and accessible, especially when you’re bundled up and cold yourself.
Another difference between hunting in Arizona and Wyoming where I grew up, compared to hunting here in Wisconsin, is that during hunting season you can go every day, here. Hunting used to be at least a weekend-long activity involving camping and often went on for a week or more. In Wisconsin, I can and do go before and after work, or after watching a Badger game on a Saturday. I just need to be in the tree stand by 4 pm, and I’ll likely be home by 7 pm.
So I was surprised one-day last season when my daughter Misa asked to join me on an afternoon sit. She’s not a hunter, and in fact, she’s vegan. But she understands my reasons for hunting and also knows that it’s important to our ecosystem that someone does. This said, I never expected her to want to come along as an observer.
On the short drive out to the stand, I talked with her about what we were going to do, and about what would happen if I were to harvest a whitetail. We arrived as the late afternoon light went golden, and walked the short distance into the stand. I had my rifle, and Misa was armed with a camera. We decided that she would take a seat in the stand, and I would sit on a bucket nearby, as we watched a small slough that deer often use to travel between nearby cornfields. We weren’t waiting long when Misa looked down to me, and silently mouthed the word “deer.” As we watched, a yearling walked out in front of us about fifteen yards away. A possum walked up from the other direction, and the two animals stood on the trail as if greeting one another. It was a moment that was all too perfect to disturb with gunfire, and – besides – the deer was too young and small. We watched as the animals walked their separate ways, and we sat warmly in our seats as the sun set.
We don’t always go outside for the hunting, after all…
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Propane is a convenient, affordable, and efficient fuel source that is commonly used by outdoor enthusiasts to power their adventure. The iconic green one-pound propane canisters can be found in every outdoor retailer, campground, and garage full of adventure gear. Propane fuel burns cleanly, with a lower carbon output than gasoline, diesel, heavy fuel oil, or ethanol. Cooking without contributing to climate change? A big win!
What should you do with it then? Seeking an answer on google can lead you in dizzying recycle-refill-dispose circles. Most recycling centers turn them away, they can be dangerous to refill, and curb-side trash services won’t take them either. As someone who has spent plenty of time contemplating propane usage and how to reduce my own waste impact, I want to break down the myths and the ambiguity about the best way to fuel your outdoor activities, so you can get back to cooking, heating, and adventuring.
Propane is an LPG, or liquified petroleum gas. It is a non-toxic, colorless, and odorless byproduct of domestic natural gas processing (little known fact: the smell of propane is actually added during production to make detection easier). It is an affordable and efficient fuel for cooking, grilling, heating, and lighting in outdoor settings. The gas is compressed and stored under pressure in metal containers of various sizes. Portable containers range from 1-pound (16.4 oz), like those iconic green cylinders, to 20-pound (4.7 gallon), most commonly found under the grill on the back deck.
Among the many fuel types available for outdoor adventures, propane is one of the most popular. Propane has a higher boiling point than white gas and butane, other common fuel choices, which makes it the most efficient in cold temperatures.
White gas used to be a popular fuel choice among outdoor enthusiasts but has mostly been replaced by propane and butane. White gas is stored as a liquid, often in metal containers similar to a standard paint thinner can. With white gas, it is easy to measure out exactly how much fuel to carry for the adventure but its inefficiency, especially in cold temperatures, means the amount needed will be heavier than the same capacity of propane or butane.
Iso-butane, an isomer of butane, is a lightweight, efficient, and cost-effective fuel source. It has become increasingly popular on outdoor adventures and comes in a variety of sizes. While many outdoor-oriented stores now carry iso-butane, it is still not as prevalent to buy as propane and, like white gas, does not perform as well in cold temperatures.
While propane as a fuel source is environmentally friendly, the disposable canister it often comes in is decidedly not. The common 1-pound size is convenient but doesn’t last very long; as a heat source, it only supplies heat for about an hour. And though they are affordable, at $4-8, 80% of that cost pays for the container and only 20% for the fuel you need. Perhaps most surprisingly, because propane under pressure is highly flammable and therefore considered a hazardous material, it costs more to dispose of these containers than it does to produce them.
It is estimated that there are 60 million single use 1-pound propane bottles purchased in the United States every year. The majority of those end up in the landfill, requiring about 5 million cubic feet of landfill space. If you could cover a football field from end to end with used propane bottles, the pile would be 92.5 feet tall, twice the height of the field goal posts! And then there are the ones that don’t even make it to the landfill, the ones rusting along the beach and in the woods. So, how do you avoid sending those empty propane bottles to the dump or into the ocean when the adventure is over? There are a few options.
There are countless YouTube videos available demonstrating how to refill small disposable propane bottles from larger ones. Watching these videos, it seems like a benign way to save money and many people successfully refill their small tanks without issue. However, according to a Department of Transportation regulation, it is illegal to transport what they classify as DOT 39 “non-reusable” cylinders that have been refilled. The penalty is up to a $500,000 fine and 5 years’ imprisonment.
There is a reason behind this strict prohibition. Disposable propane bottles are not held to the same rigorous manufacturing standards as refillable tanks. The walls are thinner and the added stress of pressurization can cause them to fail dramatically. There is no bleeder valve to prevent overfilling, which can cause the bottle to leak or explode. The valves are not meant for repeated use so they can develop leaks over time. Because propane is heavier than air, it accumulates down low where it could easily come into contact with a spark and explode. For every dozen YouTube videos of successful refills, there is a disturbing story of a simple at-home refill gone horribly wrong.
Refilling small propane bottles is a good way to keep them out of the landfill and save money, but it is hard for many to reconcile the financial savings with the risk of explosion.
If none of these options seem feasible for you, don’t worry; there is another option. Instead of stocking up on disposable propane bottles, invest in a small refillable tank. The 20-pound tank under the grill on your back deck is an example of a refillable tank. It holds about 4.7 gallons of propane and when it’s empty, you can take it to a hardware store or gas station to either have it refilled by a licensed propane filler or trade it in for a full one supplied by a propane supplier.
There are advantages and disadvantages to these programs that are worth considering. Exchanging an empty tank for a full one is convenient and ubiquitously available at gas stations, convenience stores, hardware stores, and national chains such as Home Depot and Walmart. In order to stay in rotation, the new-to-you tank will have been inspected, cleaned, and leak-tested before filled and offered for exchange. Quick, easy, reliable. However, the exchange program ends up being more expensive than refilling, and you get less fuel at the end of the day.
Many gas stations and hardware stores will have the facilities and training to refill a propane tank while you wait. It is more time consuming than simply swapping a tank and doesn’t provide for a routine professional cleaning and inspection, but pound for pound it is cheaper than the exchange program. In the Pacific Northwest where I live, it costs $3.17 per gallon to refill a propane tank at U-Haul, which comes to $14.90 for a 20-pound tank. Other refill options are at many Chevron, 76, and Shell gas stations. Amerigas offers a helpful search feature on their website for locations to refill or exchange propane tanks.
Home Depot charges $24.99 for each tank exchange, which is a full $10 more expensive than refilling it at U-Haul. And the savings go further than that. When your tank is refilled, you only pay for the weight of the propane added to the tank. If there are still three pounds of propane in the tank getting refilled, you will only pay for 17 pounds’ worth of propane, not the whole 20. It has also recently come to light that many propane suppliers fill exchanged tanks to only 15 pounds and still charge the same 20-pound price. Propane is inexpensive enough that the difference is only a few dollars, but it can add up over time and less propane in each tank requires exchanges more often.
Of course, participating in the exchange program presumes you use the universally sized 20-pound tanks. I suppose you could grab that 20-pound tank (that actually weighs close to 40 pounds full) on your next backcountry adventure. The fuel would certainly last a very long time and would be easy to swap out or refill when empty, but it is perhaps a bit too cumbersome to lug around in a backpack or a kayak.
There are 1-pound refillable tanks on the market, which is a great alternative to both lugging around 40 pounds and burning through the disposable bottles. But with only 16.4 ounces of fuel, you may still need to carry several bottles. With a higher upfront cost per bottle, this might dispel any long-term cost savings. To refill these bottles at home requires also buying a larger propane tank and special adapters, and can still be dangerous if done improperly.
The happy medium is a portable propane bottle that holds enough fuel for the adventure but is still compact; is portable but also refillable. Traditionally, these tanks have been available but expensive, targeted at specialized markets such as boating and RVing. But that is changing. Now there are mid-sized refillable tanks, such as Ignik’s 5-pound (1 gallon) gas growler. These are small enough to pack easily but big enough to fuel the whole trip. The tanks last 10-12 years and each fill up cost about the same as a new disposable 1-pound bottle, but you get 5x as much propane without adding anything to the landfill.
No dangerous jury-rigged refill setups, no complicated trips to the recycling center. Good for your wallet and good for the planet.
Common propane container sizes
1-pound or 16.4 oz
5-pound or 1.2 gallon
20-pound or 4.7 gallon
Pros and Cons of different fuel sources
Dan had been customizing his Nissan X-Terra over the course of many years to make it an ideal overlanding vehicle. The trouble is, on one of his scheduled upgrades the shop where he was having work done burned down, with the X-Terra in it. It was a total loss. Frustration and grief are prime motivators: Within a short time, Dan had purchased a classic Land Rover Discovery, and really put the pedal to the floor to get it finished just the way he wanted it. Within a couple months it was time to take it on its inaugural journey.
For a long time, Dan had wanted to drive the Mojave Road, an old wagon trail that basically links the Colorado River near Bullhead City, Arizona to Barstow, California. It’s 133 miles of unmaintained gravel road, dry arroyos, and tens of thousands of Joshua Trees. There are old abandoned forts and homesteads, First Nation sites, desert springs, lava tubes, slot canyons, and endless vistas. We set out from La Jolla, CA and were on our way.
One of the first things we needed to do was to get our Ignik Gas Growler Deluxe filled with propane. We were somewhat at a loss as to how to do this, so we used the Google machine on our smart phones to look for a spot. Dozens of sites nearby popped up on the map, and – in fact – there was a propane station at the next exit. We pulled in and got a fill-up. The attendant was really sorry, but the minimum charge was $5, and we’d only purchased about $2 in propane. “Keep the change,” Dan said as he handed him a fiver. “That’s amazing,” Dan said as we were driving away, ”That’d be almost $30 worth of propane in those green canisters.”
A few hours later, we were at our starting point on the Colorado River. Dan was excited to get his rig on the rougher roads, so though the sun was setting we headed in and drove a few miles, pitching camp at just about dark.
Most people assume that the desert is hot, and during the daytime in the summer it often is. But other times of year - such as early November when we were there - it can get really cold, particularly if there’s wind, and there was. The Santa Anas had been causing all kinds of problems, and they came in fierce that night as we were cooking dinner. That first night, the tent folded over again and again as the wind flattened it down. It was hard to get good rest, with the top of the tent slamming our faces as we tried to sleep.
The next morning we got up and made a big breakfast, and drank an enormous pot of coffee, and then we were off. The desert goes by quickly, when the roads are good and smooth. But there were also a lot of rough patches of four-wheel drive work to do. We expected that we may need to use the winch to get through sections, but the Land Rover is a pretty amazing vehicle. I grew up driving all kinds of four-wheel-drive rigs, so I was impressed with the smooth power of this luxury beast. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend picking one up. (In fact, I spent a portion of our drive back to San Diego browsing Land Rovers for sale; then, reality set in but I still daydream about it…)
One of our best camps came the second night, as we took a side trip up to the New York Mountains. This Seussian landscape of granite towers and towering pines rests at 7,500 feet. This is really high desert, and it was both cold and windy when we got there. On our second night, we pitched the tent a bit better, and added some lines to help prevent the tent from collapsing around us in the wind. We stayed warm with our portable fire-pit, but it took a lot of wind to keep the heat up when the wind was gusting so hard. We cooked a big dinner of home-made beef stew (from scratch), and called it an early night.
One of the things we were eager to try were the Ignik Air Activated Sleeping Bag Warmers we had brought along. It was below freezing, and the wind howled. I put my warmers in my bag well before bedtime, one at my feet and another at about where my kidneys would be. I wasn’t quite prepared however for the luxurious warmth awaiting me as I crawled into my bag. It was like being at the optimal distance from my fireplace at home, all night. My whole body was warm, not just the areas where I had put the warmers. The next morning, I woke up refreshed, and it was a good thing: The Santa Ana winds had stopped. I resealed the warmers into their bags so that I could use them again at the next camp, and went out and hiked around in this strange and beautiful landscape.
Our third day provided a lot of distance, and a lot of adventures. There were abandoned structures to explore, side trips to First Nation sites, and here and there a bit of whimsy, like this bedazzled and mysterious mailbox in the middle of nowhere…
That night we drove through a lunar landscape almost devoid of vegetation. There was a small caldera at one time, and it created a landscape bleak and black with lava rocks. We had fun going down into the lava tubes with our headlamps. Occasionally, the tubes broke through from above to become skylights for the Stygian terrain below.
The last day required a lot of route-finding as we made our way down into more populated areas near Barstow. The entrance to the Mojave Road from this end was accessible for people doing day-trips from town, so roads cut across the desert every which way. Many of these dead-ended, or head off into another direction so more than once we had to double-back. The sand was heavy and we needed to keep the pedal down or risk sinking into our axles, in some spots. By the time we made it to a salt flat – an old dried-up lake – we knew we were close to our exit.
We made one last side-trip to see a slot canyon that caught our attention. I’d been in plenty of them in Southern Utah, but this one was different. You could call the walls “sandstone,” but the emphasis was more on “sand” than “stone.” In fact, these seemed like slot canyons made out of mud. Here and there, we found hollowed out “chimneys,” where water had cut a through the cliff wall, and escaped at the bottom of the canyon. These were fun to go inside and see what was there.
The Mojave Road had one last surprise for us at the exit, when we got to the Mojave River. It was at the end of the dry season, so we expected an easy crossing. But the water was DEEP, and COLD. Dan waded into it and found that there were deep ruts where wheels had cut through the mud, and the water almost went up to the middle of his chest. Dan’s a big guy, so that’s pretty deep. We decided that we shouldn’t attempt a crossing without another vehicle there to pull us out if we got into trouble. That required us to back-track about thirty miles to the last exit we had passed, but – you know – that was fine with us…
]]>A rusted out green propane bottle we found recently reminded me why we started Ignik Outdoors. We were bushwhacking Naked Island in Prince William Sound, Alaska—the island was Naked, not the bushwhackers—when we found that rust bomb. After crossing a bog, we burst through some Devil’s Club and on to the beach. And there it was. Reminding me that, no matter how far you venture, those little green bottles follow you. How many of us have them, in the garage, in the bilge, in the back of the truck, rusting slowly, waiting for someone to figure out what to do with them. What are we supposed to do with them anyway?
Turns out you can’t recycle them, and a few blow up every year when people try to slip them in with their aluminum cans. They destroy the machinery and scare the bejesus out of the sorters. A few of the national parks have expensive custom facilities for draining the propane out, punching holes in the tanks, and recycling the metal for scrap. And a very few awesome retailers (like Gearheads in Moab, you guys rock!) have the courage and the training to tackle this for their customers. But most campgrounds and retailers don’t, so most little green bottles end up in landfills.
Still, I’ve always been nervous about tossing them in the garbage because how can you tell when they’re empty? Even when they (maddeningly) run out of propane mid-pancake feast, apparently there’s still some fuel left in them. Or, say you can tell there’s a bit of propane left after a weekend on the coast, but you don’t want to haul it, along with your backup bottles, the next weekend to the Cascades. In other words: this is why we have a collection of maybe- semi- half-empty green bottles in our basement sitting around, rusting, leaking propane, waiting for someone to figure this out.
We did some research, and some 50 or 60 million disposable (but extremely hard to dispose of) propane bottles are sold every year in the United States. I doubt anyone knows how many are sold worldwide, although Coleman might be able to make a pretty good guess. China uses an alarming number of them, and most countries have some form of the ubiquitous single-use green bottle. I have seen them in my wanderings all over the world, from the Arctic, where I have seen them used for heat in whaling camps, to beaches in the South Pacific, where they wash up on shore. These little green cans are everywhere, and, until recently, no one has known what to do about them.
[Photo Caption: A friend on the Oregon Coast texted me this the other day. They have them on the beaches there, too. Thanks, Stuart, hope you figured out how to dispose of it properly!]
So, in the summer of 2018, my family went on an epic adventure. We were lucky enough to spend months above the Arctic Circle on our sailboat in some of the wildest places on the planet. These seascapes and landscapes were awe-inspiring, but degradation was happening before our eyes. The ice was melting, refreezing, drifting, shifting; the weather was getting stormier, foggier, warmer, weirder; and everywhere there were signs of humans: plastic water bottles, spent hand warmers, and those damned green propane bottles. People—good people, people who cared deeply for the place as we did—were messing it up. Scientists, whalers, sailors, bushwhackers (naked or otherwise)—we are all a part of the problem.
If you have ever had one of those John Muir, watershed moments, you will know the feeling we had. Where you say, “Someone has to do something about this problem. And that someone is me.” Up until then, I had made my living in the outdoor industry, making meal kits, sporks, knives, matches, and other products for wilderness wanderers. And when we saw those rusted out green bottles on beaches in the Arctic—while we had durable, refillable propane tanks right there aboard our sailboat—we knew that people needed better options. And I knew better products could be built. It was time to get busy making products with purpose.
That is how we decided to start Ignik. We began with the Gas Growler, figuring a padded, insulated tank made more sense for our own uses—heating the boat in winter, barbequing salmon on a beach, schlepping to a tent-only campsite, or sleeping in the back of a Toyota pick-up at the local ski hill. Gradually, we tackled improvements on hand warmers so that they could be sealed and reused the next day, and emptied into the compost after they were spent. And we found technologies, like our Radiant Carbon Stranded heating systems, that allow more people to be outside longer, and make use of sustainable energy sources.
Where we can, we use sustainable materials, but we still have a long way to go—both as an industry and with our own products. We remain committed to doing better, making products that do their job for a long time, and that have end-of-life strategies that reduce our collective footprint on the planet. And we donate a percentage of our sales, whether we make profit or not, to give back to the fight against climate change in the Arctic. For more on what Ignik does, and what you can do to help, click here.
An early collection from Alaskan beaches.
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