Holiday gift ideas

Every year, starting about now, I get e-mails asking about holiday gift ideas for outdoor enthusiasts.

So I've decided to offer a few ideas about categories which might please someone on your list, and some recommendations for specific products which have worked well for me.

It gets dark early throughout the late fall and winter months, so why not gift your outdoorsy friend with something that can light up his or her life. Light has always been a conundrum but today’s LED flashlights and headlamps are amazing. They last forever, give off lots of light and don’t run down batteries quickly.

Lots of companies make them, but I have three I rely on -- one or more is always with me.

The LED Lenser Digitac II from Coast Cutlery (www.coastcutlery.com), a well-made, incredibly bright little flashlight that run on a single A battery.

I also rely on two headlamps from Princetontec ( www.princetontec.com ), a tiny one called the Scout which weighs only an ounce and a half, and the much larger Corona, which is perfect for camp chores and tent reading on long late fall and winter evenings.