Active New Top (30 days) Compact Card An introduction to lightweight backpacking Chance - July 7, 2022 An Introduction to Lightweight Backpacking Greetings everyone here at The Prepared. I have been asked to write out my thoughts on lightweight backpacking and how it can play a part in helping people get through the very difficult conditions we may have to face in the near future. This essay is not intended to be a hiker vs prepper series of arguments. Hikers have a distinctively different outlook than preppers. However, backpacking gear comes from the same desire to survive and thrive in a hostile world. Hikers and preppers can learn a lot from one another. This essay is intended to open a path between our communities so that both may benefit. Some Principles of Backpack Weight Reduction 1) The heaviest thing we carry on our backs is fear. Write down what you fear. Learn how to overcome it. 2) Weigh everything. List every item and record its weight. If you do not use it, it is just a rock. 3) Reduce weight where possible. Eliminate factory packaging. Carry the least amount of non food consumables between resupplys. Trim excess whatever as is possible without damaging a things integrity. Can one item do multiple tasks? Are lighter, equally useful substitutes available? Can some pieces of equipment be shared among a committed couple or dependable group? Are resources available in your environment which can be used, then discarded when done, so that there is no need to carry it around? 4) Properly distribute all weights Pack in modular sets so that weights can be adjusted as needed to maintain balance: water bottles against your back, food bags in the middle, never let anything dangle off the packs exterior, gadgets in your belt pouches, trekking poles in your hands (not your pack). 5) The more you learn the less you need to carry or the more effective it is. 6) When useless weight has been eliminated, add weight back, as the situation requires, to ensure minimum safety and comfort under anticipated conditions. Definitions The following is mainly a presentation on what lightweight gear is and how to use it under normal wilderness trail conditions. ‘Lightweight’ is defined in the current sense of a base weight at about 20 pounds. This does not include what you wear on a normal day or carry in your hands. This also does not include the rapidly changing weights of fuel, water and food. Over the years, gear weights have gotten ever lighter. It is now fairy easy to get pack, base weight down to about 10 pounds. Somewhere around this point is where the gear starts getting expensive but IMHO worth it. There is no one single source of ‘got it all figured out’ book or web site which tells you everything you need to know about lightweight backpacking. There are, however, dozens of summaries from personal experience – such as this one – which are a useful starting point for the motivated individual. Not Included Weight Shoes and Walking Very few people know how to walk (including experienced hikers) and most shoes cripple the feet. A way to learn how to walk properly is to buy whatever kinds of shoes and boots offered at thrift stores, experiment with various off the retail shelf socks and inserts then consciously walk as much as possible in them. Once you have learned enough to have a conversation about feet, shoes and walking, locate a running shoe store operated by qualified personnel. They probably won’t care too much about SHTF scenarios but they will be interested in helping you to select a shoe suitable for extensive back country hiking. Trekking Poles Trekking poles are the human version of four wheel drive. The nominal pole height is with your forearms at 90 degrees to your body. Adjust as you feel is needed. On flat land, the poles will become outriggers preventing ankle roll outs or serious stumbles from becoming injury delivering falls. On steep downhills the poles can be lengthened and now extended out in front as a kind of brake. This will take some stress off of your legs and back and prevent a downhill fall. When your arms are strong enough, the lengthened poles can be used to push yourself uphill. Animals and predatory humans instinctively regard trekking poles as weapons, which they are. Tarps and one pound tents are possible because trekking poles are used to hold them up. Wear Clothing The clothing layers that are considered normal wear are the base layer or underwear and the shell or pants, shirt, hat and sunglasses on a lanyard around your neck. Please take the time to do your own base layer research. Fully test out your choices by wearing them for days at a time. An inappropriate base layer will cause all sorts of problems. The fabric of choice for the shell is nylon or a variety of synthetic blends. Synthetic fabrics are extremely light, dry fast and wear forever. Up until recently, safari shirts and kind of limited pocket cargo pants were the most popular choices on the trail. These are probably still good choices for preppers. Two key requirements of a shirt is that it have full length sleeves and that there not be a stitched seam across the top of the shoulder. This goes for the base layer T shirt or sports bra as well. Such a seam at this location will cut into your shoulder under the weight of even a lightweight backpack. The pain comes on fast and will put a stop to your hike. One very useful type of pants is the ‘convertible’. This allows the bottom of each leg to be unzipped to create temporary hiking shorts. A reminder: Cotton Kills! Rapidly Changing Weights As previously mentioned, fuel, water and food are not counted against the base weight of the backpack because these weights change quickly and in practical terms are very difficult to measure. However, these obviously are weights which needs to be managed. Fuel & Stove If you do not need to cook your food you do not need a stove or its fuel. An upfront savings of 1 to 2 pounds. Water Water weighs 2.2 pounds per liter. Hikers generally favor the tall plastic bottles made by Lifewtr or smartwater. Both are about 1.4 ounces empty weight each. 1 quart Nalgene plastic bottles weigh about 6 ounces. Metal bottles tend towards Nalgene weights. Food A rule of thumb is that we can go without air for 3 minutes, without water for 3 days and without food for 30 days. The air and water estimates are highly controversial, but people can go without food for extended periods and generally are the better for having done so. The health improving effects of not eating are widely documented and even formalized in fasting disciplines. Thru-hikers routinely, but inadvertently, practice a kind of fasting because the act of long distance hiking will burn more nutrition between re-supply points (usually measured in calories) than can be carried in a pack. The way we deal with this is to eat like starving coyotes while in town. Historically, refugees have routinely had to travel hard with minimal food or no food at all. Preppers will have to deal with this in future SHTF scenarios. It would be interesting to hear a qualified nutritionist comment on how conscious fasting disciplines can be used to extend food supplies. Actual hiker foods are normally straight off the grocery store shelves. Some hikers will cook, dry and vacuum package food then have someone send it to a re-supply point on the trail. Very few eat the freeze dried backpacker foods. No one eats MRE’s. An understanding of food values is as important as an understanding of lightweight gear. Unfortunately, it is outside the scope of this presentation. Food weights vary from one hiker to the next and one re-supply point to another. This is where lightweight backpacking really pays off: you can load up with as much food as you can get in your pack and still make big miles without crippling yourself. The estimated load limit for my light weight backpack is about 35 pounds. As my total pack weight is about 13 pounds 9 ounces, that allows for about 19 pounds of food and 2 pounds, or one liter, of water. That is enough for 5 to 7 days of normal hiking. Rationing and/or fasting could potentially double that estimate. Water weight obviously varies daily and is replenished on the fly but as food weight decreases, water weight can increase. Water is an very important part of a fast. Backpack Base Weight This base weight presentation will be organized around my backpack and some of my personal gear selections. This is not an attempt to promote my gear choices or my favorite vendors. I do not financially benefit in any way or receive free gear. This is simply the outfit I know best and hope that a examination of it will serve as a departure point for others who wish to assemble their own lightweight backpack. Out on the trail there are almost no two packs alike as there are hundreds of ways to put one together. Just ask any gear head. Pack Sack System, about 24 ounces There is no need for built in compartments with zippers and excessive loops. There is no need for strong fabrics or heavy duty hip belt and shoulder strap harnesses either. I have an original Gossamer Gear ‘G4’, bought in 2010, now with 1300 miles of mountain hiking bushwhacking on it and its still good to go. It is just a big empty sack. With two belt pouches it weighs 20 ounces. Too bad its not made anymore. But you can make your own with a very low cost pattern from Quest Outfitters! There are two easy to overlook sources of weight that properly belong to the pack sack category: pack cover and gear stuff sacks. Pack covers are a pointless weight and a waste of money. They do not keep the surface next to your back dry so moisture leaks into the pack from there and the bottom of the cover collects water. Hikers have been experimenting with a variety of plastic bags used inside the pack as pack liners and stuff sacks. Current favorites are turkey roasting bags and the Clean Zipper brand zip lock bags (lighter and safer than ZipLoc). I use 5 dyneema fabric stuff sacks and a waterproof liner from Zpack. These weight just over 3.5 ounces. Sleeping Bag system, about 48 ounces The most common choices are goose down insulation in the 0 to 10 degree range. Do your research as you will get what you pay for. I threw down a kilobuck for a state of the art 10 degree bag that all but sings me to sleep. Weighs 37 ounces. Like pack sacks, total sleeping bag weight includes two other pieces of gear: the ground sheet and the ground pad. A 6×4 foot (or so) piece of black Tyvek can be bought from picture frame shops or online and is a good choice for the ground sheet. It weighs about 4.5 ounces. The same size piece of clear plastic Polycryo from Gossamer Gear weighs 1.8 ounces and is claimed to be tougher than Tyvek. The Thermorest Z-lite pad is an all around good choice. I cut off 4 of the sections to make a ¾ length pad which dropped the weight from 13 ounces to 9.2 ounces. Two reasons: A) the G4 backpack uses the Z-lite as the frame. You will have to study the pattern from Quest Outfitters to see why. Anyway, 14 sections make too thick of a frame. 10 sections is perfect, B) when the ¾ pad is laid out for sleeping, you can put the empty pack sack under your feet for a full length ground pad insulating effect. Tent, about 33 ounces Free standing tents are more popular than tarps and bivvy bags because tents can more easily handle a wider variation of weather conditions as well as provide privacy in public areas like campgrounds. The tent will add several degrees of heat capture even without direct solar gain. 2 person tents for single person will also allow for room to wait out a multi day storm without going stir crazy. Tents of any kind, as well as tarps and bivvys, need to be carried in waterproof stuff sacks because they are usually wet from overnight dew or rain. I transferred the tent stake weight to my one of my trekking poles. Note: The rain poncho and the bivvy always seem like good light weight gear choices but in practice they never work out very well. The poncho is simply not big enough and the bivvy becomes a sauna on a warm, skeeter filled night because it cannot be opened. I have always wondered if these technologies could be improved. If so, the weight reduction would be on the order of several pounds. The light weight backpacking community has pretty much abandoned both of them. Perhaps gear heads in the prepper community would be interested to keep exploring this weight reduction opportunity. Carry Clothing, about 55 ounces The insulating layer is quite important as is easy to imagine. What usually gets overlooked is that hiking burns calories which heats the body. Too warm of an insulating layer gets the body too hot while hiking and thus is pointlessly heavy to carry. The most common list is: insulated bottoms & tops (which double as pajamas and increase the heat capture of the sleeping bag) Second pair of socks. Possible second pair of shorts. Dedicated sleeping socks. Skull cap & balaclava. Weather resistant gloves. And zip lock bags which are carried to isolate dirty socks. The same problem of overheating applies to the weather shell, usually a goose down puffy under a rain jacket. But there is an important additional problem; body heat also generates sweat which can be captured by the rain jacket. Unless vented, this can lead to soaking wet clothing then to chaffing or hypothermia. One solution is to wear a vest, made of synthetic material, under the rain jacket and keep flapping air between the several layers. The other is to buy a crazy expensive rain jacket at the hardshell level which will vent out the sweat without letting the rain in. Water Containers, About 5.5 ounces A noted earlier, tall skinny smartwater bottles weigh 1.4 ounces each. I prefer to carry 2 Platypus 2 liter bags at 1.6 ounces each with the drinking tube attachment at 2.2 ounces. These are BPA free and work very well with the Sawyer inline filtration system. Water Filtration, about 6.5 ounces. Micro Squeeze Sawyer filter, its misc parts and the A/B containers of Aquamira chemical disinfectant. The Micro Sawyer works with the smartwater and platypus containers but not with any other water container that I know of. Food Containers & Utensils, about 4 ounces Food containers are a bit of a wild card. The normal container is a couple of simple stuff sacks or even heavy duty plastic grocery bags. For no-stovers, add a P38 can opener and titanium spork for about 2.5 ounces. In some areas, bear cans, Ursacks or hanging your food bags from trees are advisable or required. As bear cans and a two Ursacks are in the pound range, hanging food bags is the preferred option. I made a food hanging kit from the little stuff sack that the tent stakes came in and a length of macrame cord. Weighs about 1.5 ounces. Medical / Hygiene / Repair / Misc Kits, about 7 ounces Note: There is a truism on the trail that the bigger the medical kit the less likely the hiker knows how to use it. With any luck this is not true of preppers. However, your recommended medical kits look like they could stand to be measured against the Principles of Backpack Weight Reduction and still be as effective as you intend them to be. Medical: 2 Neosporin goop packets, one with tic fork in it. Two band-aids. 20 Advil tablets. 6 electrolyte tablets. Not counted weight is duct tape and muscle tape attached to one of my trekking poles. Another Note: It is also a truism that very few hikers know anything about wilderness first aid regardless of med kit size. Our guiding philosophy is: ‘Don’t Get Hurt!’. Granted, not a very good one, but injuries are quite rare. Hygiene: (it is unethical to use soap in the backcountry) 2 ounce spray bottle full of 70% rubbing alcohol and dedicated handkerchief for daily cleaning of feet and smelly bits. 1 toothbrush with handle cut down (to get it inside a plastic bag) 6 dental floss toothpick things. Plus a plastic comb. Repair: 20 feet of polyester thread wrapped around a plastic thing I found with a sewing needle stuck through it. Misc: mini lighter in tiny plastic bag with vitamin bottle absorbent pouch and small piece of cardboard soaked in candle wax for fire starter. A KN95 face mask and two sets of soft ear plugs. Poop Kit, about 6 ounces In a small stuff sack are a half roll of toilet paper, a 2 fl oz squeeze bottle of hand sanitizer gel and The Deuce cat hole digging tool. In addition are 4, one quart zip lock bags for areas where packing out your toilet paper is required. The Bat Belt, about 32 ounces More and more hikers are attaching little pouches to their hip belt and shoulder straps. Photographers often have a not so small camera bag hanging off of their sternum and shoulder straps. If done correctly, this throws weight forward and down in a kind of counter balance to the loaded backpack weight without interfering with the back and forth movement of trekking pole swinging arms. Here is what I carry: 100% Deet skeeter juice. Skeeter hat net Petzl Zipka headlamp (eliminates the bulky head harness) Reading glasses 3 AAA & 2 AA batteries in a plastic case Garmin Oregon 450 stand alone GPS (uses 2aa batteries) Small cell phone BTECH UV-5X3 handy talkie (do not have ham license yet) Opinel folding knife (can sharpen on a river rock) BASUNE slingshot (never runs out of bullets) Some of this stuff is a new addition to my regular outfit and I am struggling with how to incorporate it. Given the list of hardware that preppers like to carry around, the Bat Belt seems like a backpacking technology that your community would be motivated to advance. I am very interested in any in any suggestions or innovations that you come up with. Happy Trails! Chance Read More 21 21 Minor prepping victory: Perennial Fruit! brownfox-ffContributor - July 6, 2022 I was inspired last year by Josh’s review of “The Resilient Farm and Homestead”. I love the author’s take on improving resilience and regenerative systems, and seeing what we can do to provide more for ourselves. e.g. Falk says > “Self-reliant households are the basic building blocks of any culture that is viable over the long term”> “If our goal is a peaceful, just society, self-reliance at the home and community levels must be a central focus of our lives” I have been reading and learning about permaculture over the past few years. We don’t have a lot of space available, but last summer I decided to see what I could do in my own small life. I spent many hours of research learning what resilient, perennial species might grow well in our area (gardening zone 3), and spoke with several local gardeners and permaculturists on what food, plants, and species do well for them. I landed on two perennial fruit bushes: saskatoons (also known as juneberry or pigeon berry), and haskaps (also known as honeyberries). Both of these plants are hardy down to gardening zone 2, and both produce perennial fruit. They don’t seem to need a lot of care. When fully grown the bushes should take up space roughly five feet by five feet (depending on variety), which is great for me as they won’t get out of hand. If you’ve never had them – haskaps are similar to a long blueberry, though usually a more tart flavour. I took a hard look at the yard space around our house and was able to free up enough space to plant four bushes – a path roughly five feet wide and twenty feet long, wrapping around a garage building next to our garden. It took some solid work with a five pound pickaxe and a sturdy shovel to dig deeply enough to plant them. But growing up doing manual work on a farm I find that kind of labor feels rewarding. I have been attentively watering and working to care for the bushes since last year. During the hottest summer heat they took quite a bit of water each day; part of the reason I was motivated to set up a water barrel and system for rain capture. I did not expect the bushes to fruit in their first year. Haskaps are a bit finicky to plant and cultivate – you need specific varieties next to each other in order for them to pollinate. What’s more I discovered they are quite difficult to source and find – it took several months of hunting and calling before I found a greenhouse nursery that even carried them! However, this week it all paid off: I was rewarded with a first harvest of perennial fruit! This first picking was roughly one cup of berries: It may be small, but this feels like a wholesome success. Is it a large amount? No. Will it feed an entire family? No. But it is more than zero. And it is hopefully renewable, and free. I have been able to build and introduce some valuable habitat, and add some flavour, nutrition, and variety into my meals. One step forward! Best of luck to everyone with your own gardens and journeys. (edit: I have edited one of the photos and increased the contrast to make it easier to see) Read More 21 30 New affordable online pharmacy saves people thousands on life saving medicine rebecca - July 2, 2022 You may have seen Mark Cuban on Shark Tank as the famous billionaire investor/businessman. He recently opened up an online pharmacy that is trending all over the news right now with the amazing cost savings that it is offering to people. Instead of selling drugs for ridiculous amounts, they only mark it up 15% (still a healthy profit for them). A traditional pharmacy may charge you or your insurance company $9657, but at this place it is only $39. Isn’t that insane how much of a savings that is for you? Important medications are now accessible to people who may have just gone without, rationed, or went bankrupt trying to stay alive. If you need a lifesaving prescription medication, check out costplusdrugs.com and see if you can get it cheaper on there. They don’t take insurance cards to pay for the drugs, but the savings are still so incredibly good that you might end up paying less for the same medication then you were with your co-pay or deductible. It is easier to store up some extra $40 medication than it is a $9500 one. Hopefully this allows people to not only have what they need, but save some up for a rainy day if there are supply chain issues, job loss, etc. Read More 10 4 News Best modular bag for car? Don - July 2, 2022 Hi guys, I’m pretty new to prepping and have been reading a ton of stuff on this site. I’m in the middle of assembling my kit but I really could use some recommendations for a bag. I have almost all of the items of a level 3 kit stored throughout my truck but scattered throughout. I’m ideally looking for some sort of modular bag to use that I can attach smaller packs or bags on/in based on the situation I’m in. For example, I want to keep all my clothes/hygiene in a small day pack and possible use this also as a gym bag or emergency change of clothes for work. I also want to be able to strap a sleeping bag and tent if I’m in a bugout situation but leave in the truck if I’m just trying to get home. I also have a rather large molle ifac (9”x7”x5”) that would be nice to strap to the bottom or side but keep easily assessable. I am leaning toward an Osprey Aether AG 60 or a Deuter Aviant Voyager 65+10. Both of these have removable daypacks but I’m worried they will take up two much space in my truck (won’t fit under the backseat) Does anybody have a good recommendation for a bag in the +/-40L range with attachment options for top, bottom and sides (or separate daypack options)? Conversely any recommendations for internal bag pouches? Thanks Read More 14 18 Gear 4th of July safety tips Henry Tubbs - July 1, 2022 Following the spirit of Peter 44’s topic the other day How to survive this nasty heat wave of 110+ degrees, I wanted to compile some 4th of July safety tips. Really?? 4th of July safety tips? So don’t eat too many burgers and hot dogs and maybe wear safety glasses at the parades so people on the floats don’t throw candy and hit you in the eye? Well… there are more dangers to this holiday than and upset stomach from eating too many burgers, so here are the ones I came up with and comment below if you have any other tips or things to add to the ones I do. If lighting fireworks out on your driveway or in the middle of the street have a garden hose, fire extinguisher, and a 5 gallon bucket full of water ready. Pull cars away from where you will be lighting things and take a minute to look around your street for flammable brush, boxes, or anything else that may be nearby. If a firework doesn’t go off, don’t disassemble it or try to light it again. Wait 30 seconds and then walk towards it with your hose and drench the sucker. Then submerge it in your 5 gallon bucket of water. In fact, take all of your spent and dud fireworks and store them in that bucket of water over night. In the morning drain the water and then throw away the firework shells. Having a first aid kit nearby can be handy in case someone gets a minor burn from a sparkler. Clear out any dry brush and material from your property. You don’t want a stray firework from your neighbor to catch and take down your house. See the below chart for a visualization of the danger of the 4th and wildfires. Bring dogs inside to prevent them from getting scared and running away If you are aware of any Veterans in your neighborhood think twice about lighting fireworks near their home or sit down and ask if they are okay with it. I’ve heard some Veterans struggle with PTSD and dread the 4th because it is a trigger. If you are grilling, make sure not to grill next to your house or a fence because the heat could damage the wall or set it on fire. Don’t be stupid. A neighbor kid the other year lit a ground bloom (also known as a Flower) firework in his back pocket thinking it would be funny and it melted his pants and fused the fabric to his butt and gave him a severe burn. Don’t have roman candle fights with each other, it’s fun but stupid. Take the steps now to be prepared for this potentially dangerous holiday and have fun! Happy Independence Day! Read More 14 12 Does anyone have experience sprouting seeds to eat? Peter 44 - June 28, 2022 In the spirit of trying to eat more healthy, I want to consume more vegetables. There are many vegetables though that I just do not like or don’t sit well with me, and I get sick of the others pretty quickly. I’ve also heard that the same head of lettuce today is less nutritionally dense than that my grandparents ate because soil is losing it’s minerals. The idea of sprouting my own seeds and eating those may be the way I can eat as little vegetables as possible but still get the nutrition I need. Don’t sprouts have a ton of nutrition per ounce compared to a full grown vegetable? I’ve seen them talked about with survival groups often as a way to get fresh veggies without having to go outside, have sunlight, or even put in much work. Could be a good SHTF nutrition supply. Does anyone have experience sprouting their own seeds? I see there are two methods, using trays or in a mason jar with a mesh lid. Also, where are cheap places to buy spouting seeds? Thank you all! Read More 11 12 Advice FIFO can racks for the pantry Barb LeeContributor - June 27, 2022 I took a chance on these little racks I found on Amazon, bought two, and quickly decided to outfit the whole shelf with them. They are literally shoe-horned into the shelf, but they fit, wall to wall. I’ll never go back to boxes for regular size cans again. I will be gradually adding more. Read More 8 6 Year old eggs stored in whole in shell with water and pickling lime – A GREAT easy way to store eggs! Sharon - June 25, 2022 I Read More 9 6 I Wine for the apocalypse July LewisContributor - June 24, 2022 So my husband bought a wine rack for the basement this winter and has been having fun picking out moderately priced wines and filling it up. I didn’t think to add it to my emergency food spreadsheet until just now! I have a formula in the spreadsheet that calculates how many days worth of calories we have, and this gave my supplies a nice boost. This will be a part of our rotating pantry so hopefully we won’t have any wine go bad. But I’m seeing confusing info on the shelf life of wine. Fine wines are supposed to last 20-30 years when stored properly, while other wines are good for 2-3 years. What’s the difference?? These are not fine wines and many have screw tops. Our storage conditions are not ideal – no temperature extremes but also not the ideal 55 F degrees. Maybe 65 in the winter, 75 in summer. Anyone have any insight/experience in wine storage? Read More 10 10 Advice Controlling cooking food odors whether SIP or Bug Out conditions UbiqueContributor - June 23, 2022 Controlling food odors would be an important consideration for anyone living in the city close to others or even in a rural area if hungry people are searching for food. I’m not sure, but it seems possible that very hungry people would have a heightened sense of smell. I ran a test on how much and how far food odors wafted from my home some years ago as part of scenario prepping. There was no exhaust fan used to blow the odor outside. The item I cooked on top of the stove was dried red kidney beans. There was nothing added to the beans and water. It was to cook them only before making chili later. While the beans simmered, I took a walk outdoors and was shocked by the smell outside my house. I never thought that plain, unseasoned beans would give off that much smell. More shocking was how far the smell travelled on a day with low wind conditions. I wondered what the result would have been had I used an exhaust fan and blew more of the smell outside. This led me to think that smell has to be considered in prepping. I am still trying to figure out how to control odors while cooking. Food can be eaten cold out of the can, but in an emergency of long duration, it will be necessary to cook food. Even bugged out, food odors from an outdoor meal could be a problem. One last part, I have also considered food odors on my hands from preparing food. In times of scarcity, looking well fed and smelling of garlic might tip off people that you have preps. Lemon juice can neutralize the garlic and baggy clothes can hide a lack of weight loss, but I am still trying to find a solution to reducing or eliminating food odors. Has anyone considered this and if so, any thoughts on how to deal with this issue? Thanks in advance Read More 15 35 AdviceScenarios How to survive this nasty heat wave of 110+ degrees Peter 44 - June 23, 2022 Although I don’t live in the Pacific North West PNW, I am hearing a lot of chatter from people about the extreme heat that they are suffering through. I wanted to offer my help through this forum by sharing some thoughts and ideas on how to stay cool and get through this. Feel free to pitch in your tips and tricks as well if you have some. If we have any PNW members of this forum, I’d love to hear how things are going for ya. -Move to a smaller room at the center of your house. It is easier to cool a small room versus the entire house. -Add tin foil or cardboard on windows to act as extra insulation and repel the heat of the sun. Look at installing solar screens on your windows for a cleaner look. -Get a battery operated fan that will run off of the same batteries that your power tools will. If power goes out, this can keep you cool. Mist yourself with some water and then sit in front of the fan for extreme cooling. -Keep curtains closed -Drink tons of water. Keep up electrolytes. -Hang out in the basement if you have one -Use patio umbrellas or storm shutters to shade your windows -Rinse off your arms, hands, and face with cool water whenever you go to the bathroom. Take a full cool shower if at home for a quick cool down. -Stock up on fans, AC units, etc during the fall because during the summer they will be all sold out and at full price -Freeze different juices into improvised popsicles. Eating frozen grapes and berries -Keep an eye on the weather forecast and if you see hot weather coming, make extra ice cubes a head of time. -You may have to adjust the temperature to a colder setting on your fridge/freezer. Some people are having to add frozen bottles of water to their fridge to cool things down because their fridge can’t keep things cool enough. -If you need to cook foods, use the oven or stove in the early morning or late afternoon as to not add too much more heat to your house -Place your clothes in the freezer for the next day, then when you put them on they will keep you cool for a couple minutes. -Cool your feet in a bath or kiddie pool -Don’t go outside during the hottest times of the day -Feed pets refrigerated wet food. Make them popsicles by freezing tuna water or beef broth in ice cube molds. -If you can’t hold your hand on the asphalt for 10 seconds, then it’s too hot for your dog to walk on. -For chickens, give them ice chips to peck at or frozen peas Read More 19 31 Becoming hysterical during an emergency Molly N. 😆 - June 23, 2022 I have a confession to make… I love watching police body cam footage and other videos online of disasters, emergencies, and horrible events. They are so fascinating and intriguing. I tell myself that it’s for educational purposes to teach myself about what can happen. A common thing that I’ve noticed in many of the videos is the random lady in the background going absolutely hysterical. It could be a video of a gunman going through a mall or police arresting her boyfriend and most of the time there is some lady just screaming. 😱 Nothing is happening to her, the gun shots may be at the other end of the building, but she is still freaking out. Guys aren’t excluded from this, but they usually manifest it in shouting profanity. This made me think about when I might be in a bad situation, will I react the same way? What causes someone to freak out like this? Is it from not feeling prepared, lack of mental coping, or is that just what some people do? I laugh a little at how they react but then tell myself that I might do the same thing if put in that situation. I can’t judge them from the comfort of my safe couch at home when they are seeing horrible things happen right before their eyes. If there is a way to train myself to not get into this mental and emotional state and understand what causes it though, I think I will be better for it. First off, screaming exposes your location and draws the gunman to yourself. Second, someone that is freaking out that bad isn’t thinking clearly and that leads to mistakes and even more danger. What are your thoughts on all of this? Read More 21 48 Human urine as garden fertilizer RedneckContributor - June 23, 2022 As a gardener and prepper who strives to be ready to become self sufficient if necessary, fertilization after the SHTF is a concern of mine. I address this in several ways, such as large compost piles and having farm animals, as their aged manure makes fine fertilizer. I also plan to grow companion plants, such as the 3 sisters to help address the issues of fertilization & water retention in the soil. Wonder how many folks have prepared to collect their urine during a crisis? Urine is full of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, which are the nutrients plants need to thrive–and the main ingredients in common mineral fertilizers. It is in liquid form which also helps the plants with hydration. Unlike feces (human or animal), which can carry bacteria like salmonella and E. coli, urine from healthy folks poses no health risks as it is practically sterile when it is eliminated from the body. When dying of thirst, one can actually drink their own urine to survive. We all pee around 150 gallons per year… beer drinkers more. If say you are in a survival group of 10 people, that is 1500 gallons of premium fertilizer that could help y’all survive. Just wanted to pass this info on for you survival gardeners that might have never considered this source of fertilizer. Most of us store foods in 5-6 gallon plastic pails. Once empty, you can attach a toilet seat with lid for females to contribute. I keep two in stock. Read More 13 20 Advice Let’s make the ultimate emergency reference guide for a bug out bag Bradical - June 22, 2022 In a previous forum thread talking about light weight gear, I recommended that people ditch the heavy and bulky survival manual in their bug out bag, store most of that info in your noggin, and maybe have a laminated 1/2 sheet sized reference guide as a reminder or for those hard things to remember. Another member asked if I or anyone else has a 1/2 sheet reference guide like this, and to be honest, I don’t. But let us change that and come together and come up with some things to add. What do you all think of the following list? What do you like, dislike, or want to add? I’ll do all the work and compile it into a document, but I need ideas of important things you would find helpful on a 1/2 sheet size reference guide. Here are some of my ideas: Contact info for someone out of town, for your child’s school, spouse’s workplace, and other important numbers like doctor, insurance company, or utility company. Emergency meeting place location and instructions Diagrams of how to navigate using a wrist watch Diagram of how to set a snare Diagram of knots Escape routes Important radio frequencies Read More 16 11 GearScenariosSkills DIY 12V shower Barb LeeContributor - June 21, 2022 During our last extended power outage (8 days, February ice storm), we used a little Zodi camp shower that uses four D-Cell batteries. It put out a pathetic little dribble of water. We later got the bright idea to build a better shower. This unit consists of a 1gpm RV demand water pump, an RV handheld shower head with on-off button (the RV pump turns off when the button on the shower head is pushed off (there is an extension hose attached), a 3/8″ uptake hose with filter, an on/off switch and a plug that fits a corresponding socket on the battery. We have a big deep cycle battery that we got to maintain tropical fish life support (no longer have the fish). The little filter on the uptake hose was pilfered from a small drip irrigation filter, the open end was sealed with a little plastic wrap and an o-ring. The uptake hose is dropped in a bucket of warm water and clipped onto the side of the bucket so it won’t fall out. All contained in an old tackle box. The pump delivers a very refreshing shower, of just the right pressure! Read More 7 14 Gear What to do if your elevator gets stuck Robert LarsonContributor - June 20, 2022 You are running late for an important interview and rush into the elevator and push your desired floor button. While catching your breath and adjusting your shirt that just became untucked, you feel a lurch and a squeal. The elevator has stopped but the doors are not opening. GREAT! Just what you needed right!? In New York City in 2015, 51 people were injured and 5 people died from elevator accidents. Here’s what to do if you find yourself in this situation: Push red emergency call button which is connected to a phone line and it should patch you through to an elevator maintenance representative. If this is not working, hopefully your cellphone has enough battery and service to call the building you are located in or the local fire department. You don’t want to climb out of the top air vent of the elevator car because once you get up there, now what? You would be in serious danger if the car started to move, and you can’t climb up the elevator cables like in the movies because unlike what the movies show, these are coated with a thick layer of grease. Don’t try and pry open the doors, they might suddenly close on your fingers and even if you were to open them and see that you were not against a solid wall and you were stuck between floors, it’s not smart to crawl out. If the elevator starts working suddenly you will be caught in between and get sliced in half. There are many safety measures in place for modern elevators that you aren’t just going to fall randomly, you are safe if you just wait. But… if you are stuck in there for a long time, you might have to establish a pee corner. To avoid your chances of being stuck in an elevator, don’t enter overly crowded ones that might be reaching their weight limit. If you are already on one and a bunch of people come on, don’t be that guy that say “too full, take the next one”, just pretend that it is your floor and get off and wait till the next one. If the elevator looks sketchy, overly old, or not maintained well, take the stairs. It’s healthier and safer anyways. If they building you work or live in has an elevator that seems to be out of order frequently or has issues, check with the building manager on when it was serviced last or check with the state and make sure it is kept up to code. Have any of you ever been stuck on an elevator? Read More 14 9 Scenarios How long could you survive in the wilderness? Henry Tubbs - June 16, 2022 Hey guys! I’ve been lurking on this forum for the past two months and finally have something to share so I created an account. Came across this article titled: Average person thinks they can survive for 2 weeks in the wilderness — but most can’t start a fire Like the title says, the average American thinks they can survive for 16 days in the wilderness. But out of 2000 American’s surveyed only 17% felt very confident about their ability to start a fire with flint. 52% felt confident that they could identify different plants, but when challenged and shown pictures of plants like poison ivy, few were actually able to correctly identify plants. Interesting survey. I wonder what the numbers would be like with the prepping crowd. Are we more confident in our skills and abilities and think we can survive longer? Or are we more aware of what it would take and are realistic that we wouldn’t be able to even survive 16 days. What they don’t go over is what gear if any are these people provided with. So lets assume that it’s what the average person would have on them on a day hike when they might get lost. Maybe a fanny pack, two granola bars, bag of jerky, water bottle, small cheap LED flashlight, and maybe a small cheap multitool. So lets figure out what preppers think. How long do you think you can survive in the wilderness? What factors are you putting into your answer? Read More 20 41 When to offer aid to the unprepared Carter Murphy - June 15, 2022 Not everyone has prepping as a hobby or a way of life. Not many have gone through a major disaster or trial in their lifetime that would encourage them to be prepared. But those disasters do happen, and if it does, what is your thought process behind offering aid, help, and assistance to others? It will greatly depend on the situation, where your preps are at the time, and many other contributing factors, but lets have a discussion of some possible scenarios. Here are some arguments for giving aid: I believe that most people would like to offer assistance to others and help when they can. This can help grow and strengthen your prepping community and many hands makes light work. Here are some arguments against giving aid: Your house gets to be known as the new hand-out place. Once you give help to one person, they tell others and you have many people on your doorstep. You become a target because you have supplies and resources when others do not. Another user on here, Matt Black, made a really great forum post about making Mercy Bags for the unprepared. I think this is a great idea and my family is going to make some to help out others. Read More 18 115 Scenarios Amaranth – My #1 Survival Crop RedneckContributor - June 14, 2022 Just joined yesterday and wanted to contribute. I’m a long time prepper, living in north Mississippi. I love to garden. I live on a 20 acre farmstead where we have 4 horses and 9 dogs. My orchard has over 150 trees… mostly apples with some peaches. I also grow blackberries, blueberries & muscadine grapes. I am by no means self sufficient but most of what I grow is what we like to eat & what I would grow in a crisis, if I did ever have to become self sufficient. IMO, the #1 survival crop is amaranth. It is easy to grow, as for some it is a weed (Pigweed, Palmer amaranth). It handles drought extremely well & needs little, if any fertilizer. Farmers struggle to get rid of it. It was a staple food item of the Aztecs & Incas. It is a dual use plant, in that you can eat the leaves & young stems, plus each plant can produce up to a pound of nutritious seed that can be ground into flour or made into porridge. It is considered a super food, as it is absolutely loaded with protein, fiber, vitamins & minerals. The plants can grow up to 10′ tall. It loves the hot weather and in my garden, I grow it as a summer green. You can use it in most any recipe for spinach or greens. IMO, greens are great crops for survival so I grow them the whole growing season. In cool season I grow collards & kale. In the summer, I grow amaranth. But what really makes amaranth shine as a survival food has to do with its reproduction. Each plant can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds. I will say that again… hundreds of thousands of seed. So imagine we are in a SHTF crisis and we needs lots of food fast. What other nutritious plant could produce so much food so fast and which crop could provide enough seed to feed a town within 1 generation? Just one pound of seed contains around a half million seed, so anyone can store this seed for possible use. Yes, I grow and store all sorts of garden seed. For me, my go to survival garden crop is the three sisters… a native American way of growing corn, pole beans & winter squash. Sister corn provides support for the sister pole bean. Sister pole bean, being a legume, puts nitrogen back into the soil for the corn to use. Sister squash provides ground cover to control grass/weeds & to hold moisture in the soil. But during a crisis, when so many would be starving, I think it would be smart to provide seed for others to grow their own food. I can’t afford to provide corn or other seed for lots of families… but could sure offer amaranth. This summer, once my amaranth plants were around 4′ tall, I harvested a bunch of leaves for my callaloo pictured above. To harvest, I cut off the top half of the plant, where the newest, most tender leaves are located. I wanted to test that if you cut such a mature plant, that new growth would arise. And yes, within a week, vigous new growth started replacing what was cut. In the pic below, you can see where the stalk was cut and see the new shoots. As I said, it only took a week to get all that new growth. Read More 20 31 My main worries to end the week (Prices/CPI and other stuff) Karl Winterling - June 14, 2022 My main worries to end the week are: The economic models the Fed was using in December for predicting inflation don’t seem like they’re suited for the current economic situation. The Fed needs to seriously investigate why these models are wrong and make sure unwarranted assumptions are not sticking around or leading the Fed to be less aggressive than it has to be. We really don’t need the Fed to be too optimistic about inflation right now. Interest rates impact the price at which investors are willing to buy stocks (the other main consideration being company profitability or expected profitability), which is part of why raising interest rates slows the economy and inflation. If food and fuel costs/shortages get much more serious (or “go parabolic”), the Fed can’t do much about that but might feel pressured to raise rates more aggressively than it has to and cause a recession (or a worse recession) without a good reason. Interest rate hikes will not magically produce more fuel and food. There are counter-arguments to media reports like this (I hope those counter-arguments are wrong). If an income bracket literally can’t afford food or food is simply not available somewhere, niceties (and more) go out the window. Yes, we produce food domestically but fewer imported products = more people buy a lower supply of domestic products. (Mods: remove if this is too political, I’m trying to keep left vs. right ideology out of it and focus on the correlation between job approval ratings and crises). Biden’s job approval rating is historically low for a president, and lower approval ratings typically go along with recessions or crises like inflation in the 1970s or the 2008 Financial Crisis. Yes, Trump’s job approval rating was also pretty low throughout his presidency but (not to get too political or get into left vs. right) many people, right or wrong, found him offensive, thought he was too ignorant to do his job, thought he was an agent of a foreign power, or thought he did not respect the US Constitution or separation of powers. Therefore, it makes sense to assume that many people perceive current federal-level leadership as weak. Yes, you should be worried about what people are willing to vote for if they decide the government or economic/social/political system can’t fix their problems and those problems get too bad. Political extremists on the far left, far right, and elsewhere often spend their time sitting around and waiting for a crisis. Suggested preps: Food (at least 2 weeks, more if possible, like a few months or a year). Assume that food prices could double within the next year, though my baseline assumption is that we will face acute rather than chronic food shortages if there are availability issues. Get your finances in order (or try your best). Prepare for possible civil unrest. Humans adapted over hundreds of thousands of years to survive. Something in the news might shock you, but remember that you will not always feel the same way. The world could turn into a place that you don’t think is worth living in, but there’s a lot that has to happen before you know that for certain. Read More 6 7 AdviceMetaScenarios I’d like to avoid using a cook kit and just carry ready-to-eat meals in my emergency bags Tiger - June 13, 2022 While building my emergency bag in my car and my one at home to evacuate out with, I am faced with the dilemma of including a cook kit or not. Pros Ability to cook freeze dried foods Cook anything I might hunt or gather Boil sketchy water and make it safe Heat up water just as a comfort for coffee, tea, or hot chocolate Cons Additional weight, space, cost Slower to prepare a meal and eat it then just grabbing a granola bar I can maybe justify having the cook kit in my home bag because I that will be surviving for a longer period of time, but 100% of the time I’ve needed a meal or snack in my car emergency bag, it has been because I don’t want to stop by a McDonalds and would rather just get something quick and cheaper. So up until now I have just stocked some granola bars that I buy by the box. What other snacks or meals could I possibly add to my car emergency bag that I can quickly grab and consume? Something that can withstand the heat, be filling, and nutritious. Read More 8 12 Gear How has rising gas prices influenced you? Conrad B - June 12, 2022 I really thought that we would see a small spike in gas prices with the conflict in Ukraine and then level out, but it doesn’t seem to stop. Chart from Gasbuddy.com and is the national average. How has the rising gas prices affected everyone? Are you driving less? Have you bought a more fuel efficient vehicle? Did you switch jobs to commute less? I’ve been driving much less often and combine all my errands into one trip so that I don’t have to go out. It changes the way I prepare because I need to store more items on hand and sometimes just go without something like bread for a couple days until I build up enough reasons to go out again. I don’t visit family or go out for entertainment as much as I used to either. It feels like I am back under quarantine and is starting to affect my mental health like during covid. I also rotate through my stored gas cans every 6 months so I don’t have to buy fuel stabilizer, but maybe it would be cheaper to stabilize the fuel because 6 months from now it might be much higher. Stupid me is going to laugh and be wish for $4.90 gas in 2 months time when it’s then around $6.25 or something. Read More 10 14 News Ever seen a Blue Heron ? RedneckContributor - June 12, 2022 I am blessed to have a mating pair of bald eagles that visit my farm daily. They like to catch my grain fed catfish down in my small, one acre pond. It might be a small pond but it has a large population of catfish, as I feed them every evening… a bit before dark. Most days I have an eagle sitting in a tree, watching over the pond. It is not unusual for a blue heron to be sitting on the dock, hunting for fish itself… just smaller fish. The eagles seem to take the bigger fish while the blue heron goes for the smaller fish & minnows. The blue heron is an odd looking bird but it is perfectly designed to hunt small fish, especially when wading in shallow water. Yesterday was no different. As I drove up to the pond to feed fish, an eagle was up in a tree above me and a blue heron was on the dock. That bird has gotten smart lately. It used to fly away but it has learned to come back, as soon as I drive off. Within a few seconds of my driving off, before I can get 50 feet away, it now lands on the dock watching the catfish feed. Soon as they are mostly done, it really perks up to hunt the smaller fish eating the leftover catfish food. I took this video yesterday. It is not the best video in the world and certainly not the best viewing angle, but it still shows what I’m talking about. I just love watching nature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvLFaKg-etU Read More 13 9 < Prev 1 2 3 … 20 21 22 … 59 60 61 Next > Recently Active News of the Week 2024-12-30 - 2 weeks ago(Official discussion) Rainy day funds and cash on hand - 4 weeks agoNews for the Week 2024-11-18 - 4 weeks agoHow to sew and repair a leather glove - 2 months agoMoooooooo…Can you rec a powdered milk? - 2 months ago RULES This forum is heavily moderated to keep things valuable to as many people as possible. Full community policies are here. The basics: 1. Be nice to each other. 2. Stay focused on prepping. 3. Avoid politics, religion, and other arguments. 4. No unfounded conspiracies, fake news, etc. 5. Debate ideas, not people. FILTER Show all Advice Gear Meta News Scenarios Skills

An introduction to lightweight backpacking

Chance - July 7, 2022

An Introduction to Lightweight Backpacking

Greetings everyone here at The Prepared. I have been asked to write out my thoughts on lightweight backpacking and how it can play a part in helping people get through the very difficult conditions we may have to face in the near future.

This essay is not intended to be a hiker vs prepper series of arguments. Hikers have a distinctively different outlook than preppers. However, backpacking gear comes from the same desire to survive and thrive in a hostile world. Hikers and preppers can learn a lot from one another. This essay is intended to open a path between our communities so that both may benefit.

Some Principles of Backpack Weight Reduction

1) The heaviest thing we carry on our backs is fear.

Write down what you fear.

Learn how to overcome it.

2) Weigh everything.

List every item and record its weight.

If you do not use it, it is just a rock.

3) Reduce weight where possible.

Eliminate factory packaging.

Carry the least amount of non food consumables between resupplys.

Trim excess whatever as is possible without damaging a things integrity.

Can one item do multiple tasks?

Are lighter, equally useful substitutes available?

Can some pieces of equipment be shared among a committed couple or dependable group?

Are resources available in your environment which can be used, then discarded when done, so that there is no need to carry it around?

4) Properly distribute all weights

Pack in modular sets so that weights can be adjusted as needed to maintain balance: water bottles against your back, food bags in the middle, never let anything dangle off the packs exterior, gadgets in your belt pouches, trekking poles in your hands (not your pack).

5) The more you learn the less you need to carry or the more effective it is.

6) When useless weight has been eliminated, add weight back, as the situation requires, to ensure minimum safety and comfort under anticipated conditions.

Definitions

The following is mainly a presentation on what lightweight gear is and how to use it under normal wilderness trail conditions.

‘Lightweight’ is defined in the current sense of a base weight at about 20 pounds. This does not include what you wear on a normal day or carry in your hands. This also does not include the rapidly changing weights of fuel, water and food.

Over the years, gear weights have gotten ever lighter. It is now fairy easy to get pack, base weight down to about 10 pounds. Somewhere around this point is where the gear starts getting expensive but IMHO worth it.

There is no one single source of ‘got it all figured out’ book or web site which tells you everything you need to know about lightweight backpacking. There are, however, dozens of summaries from personal experience – such as this one – which are a useful starting point for the motivated individual.

Not Included Weight

Shoes and Walking

Very few people know how to walk (including experienced hikers) and most shoes cripple the feet. A way to learn how to walk properly is to buy whatever kinds of shoes and boots offered at thrift stores, experiment with various off the retail shelf socks and inserts then consciously walk as much as possible in them.

Once you have learned enough to have a conversation about feet, shoes and walking, locate a running shoe store operated by qualified personnel. They probably won’t care too much about SHTF scenarios but they will be interested in helping you to select a shoe suitable for extensive back country hiking.

Trekking Poles

Trekking poles are the human version of four wheel drive. The nominal pole height is with your forearms at 90 degrees to your body. Adjust as you feel is needed.

On flat land, the poles will become outriggers preventing ankle roll outs or serious stumbles from becoming injury delivering falls. On steep downhills the poles can be lengthened and now extended out in front as a kind of brake. This will take some stress off of your legs and back and prevent a downhill fall. When your arms are strong enough, the lengthened poles can be used to push yourself uphill.

Animals and predatory humans instinctively regard trekking poles as weapons, which they are. Tarps and one pound tents are possible because trekking poles are used to hold them up.

Wear Clothing 

The clothing layers that are considered normal wear are the base layer or underwear and the shell or pants, shirt, hat and sunglasses on a lanyard around your neck.

Please take the time to do your own base layer research. Fully test out your choices by wearing them for days at a time. An inappropriate base layer will cause all sorts of problems.

The fabric of choice for the shell is nylon or a variety of synthetic blends. Synthetic fabrics are extremely light, dry fast and wear forever. Up until recently, safari shirts and kind of limited pocket cargo pants were the most popular choices on the trail. These are probably still good choices for preppers.

Two key requirements of a shirt is that it have full length sleeves and that there not be a stitched seam across the top of the shoulder. This goes for the base layer T shirt or sports bra as well. Such a seam at this location will cut into your shoulder under the weight of even a lightweight backpack. The pain comes on fast and will put a stop to your hike.

One very useful type of pants is the ‘convertible’. This allows the bottom of each leg to be unzipped to create temporary hiking shorts.

A reminder: Cotton Kills!

Rapidly Changing Weights

As previously mentioned, fuel, water and food are not counted against the base weight of the backpack because these weights change quickly and in practical terms are very difficult to measure. However, these obviously are weights which needs to be managed.

Fuel & Stove

If you do not need to cook your food you do not need a stove or its fuel. An upfront savings of 1 to 2 pounds.

Water

Water weighs 2.2 pounds per liter. Hikers generally favor the tall plastic bottles made by Lifewtr or smartwater. Both are about 1.4 ounces empty weight each. 1 quart Nalgene plastic bottles weigh about 6 ounces. Metal bottles tend towards Nalgene weights.

Food

A rule of thumb is that we can go without air for 3 minutes, without water for 3 days and without food for 30 days. The air and water estimates are highly controversial, but people can go without food for extended periods and generally are the better for having done so. The health improving effects of not eating are widely documented and even formalized in fasting disciplines.

Thru-hikers routinely, but inadvertently, practice a kind of fasting because the act of long distance hiking will burn more nutrition between re-supply points (usually measured in calories) than can be carried in a pack. The way we deal with this is to eat like starving coyotes while in town.

Historically, refugees have routinely had to travel hard with minimal food or no food at all. Preppers will have to deal with this in future SHTF scenarios. It would be interesting to hear a qualified nutritionist comment on how conscious fasting disciplines can be used to extend food supplies.

Actual hiker foods are normally straight off the grocery store shelves. Some hikers will cook, dry and vacuum package food then have someone send it to a re-supply point on the trail. Very few eat the freeze dried backpacker foods. No one eats MRE’s.

An understanding of food values is as important as an understanding of lightweight gear. Unfortunately, it is outside the scope of this presentation.

Food weights vary from one hiker to the next and one re-supply point to another. This is where lightweight backpacking really pays off: you can load up with as much food as you can get in your pack and still make big miles without crippling yourself.

The estimated load limit for my light weight backpack is about 35 pounds. As my total pack weight is about 13 pounds 9 ounces, that allows for about 19 pounds of food and 2 pounds, or one liter, of water. That is enough for 5 to 7 days of normal hiking. Rationing and/or fasting could potentially double that estimate. Water weight obviously varies daily and is replenished on the fly but as food weight decreases, water weight can increase. Water is an very important part of a fast.

Backpack Base Weight

This base weight presentation will be organized around my backpack and some of my personal gear selections. This is not an attempt to promote my gear choices or my favorite vendors. I do not financially benefit in any way or receive free gear. This is simply the outfit I know best and hope that a examination of it will serve as a departure point for others who wish to assemble their own lightweight backpack. Out on the trail there are almost no two packs alike as there are hundreds of ways to put one together. Just ask any gear head.

Pack Sack System, about 24 ounces

There is no need for built in compartments with zippers and excessive loops. There is no need for strong fabrics or heavy duty hip belt and shoulder strap harnesses either. I have an original Gossamer Gear ‘G4’, bought in 2010, now with 1300 miles of mountain hiking bushwhacking on it and its still good to go. It is just a big empty sack. With two belt pouches it weighs 20 ounces. Too bad its not made anymore. But you can make your own with a very low cost pattern from Quest Outfitters!

There are two easy to overlook sources of weight that properly belong to the pack sack category: pack cover and gear stuff sacks.

Pack covers are a pointless weight and a waste of money. They do not keep the surface next to your back dry so moisture leaks into the pack from there and the bottom of the cover collects water. Hikers have been experimenting with a variety of plastic bags used inside the pack as pack liners and stuff sacks. Current favorites are turkey roasting bags and the Clean Zipper brand zip lock bags (lighter and safer than ZipLoc). I use 5 dyneema fabric stuff sacks and a waterproof liner from Zpack. These weight just over 3.5 ounces.

Sleeping Bag system, about 48 ounces

The most common choices are goose down insulation in the 0 to 10 degree range. Do your research as you will get what you pay for. I threw down a kilobuck for a state of the art 10 degree bag that all but sings me to sleep. Weighs 37 ounces.

Like pack sacks, total sleeping bag weight includes two other pieces of gear: the ground sheet and the ground pad.

A 6×4 foot (or so) piece of black Tyvek can be bought from picture frame shops or online and is a good choice for the ground sheet. It weighs about 4.5 ounces. The same size piece of clear plastic Polycryo from Gossamer Gear weighs 1.8 ounces and is claimed to be tougher than Tyvek.

The Thermorest Z-lite pad is an all around good choice. I cut off 4 of the sections to make a  ¾ length pad which dropped the weight from 13 ounces to 9.2 ounces. Two reasons: A) the G4 backpack uses the Z-lite as the frame. You will have to study the pattern from Quest Outfitters to see why. Anyway, 14 sections make too thick of a frame. 10 sections is perfect, B) when the ¾ pad is laid out for sleeping, you can put the empty pack sack under your feet for a full length ground pad insulating effect.

Tent, about 33 ounces

Free standing tents are more popular than tarps and bivvy bags because tents can more easily handle a wider variation of weather conditions as well as provide privacy in public areas like campgrounds. The tent will add several degrees of heat capture even without direct solar gain. 2 person tents for single person will also allow for room to wait out a multi day storm without going stir crazy.

Tents of any kind, as well as tarps and bivvys, need to be carried in waterproof stuff sacks because they are usually wet from overnight dew or rain.

I transferred the tent stake weight to my one of my trekking poles.

Note: The rain poncho and the bivvy always seem like good light weight gear choices but in practice they never work out very well. The poncho is simply not big enough and the bivvy becomes a sauna on a warm, skeeter filled night because it cannot be opened. I have always wondered if these technologies could be improved. If so, the weight reduction would be on the order of several pounds. The light weight backpacking community has pretty much abandoned both of them. Perhaps gear heads in the prepper community would be interested to keep exploring this weight reduction opportunity.

Carry Clothing, about 55 ounces

The insulating layer is quite important as is easy to imagine. What usually gets overlooked is that hiking burns calories which heats the body. Too warm of an insulating layer gets the body too hot while hiking and thus is pointlessly heavy to carry.

The most common list is: insulated bottoms & tops (which double as pajamas and increase the heat capture of the sleeping bag) Second pair of socks. Possible second pair of shorts. Dedicated sleeping socks. Skull cap & balaclava. Weather resistant gloves. And zip lock bags which are carried to isolate dirty socks.

The same problem of overheating applies to the weather shell, usually a goose down puffy under a rain jacket. But there is an important additional problem; body heat also generates sweat which can be captured by the rain jacket. Unless vented, this can lead to soaking wet clothing then to chaffing or hypothermia.

One solution is to wear a vest, made of synthetic material, under the rain jacket and keep flapping air between the several layers. The other is to buy a crazy expensive rain jacket at the hardshell level which will vent out the sweat without letting the rain in.

Water Containers, About 5.5 ounces

A noted earlier, tall skinny smartwater bottles weigh 1.4 ounces each. I prefer to carry 2 Platypus 2 liter bags at 1.6 ounces each with the drinking tube attachment at 2.2 ounces. These are BPA free and work very well with the Sawyer inline filtration system.

Water Filtration, about 6.5 ounces.

Micro Squeeze Sawyer filter, its misc parts and the A/B containers of Aquamira chemical disinfectant. The Micro Sawyer works with the smartwater and platypus containers but not with any other water container that I know of.

Food Containers & Utensils, about 4 ounces

Food containers are a bit of a wild card. The normal container is a couple of simple stuff sacks or even heavy duty plastic grocery bags. For no-stovers, add a P38 can opener and titanium spork for about 2.5 ounces.

In some areas, bear cans, Ursacks or hanging your food bags from trees are advisable or required. As bear cans and a two Ursacks are in the pound range, hanging food bags is the preferred option. I made a food hanging kit from the little stuff sack that the tent stakes came in and a length of macrame cord. Weighs about 1.5 ounces.

Medical / Hygiene / Repair / Misc Kits, about 7 ounces

Note: There is a truism on the trail that the bigger the medical kit the less likely the hiker knows how to use it. With any luck this is not true of preppers. However, your recommended medical kits look like they could stand to be measured against the Principles of Backpack Weight Reduction and still be as effective as you intend them to be.

Medical: 2 Neosporin goop packets, one with tic fork in it. Two band-aids. 20 Advil tablets. 6 electrolyte tablets. Not counted weight is duct tape and muscle tape attached to one of my trekking poles.

Another Note: It is also a truism that very few hikers know anything about wilderness first aid regardless of med kit size. Our guiding philosophy is: ‘Don’t Get Hurt!’. Granted, not a very good one, but injuries are quite rare.

Hygiene: (it is unethical to use soap in the backcountry) 2 ounce spray bottle full of 70% rubbing alcohol and dedicated handkerchief for daily cleaning of feet and smelly bits. 1 toothbrush with handle cut down (to get it inside a plastic bag) 6 dental floss toothpick things. Plus a plastic comb.

Repair: 20 feet of polyester thread wrapped around a plastic thing I found with a sewing needle stuck through it.

Misc: mini lighter in tiny plastic bag with vitamin bottle absorbent pouch and small piece of cardboard soaked in candle wax for fire starter. A KN95 face mask and two sets of soft ear plugs.

Poop Kit, about 6 ounces

In a small stuff sack are a half roll of toilet paper, a 2 fl oz squeeze bottle of hand sanitizer gel and The Deuce cat hole digging tool. In addition are 4, one quart zip lock bags for areas where packing out your toilet paper is required.

The Bat Belt, about 32 ounces

More and more hikers are attaching little pouches to their hip belt and shoulder straps. Photographers often have a not so small camera bag hanging off of their sternum and shoulder straps.

If done correctly, this throws weight forward and down in a kind of counter balance to the loaded backpack weight without interfering with the back and forth movement of trekking pole swinging arms.

Here is what I carry:

100% Deet skeeter juice.

Skeeter hat net

Petzl Zipka headlamp (eliminates the bulky head harness)

Reading glasses

3 AAA & 2 AA batteries in a plastic case

Garmin Oregon 450 stand alone GPS (uses 2aa batteries)

Small cell phone

BTECH UV-5X3 handy talkie (do not have ham license yet)

Opinel folding knife (can sharpen on a river rock)

BASUNE slingshot (never runs out of bullets)

Some of this stuff is a new addition to my regular outfit and I am struggling with how to incorporate it. Given the list of hardware that preppers like to carry around, the Bat Belt seems like a backpacking technology that your community would be motivated to advance. I am very interested in any in any suggestions or innovations that you come up with.

Happy Trails!

Chance

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Minor prepping victory: Perennial Fruit!

brownfox-ffContributor - July 6, 2022

I was inspired last year by Josh’s review of “The Resilient Farm and Homestead”. I love the author’s take on improving resilience and regenerative systems, and seeing what we can do to provide more for ourselves. e.g. Falk says

> “Self-reliant households are the basic building blocks of any culture that is viable over the long term”> “If our goal is a peaceful, just society, self-reliance at the home and community levels must be a central focus of our lives”

I have been reading and learning about permaculture over the past few years. We don’t have a lot of space available, but last summer I decided to see what I could do in my own small life. I spent many hours of research learning what resilient, perennial species might grow well in our area (gardening zone 3), and spoke with several local gardeners and permaculturists on what food, plants, and species do well for them.

I landed on two perennial fruit bushes: saskatoons (also known as juneberry or pigeon berry), and haskaps (also known as honeyberries).

Both of these plants are hardy down to gardening zone 2, and both produce perennial fruit. They don’t seem to need a lot of care. When fully grown the bushes should take up space roughly five feet by five feet (depending on variety), which is great for me as they won’t get out of hand. If you’ve never had them – haskaps are similar to a long blueberry, though usually a more tart flavour.

I took a hard look at the yard space around our house and was able to free up enough space to plant four bushes – a path roughly five feet wide and twenty feet long, wrapping around a garage building next to our garden. It took some solid work with a five pound pickaxe and a sturdy shovel to dig deeply enough to plant them. But growing up doing manual work on a farm I find that kind of labor feels rewarding.

I have been attentively watering and working to care for the bushes since last year. During the hottest summer heat they took quite a bit of water each day; part of the reason I was motivated to set up a water barrel and system for rain capture. I did not expect the bushes to fruit in their first year. Haskaps are a bit finicky to plant and cultivate – you need specific varieties next to each other in order for them to pollinate. What’s more I discovered they are quite difficult to source and find – it took several months of hunting and calling before I found a greenhouse nursery that even carried them!

However, this week it all paid off: I was rewarded with a first harvest of perennial fruit!

This first picking was roughly one cup of berries:

It may be small, but this feels like a wholesome success. Is it a large amount? No. Will it feed an entire family? No. But it is more than zero. And it is hopefully renewable, and free. I have been able to build and introduce some valuable habitat, and add some flavour, nutrition, and variety into my meals.

One step forward!

Best of luck to everyone with your own gardens and journeys.

(edit: I have edited one of the photos and increased the contrast to make it easier to see)

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New affordable online pharmacy saves people thousands on life saving medicine

rebecca - July 2, 2022

You may have seen Mark Cuban on Shark Tank as the famous billionaire investor/businessman. He recently opened up an online pharmacy that is trending all over the news right now with the amazing cost savings that it is offering to people. Instead of selling drugs for ridiculous amounts, they only mark it up 15% (still a healthy profit for them). A traditional pharmacy may charge you or your insurance company $9657, but at this place it is only $39. Isn’t that insane how much of a savings that is for you? Important medications are now accessible to people who may have just gone without, rationed, or went bankrupt trying to stay alive.

If you need a lifesaving prescription medication, check out costplusdrugs.com and see if you can get it cheaper on there. 

They don’t take insurance cards to pay for the drugs, but the savings are still so incredibly good that you might end up paying less for the same medication then you were with your co-pay or deductible.

It is easier to store up some extra $40 medication than it is a $9500 one. Hopefully this allows people to not only have what they need, but save some up for a rainy day if there are supply chain issues, job loss, etc.

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News

Best modular bag for car?

Don - July 2, 2022

Hi guys,

I’m pretty new to prepping and have been reading a ton of stuff on this site. I’m in the middle of assembling my kit but I really could use some recommendations for a bag.  I have almost all of the items of a level 3 kit stored throughout my truck but scattered throughout. I’m ideally looking for some sort of modular bag to use that I can attach smaller packs or bags on/in based on the situation I’m in.  For example, I want to keep all my clothes/hygiene in a small day pack and possible use this also as a gym bag or emergency change of clothes for work. I also want to be able to strap a sleeping bag and tent if I’m in a bugout situation but leave in the truck if I’m just trying to get home.  I also have a rather large molle ifac  (9”x7”x5”) that would be nice to strap to the bottom or side but keep easily assessable.

I am leaning toward an Osprey Aether AG 60 or a Deuter Aviant Voyager 65+10. Both of these have removable daypacks but I’m worried they will take up two much space in my truck (won’t fit under the backseat)

Does anybody have a good recommendation for a bag in the +/-40L range with attachment options for top, bottom and sides (or separate daypack options)?  Conversely any recommendations for internal bag pouches?

Thanks

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Gear

4th of July safety tips

Henry Tubbs - July 1, 2022

Following the spirit of Peter 44’s topic the other day How to survive this nasty heat wave of 110+ degrees, I wanted to compile some 4th of July safety tips. Really?? 4th of July safety tips? So don’t eat too many burgers and hot dogs and maybe wear safety glasses at the parades so people on the floats don’t throw candy and hit you in the eye? Well… there are more dangers to this holiday than and upset stomach from eating too many burgers, so here are the ones I came up with and comment below if you have any other tips or things to add to the ones I do.

If lighting fireworks out on your driveway or in the middle of the street have a garden hose, fire extinguisher, and a 5 gallon bucket full of water ready. Pull cars away from where you will be lighting things and take a minute to look around your street for flammable brush, boxes, or anything else that may be nearby.  If a firework doesn’t go off, don’t disassemble it or try to light it again. Wait 30 seconds and then walk towards it with your hose and drench the sucker. Then submerge it in your 5 gallon bucket of water. In fact, take all of your spent and dud fireworks and store them in that bucket of water over night. In the morning drain the water and then throw away the firework shells. Having a first aid kit nearby can be handy in case someone gets a minor burn from a sparkler. Clear out any dry brush and material from your property. You don’t want a stray firework from your neighbor to catch and take down your house. See the below chart for a visualization of the danger of the 4th and wildfires. Bring dogs inside to prevent them from getting scared and running away If you are aware of any Veterans in your neighborhood think twice about lighting fireworks near their home or sit down and ask if they are okay with it. I’ve heard some Veterans struggle with PTSD and dread the 4th because it is a trigger. If you are grilling, make sure not to grill next to your house or a fence because the heat could damage the wall or set it on fire. Don’t be stupid. A neighbor kid the other year lit a ground bloom (also known as a Flower) firework in his back pocket thinking it would be funny and it melted his pants and fused the fabric to his butt and gave him a severe burn. Don’t have roman candle fights with each other, it’s fun but stupid.

Take the steps now to be prepared for this potentially dangerous holiday and have fun! Happy Independence Day!

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Does anyone have experience sprouting seeds to eat?

Peter 44 - June 28, 2022

In the spirit of trying to eat more healthy, I want to consume more vegetables. There are many vegetables though that I just do not like or don’t sit well with me, and I get sick of the others pretty quickly. I’ve also heard that the same head of lettuce today is less nutritionally dense than that my grandparents ate because soil is losing it’s minerals. The idea of sprouting my own seeds and eating those may be the way I can eat as little vegetables as possible but still get the nutrition I need. Don’t sprouts have a ton of nutrition per ounce compared to a full grown vegetable?

I’ve seen them talked about with survival groups often as a way to get fresh veggies without having to go outside, have sunlight, or even put in much work. Could be a good SHTF nutrition supply.

Does anyone have experience sprouting their own seeds? I see there are two methods, using trays or in a mason jar with a mesh lid. 

Also, where are cheap places to buy spouting seeds?

Thank you all!

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Advice

FIFO can racks for the pantry

Barb LeeContributor - June 27, 2022

I took a chance on these little racks I found on Amazon, bought two, and quickly decided to outfit the whole shelf with them.  They are literally shoe-horned into the shelf, but they fit, wall to wall.  I’ll never go back to boxes for regular size cans again.  I will be gradually adding more.

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Year old eggs stored in whole in shell with water and pickling lime – A GREAT easy way to store eggs!

Sharon - June 25, 2022

I

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I

Wine for the apocalypse

July LewisContributor - June 24, 2022

So my husband bought a wine rack for the basement this winter and has been having fun picking out moderately priced wines and filling it up. I didn’t think to add it to my emergency food spreadsheet until just now! I have a formula in the spreadsheet that calculates how many days worth of calories we have, and this gave my supplies a nice boost. 

This will be a part of our rotating pantry so hopefully we won’t have any wine go bad. But I’m seeing confusing info on the shelf life of wine. Fine wines are supposed to last 20-30 years when stored properly, while other wines are good for 2-3 years. What’s the difference?? These are not fine wines and many have screw tops. Our storage conditions are not ideal – no temperature extremes but also not the ideal 55 F degrees. Maybe 65 in the winter, 75 in summer. 

Anyone have any insight/experience in wine storage?

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Advice

Controlling cooking food odors whether SIP or Bug Out conditions

UbiqueContributor - June 23, 2022

Controlling food odors would be an important consideration for anyone living in the city close to others or even in a rural area if hungry people are searching for food. I’m not sure, but it seems possible that very hungry people would have a heightened sense of smell. 

I ran a test on how much and how far food odors wafted from my home some years ago as part of scenario prepping.

There was no exhaust fan used to blow the odor outside. The item I cooked on top of the stove was dried red kidney beans. There was nothing added to the beans and water. It was to cook them only before making chili later.

While the beans simmered, I took a walk outdoors and was shocked by the smell outside my house. I never thought that plain, unseasoned beans would give off that much smell. More shocking was how far the smell travelled on a day with low wind conditions.

I wondered what the result would have been had I used an exhaust fan and blew more of the smell outside.

This led me to think that smell has to be considered in prepping. I am still trying to figure out how to control odors while cooking. Food can be eaten cold out of the can, but in an emergency of long duration, it will be necessary to cook food. Even bugged out, food odors from an outdoor meal could be a problem.

One last part, I have also considered food odors on my hands from preparing food. In times of scarcity, looking well fed and smelling of garlic might tip off people that you have preps. Lemon juice can neutralize the garlic and baggy clothes can hide a lack of weight loss, but I am still trying to find a solution to reducing or eliminating food odors.

Has anyone considered this and if so, any thoughts on how to deal with this issue?

Thanks in advance

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AdviceScenarios

How to survive this nasty heat wave of 110+ degrees

Peter 44 - June 23, 2022

Although I don’t live in the Pacific North West PNW, I am hearing a lot of chatter from people about the extreme heat that they are suffering through. I wanted to offer my help through this forum by sharing some  thoughts and ideas on how to stay cool and get through this. Feel free to pitch in your tips and tricks as well if you have some.

If we have any PNW members of this forum, I’d love to hear how things are going for ya.

-Move to a smaller room at the center of your house. It is easier to cool a small room versus the entire house.

-Add tin foil or cardboard on windows to act as extra insulation and repel the heat of the sun. Look at installing solar screens on your windows for a cleaner look.

-Get a battery operated fan that will run off of the same batteries that your power tools will. If power goes out, this can keep you cool. Mist yourself with some water and then sit in front of the fan for extreme cooling.

-Keep curtains closed

-Drink tons of water. Keep up electrolytes.

-Hang out in the basement if you have one

-Use patio umbrellas or storm shutters to shade your windows

-Rinse off your arms, hands, and face with cool water whenever you go to the bathroom. Take a full cool shower if at home for a quick cool down.

-Stock up on fans, AC units, etc during the fall because during the summer they will be all sold out and at full price

-Freeze different juices into improvised popsicles. Eating frozen grapes and berries

-Keep an eye on the weather forecast and if you see hot weather coming, make extra ice cubes a head of time.

-You may have to adjust the temperature to a colder setting on your fridge/freezer. Some people are having to add frozen bottles of water to their fridge to cool things down because their fridge can’t keep things cool enough.

-If you need to cook foods, use the oven or stove in the early morning or late afternoon as to not add too much more heat to your house

-Place your clothes in the freezer for the next day, then when you put them on they will keep you cool for a couple minutes.

-Cool your feet in a bath or kiddie pool

-Don’t go outside during the hottest times of the day

-Feed pets refrigerated wet food. Make them popsicles by freezing tuna water or beef broth in ice cube molds.

-If you can’t hold your hand on the asphalt for 10 seconds, then it’s too hot for your dog to walk on.

-For chickens, give them ice chips to peck at or frozen peas

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Becoming hysterical during an emergency

Molly N. 😆 - June 23, 2022

I have a confession to make… I love watching police body cam footage and other videos online of disasters, emergencies, and horrible events. They are so fascinating and intriguing. I tell myself that it’s for educational purposes to teach myself about what can happen.

A common thing that I’ve noticed in many of the videos is the random lady in the background going absolutely hysterical. It could be a video of a gunman going through a mall or police arresting her boyfriend and most of the time there is some lady just screaming. 😱 Nothing is happening to her, the gun shots may be at the other end of the building, but she is still freaking out. Guys aren’t excluded from this, but they usually manifest it in shouting profanity.

This made me think about when I might be in a bad situation, will I react the same way? What causes someone to freak out like this? Is it from not feeling prepared, lack of mental coping, or is that just what some people do?

I laugh a little at how they react but then tell myself that I might do the same thing if put in that situation. I can’t judge them from the comfort of my safe couch at home when they are seeing horrible things happen right before their eyes.

If there is a way to train myself to not get into this mental and emotional state and understand what causes it though, I think I will be better for it. First off, screaming exposes your location and draws the gunman to yourself. Second, someone that is freaking out that bad isn’t thinking clearly and that leads to mistakes and even more danger.

What are your thoughts on all of this?

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Human urine as garden fertilizer

RedneckContributor - June 23, 2022

As a gardener and prepper who strives to be ready to become self sufficient if necessary, fertilization after the SHTF is a concern of mine. I address this in several ways, such as large compost piles and having farm animals, as their aged manure makes fine fertilizer. I also plan to grow companion plants, such as the 3 sisters to help address the issues of fertilization & water retention in the soil. Wonder how many folks have prepared to collect their urine during a crisis? Urine is full of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, which are the nutrients plants need to thrive–and the main ingredients in common mineral fertilizers. It is in liquid form which also helps the plants with hydration. Unlike feces (human or animal), which can carry bacteria like salmonella and E. coli, urine from healthy folks poses no health risks as it is practically sterile when it is eliminated from the body. When dying of thirst, one can actually drink their own urine to survive.

We all pee around 150 gallons per year… beer drinkers more.   If say you are in a survival group of 10 people, that is 1500 gallons of premium fertilizer that could help y’all survive. Just wanted to pass this info on for you survival gardeners that might have never considered this source of fertilizer.  Most of us store foods in 5-6 gallon plastic pails.  Once empty, you can attach a toilet seat with lid for females to contribute.  I keep two in stock.

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Advice

Let’s make the ultimate emergency reference guide for a bug out bag

Bradical - June 22, 2022

In a previous forum thread talking about light weight gear, I recommended that people ditch the heavy and bulky survival manual in their bug out bag, store most of that info in your noggin, and maybe have a laminated 1/2 sheet sized reference guide as a reminder or for those hard things to remember.

Another member asked if I or anyone else has a 1/2 sheet reference guide like this, and to be honest, I don’t. But let us change that and come together and come up with some things to add.

What do you all think of the following list? What do you like, dislike, or want to add? I’ll do all the work and compile it into a document, but I need ideas of important things you would find helpful on a 1/2 sheet size reference guide.

Here are some of my ideas:

Contact info for someone out of town, for your child’s school, spouse’s workplace, and other important numbers like doctor, insurance company, or utility company. Emergency meeting place location and instructions Diagrams of how to navigate using a wrist watch Diagram of how to set a snare Diagram of knots Escape routes Important radio frequencies Read More

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GearScenariosSkills

DIY 12V shower

Barb LeeContributor - June 21, 2022

During our last extended power outage (8 days, February ice storm), we used a little Zodi camp shower that uses four D-Cell batteries.  It put out a pathetic little dribble of water.  We later got the bright idea to build a better shower.

This unit consists of a 1gpm RV demand water pump, an RV handheld shower head with on-off button (the RV pump turns off when the button on the shower head is pushed off (there is an extension hose attached), a 3/8″ uptake hose with filter, an on/off switch and a plug that fits a corresponding socket on the battery.  We have a big deep cycle battery that we got to maintain tropical fish life support (no longer have the fish).  The little filter on the uptake hose was pilfered from a small drip irrigation filter, the open end was sealed with a little plastic wrap and an o-ring.  The uptake hose is dropped in a bucket of warm water and clipped onto the side of the bucket so it won’t fall out.  All contained in an old tackle box.

The pump delivers a very refreshing shower, of just the right pressure!

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Gear

What to do if your elevator gets stuck

Robert LarsonContributor - June 20, 2022

You are running late for an important interview and rush into the elevator and push your desired floor button. While catching your breath and adjusting your shirt that just became untucked, you feel a lurch and a squeal. The elevator has stopped but the doors are not opening. GREAT! Just what you needed right!?

In New York City in 2015, 51 people were injured and 5 people died from elevator accidents.

Here’s what to do if you find yourself in this situation:

Push red emergency call button which is connected to a phone line and it should patch you through to an elevator maintenance representative. If this is not working, hopefully your cellphone has enough battery and service to call the building you are located in or the local fire department.

You don’t want to climb out of the top air vent of the elevator car because once you get up there, now what? You would be in serious danger if the car started to move, and you can’t climb up the elevator cables like in the movies because unlike what the movies show, these are coated with a thick layer of grease.

Don’t try and pry open the doors, they might suddenly close on your fingers and even if you were to open them and see that you were not against a solid wall and you were stuck between floors, it’s not smart to crawl out. If the elevator starts working suddenly you will be caught in between and get sliced in half.

There are many safety measures in place for modern elevators that you aren’t just going to fall randomly, you are safe if you just wait.

But… if you are stuck in there for a long time, you might have to establish a pee corner.

To avoid your chances of being stuck in an elevator, don’t enter overly crowded ones that might be reaching their weight limit. If you are already on one and a bunch of people come on, don’t be that guy that say “too full, take the next one”, just pretend that it is your floor and get off and wait till the next one.

If the elevator looks sketchy, overly old, or not maintained well, take the stairs. It’s healthier and safer anyways. If they building you work or live in has an elevator that seems to be out of order frequently or has issues, check with the building manager on when it was serviced last or check with the state and make sure it is kept up to code.

Have any of you ever been stuck on an elevator?

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Scenarios

How long could you survive in the wilderness?

Henry Tubbs - June 16, 2022

Hey guys! I’ve been lurking on this forum for the past two months and finally have something to share so I created an account.

Came across this article titled: Average person thinks they can survive for 2 weeks in the wilderness — but most can’t start a fire

Like the title says, the average American thinks they can survive for 16 days in the wilderness. But out of 2000 American’s surveyed only 17% felt very confident about their ability to start a fire with flint.

52% felt confident that they could identify different plants, but when challenged and shown pictures of plants like poison ivy, few were actually able to correctly identify plants.

Interesting survey. I wonder what the numbers would be like with the prepping crowd. Are we more confident in our skills and abilities and think we can survive longer? Or are we more aware of what it would take and are realistic that we wouldn’t be able to even survive 16 days.

What they don’t go over is what gear if any are these people provided with. So lets assume that it’s what the average person would have on them on a day hike when they might get lost. Maybe a fanny pack, two granola bars, bag of jerky, water bottle, small cheap LED flashlight, and maybe a small cheap multitool. 

So lets figure out what preppers think. How long do you think you can survive in the wilderness? What factors are you putting into your answer?

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When to offer aid to the unprepared

Carter Murphy - June 15, 2022

Not everyone has prepping as a hobby or a way of life. Not many have gone through a major disaster or trial in their lifetime that would encourage them to be prepared. But those disasters do happen, and if it does, what is your thought process behind offering aid, help, and assistance to others?

It will greatly depend on the situation, where your preps are at the time, and many other contributing factors, but lets have a discussion of some possible scenarios.

Here are some arguments for giving aid: I believe that most people would like to offer assistance to others and help when they can. This can help grow and strengthen your prepping community and many hands makes light work.

Here are some arguments against giving aid: Your house gets to be known as the new hand-out place. Once you give help to one person, they tell others and you have many people on your doorstep. You become a target because you have supplies and resources when others do not.

Another user on here, Matt Black, made a really great forum post about making Mercy Bags for the unprepared. I think this is a great idea and my family is going to make some to help out others.

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Scenarios

Amaranth – My #1 Survival Crop

RedneckContributor - June 14, 2022

Just joined yesterday and wanted to contribute.  I’m a long time prepper, living in north Mississippi.  I love to garden.  I live on a 20 acre farmstead where we have 4 horses and 9 dogs.  My orchard has over 150 trees… mostly apples with some peaches.  I also grow blackberries, blueberries & muscadine grapes.  I am by no means self sufficient but most of what I grow is what we like to eat & what I would grow in a crisis, if I did ever have to become self sufficient.

IMO, the #1 survival crop is amaranth. It is easy to grow, as for some it is a weed (Pigweed, Palmer amaranth). It handles drought extremely well & needs little, if any fertilizer.  Farmers struggle to get rid of it. It was a staple food item of the Aztecs & Incas. It is a dual use plant, in that you can eat the leaves & young stems, plus each plant can produce up to a pound of nutritious seed that can be ground into flour or made into porridge. It is considered a super food, as it is absolutely loaded with protein, fiber, vitamins & minerals. The plants can grow up to 10′ tall. It loves the hot weather and in my garden, I grow it as a summer green. You can use it in most any recipe for spinach or greens.  IMO, greens are great crops for survival so I grow them the whole growing season.  In cool season I grow collards & kale.  In the summer, I grow amaranth.

But what really makes amaranth shine as a survival food has to do with its reproduction. Each plant can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds. I will say that again… hundreds of thousands of seed. So imagine we are in a SHTF crisis and we needs lots of food fast. What other nutritious plant could produce so much food so fast and which crop could provide enough seed to feed a town within 1 generation? Just one pound of seed contains around a half million seed, so anyone can store this seed for possible use.

Yes, I grow and store all sorts of garden seed. For me, my go to survival garden crop is the three sisters… a native American way of growing corn, pole beans & winter squash. Sister corn provides support for the sister pole bean. Sister pole bean, being a legume, puts nitrogen back into the soil for the corn to use. Sister squash provides ground cover to control grass/weeds & to hold moisture in the soil. But during a crisis, when so many would be starving, I think it would be smart to provide seed for others to grow their own food. I can’t afford to provide corn or other seed for lots of families… but could sure offer amaranth.

This summer, once my amaranth plants were around 4′ tall, I harvested a bunch of leaves for my callaloo pictured above.  To harvest, I cut off the top half of the plant, where the newest, most tender leaves are located.  I wanted to test that if you cut such a mature plant, that new growth would arise.   And yes, within a week, vigous new growth started replacing what was cut.  In the pic below, you can see where the stalk was cut and see the new shoots.  As I said, it only took a week to get all that new growth.

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My main worries to end the week (Prices/CPI and other stuff)

Karl Winterling - June 14, 2022

My main worries to end the week are:

The economic models the Fed was using in December for predicting inflation don’t seem like they’re suited for the current economic situation. The Fed needs to seriously investigate why these models are wrong and make sure unwarranted assumptions are not sticking around or leading the Fed to be less aggressive than it has to be. We really don’t need the Fed to be too optimistic about inflation right now. Interest rates impact the price at which investors are willing to buy stocks (the other main consideration being company profitability or expected profitability), which is part of why raising interest rates slows the economy and inflation. If food and fuel costs/shortages get much more serious (or “go parabolic”), the Fed can’t do much about that but might feel pressured to raise rates more aggressively than it has to and cause a recession (or a worse recession) without a good reason. Interest rate hikes will not magically produce more fuel and food. There are counter-arguments to media reports like this (I hope those counter-arguments are wrong). If an income bracket literally can’t afford food or food is simply not available somewhere, niceties (and more) go out the window. Yes, we produce food domestically but fewer imported products = more people buy a lower supply of domestic products. (Mods: remove if this is too political, I’m trying to keep left vs. right ideology out of it and focus on the correlation between job approval ratings and crises). Biden’s job approval rating is historically low for a president, and lower approval ratings typically go along with recessions or crises like inflation in the 1970s or the 2008 Financial Crisis. Yes, Trump’s job approval rating was also pretty low throughout his presidency but (not to get too political or get into left vs. right) many people, right or wrong, found him offensive, thought he was too ignorant to do his job, thought he was an agent of a foreign power, or thought he did not respect the US Constitution or separation of powers. Therefore, it makes sense to assume that many people perceive current federal-level leadership as weak. Yes, you should be worried about what people are willing to vote for if they decide the government or economic/social/political system can’t fix their problems and those problems get too bad. Political extremists on the far left, far right, and elsewhere often spend their time sitting around and waiting for a crisis.

Suggested preps:

Food (at least 2 weeks, more if possible, like a few months or a year). Assume that food prices could double within the next year, though my baseline assumption is that we will face acute rather than chronic food shortages if there are availability issues. Get your finances in order (or try your best). Prepare for possible civil unrest. Humans adapted over hundreds of thousands of years to survive. Something in the news might shock you, but remember that you will not always feel the same way. The world could turn into a place that you don’t think is worth living in, but there’s a lot that has to happen before you know that for certain. Read More

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AdviceMetaScenarios

I’d like to avoid using a cook kit and just carry ready-to-eat meals in my emergency bags

Tiger - June 13, 2022

While building my emergency bag in my car and my one at home to evacuate out with, I am faced with the dilemma of including a cook kit or not. 

Pros

Ability to cook freeze dried foods Cook anything I might hunt or gather Boil sketchy water and make it safe Heat up water just as a comfort for coffee, tea, or hot chocolate

Cons

Additional weight, space, cost Slower to prepare a meal and eat it then just grabbing a granola bar

I can maybe justify having the cook kit in my home bag because I that will be surviving for a longer period of time, but 100% of the time I’ve needed a meal or snack in my car emergency bag, it has been because I don’t want to stop by a McDonalds and would rather just get something quick and cheaper. So up until now I have just stocked some granola bars that I buy by the box. 

What other snacks or meals could I possibly add to my car emergency bag that I can quickly grab and consume? Something that can withstand the heat, be filling, and nutritious.

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Gear

How has rising gas prices influenced you?

Conrad B - June 12, 2022

I really thought that we would see a small spike in gas prices with the conflict in Ukraine and then level out, but it doesn’t seem to stop.

Chart from Gasbuddy.com and is the national average. 

How has the rising gas prices affected everyone? Are you driving less? Have you bought a more fuel efficient vehicle? Did you switch jobs to commute less?

I’ve been driving much less often and combine all my errands into one trip so that I don’t have to go out. It changes the way I prepare because I need to store more items on hand and sometimes just go without something like bread for a couple days until I build up enough reasons to go out again. I don’t visit family or go out for entertainment as much as I used to either. It feels like I am back under quarantine and is starting to affect my mental health like during covid. 

I also rotate through my stored gas cans every 6 months so I don’t have to buy fuel stabilizer, but maybe it would be cheaper to stabilize the fuel because 6 months from now it might be much higher.

Stupid me is going to laugh and be wish for $4.90 gas in 2 months time when it’s then around $6.25 or something. 

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News

Ever seen a Blue Heron ?

RedneckContributor - June 12, 2022

I am blessed to have a mating pair of bald eagles that visit my farm daily.  They like to catch my grain fed catfish down in my small, one acre pond.  It might be a small pond but it has a large population of catfish, as I feed them every evening… a bit before dark.  Most days I have an eagle sitting in a tree, watching over the pond.  It is not unusual for a blue heron to be sitting on the dock, hunting for fish itself… just smaller fish.  The eagles seem to take the bigger fish while the blue heron goes for the smaller fish & minnows.  The blue heron is an odd looking bird but it is perfectly designed to hunt small fish, especially when wading in shallow water.

Yesterday was no different.   As I drove up to the pond to feed fish, an eagle was up in a tree above me and a blue heron was on the dock.  That bird has gotten smart lately.  It used to fly away but it has learned to come back, as soon as I drive off.  Within a few seconds of my driving off, before I can get 50 feet away, it now lands on the dock watching the catfish feed.  Soon as they are mostly done, it really perks up to hunt the smaller fish eating the leftover catfish food.  I took this video yesterday.  It is not the best video in the world and certainly not the best viewing angle, but it still shows what I’m talking about.  I just love watching nature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvLFaKg-etU

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