Random thoughts & lessons from long camping trip

[EX121]

The wife and I have been to 2 long events where we camped out with lots of other people. So here are some observations, many of them old lessons reaffirmed.

Water, water, make sure you have means to purify large amounts of water. I have been procrastinating about buying a portable filter, so I had to spend a lot of time and fuel in boiling water.

Wash your hands often.
There is a difference between cosmetic dirt & dangerous filth. If you smell a little bad from honest physical effort it's OK. But if you have human feces or other waste on your hands it's a big problem. Most disease is passed by dirty hands. If water is limited use handy wipes or hand sanitizer.

Clean your cookware as well. If doing a lot of Pot-luck meals, consider using your own dinner ware.

Know where to put the poop. Dig latrines away from camp, away from water (way downstream) & downwind. Put wood ash into the pit after every use. It's much better to have a couple of latrines, than having everyone going out and digging 'cat-holes' everywhere.

Adequate rest is very important. If you don't sleep well, it is very debilitating. If you are planning to bug-out or you have to be mobile make sure you stop for rests often. Carry good sleeping gear, don't skimp on a comfortable mattress, save weight on another piece of gear.

While these lessons are not new in a longterm grid down situation they apply as well.

[1Admin]

I wrote a piece years ago about the most common problems people have out in the field.

One was dehydration or simply just not drinking enough to function up to par. One was not getting good sleep aka the people that get up at 2am and sit and look at the fire the rest of the night then look like zombies the rest of the day. One was not getting decent nutrition in the field- relaying too heavily on poor foods and pogee bait snacks.

These are all good lessons to learn now instead of when TSHTF.

[EX121]

Great point about the nutrition. Definately something to plan for. I find that if backpacking the freeze dried meals meant for two are usaully enough for one. I supplemented them with a package of the instant potatoes, then they worked for two.

[claymore]

Thanks guys, I'll keep all that in mind.

[WiseOwl]

When we go backpacking for 3+ days we bring a ton of trail mix that we make ourselves. Also, ramen noodles, small 1 serving bags of rice, ( I flavor with ramen noodle flavoring), the instant potatoes rock, and grits. I also bring green tea, packs of honey from KFC, and hard candies. If we happen to catch fish, I keep a small baggie of lemon pepper seasoning just incase. All of this is very light weight and usually fits in the side pockets of my pack.