Grand backpacking (camping) plans.

[darxus]

I got this urge to practice surviving in the woods with only what I could carry. Seems like a decent hobby.

I ordered a military Modular Sleep System (used, for $150) which includes a bivy sack so I don't need a tent, and the total system is rated down to -40F.

I plan to test it in my back yard as soon as it arrives, and then go backpacking in the White Mountains, in the direction of a designated Wilderness, the following weekend or so. Starting on a Saturday morning, walking away from civilization for a day, curling up in my bivy sack for the night, then walking back. My current plan for food is MREs because they're easy - hot food without the need to build a fire. Easy, right?

Then I hope to make a habit of this. Then start bringing a rifle with me, maybe do some target shooting. Or coyote hunting (always in season). Then get some other people to join me. I'm really out of shape, so this is going to be starting off slow.

If you're wondering how long a drive it would be, look up Conway, NH.

I found a website of people with very overlapping interests: http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/
The closest group is in NY. They're camping in the Adirondacks in February:
http://www.sheffspace.com/zs/nny09wct.html
http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=37166
But they're camping a short walking distance from a parking lot, with an outhouse. Wusses. From previous experiences they're recommending sleeping bags rated for -30F.

The still unformatted equipment list I've been working on is here: http://www.chaosreigns.com/shtf.html

It's funny that using a bivy sack now seems like cheating. Apparently camping with just a sleeping bag with a tarp wrapped around it is common.

I got info on MREs from http://www.mreinfo.com/ and based on that ended up buying Menu C civilian MREs. $102.42 per case of 12.

I recently ordered a gun for the first time in 6 years. It's a DSArms STG58STD FAL. They're back-ordered for 6 months due to everybody buying weapons they're afraid Obama will ban. The FAL was supposed to be selected as the standard US issue main battle rifle instead of the M14 (the one before the M16). Bigger bullets and longer range than the M16, with a 20 round detachable magazine.


Does this sound fun to you? (Happy to sell you several MREs for simplicity.)

Comments

[southernoracle.livejournal.com]

Conway is beautiful. I spent a weekend there once during leaf season.

MREs are a good starting point but they have three big downfalls - they are heavy, they don't taste very good and they generate a lot of packaging waste you have to pack out. Eventually you will want to get a lightweight stove and cook your own food.

You also may want to reconsider the lack of fire. You may not need the warmth but the light could be useful and it's a very effective deterrent for bears and wolves.

Sound like a great time though, wish I could go!

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

sounds fun.

you'll want some good sharp things too :) knives, hatchets, axes. i'm all into that.

for sleeping, regardless of season, i like the hennessey hammocks. they make a winter model too. much more comfy than a bivy, for about the same bulk. i HIGHLY recommend you give them a looksee.

there's a boatload of excellent books out there as well for the primitive arts, not just survival/SHTF stuff. in fact, i just bought 4-6 more recently. it's a hobby after all.

here's a rifle for you :) http://www.henryrepeating.com/h002_survival.cfm

got to get a new contract soon. i need to buy a splufty 7.62 next :) and a 12 gauge...

and outhouses are great, when you are say, camping in semi-protected wilderness. we don't want just anyone pooping in the woods ;)

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[dilletante.livejournal.com]

dude! sounds totally cool.

it sounds gear-wise a little like the not-quite-all-the-way thru-hiking i did on the appalachian trail; which is to say appalachian trail hiking resources might be a fine place to mine for gear ideas (though thru-hikers don't tend to carry guns...)

the thru-hiking mindset is heavy on the "you seriously have to carry everything you're going to live on all summer with you," at least. otoh at thru-hikers don't have to navigate really, or hunt/fish or dig pits. if you plan to work up to living off food you kill yourself, i'm impressed and that sounds very cool and fun to me.

but looking at your list with that eye, a lot of your stuff sounds heavy. military gear leans towards heavy but tough, i think. which is fine if "never able to restock" is part of your assumptions; but i'm not sure you need that for the zombie scenario. i found i couldn't even bring myself to carry the omnipresent hikers' nalgene bottle because they were annoyingly heavy; i used wide-mouth 1-liter soda bottles, which weigh basically nothing, and replaced them for $.89 in the next town whenever they looked about to wear out. does your zombie apocalypse scenario assume some scrounging in towns?

thru-hikers can be a little crazy about weight, but it's amazing how much cutting out 10 lbs can make life suck less.

anyway, i think just about every item on your list will a) have some interesting tradeoffs in it, and b) have a whole lot of stuff written on the net somewhere about them. :)

an msr whisperlite stove weighs only a few lbs and some models can burn just about any liquid fuel, which i always figured would be cool for end-of-the-world stuff, but i was hiking in a world where campfires weren't allowed, and if it's the end of the world surely nobody's going to stop you from building a fire. :) but the stove can also be set up in places where it'd be inconvenient to have a campfire, and faster, and is probably easier to cook over. so there's a tradeoff.

thru-hikers carry water filtering systems rather than iodine tablets because you can't take iodine tablets for 6 months in a row due to health concerns. mind you, iodine tablets are awesome because they're easy to use and weigh nothing. and of course water filtration systems rely on filters that need to be replaced. i seem to remember the health tradeoffs might be different for chlorine, but i haven't looked 'em up. (maybe you have and that's why you have the huge water jug listed?)

sleeping bag and tarp (and hammock! in the summer) camping is fun because of the low gear weight, but you have to be a lot cooler than me to do it in the winter.

what's the entrenching tool for? it's probably overkill for burying poop.

in addition to setting up your tent in the backyard as a dry run, which is a brilliant plan, if you're together enough to do this (i never have been) i'd recommend puttting all your gear in your pack and hiking a ways up the street and back with it.

this all sounds awesome. :)