Wilderness Backpacking and Survival

Double-duty items, lightweight and strictly necessary are the rule if you're out for more than a day trip or an overnight hike. This is especially true if you're out for an extended wilderness hike.

Big tents are fine in a campground with the car nearby, or on the over-nighter hike the so-called backpacking tents are good. However, if you plan on an extended outing with varying conditions you'll want to either leave them home, or shell out some good money for a lightweight breathable tent. There's nothing worse than waking up in the morning days on end with everything soaked and clammy because your tent trapped all the moisture inside.

My option for shelter is usually a plastic tarp. It only weighs a few ounces, it's versatile, adaptable to any situation whether it's driving rain, a sudden snowstorm, or 90 degrees out. Set it up open faced with a section left on the ground for sleeping and you'll be comfortable and cozy. Mosquito netting is lightweight and takes up the room of a pair of socks. Get a large section from a fabric or outdoors supply store and you're all set. If it's cool out, close the ends, leave an overhang, build a fire in front with a reflector behind it and you're warm and cozy again.

Set up as a rain fly it's unbeatable if you locate a little rise in the ground to sit on and string a rope from tree to ground. In addition, you can still set up a fire under the edge and all the smoke rolls out. The same set up works wonderful as a sunshade. If a snowstorm rolls in while in the mountains, lash a heavier stick to a tree or against a boulder and stake out the tarp over the stick, light a fire and wait it out.

Food is the next consideration. Freeze-dried is the rule for me, along with a bag of rice, coffee and Kool-Aid. If I can find room for it, and I always do, munchies like trail mix, beef jerky and chips are a welcome mix after a long day on the trail. The jerky and trail mix are also fast energy foods during breaks.

Water is usually found close to established trails. A filtration system, or water purification tabs are a must nearly everywhere. I personally use the purification tabs as they are a lot cheaper. Otherwise you must boil water twenty minutes to kill all the bacteria present. A large canteen such as a two-quart work well, especially in the mountains where you will take in more water than usual even for hiking.

Finding water when you're lost is another matter altogether. If you're lost in the mountains for instance, walking downhill will almost always lead you to a stream or river and maybe a trail not on the map because it's no longer maintained. Check your map for anything in your area that is likely to cut you off and start walking. If you're lost on level ground, check your map for a fire lane, road, river or large body of water close to where you think you are. Head in that direction and walk, don't run. Pay attention to where you are and what's around you for anything that looks familiar.

Cookware is probably the heaviest thing to take. Luckily, high quality freeze-dried foods come in bags where you just pour in the boiling water. For extended trips, you want the high quality food rather than ramen noodles or the like. A canteen cup from your local surplus store holds exactly two cups; which is the amount you add to your bag of food. Buy the cups from the older wars like Korea or WW II if you can find them, they are made of heavier materials and will last forever. Survival food like fish or small game are cooked on skewers made from green sticks - not pine - or flat rocks over the middle of the fire. Rice is made in your canteen cup.

Matches or a Bic lighter are handy and work well for fire starting. Pick up a small box or two of waterproof matches, and have a piece of equipment like a metal match just in case. It will save your life, but only if you know how to use it. Starting fires from flint and steel or a metal match takes practice, and a lot of it to be of any use to you. Use a LOT of dry puffy tinder like from cattail heads and birds' nests with dried grasses shredded together into a ball as tinder. If people are out looking for you, wet leaves or grass thrown on makes good smoke as do green pine branches.