Survival Guide

[eric1978]

I've done quite a bit of backpacking and I also enjoy the minimalist philosophy. But unless you're going on a personal voyage to challenge yourself, there are some essentials that I won't go without. It's just too miserable without them.

You gotta bring some kind of shelter, whether it be a lightweight backpackers tent or bivy sack or even just a tarp. Ever been stranded in an early fall rain at night with no shelter? I have. It sucks. Unless I'm only doing an overnight and I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt it won't rain, I almost always bring something. I'll admit, though, that after a couple frosts in fall and the insects are all gone, there's nothing better than sleeping under the stars on a clear, cool night.

You gotta bring some kind of water treatment capabilitly on expedition floats. When I'm floating longer than one or two nights and don't want to overload an already packed canoe with gallons of water, I'll take the filter and the chlorine drops, although when I'm backpacking sometimes I'll leave the filter at home and just use the drops if I know we'll be able to access relatively clean, flowing water. The chlorine kills everything (although the water can be a little "chunky" unfiltered), and leaving the filter at home drops about 6-8 ounces, a significant amount in backpacking terms. If I'm just doing an overnight on the canoe, bottled water is fine.

You gotta bring a fire source. If you run out of food, you can cook up some sunfish. If you're cold, you can warm up. And if you're lonely, you can build yourself a friend to play with. I can't stress that enough. I like solo overnights, but I've never been as miserable as the few occassions I was alone and couldn't make a fire. Dreadfully boring and lonely. Plus, even in early fall, if temps drop enough and you fall into the drink, hypothermia is still a possibility if you don't have extra clothes and/or a fire. And why make it difficult? If you're gonna bring a flint and striker, you might as well just bring a Bic lighter and keep it in the dry bag.

You gotta bring one extra set of clothes, again, purely to safeguard against hypothermia. Plus, it's really nice to take a bath in the river and change into clean undies halfway through the trip. And, you gotta stuff all that junk into a dry bag. The lighter, tent and dry clothes aren't gonna do you any good soaking wet.

I did an overnight hike once in August a few years ago, and it was in the middle of a sweltering heat wave, so I left the sleeping bag at home and just stuffed a sweatshirt in my pack. Well, that night we slept down in this valley near a creek, and I FROZE. I've never made that mistake again. Even if it's 100+ and humid during the days, and mid 80s for the lows at night (like it was forecast to be on that trip), I always bring a bag. High-end synthetic and down sleeping bags are so light they don't weigh much more than a sweatshirt, and will pack down to nearly as small. So yes, you really could leave the sleeping bag at home as long as you bring some warmer clothes, I just don't really see the advantage.

You of course should have the essentials with you as well, like a good knife or multi and some basic first aid stuff (which I'm guilty of leaving behind).

A pint of your favorite liquor. C'mon, give yourself a break. I'll even hike this in in my backpack sometimes if I'm on more than a couple day hike. I'll put it in a plastic or Nalgene bottle so it doesn't really weigh too much. It's great for lifting your spirits if something gets you down (no fish, broken rod, stubbed toe, whatever).

Could you do without all of this stuff and survive? Most likely. Would it be fun? Probably not.