A survial camping trip!

Ive decided that tommorow i ride out in a trip.

A trip into the California Wilderness that will test:

My survial insticts
The livialbity of the 'so-called wild land' of california


heres what i will be taking, in my backpack:
A lighter
A couple of Pocket Knifes
Some Fishing line/hooks
A blanket
Socks
Water/Some Granola Bars
A map
A journal
my cell phone
the bible
a compass
First aid kit
Tolet Paper
Flashlight/saw are on a pocketknife


Any other suggestions would be apreciated, io am leaving in about 12 hours...


[edit on 7/1/2008 by TKainZero]

a fire arm . we have a cabin in the sequoia national park and if you intend to go anywhere near bear country it is a necessity . the bears and mountain lions are coming down to lower lands because it is so dry this year and with them comes their young and their appetites . better to be safe than sorry .
other than that you pretty much have all that you need exept for maybe a flashlight .

reply to post by ironman433



I would like to won a firearm, but i dont, and aquireing one for this trip isnt realy an option...

One of my pocketknifes has a Flashlight....

But it woouldnt hurt to have a high quaility flashlight... ill grab one at walmart...

water purification tabs.
some basic first aid gear.
any kind of portable saw or hatchet.

Here is the rundown of whats packed:


First aid kit, band aid and wipes
An small ax
3 pokect knifes, with, flashlight and saw
small fishing pole, with a few hooks
10 Granola Bars
2.5 gallons of water bottle
1.5 liter and 1 liter bottles of water
3 pairs socks
3 packests of american plasitic cheese, and 3 sclices of bread for fishing bait
1 2person tent
Flashlight
Lighters in a ziploch bag
A copy of the US constitution and related documents
A copy of the bible
A arm brace slingshot with 1500 copper bb's
one stell switch blade
And the clothes i will be wearing, jeans, tee-shirt, boxers, sneakers, socks, hat, glasses
My cell phone...
Small cooking pot
2 plastic bags

Ive got alot of stuff.... probaly too much....

Im bringing alot of water, problay 1/2 my carrying weight is water...

I have some basic food, and water SO, if i can't find anything to eat i wont starve...

any last things would be apreciated, i plan on leaving about noon pacific time... and heading to an undisclosed location in northern california


I would say total it weighs 60-70 lbs mabye more... ... am i carrying too much, what should i drop?

[edit on 7/1/2008 by TKainZero]

60-70 pounds isn't to bad that is fairly paired down compared to some of the people I have hiked with, My pack for 7 days weights about 40 pounds including water I only carry 2 gallons but know where I am hiking and no where to get more. you might try a survival straw instead of carrying so much water as water weighs 8.33 ponds per gallon.. Or if you are going to be near a stream or lake then just go to wal mart and get one of the chlorine tablets you know the ones that look like little hockey pucks for for a pool, just scrap some of chlorine into you water carrier into the canteen or camelback and add water..

Someone else mentioned the water purification tabs and these are okay the difference between the iodine purification tabs and chlorine is if there is to much chlorine you can taste it , this is no the case with iodine and you can orverdose and make yourself sick.

At any rate on the 3 pocket knives I would carry one that you can clip on and a larger one (I carry a locking folder and a big bowie with a 10 inch blade great for chopping and cutting and well just about everything the small knife won't do) maybe with a 8 - 10 inch blade..

Also keep the bear in mind and when you get ready to set up camp hang your food 25-50 foot up in a tree using a throwline and in general before setting up camp check the surrounding area for bear scat and scratches on the trees and if you find them don't camp there..

Oh yeah and a compass a map won't do you any good if you have no idea which way you are going granted you can use the sun rise sun set thing but sometimes in the middle of the day even the most experienced campers and hikers get turned around..

you can also get a better idea of what you pack weighs by weighing it on a scale like the one in your bathroom you might be surprised how much it weighs my experience has been that most people think it weighs more than it actually does this will give you a better idea just how heavy / how good of shape you are in and give you a better idea of what your limits are..

Also if you know your limits don't get to close to them when you are tired rest remember if your on your own you have to leave a little extra in case you run into trouble if you do and you are already maxxed out you could really be in trouble then...

I wouldn't carry a firearm in a national park as that will get you thrown in jail..



[edit on 7/1/2008 by geocom]

[edit on 7/1/2008 by geocom]

[edit on 7/1/2008 by geocom]

[edit on 7/1/2008 by geocom]

Ive picked out a spot now...

Is a lake, and near a dam...

Good fishing... about a 5 mile hike...

Ill update before i leave in the moarning

Hey TKain..
Great Idea you have here. Practice makes perfect.
I would have suggested Bear spray. Nasty stuff, but it works. Especially in a park, you don't want to go off shooting anything.
Only other suggestion I could make would be a book on local plants, with color pictures if possible, so that you could read up on what you find there, and whether it is edible or poison.
Can't wait to hear about your trip!

reply to post by TKainZero


Sorry to be a party pooper, but I suggest you don't go. For your own saftey not any thing else.

I am all for going out into the wilds - in fact, making a journey like this can be an awesome training aid.. if you have the basics covered first.

Maybe consider going with some one else as well - being alone in the wilds can be daunting to even experience survivalists / outdoor folks.

Any how, thats me party pooper piece. Take care, and, well just take care.

I've been reading about this sort of stuff for a while now... I'm not a hiker, but I've been very intrigued by this idea of the so-called 'bug out bag'.

Please don't this as being offensive, but when I read the bit about the bible I immediately thought "tinder" - of course if you had an A4 booklet you could use the paper out of that if you needed fire, but that was just the weird lateral thinking of my brain.

But staving off boredom is also important, so some reading material would come in handy.

In my own bag I would pack a relatively powerful two way radio - here in Australia we have the 40 channel UHF radio arrangement that can use repeater stations. I'm not sure if you guys in the US have repeater stations, but you can extend the range of a two way radio from say a few kilometers or miles to 40 kilometers/20 or so miles. Good for getting a message out in hilly country and it might be better than relying on just a cell phone. If there's any fellow hikers around, you could contact them too if you run into trouble.

I'd probably also add an emergency thermal blanket - the lightweight, thin gold-looking 'space' ones. A signalling mirror with an aiming hole and a very loud whistle would be good to have, too.

Definitely take some water purifications tablets - 'Aquatabs' are a good brand, they're widely used in disaster zones. A small lightweight portable solid fuel stove would be handy to boil water too if you were unsure about the quality.

For food, I'd pack stuff that didn't require too much water to digest. Fruit comes to mind, or some other food that has a high water content.

That's all I can think of immediately and you're probably gone out by now anyway

Definitely don't push yourself and back out if you even THINK you might run into trouble.

It'd be egg on your face if they need to send out the search party.

[edit on 1-7-2008 by mattguy404]

OK, im leaving....

The one thing i dont have....

and radio... dam...

reply to post by TKainZero



Well... since you most likely are already gone by now, my list is pretty much useless... but would you please do us a favor when you get back and update us on how it went.

Stay cool,
T-

reply to post by TKainZero


Myself I would have swapped the lighter for water proof matches or some other more durable method of starting a fire . Even if you are taking a tent you will need a hammer and some decent pegs that can prevent your tent from blowing away . Typically the pegs that came with tents are pretty crappy . Also if you are building your own shelter you will need a modest range of tools .

Ugh, OP. You are very misguided. You say you want to go on a camping trip to test your survival skills. Why, then, are you taking all those things? Why, yes. Survival will be easy if you have water purification tabs, granola bars, matches, etc. Might as well bring a portable TV.. *sigh*. I am only sixteen, yet I have survived a full week alone in the woods behind my house. No Fishing Hooks, no granola bars, just my own two hands and my brain.

Honestly, I think you're just looking for an excuse to go camping and seem cool.

OK, im back

It was ok... i didnt get any fish... not even a nibble... I basicly just ate wild blackburries... so tastey... There was enough of them that i didnt need any other food...


Also, it was very dry, so i decided to not build a fire... since that could have gotten nasty...

It was basicly a nice cool relaxing night... with no worries...

I think i might do it agin, but this time in a better place...

so what was the bible for again - lol

i just finished watching "the Edge" and stumbled upon this thread, im going camping over the next weekend but it will be more prepared, not really a survival trip. It will be in the middle of no were, and since i dont have a firearm (i am 17 and live in canada) i will be taking my 18th century style sword with me.

reply to post by tankthinker

i dont know how it works up there in canada , but i cant believe that you dont own a gun for hunting . heck i owned my first shot gun which was a 1908 sears and robuck bolt action .410 when i was 6 or 7 " and no it was not new" ....
wherever there are bears and wild cats the chances are slim that you will ever see one but those odds are good enough for me to not get caught without a way to deter or even kill one of those animals if i had to . and that's not even speaking of the russian boars that that you are very likely to see if you are camping off of the beaten path here in california . if you have ever seen a boar up close and realized how many there are running wild you would always feel nervous in the woods or foothills around here in california .

[edit on 3-7-2008 by AccessDenied]

the thing is its extremely hard to get a gun in Canada, you need a license and some test thing, and i dont think i can get one at my age. Actually no one in my family owns a gun, but my dad does have a cross bow.

The camping trip is an interesting and good idea. However, to just start tossing things into a backpack and see if you can make it one night seems fool hearted to me. If you have a well planned out bug out bag and try for a week with just that, then you are truely preparing yourself. I try to take a few "bug out" trips every summer and one in the winter, just to learn my gear and test myself. On a side note, why do so many people on this website shop at Wal Mart?