Bugging Out for a Week

My kids went backpacking with a youth group to Havasupai Falls, Arizona, a primitive campsite. You have to backpack everything in and out: no car camping, which is what most who went are used to. Car camping is when you dump your stuff in the car, back up the car to the site, unload. No hiking or packing smart required.

Up to three days prior to the trip, group leadership still hadn't finalized a menu. I'd like to think this was because they were still finalizing who was going! Regardless, by then, I had decided mine were bringing their own food (we chose MH Freeze Dried), their own way to cook it (no camp fires allowed, so they brought their own collapsible stove and hexamine tablets), their own water purification filters, (the group did bring campsite water filters), their own 2 cup cooking mugs. It really paid off when they went on an all day hike leaving at 7am and returning at 5pm. When they stopped for lunch, "the group" had crackers, cheese wiz (fake cheese spread), and a bit of salami. Mine sat down to real food like lasagna and pasta primavera (for the record: they offered to share.)

Most of the stuff we already had on hand from their bug out bags. We bought 3 SOL Escape Bivvy Saks just for this trip which will become part of their BOBs: the kids LOVE them. It will be hard to get them to put sleeping bags back in their BOBs. SOL (Survive Outdoors Longer) makes a wide ranging price range for their Bivvy Saks. You want top of the price range, the Escape. It is breathable, which means when your body heat is trapped, condensation doesn't form on the inside so you (a) stay warmer and (b) you don't wake up soaking wet. They come in camo-green or visible-orange; we got orange just because they were in stock. I do like the dual purpose of orange (visible so if you're lost....) but that's the same reason I'd like the green if I'm bugging out in a SHTF situation (green--not as visible.) So it's a toss up.

We added up to a week's worth of freeze dried food, everyone had 3 days' worth already. That's all gone now and will have to be replaced. I chose freeze dried for this trip because it is easy to "heat water and go" versus dehydrated which has to be watered and cooked (more fuel.) It turned out to be a wise decision. My oldest son, who is really in to bushcraft, said it took 2 hex tabs to get 2 cups of water to simmer, and 3 to get it to a rolling boil. That's good to know, and something only experience will teach you. It's about 2 more hex tabs than we thought it would take, so we're going to have to buy a bunch more of those. 

Of necessity they used their ponchos. We had heavier duty but still disposable ones: I'll have to find some that are multi-use like these although I'm not happy with the ones shown. In the UK one can purchase Swedish Army ponchos similar to these, but would I be trading utility for weight? They can double as tarp/shelter though, so it's something to think about.

They took my GoalZero solar panels as well, and also added moleskins and Israeli bandages to their First Aid kits. Watch the youtube video by Persys on how cool those bandages are. They are a must have! 

Didn't bother to FILM using the bivvy saks, stoves and panels in the Grand Canyon like I asked though!! That doesn't make me happy!

The takeaway from my kids is this: What do they really need in an Emergency Bug Out scenario? For them it was:

Bivvy Sak

Poncho that can double as a shelter

FD food for a week

Way to filter water

Hexamine tablets, compact stove, 2 cup metal mug

Matches or lighter (they had both, ran out of matches)

1 pair shorts/pants (preferably the zip off kind)

2 shirts

1 jacket (light- or heavy- weight depending on weather)

Good first aid kit (my oldest had to use his)

Rope & normal accoutrement: (knife, multiuse tool kit, headlamp/light, flint/steel)

Good hat for shade, with a bandana

Camelback

The GoalZero panels were nice to have. It added weight but the trade off was carry extra batteries or bring something hand-cranked. Either way, it's the same weight if you're planning for a week out. Each of them already has a handcrank multi use system like these, (the solar cells are lightly glued in and come out easily, FYI). They include an AM/FM radio, which is very helpful in an emergency. They're heavier so they didn't take them, but they will go back in the BOBs.

Good learning experience. My kids were prepared to take care of themselves 100%, so they had a vastly different experience comfort and enjoyment wise than most others. But you know? They got to this level because they have had to learn along the way by experience, just like those others are going to learn from this camp out. We learn by doing, not just reading.  It really solidified for my kids, and hopefully illustrated for others, the importance of prepping, and how little more you need to do in order to survive and THRIVE, versus just survive.