SurvivalBlog.com

Traveling

Not all those who wander are lost^[1]. We are not men of Numenor keeping the evil of Sauron at bay. In the situation for which this document is written, your goal should be to travel to somewhere where your odds at survival are greater than your current location.

Our car has two spare tires– one full-size tire in the back and one smaller one under the front of the car. The car’s manual describes how to change a tire. Our car has a full hydraulic-size jack in the back (in the blue Tupperware container). This jack is much more stable than the little one the car’s owner manual says to use. The instructions for the jack are on the box.

If you need more gas you can get it from any other car and/or gas-using device. To siphon gas, (1) use the acrylic tubing (or whatever tubing you can find) and insert it into the tank with gas. (2) Place a collection vessel lower than the tank with the gas. (3) Very carefully suck on the tubing until you see gas coming up to your lips. (4) Put your finger over the end of the hose and take it out of your mouth. (5) In a quick fashion, stick the tubing into your awaiting vessel and the gas should start to flow. (Siphoning by mouth is dangerous; if you get any into your mouth or eyes, flush with plenty of water.)

Gas should be a priority item that you purchase. There is an extra gas can in the shed. You can also fill the large 15-gallon blue plastic tank with gas (or go buy extra gas cans, if the situation allows). I have a can of something called “sta-bil” in the garage; it calls itself a gas stabilizer. Add this to any gas that you plan to leave sitting for awhile (more than a few months); do not forget the gas that is in the car.

Map Reading

The easiest way to know where you are on a map is to check it frequently. Your aim should be to constantly look for landmarks that you can locate on the map and in doing so confirm your location. The more zoomed in your map is, and the more details it has (e.g. topographical contour lines) the easier it will be to confirm you location. Depending on what map you are using, the symbols on the map may differ slightly. Read the key and make sure you understand it. While reading a map, it is best to align it to the North and then try and identify all the landmarks you can to connect the map in your hands to what you see. Know the scale of your map! A common mistake is too identify small turns in rivers or streams or small hills or rises as the larger ones that are actually on the map. Knowing the map’s scale will help you to avoid this problem. (For example, while walking near a stream you spot a 100 by 100 yard pond; you look on the map and spot a pond near a lake and assume that is your location. However, the pond on the map may be several times larger than the one you see. Now you are unsure of where you are.) Depending on the scale and detail of your map, you should always have a general idea of where you are. Do not get upset over not knowing exactly where you are or not being able to identify some landmarks; it is very normal if you are using an unzoomed low-detail map! The easiest way to know where you are may simply be by staying a comfortable distance from major roads and “bumping” into them once in a while! The odds that you will find maps of sufficient scale and detail to navigate with using topology are pretty slim. Expect to get by using town and road names.

Using a Compass

To help with identifying landmarks on a map and to aid in actually walking in the right direction you should use a compass. (After aligning a map, it will become easier to know which hill is which.) Using a compass is actually pretty simple. Place the compass away from any metal objects (such as gun barrels or the car) and wait for it to settle down. Be sure the needle does in fact turn, however. If the compass is tipped too much, the needle will not move. Once the needle stops moving, it is telling you the direction of Earth’s magnetic field at that point in space. Unfortunately, this direction is not going to be lined up with the lines on your map! The effects of magnetic declination, however, are pretty small in our region, so you can pretty much disregard worry about them.

Using the compass to walk in a certain direction:

1. Locate yourself as best you can on your map.
2. Pick out a direction you want to head on your map.
3. Calculate how many degrees from true North (or magnetic) you need to head. Use the compass itself as a protractor and lay it on the map to calculate the angle you need to head.
4. Holding the compass up to your face (flip up the little “sight” to help you align the compass) find some kind of landmark to walk to. In general, the further away the landmark the better, since (as you will find out very quickly) it is not easy to walk in straight lines through the woods. Often walking in straight lines through the woods is impossible, especially where there is any terrain whatsoever; stick to walking on contour lines!

Choosing a Route

For reasons discussed in the defense section, in general, you want to try and avoid all other people. As for where you will be headed, that will heavily depend on the reason for the collapse. In general, you want to head to a place with a low population density.

By car:

1. To avoid large towns that may not show up as large towns on your map, pay attention to the number of advertisements for upcoming towns.
2. Most towns have above-ground water holding tanks that you can see far before coming close to the town. This could be your cue to check your map and use your judgment about proceeding.
3. If you have to go through a town, driving down main street may not be the best idea. Try getting on a side road near the outskirts of the town. Here, you are gambling you won’t get lost and waste gas. Use your judgment.
4. Rural America is full of county roads laid out in large rectangular grids. Avoiding a town may be quite simple in most cases! Check your map.
5. Leave yourself bigger buffers for bigger towns and cities. (Remember the traffic outside Chicago on Thanksgiving when we were still two hours from the city!)

By foot:

1. Stay away from using roads and rail road tracks. In some cases you may be forced to use roads, rail roads tracks, and/or hiking trails (if you can find one!) because some types of terrain are nearly impossible to get through. For example, thick brush is nearly impossible to get through without getting on your hands and knees, in places.
2. Keep your water supply in mind. Water is heavy (one gallon weighs 8.4 lbs.) and you may drink more than a gallon a day. Therefore, consulting the map and picking a course that is close to ponds, streams, and rivers is a good idea.
3. If you have to cross a waterway that requires you to get wet and it is cold: (1) Gather some kindling and some firewood; pile some on the bank. In case you lose footing and have to retreat back to the bank, you can start a fire to warm up. Later, you can take some over to the other bank with you to warm you when you get there. You can get more after the fire is going, or perhaps you can “pre-stash” a bunch of wood by throwing it over the water! (2) Take off and store your clothes in a water-proof bag. (3) Try to keep your pack over your head to keep it dry as you wade/swim across. If the water is pretty shallow and you only need to remove your shoes and pants, make sure you unlatch your backpack, in case you fall in, so it will not drag you under the water. (4) When you get to the other side light a fire, dry off, and warm up!

First Aid

The best first aid is prevention. Use common sense and try to protect yourself from minor cuts and scrapes, as they will tax your immune system. Barring some freak hiking or car accident, the worst damage you could possibly encounter will be from another human. Consult the first aid book in the first aid kit for everything! (Remember to swap out the first aid manual with the Weiss version from the bookshelf.) The first aid book covers many, many possible problems. Covered in this section are some things you may have to deal with and are presented in case you do not have access to any other references. You can substitute soapy water for iodinated water. Also, boiling water is commonly called for in this section to sterilize various items; I recommend keeping a few fuel cells unused for this purpose. (Starting a wood fire is not what you want to be doing in the middle of a first aid session.)

Sterile Dressings

There will be some sterile dressings in the first aid kit. To make more, boil any fabric. (This is a good use for that cotton you should not have brought along.)

Minor Cuts and Scrapes

Wear gloves when using the saw! Wear long pants and sleeves when walking through thick brush! Leaving minor cuts and scrapes unwashed and uncovered is inviting an infection. Clean minor wounds with clean water, and be sure to scrub the wound, if necessary, to get all the dirt out. You can put a drop or two of the iodine tincture on the wounds or a small dab of neosporin and then cover with a small piece of gauze or a band aid.

Major Cuts and Scrapes

For major scrapes and cuts, you first want to stop any bleeding. Do this by applying a clean (if possible) piece of cloth or gauze over the wound. Raise the wound over the level of your heart, if possible, to reduce bleeding. You can simply apply pressure with your hand as well as tie upstream of the cut, if it is on your arm or leg. Once the bleeding stops, rinse the wound with a mixture of clean water and 10 drops of iodine. (Here you want to avoid floaties in the water for sure.) Applying iodine tincture, without diluting it, can cause tissue damage. Apply some Neosporin and consider covering the wound with a layer of petroleum jelly to keep it clean. Cover with a sterile dressing. Clean the wound with the iodine solution or clean water daily, and change the dressings until it has healed up. (You can also drink the water treated with a double dose of iodine.)

Hypothermia

If you find yourself confused, losing hand dexterity, or shaking violently when it is cold out, you may have or be getting hypothermia. The fix here is to get warm. If your clothes are soaked, get naked, dry off, and put dry ones on. (Even if you don’t have a lot of dry clothes, a little bit of dry clothes is better than a lot of soaked clothes). It is going to be difficult to do it, but you must get out of the wet clothes. Then, wrap yourself in the mylar emergency blanket, shiny side facing you. Then wrap yourself in your sleeping bag and then all of the tarp material you have. If you can manage, get our of the wind and try to insulate yourself from the ground, as described in the shelter section. As for making a fire, only attempt to do so if you really think there is a lot of wood within easy reach. There is no guarantee you would succeed, and you probably would have been better off getting into your cocoon. Obviously if you have no dry clothes and no tarps, you should try to make a fire. If you have no dry clothes, keep your wet ones on and cover yourself with whatever you can, as described in the shelter section. Try to make something warm to drink or eat in all cases!

Heat Stroke/exhaustion

Unlike hypothermia, which may be unavoidable in the winter, heat stroke and heat exhaustion can be avoided in most cases. If you find yourself heavily sweating, getting the onset of a headache, feeling dizzy, having dark urine, or nausea, you may have heat exhaustion and be on your way to heat stroke. Stop all physical activity, get out of the sun, get fluids, and apply wet towels to your body. If you do not heed this warning, you may find that you stop sweating, get a worse headache, have red skin, start vomiting, and experience muscle cramps, a fast heart rate, fast breathing rate, dizziness and/or confusion. You know then that you are entering heat stroke territory. For your purposes, the treatment is the same as for heat exhaustion. Consider wading into a stream or pond to cool off, but only if you haven’t had any severe dizziness or passed out up to that point. (You don’t want to drown.)

Gun Shot

Treating a gunshot wound can be broken into three stages: (1) stop bleeding and avoid shock, (2) wound cleaning and debridement, and (3) daily wound care (cleaning re-packing/bandaging wound). First, you stop the bleeding by applying pressure (using sterile gauze, if possible), elevating above heart, and applying pressure to the “pressure points”. If you have avoided getting hit in a large blood vessel, the wound may only seep a little blood after awhile. If a major vessel is hit and there is no surgeon around, you probably will not be conscious long enough to help yourself. Step 2 is to clean the wound and get all the severely damaged tissue, bone fragments, and bullet (if possible) out of the wound. Debridement is the fancy word for cutting away any tissue that is dead or probably will not make it. NATO recommends^[2] cutting away any tissue that has a bad color, does not respond to stimuli (contraction), has a consistency differing from surrounding tissue, and does not have adequate circulation. This is known as “the four C’s.” Obviously, the laymen will not have experience being able to tell what is normal for each of these metrics. Do your best, and remember that any questionable tissue left behind will be a haven for infection to take hold. Use the scalpel and tweezers to cut away and remove any questionable looking tissue and bone/bullet fragments. Clean the wound by irrigating it with a mixture of clean water and iodine (diluted 10 drops per liter). Step 3 is to pack the wound with sterile dressings. You may also want to cover it with petroleum jelly. (You can boil it to sterilize it/Neosporin before packing.) The following is from the NATO emergency war manual : As a dressing, dry sterile gauze should be laid lightly in the wound. This should be no more than a wick. In no case should gauze be “packed” into the wound since this additional pressure can cause necrosis of any tissue that already has its blood supply partially compromised. The single most important principle in the management of battle wounds is their nonclosure following debridement. The surgeon must not give in to the temptation to primarily close certain “very clean appearing” war wounds. Such closure is ill-advised and inappropriate and can only be condemned.^[2] You can close the wound 4-6 days postdebridement. Boil all tools that you use, wash your hands and the surrounding tissue, and you must ensure no foreign matter gets into the wound during the “operation”. Obviously, if you are at home, you can have a lot of these supplies set-up in a constant state of readiness (and encourage the neighbors to do likewise).

Stabbing/puncture

The key here is to get a deep cleaning of the wound. If the object is inside of you, try to get the first aid kit out and ready before removing it. Also try to get some water boiling. After taking the object out, or if it was already out, let the wound seep blood for a few minutes to aid in getting it clean, unless it is bleeding pretty severely and you risk losing too much blood. Irrigate the wound and clean the surrounding skin with clean water with extra iodine added. Again, do not apply un-diluted iodine as it will cause tissue damage. Use the syringe to force water down into the wound. Apply some Neosporin and consider covering the wound with a layer of petroleum jelly to keep it clean. Cover with a sterile dressing. Clean the wound with the iodine solution or clean water daily and change the dressings until it has healed up. Do not sew up or tape the opening closed; it must be left open to seep!

Damage to Eye

Damage to one eye will most likely cause the other eye to become clenched shut as well. This is your body’s way of minimizing eye movement; both eyes move together, even if one eye is closed. The main concern for treating the eye is to not apply pressure. Applying pressure can “deflate” the eyeball and cause permanent damage. You can flush out the eye with clean water. You can use iodine treated water using the syringe in the first aid kit, which will force water at the eye. Just DO NOT APPLY UNDILUTED IODINE TINCTURE TO THE EYES! Cover the eye with a clean dressing and tape it in place. Again, be sure not to apply too much pressure when doing this. Try to avoid moving your other eye as much as possible. Use the mirror in the first aid kit to remove anything that may be stuck in the eye tissue or surrounding tissue.

Feet First Aid

1. Give your feet daily massages.
2. Keep your toe nails trimmed.
3. Wash your feet as often as you can and make sure they are as dry as possible before putting your socks back on.
4. Exposing your feet to the sun for as long as you can (while eating/resting) will help kill bacteria, dry them, and increase the circulation to your feet (since they will not be in socks or shoes).
5. The “butt” cream used for baby butt rash is perfect for your feet! Use it if you start to have difficulties with you feet.

If you get a small blister, do not open it. An intact blister is safe from infection. Apply a padding material around the blister to relieve pressure and reduce friction. If the blister bursts, treat it as an open wound. Clean and dress it daily and pad around it. Leave large blisters intact. To avoid having the blister burst or tear under pressure and cause a painful and open sore, do the following: (1) Obtain a sewing-type needle and a clean or sterilized thread. (2) Run the needle and thread through the blister after cleaning the blister. (3) Detach the needle and leave both ends of the thread hanging out of the blister. The thread will absorb the liquid inside. This reduces the size of the hole and ensures that the hole does not close up. (4) Pad around the blister.^[3]

Constipation

Your diet, exercise, and stress will all be changed, and most likely your poop will look different as well! Do not expect to defecate that much if you are traveling by foot. You will be eating good food and burning a lot of it off. With that said, you may be constipated if you cannot poop at all or if when you do poop, it is very difficult. You may also feel like there is a hard turd plugging you up. This is known as fecal impaction, and the remedy is to go in there with your finger and break it/pull it out. Obviously, have something ready to wash your hand with after you do this. To avoid and or treat constipation: (1) Drink plenty of water. If you ever feel thirsty during the day, you are not getting enough, (2) Get fiber in your diet by eating dandelions or other edible greens, (3) Take some laxative that is in the first aid kit. Choosing not to deal with this problem may make it worse, and you may experience pain and vomiting, (4) try to defecate often to avoid your stool hardening while it waits to be released.

Might as well comment on how to go “number two” here. I find it best to find a log to squat against while in the woods, this gives you plenty of back support while you go about your business.

¹J. Tolkien, The lord of the rings (HarperFiction-Tolkien-Profit Share PB, 2009).
²T. Bowen and R. Bellamy, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office (1988).
³P. Underwood, US Army Survival Manual (Skyhorse Pub Co Inc, 2011).

HJL,

I saw a link to this in the Galts Gulch Daily Digest. I still am amazed that people think that they deserve such handouts without having to put forth any effort whatsoever.

It reminds me of the documentary on the Pruitt-Igoe housing project failure in St. Louis. Pruitt-Igoe was where people who were provided with low income housing allowed their neighborhoods to become overrun with prostitution, crime, and drugs, but were not willing to do anything about it. Other than call the police for someone else to fix their problem that is. My children are Millennials, but they have been brought up to know that if you’re not willing to work for something (food, home, peace, etc.) then you have no reason to expect something. It is a sad thing when the MSM is pushing for more of this type of stupidity instead of using their access to the public to inspire for good.

P.S. I really enjoyed how you answered the question the other day regarding home security firearms, and I am in 100% agreement. I for one carry my sidearm 24/7 and that includes at home. When I am sleeping it is on my nightstand next to me, not locked in a safe. Fathers and Mothers need to seriously take the responsibility that your family is for you to protect, not the police, teachers, or other ‘social interest groups’. Thank you – Brad M

Dear Sir:

For those who plan to leave the big cities in the event of disaster, the critical question is when to go. Leaving too soon means missing work and family obligations, but leaving too late may well be fatal. I am guessing the Internet will be down by then, so do you have any wise guidance in advance of that time? Thanks – Worried

HJL Replies: This is always the million dollar question, and if I knew the answer I could be a very rich man. The real answer depends on you and your situation. For some, the answer is now. They are simplifying their lives, learning to be more independent and doing without, at times. Others are unwilling to leave their work or family and are planning on walking the fine line, leaving right before it’s too late to get out. Still others have no intention of leaving and becoming a refugee. There is no simple answer to this question. Only you can analyze the risks and rewards for “bugging out” at any particular time in your unique situation. You also need to have more than one plan. If you are one who wants to make that decision as close as possible to catastrophic circumstances, then you also need to be prepared with an alternative plan in case you misjudge the exact timing. My personal preference is to shelter in place. If I’m not in a situation to be able to do that, I need to make the necessary changes now to enable that. As part of that decision, I have chosen to have a much simpler life than I would if I lived in a big city. I have actually found that the choices I made to have a better family life were very compatible with the choices to get out of the big city anyway.

Food and Water

I recommend making a catalog of everything in our stores, if time allows. Do this for sure if you are staying at our home. Open all of our buckets; some contain non-food items! Do not forget to include items in the garage, shed, and throughout the house that may be useful. This list will be invaluable when it comes to planing what to cache and how to solve problems. You need to know what you have to work with. Obviously, hide this catalog very well.

Food

The kind of foods you want to pack in your BOB include things you can cook easily or that do not require cooking– oats, peanut butter, and all bread on hand. (Smoosh bread into balls to conserve space). After that pack as much rice as you can. Rice will require longer to cook. After that pack all the flour, sugar, and salt that you can. (You probably will not have much room for the flour, sugar, and salt if you are traveling alone. I have bought a lot of rice.) When you pack your BOB, the stuff I have ready is already in mylar bags. Double bag them in plastic grocery bags (or preferably some ziplocks) a couple times each in case they break open!

As far as packing for the car goes, after you have filled your BOB, get some kind of container for the rest of the stored food, such as a large Tupperware container. Then go to the kitchen and pack everything that has a shelf life. Take a few our your spices as well. Pack the pasta, beans, oils, crisco, and all of your baking supplies.

After you have all of the non-perishables packed, get the collapsible cooler and pack up what you can from the freezer. Meat is fine, but it will obviously go bad, and if traveling by car, you will not be able to cook it while driving. However, it will last for a few tanks of gas in the cooler. Take some yogurt, all of the veggies and fruit, milk (put it next to the frozen meat and drink a big glass as you do so), any syrups or jellies, and like-products. Most of the stuff in here will go bad quick, so this is where you eat from first!

Take the chicken feed and the chickens. Quickly read the section on butchering them from our butchering book. (It is one of the books I scanned at work, printed, and then bound myself.) Obviously, they will be a good source of fresh eggs, so only kill them if you cannot feed/cage them. You can eat their feed, but I would boil/fry it first if possible.

Any food and supplies you cannot pack in your BOB and/or the car, bury them in a cache as described in Section ?. You never know, you could make it one block from home and get all of your possessions taken from you!

Water

For water, if going by car, take as much as you can in all the bottles you can. Take the extra water in bottles we have in the closet as well. Water stored in bottles from our tap should be fine for a long time.

As far as filtering goes, you have five means to get good drinking water. (1) the water filter, (2) the iodine tables, (3) iodine tincture, (4) boiling, (5) chlorine bleach or chlorine powder for the pool.

When using the water filter, find water that looks as clean as possible. The more cloudy/dirty the water, the more you have to clean the filter and the lower the pump rate. Our Nalgene bottles will screw onto the bottom of the filter. To fill other shaped bottles, use the Nalgene to pump and then pour the water into the other bottle. For short-term storage of the filter, pump any remaining water out of filter. For long-term storage, clean (with the included scrubber pad), and dry the filter. To sterilize, take off the O-ring and boil it in water for five minutes; then let it air dry completely. (It will take a few days to dry.) Only sterilize it if you get unfiltered water on the inside of the filter or plan on not using the filter for more than a few days. You need to clean every few uses by unscrewing the top, pulling out the ceramic insert, and rubbing it clean with the scrubbing pad. Then pour clean water over the cleaned filter and you are ready to go. Pumping is slow and hard with a dirty filter. DO NOT get unfiltered water in the inside of the ceramic filter, or you will need to boil the whole thing. So be careful with it when you are scrubbing it unless you plan on boiling it after. I have a replacement parts kit for the filter that includes extra O-rings and an extra ceramic filter. Be careful with the ceramic filters; they will crack if dropped. So store this piece of equipment somewhere cushioned.

The iodine tablets come in two bottles. They’re in the bottles labeled “Potable Aqua Drinking Water Germicidal Tablets” and “Potable Aqua Plus”. The bottle labeled Plus does not purify water; it simply takes the bad taste away from using the Germicidal tablets! When using the iodine tablets, if you scoop up untreated water, put in the tablets and wait 30-60 minutes for the water to get potable. Be sure to flip the bottle upside down and let filtered water flush out the screws at the top of the bottle before drinking since unfiltered water will be up there since you used the bottle as a scoop!

To use the iodine tincture, place five drops in one liter of water and wait 30-60 minutes. If the water has a bunch of floaties in it, you can double the dose and wait longer, if possible. Try to filter the water with a cloth (or something similar) to avoid this problem.

According to the U.S. Army[1], to boil water safely, boil it for one minute at sea level plus one additional minute for every 300 meters above sea level– just boil it for 10 minutes unless you are really constrained for fuel or time.

For chlorine-based disinfection, your options are (1) using standard household bleach or (2) using pool shock. To use household bleach (make sure it has no additives that make it smell like “mountain air” or “fresh grass”, those labels mean the bleach will harm you), add four drops per quart or liter, eight drops per half gallon, 16 drops per gallon (or four liters). Then stir the water, and let it stand for 30 minutes. You must be able to smell the chlorine after 30 minutes; if you cannot, repeat the steps above and let stand for 15 more minutes. If you still cannot smell chlorine, then the bleach lost its strength and you cannot use it. Double the dose for cloudy water.[2] The problem with household liquid bleach is that it looses strength really fast, within months. Therefore, we have two pounds of calcium hypochlorite powder (Pool Shock) in the garage. To use this, add 0.23 oz (half a tablespoon) of the powder to two gallons of water and stir. (Follow the safety precautions on the box and wear gloves and eye protection.) Then add one pint of this “stock solution” to each 12.5 gallons of water to be purified. The water should smell like chlorine; if it does not, then the “stock solution” lost its “power”. If the water smells too strong, you can pour it from one container to another a bunch of times to drive off the excess chlorine. These instructions are assuming there is “45% available chlorine”. Modify them accordingly. (Multiply by the ratio of 0.45/0.XX where 0.xx is the new “% available chlorine”) for different strength pool shocks. If you find some other pool shock, make sure it does not have any additives to control fungus or algae and that the chemical name is EXACTLY calcium hypochlorite.[3]

Water Sources

If you find yourself out of water and you cannot find any streams try:

1. Collect morning dew from vegetation or anywhere you can find it. Then filter/purify it somehow. (I have done this; you can gather a lot of water quite fast using this method. Look for long grassy areas.)
2. Dig for it. Try the bottom of dried up ponds/lakes/ditches. Try the deepest spots in such places. If you find soil that is really wet, but cannot find standing water, put the wet soil into a shirt and ‘wring’ any water you can out into something. Then filter/purify it. Believe me, this is quite tiring so do not attempt if you are already exhausted.
3. Do not drink alcohol (not that you will have any) or urine[1] if you are running low on water.
4. If you are in a forest, look for trees with multiple trunks coming from the ground. There may be a place in the center of the trunks with standing water. Scoop/siphon it out and then filter/purify it.
5. Hot water heaters will still have water in them after the water/power/gas are all turned off. There is a valve at the bottom you can empty the take from. Toilets will have a gallon or more of clean water in their flushing tanks; many people may overlook this!

To not be tempted to drink un-purified water. Water borne illness and/or parasites can kill you when you are in an already stressed and weakened state away from all medical help.

Cooking

For cooking, I mean anything that will require heat to eat. You can eat oats, flour, and rice raw. For the rice, some sources say you increase your risk of getting a food borne illness, but it can be done. Obviously the meat will have to be cooked thoroughly (since it was probably not kept fully frozen). For heat you have three options: (1) the camp stove, (2) the pocket rocket, (3) a fire. The large green propane tanks for the camp stove will not fit the pocket rocket, and the small red tanks for the pocket rocket will not fit the camp stove. You do not need to actually apply heat to cook rice or oats for the entire cook time. You can simply get up to boiling and then let it sit with a cover on for 10 minutes or so. This will conserve your fuel.

Using the Camp Stove or Pocket Rocket

To use the camp stove: you simply screw in a green propane tank, light a match (or use a lighter), turn the propane on, and bring the flame close to the burners until you see it ignite. You can adjust the output using the dial.

To use the pocket rocket: screw the pocket rocket into a small red tank, extend the ‘feet’ on the pocket rocket, light a match or lighter, turn on the gas and bring the flame close to the burner. You can adjust the output using the dial.

When you set up the camp stove or the pocket rocket (especially the pocket rocket), set them up shielded from the wind so the burners do not blow out. For the pocket rocket, be careful about not knocking the cook pot off the burner, you may have to hold the pot over the burner if you cannot find a solid enough surface to place the pocket rocket on. Use the aluminum pot holder for holding pots over a heat source and for moving around hot pots.

If you are backpacking and run out of the small red fuel cells, throw away the pocket rocket as well; it is now useless. Keep the pot holder!

The fuel cells will get cold during/after use. This is normal.

Disconnect the fuel cells when not in use in case there is a leak in the valve of the stove.

Fire-making

Making a good fire requires three things: (1) a way to start the fire, (2) fuel, and (3) air.

To start a fire:

1. Use a lighter.
2. Use matches.
3. Use the flint and steel fire starter. While the methods above directly create a flame, this method only creates a spark. To get a flame, you will need something dry, combustible, and with a lot of surface area like dryer lint (which is in the bag with the flint and steel). You can use the little balls of cotton/wool that form on socks in a pinch. This method could frustrate you (not an easy method to start a fire), so use it only if you really need to cook something to survive, or if you have no other means to purify water than to boil it.
4. Friction methods like the “bow method” or the “hand drill method” or the “plow method” all involves using friction to create heat to start a fire. Believe me, if you have not practiced this, do not attempt unless you are desperate.

Before you begin attempting to start a fire, you need to be certain you have enough fuel. Gather the dryest wood available. Look for low branches on trees in a forest that may have been dead for years and are shielded somewhat from rain; being off the ground they dry much faster relative to wood you find on the ground. Gather dried grasses or birch bark to light first. The basic idea to to light things that are going to burn for longer and longer until you get up to log size. For cooking, you really do not need to get logs. In fact, collect no wood larger than one inch or so if you can since you will want to the fire to go out quickly after you are done cooking. For fire starter, use least important pages from the Bible or the first-aid book if you cannot find dry grasses or bark.

You do not want to set up the fire in a very windy area, or it will blow out. You do, however, want some air to get into the fire. You need to leave spaces between sticks so air can get in. A good design is to lay down a layer of stick all parallel to each other (like a step pyramid), and then lay down slighter larger diameter sticks on top of those perpendicular to the first layer. Leave a little space between each layer for air to flow. Once the fire gets going, add more wood (more layers) as needed in the same manner. As sticks burn out in the center, ‘flip’ the un-burned ends into the fire as well using a stick.

To keep a fire going:

1. Make sure the heart of your fire does not go out. A lot of times the small stuff you light first will not cause the bigger sticks to start and then the larger sticks are left un-lit and your fire goes out. This is why I recommend the pyramid style fire. It is much easier for the heart to go out of a tee-pee type fire than for the other types.
2. If it is winter and all your wood has frost on it, keep your wood ‘huddled’ around the fire so it can melt off the outer layer of frost. This method will not work for drying wood for your purposes. For the amount of time you will have the cooking fire going, you will not be able to take wet wood, dry it, and then use it.
3. In general, if your fire is very smoky after the initial lighting phase, something is wrong. Try fanning (or blowing on it) to give the fire more air. Try moving some wood around to open up the fire to any breeze that may be present. Make sure the heart of the fire is not going out, leaving the outer larger sticks to smolder.

I know you can do it! Just do not give up, Smaug!

Shelter

General tips:

1. Do not go to sleep wet, if you can help it. Get out of your wet clothes or wet under/outer garments. It will feel colder at first, but you will warm up much faster this way and hopefully they will dry some as you rest.
2. Do not breath into your sleeping bag since it will put a lot of water vapor inside it, and it may start to condense.
3. Avoid direct contact with the ground. Pile leaves, grass, pine needles, newspaper, anything to separate you from the ground.
4. Assume anything left outside at night will get a nice coating of dew on it in the morning. Bag your boots and clothes if you think it is going to dew.
5. Do not underestimate primitive natural shelters. Anything you use to get your body off the ground and to break the wind and perhaps even shelter you from a little rain will go a long way in keeping your body temperature up.

Shelter in the Car

Sheltering in the car is the best place to stay dry and, therefore, warm. Use what clothes and sleeping bags/blankets you brought with you to stay warm.

If you are traveling without a sleeping bag or blankets (or come upon an abandoned car) use the seat coverings and seat insulation to make a sleeping bag/blanket. Cut the seat coverings such that you have a tube or a bag shape of fabric left over. Put yourself inside that with as much insulation/crumpled paper/dry leaves/other seat fabric you can for insulation. Use your imagination. Good insulators have many pockets of isolated air.

Shelter in the Tent

Try not set up your tent in a low spot. Cool air pools up in low spots and these spots are much more likely to have copious amounts of dew than spots on top of small ridges or on slopes. If you find some dry leaf matter– pine needles or dry grass– pile them under where you plan to sleep to insulate yourself from the ground. This will help keep you a lot warmer than if you are in ‘direct’ contact with the ground.

Shelter Without Car or Tent!

The biggest mistake you can make is to try and construct some kind of elaborate shelter out of sticks and leaves. Most likely, it will take you hours to build, waste a lot of energy, and probably leave you colder than what could take minutes to build.

Try to use any type of plastic you can find or have with you. Plastic will keep you dry and will help keep you insulated for warmth. If you have two sheets of plastic (garbage bags, ponchos, tarps) use one for a makeshift sleeping bag and the other as a tent to keep out the rain. If you have only one plastic sheet and are already wet and have no dry clothes, use the sheet as a sleeping bag and wrap yourself in it. If you only have one plastic sheet and you have some dry clothes to wear, or think you can stay warm enough without using the plastic sheet for warmth, use it as a tent. If you have a plastic garbage bag, open a small hole for your face in one of the corners. If done properly only your eyes and mouth will be peeking out. This will keep you warmer by trapping a lot of your body heat inside the plastic. Be careful about falling asleep though, you could suffocate. And try not to exhale into the bag or you will cause condensation to build up inside the bag.

If you have nothing synthetic, you must rely only on the natural materials around you to stay warm and dry. Evergreen trees do a pretty good job of shielding the ground beneath them from rain. Look for any big tree and check under it. The taller and more densely foliated the tree, the better the chance it is dry underneath. To stay warm, cut as many foliated branches (evergreen or deciduous) as it takes to make a mound large (the U.S. Army suggests 1 meter of material thick) enough to cover your body. Then pile it up with some leaves or grasses. Then crawl into this pile (leaving some matter underneath you to separate you from the ground). People waste too much energy here. For a life and death situation, you do not need to make a fancy hut; you need a pile of brush that will hopefully trap some body heat, get you off the ground, and perhaps shield you from some rain and wind.

If you find any kind of rock formations that have natural shelters, be sure to sufficiently insulate yourself from the rock if you sleep there; the rock will be much more efficient at sapping your body heat than would soil.

Shelter Without Car or Tent in Snow

If there is snow on the ground you may be able to use it for your advantage. If the snow is less than a few inches, simply build your shelter as described above. If the snow is deeper, use it to cover your shelter. If the snow is deep enough in places to completely cover you, or almost that deep, you can dig out a little cave, line the floor with plant matter for insulation and crawl inside. You may have to gather some coverings for the top of your cave if the snow is not deep enough. In addition, some plant matter should also serve as a “mattress’ as you do not want to be in direct contact with the snow.

Clothing

If you have any clothes on and you are getting them sweaty or they are wet from rain, take them off and replace them with dry ones if you can. Try to under dress a little in the morning so you will not have to waste time later pulling off layers of clothes that got sweaty. You waste energy this way and you waste water. You want to maintain a comfortable temperature in which you can avoid having to sweat. This may be difficult if not impossible in summer with a loaded backpack. This is why I like to backpack in the summer with my “short shorts”.

For winter:

1. Dress in layers. The outer layers should be something that snow will not stick too. If you can avoid it, keep cotton away from your skin as it will keep you warm only until you sweat in it. Save the cotton for the night when you should not be sweating, but if possible, do not bring any cotton.
2. Take off any layers of clothing that have snow on them when cooking if you can. Clothes with snow on them get hot near fires, the snow will melt and then when you are done cooking, your outer garment will become hard like a board and loose its insulating capacity. Obviously keep your outer layer on if it is actually snowing while you are cooking.
3. You need to protect your eyes in winter when there is snow on the ground and it is sunny. You can get sunburn on your eyes and go temporarily blind. The onset of this affliction is a feeling of dirt scratching at your eyes. Make sunglasses out of a cloth you cut small holes in (to restrict the amount of light reaching your eyes).
4. Keep some water bottles inside your layers so the water does not freeze.

For summer:

1. To stay cool tie wet cloth around your head and neck.
2. When walking through thick foliage: some plants are toxic to humans and open cuts can also become infected. These problems can be avoided if you are protected with long pants and sleeves. So it is kind of a catch 22 when it comes to staying off the beaten path, staying cool, and staying free of cuts and scrapes.

Use your best judgment when it comes to shelter; be proud of yourself if you can find a nice dry place to lay low and rest!

Socks and Shoes

Socks are probably the most important piece of clothing to keep dry; underwear is second. It is important to keep socks dry because they are at the interface of a lot of pressure between your feet and your boots. Their job is to cushion and ‘lubricate’ your feet as you walk. If your socks become wet your feet may start to become irritated as your feet rub against your shoes.

Socks and Shoe tips:

1. To keep your socks dry, change them often and hang them from your pack, if the weather cooperates, so they dry as you walk.
2. In the rain, without rain pants, you feet will become soaked, and you may have to stay put for a day to dry your shoes and socks.
3. Socks can be dried by ‘cooking’ them over a fire stretched out on sticks but extreme care must be taken to avoid them getting burned. Once singed up they will loose their water wicking ability.
4. Avoid leaving boots outside at night. Dew can form inside them. If they are somewhat dry, bag them in plastic. If they are soaked then leaving them out to dry a little is probably fine since a little dew will not make much difference.
5. Wash your boots if they get dirty. Muddy boots will not breath and your feet will get sweaty inside. In addition, mud on your boots will break them down faster. Mud and dirt on any piece of gear will break it down faster. Keep your gear and clothes CLEAN!
6. Pack some kind of sandals or croc-like shoe to wear to give your feet a rest from socks and boots. Wear these secondary shoes while setting up/taking down camp.
7. The “butt” cream used for baby butt rash is perfect for your feet! Use it if you start to have difficulties with your feet.

¹P. Underwood,US Army Survival Manual (Skyhorse Pub Co Inc, 2011).
²S. Skipton, B. I. Dvorak, and J. A. Albrecht, Drinking Water: Storing an Emergency Supply (Cooperative Extension, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2004).
³N. P. Cheremisinoff, Handbook of water and wastewater treatment technologies (Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001).