Heeeyho Readers! Let's talk about survivalism.
Are you prepared to flee your home in a hurry? Would you be able to gather everything you need in under 10 minutes? What kind of skills and equipment do you need to survive anywhere?
Those questions are inspired in @riverflows' post wild camp & survival items. Along the lines, she talks about 10 crucial things for a survival situation. Important, isn't it? Not only the post is awesome, but thanks to her tag I found a home to talk about survivalism, which is generally embedded — though not as explicit — in my hobo-style travel content.
The outdoors & more community focuses on.. well... outdoor activities. Do'h! It encompasses everything I love: camping, fishing, hunting, adventuring, survivalism and lots of pew pew pew. There, @galenkp has put out a contest for us to shake that buttie and talk about our experiences on the matter. {Insert excited shuffle}. For those feeling shy, he's outlined several topics to inspire you loose-brained folks. Leeeeeeeeeees go!
My ready-to-go survival items
Before listing my ready-to-go survival items, let's define what I perceive as a survival situation. Survivalism can range from a day without internet (hello gen Z) to a full chaos zombie apocalypse. I don't go that far. To me, a survival situarion is having to deal with life anywhere with a handful of stuff (e.g.: while backpacking, as a refugee, after bankrupcy, etc — all plausible). My strategy rely on the following premises:
- No matter what, strangers are generally compassionate. This premise mitigates certain situations where I might not be prepared (e.g.: falling to sickness, failing to obtain food, protection, etc).
- I prefer to stay within the law in most cases. That means, in 99% of the situations I won't have any firearms, hunting equipment, huge knifes, machetes. Unless, of course, society really goes to shit.
- I don't have knowledge on natural herbs nor I'm carrying books on wilderness survivalism. The less weight, the better.
- Be it a weekend camping trip, a multi-month journey across wild Patagonia, or a run-away from home, everything needs to fit in a 50L backpack.
That said, the following items are always within hand's reach and ready to go.
Shelter
I'm no social media bearded men using twenty ways to pitch a tent, like @riverflows so brilliantly said. Shelter is the uttermost important priority when hobo-style traveling or living outdoors for any reason, so I count on what's worked for ages: a good waterproof tent, mattress, and sleeping bag.
With this setup I have slept under bridges, in the bushes, out in the open, on gas stations, and against any weather conditions (sun, snow, rain, wind).
I won't detail the equipments per se, otherwise this post will become ginormous. Essentially, this tent model offers a heap of different options: serves as a simple tarp or a full insect-proof shelter; small enough to hide in the bushes; discrete color.
Combined with a well-made sleeping bag and mattress, the range of sheltering options is enormous. And considering everything is so lightweight, it's not a hassle to carry on medium-sized backpack.
Cooking Gear
Titanium pans and a Jet Boil are awesome, but too expensive. Mostly, I carry a mini gas burner, an army mug, and an old aluminum pan (seen on the picture below). Whenever gas canisters aren't available I can toss the pan over fire without remorse. This kit follows me everywhere.
Water filtration
Whenever I go adventuring outdoors, a water filter is the one item that is always on my backpack. Boiling water is not always an option — it takes time and consumes propane, which is crucial for prolonged days away from civilization. On the other hand, having something lightweight, easy-to-use, and effective saves a lot of time.
I've written a post about the awesome Sawyer Mini filter: Survival Equipment: Awesome way to obtain drinkable water
To be honest, I've used the Sawyer four times since purchase in 2019, but on all those situations it was a life-saver. This is the type of survival item that you won't discover its worth until life really goes south. Always remember what happens to essential items (bottle water) when the economy collapses.
Good ole Swiss knife
Rambo-style knives are cool, but a Swiss knife is cooler. What else can I add? I've never felt the need of a huge knife. Maybe in a severe survival situation where I need to butcher an animal, though that is unlikely.
Medical Kit
Not fancy here. Basic medicines, bandages, stuff for allergy, painkillers, etc etc. The best practice here is to be careful. I don't plan to break any bones alone from civilization.
A medical kit is always under hand's reach, be it at home or outdoors. Se the picture below where I had a medical kit strapped to the bicycle while traveling.
Dry bags!
Most people don't give due respect to such a simple piece of kit. Dry bags not only protect from water out most important stuff, but they also serve for other creative purposes. I've used dry bags as a pillow, washing machine, water collector, etc. Countless times I found myself soaked to the bone, but fully safe because the spare clothes were safe in a dry bag.
Lightweight fishing kit
This piece of kit is a new addition to my ready-to-go items. Having fishing skills is crucial if you want to easily find food, and a good lightweight equipment makes the task easier.
Why going full Macgyver improvising a hook with a paper clip when you can have a fishing kit ready to go?
My go-to kit consists of different sized hooks, fishing heel, 6" rod, two or three artificial baits, pliers and nothing more. I want to add more artificial baits for the various fish around my state.
If I ever need to survive on my own, at least food I know how to find.
Skills
I envy Riverflow's mushroom foraging ability and herbs knowledge. Having that level of wilderness skills is undoubtedly life-saver. However, I don't see myself alone in a situation so critical that I need to rely on that.
Sure, Chris McCandless would have survived if he knew exactly what he was eating, but I'd never put myself in his situation. Would you? As I said, even if the world goes to shit and we need to survive off the land, people will remain compassionate and find ways to help each other.
Ways to make fire
Last, but not least, I'd like to add ways to make fire as a general topic, instead of an isolated item. Flint, matches, BIC lighter, Zippo — you name it. I carry every one of them. Fire is life.
Conclusion
There will be items popping in my mind as soon as this post goes live. {Sight}. As you can see, I'm not a paranoid survivalist with incredibly complex EDC kits for every-single-situation. My experience comes from traveling with bare minimum resources (read money). After putting myself under various circumstances, I believe we don't need much to survive.
A way to think of plausible survival situations is to observe what's happening/happened around the world: lockdowns, supply chain collapses, wars, bankrupcy. The worst that can happen at the blink of an eye is bankruptcy.
What would you do if you lost everything and had to live on the streets?
If you've read this far and decide to participate in the contest, please tag me in your post so I can interact.
Peace.
Did you know that I have a book out? Check this!
Access Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/6500272773?
If you enjoyed this post consider leaving your upvote for a hot coffee.
Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrprofessor_
~Love ya all,
Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking and more than 5.000 km cycling. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.
I don't think there's anyone more suitable for this post than you after all the journeys you have been through :D
Great post and GL in the contest!
Haha exactly! :) I think @mrprofessor should actually consider renaming to @mroutdoors :D
Super cool post Arthur! Good luck in the contest ;)
HAhaahha @gabrielatravels and @phortun you two are the best.
My experiences would be a disaster without the people. I put a lot of emphasis on that. If I had to find food on my own in the wild I'd be dead by now \o\o\
Such a great post 😎😁 perfect kit.
It is all needed in the adventures you gone on. The perfect setup… that will get you through situations.
Thanks for sharing! Have a great Sunday 😎
Thanks! Btw, I forgot to mention a bunch of stuff (as always when I list things). One item I'd like to add is decentralized money with liquidity anywhere in the world.
Do you have any item that you'd not forget in case you need to run away?
You are welcome @mrprofessor 😁 I find myself doing that… hahaha always forgetting some important stuff when listing things.
Great add on!
I would include to your list a hammock with mosquito net, salt and pepper both a must! , small sketchbook, pencil and mini watercolour paint/ pallet. A compass and map of the country you are in.
How silly it is, for weight, still a book on surviving in nature with edible plants, mushrooms etc.
A map! Forgot that one too. I don't know how many times the cell phone's battery left me hanging. And the damn battery always ends when we most need it, unbelievable. That brings us to another item: battery backs.
Yep, exactly… especially with me taking photos all the time. When I need Google maps, the battery dies hahaha 🤣 I soooo know. So a map and battery pack should be added 🤓 🗺
!PIZZA
I'm afraid we'll need a new post to add the new items \o
Thanks for the pizza!
Hahaha it sure looks like that 😉🤓
You are welcome!
I'm amazed by how much traction this post achieved. Thank you.
It was a good post so deserved the traction. Thanks for using The outdoors & more community.
Right, my challenge to you is to learn THREE wild plants that are unmistakable, okay? You are a smart guy... No reason you can't learn!
Loved this... I forgot about the Sawyer, we have one we haven't used either but it's so important JUST IN CASE.
Having various ways to make fire is so important. Do you watch Alone? There was one when the guy DROPPED HIS FLINT IN THE FIRE and didn't know. He had to leave the show. How embarrassing!
Great post and nice rewards too... See, following my lead is worth it... Go learnt some plant shit!
I'm amazed by how much traction this post got! Just when I was feeling kinda demotivated.
Alright! Challenge accepted. I'm gonna grab my grandma's book about medicinal herbs and go hunt plants in the wild. That's gonna be another interesting post, for sure.
I don't. Btw, can't flint survive fire (though losing it is a shame indeed). To be honest, I've been wanting to buy one for ever. Relying sole on lighters and matches is a mistake that will cost me a lot one day.
Oh yes it's worth a purchase! Fire security.
Alone is really good. It's not full on reality TV, well it is, but they are respectful to the survivalists and do t choose footage to make us like or dislike them according to producers whim. It's super addictive. I think you'd like it.
I was feeling pretty demotivated too... And just as I was venting to someone in Discord, I got a decent vote. Hive sure knows how to keep us here.
Hive is watching us. Are we in a Hive reality show? The big brother is watching us as we are all naked running around the house. Nobody wants to see my naked skinny butt, though it's getting pretty fit from cycling.
I'm gonna check Alone. I used to watch Naked and Afraid on Discovery (supper silly reality show), but we don't have cable tv anymore (thank God)
Some people think being prepared means a basement full of long life food, three million guns and a Geiger Counter and, whilst that could be part of it, being prepared is about awareness of all the small occurrences that life can throw up on an every day basis and it's that which you lean to in this post.
People have a false understanding about what being prepared means and so, they are not. I've written about it a lot and will again.
You pretty much nailed it with this content and I hope you'll put some more in from time to time.
Exactly! I've seen Brazilian survivalists building bunkers. I mean, what are they expecting? In case of war, the best thing is to take the family and get the hell out to a safer place.
I believe the most common issue that may force us to survive is bankruptcy, losing our home, and ending up on the streets. That happens all the time to a lot of people.
Ahhhh, what did I say that new ideas would pop after writing the post? I completely forgot to add decentralized money -- gold, silver, bitcoin, or anything with world-wide value.
Prepping is a hobby of mine but there's a serious nature to it as how we prepare now can mean the difference between life and death later. So, I do it and take a sensible approach to it. I have skills in areas many do not, and work on those skills I don't have or are less developed and I'm aware...Most of the time being aware will make a massive difference.
It's a big topic, and interesting to me, and I'm fortunate enough to have some like-minded people around me, people from my past, that I trust and respect and we often talk about it and work towards a better level of preparedness and awareness.
What I like the most is that it's a healthy hobby, and one that tends to gather people with some solid values mostly. That only shows us that the world still has more good than evil (unless we watch to much news). Given my experience 'surviving' on the road, my biggest bet -- or asset -- for when things really go south is the people/community. If we fail as a community chaos will prevail and we better be well armed \o\
I couldn't agree more, people together can make huge achievements and people together can mean chaos. It's up to the people to decide.
Yay! 🤗
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You certainly know how to travel lightly, you have more than enough experience. There is a trend at the moment for "survival gear", but most we don't need, you covered what is important in this wonderful post xxxx
We certainly need less than we think, right? That's why I love hobo traveling, it taught me so many lessons on declutering and prioritizing quality time over working hard to feed consumption.
Yes, less is definitely more, when it comes to your quality of life xxxx
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Where do you get your portable fishing kit?
That's actually legitimate reason and living in the city is quite a bad idea tbh, at least how I see it 😃. Most of my things are more for Urban survivalist but I have those you mentioned with the exception of fishing kit 😂
Yeeey, glad to see you here!
It's a standard kit really, but super lightweight. You might want to look for ultra-light fishing equipment. There are carbon fiber rods (less than 6ft should be fine to carry on the side of a backpack). Any tiny fishing reel does the trick.
What do you carry?
Whenever I have to 'survive' I get the hell away from cities \o\o\ totally unprepared.
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