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| Joe Lake |
I had a chance to test our Bug Out capabilities the other
weekend when I took my 59 year old wife and our 23 year old family friend into
the wilds of Algonquin Park.
I had been canoeing the Park since I was 13 and part of a
three year outward bound program that was the best learning experience I ever
had at my middle school. I learned how to travel light and make do with the minimum
amount of comforts.
Canoeing anywhere into the park requires that you do at
least one portage, and often three or more per day. This means humping
everything you brought, plus the canoe and paddles anywhere from 100 yards to
three miles.
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| (Showing off) |
Those that are bush savvy make the portage in one trip -
backpack, canoe, and paddles all on your back in one go. Those that haven’t
learned the lesson of traveling light, have to make two or three trips. Instead
of carrying 90lbs for a half a mile a day, they carry 180lbs three miles a day.
Nothing makes you question the usefulness of a piece of
equipment more than having to hike back to go and get it six or more times a
day.
It was for this reason that I always viewed my Bug Out Bag
with skepticism. I believe the assumption most Preppers make is that in an
emergency you would just toss the BOBs into the truck and head for the sticks.
However, as I discussed in my previous article,The Summer Shower that Took Down Toronto, evacuating an urban center during
an emergency in a vehicle is likely doomed to failure.
The second assumption then is to sling your BOB onto your
back and hike out of danger. It is this second assumption I will address.
Too Much Weight
Like most Preppers I stuffed my day pack with as much
survival equipment and supplies as it could hold. I have a Bug Out Bag for
every member in our home but they were far to heavy for either my wife or our
young female friend to possibly carry for more than a few blocks.
Our strategy was to duplicate the items in each BOB so that
if one or more were lost, we would still have full redundancy in the third. I
can guarantee that if we had to hike out of a danger area, half our equipment
would be discarded before we got a mile.
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| (This is NOT my BOB,) |
Water
An often recommended inclusion in a BOB is 3 days’ worth of
water. The girls wanted to bring bottled water instead of drink from the lake, (which
I have done on numerous occasions without boiling or disinfecting with no ill
effects), and since we had only one portage on our trip I acquiesced. However,
if we had to actually back pack the water, there is no way we could have
carried that weight. On the first
portage we had to make two trips because of the water we carried. Coming back,
with only a litre of water left for each of us, we were able to do the portage
in a single trip.
In a real disaster evacuation, I would make sure to have one
or more methods of purifying water and focus on finding sources of water as you
go.
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| One of them fancy newfangled water filters I wish I could afford. Till then I just boil my water. |
Day Packs, Back Packs
Like most people I live on a tight budget, and as much as I
would like to throw money at the problem of emergency preparedness, I have to
watch my expenses. For our Bug Out Bags I chose some fairly rugged looking day
packs in the $50 range. Since they are intended to last for only three days,
this would have sufficed. The reality is that these bags probably wouldn’t last
much longer than three days anyway. This trip helped remind me of how tough,
travelling through rough country can be on equipment, and people. (See further
down)
When I have saved enough money, I will look to purchasing at
least one "H" frame hiking back pack with waist belt and chest strap in
the $200 plus range. I used these in my younger days and can attest to their
ruggedness, the benefits of distributing the weight through the hips, and being
able to strap all sorts of gear to the outside.
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| This is what I got. |
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| This is what I want. |
Grocery Cart
As an experiment we brought along one of my wife’s grocery
carts. Stripped of the attached bag, the remaining frame was lightweight and
folded up taking up minimal space in the canoe. The wheels were larger than
those usually found on the cheaper carts, a full six inch diameter, and made of
rubber instead of PVC.
We found that we could strap all sorts of equipment to the
frame and one of the girls could easily pull more than twice the weight she
could carry. When I finally buy a good frame backpack I will look into
improvising a set of those wheels onto it and substitute the metal pull handle
for a heavy duty shoulder strap. I’m sure this configuration would allow the
girls to transport an entire Bug Out Bags’ worth of equipment with much less
effort.
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| Yes Sir! er...I mean Ma'am |
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| I don't think so |
Physical
While all three of us are more fit than most people we know,
this trip required effort we didn’t expect when we set off. My wife and I are
well into middle age and as much as it pains me to admit it, we started to feel
our age. Even PJ, a fairly fit 23 year old woman, was pushed to exhaustion.
Doing Pilates at the gym is great to stay looking thin and fit, but it does not
prepare you for the type of work required to travel through tough terrain. What
with lifting, carrying, collecting firewood, building cooking fires, setting up
shelters, cooking, and keeping the fire going, we must have done the equivalent
of 250 squats a day. By the end of the
day my quads and calves were cramping. When was the last time you added 250
squats, a three mile hike with an 80lb back pack, and five hours on the rowing
machine to your work out?
Range
We set off fairly late in the day and made about five miles
in five hours. This would be a good rule of thumb to go by, one mile per hour.
Under perfect conditions, with fit people, the maximum range in your evacuation
plan should be no more than 8 miles per day. For most people, five miles would
be a stretch. Add adverse weather, sickness or injury and your range could drop
to a mile or two per day.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Fitness
I think that the most important factor in your survivability
is physical fitness. Evacuating on foot from a disaster and providing for the
basic necessities while on the move will be an intensely physical ordeal. If
you don’t have the health and physical stamina, then all the equipment and
supplies can’t help you.
Rehearse
You will never know how well your survival plans will work
unless you have tried them out in a dress rehearsal. Take your BOB out into the
wilderness for three days. Only through experience will you be sure that your
supplies and equipment will provide the necessities for staying healthy and
comfortable for three days.
Less is More
Assume that a BOB is something you will be carrying on your
back all day, not something to throw in the car. After your dress rehearsal you
will find that many of the items you’ve stuffed into your BOB is not worth the
weight to benefit ratio. Take those items you no longer want to include in your
BOB and put them instead into your Car Kit, or Home Kit. During an emergency,
you won’t have the time to go through all your packs discarding the extra
weight.
Conclusion
Camping in the wilderness is not only a spiritually
rejuvenating experience, but also a great work out, and a means of testing
yourself and your equipment. If you’re serious about emergency preparedness, it
is something you should do at least once a year.
Please watch my short video below of our Algonquin Park trip.
