Preparing for Travel

[retrieverman]

As many here know, I make the 1000+ mile round trip from my home in east TX to my place in NW Oklahoma at least a dozen times a year, and being the tinfoil hat wearer that I am, I try to plan my trip and pack as if some sort of catastrophic event might force me to hike home.
Does anyone else consider such things or have I just read too many “the sky is falling” books?

 

[OKRuss]

It's the books. I avoid any that don't have pictures! I'd start with a new pair of boots as that's gonna be a long friggin' walk!

I keep 'stuff' at both places(home and hunting property) that would help me get over situations short of catastrophic but generally don't have extra in my pickup during the trip. If that's what you're thinking, I guess you need a back pack with food, shelter, water, etc...in the back seat to grab. Map and compass. Satellite phone. GPS. Mini solar charger. Knife. Ammo. Fire starter. Bigger pack!

 

[HoLeChit]

Yes, to an extent, but for me it varies wildly depending upon the situation. I always keep a full blown trauma/first aid kit, a blanket, a few snacks l, maps/compass/shovel, and recovery gear in my truck. As a rule of thumb, if I’m going further than 3-4 hours from the house I bring enough cash for a flight or rental car back home and a sidearm. If I’m heading up to go see my buddy in Denver, I typically drive a few extra hours and spend a day in Walden, which is on the backside of the Rockies. I’ll always bring extra blankets, warm clothes, and food on those trips, in case I get stuck. I also typically bring shoes with me on trips, whether they’re comfy walking shoes or boots for mud/snow. If Clyde is coming with me I always bring food and water for him, and his first aid kit. I don’t necessarily bring a full kit to hike 100s of miles home, but I bring the stuff necessary to get me out of trouble, weather a bad situation, and get me to the closest town or something. At the start of Covid when you couldn’t get a flight or rental car I definitely did pack assuming I wouldn’t be able to rely upon that, but I’ve relaxed from that quite a bit.

I also almost always put a rifle and shotgun with a box or two of ammo for each,
in the truck for all trips further out than an hour from the house, but that’s typically because I try and stop at public land and try my luck on whatever is in season. They are both packable though, which is intentional.

 

[retrieverman]

It's the books. I avoid any that don't have pictures! I'd start with a new pair of boots as that's gonna be a long friggin' walk!

I keep 'stuff' at both places(home and hunting property) that would help me get over situations short of catastrophic but generally don't have extra in my pickup during the trip. If that's what you're thinking, I guess you need a back pack with food, shelter, water, etc...in the back seat to grab. Map and compass. Satellite phone. GPS. Mini solar charger. Knife. Ammo. Fire starter. Bigger pack!

Ok, ok, my wife is on my @ss about the boots too.

Like you, I have plenty of stuff at my house up there, but I was really referring to something happening while I’m on the road. Other than a sat phone, I think I’m covered with every thing else.

 

[GeneW]

Paper map. Good old fashioned. A good paper map. And/or a paper Atlas.

Satellite GPS and smart phone mapping are cool, but when chit doesn't work, a paper map will save the day.

Even when I am using my GPS and have my phone map for backup, I still want to look at my paper map/atlas to more easily give me the big picture of where I am and what the other roads around are. I just can't see that very well on electronics. Road closures and detours happen, I want to see the bigger picture on paper.

 

[Snattlerake]

Paper map. Good old fashioned. A good paper map. And/or a paper Atlas.

Satellite GPS and smart phone mapping are cool, but when chit doesn't work, a paper map will save the day.

Even when I am using my GPS and have my phone map for backup, I still want to look at my paper map/atlas to more easily give me the big picture of where I am and what the other roads around are. I just can't see that very well on electronics. Road closures and detours happen, I want to see the bigger picture on paper.

And a compass. Gotta have a Milsurp lensatic compass. About
$80.

 

[GeneW]

^^^^^^^ Yeah, just don't buy an off brand like Tate.

Turns out, whoever has a Tate’s is lost.

(Groaner lol)

 

[Chuckie]

What you would be looking at is a 1,000 mile overland hike.
One site to look at is called White Blaze which is for backpackers attempting to hike the 2,150 mile Appalachian Trail that runs from Florida to Maine.

When I attempted my thru-hike back in 2007 (only made it about half way) I found the very active and constantly updated White Blaze Community of hikers invaluable for the preparations I needed for my upcoming long distance hike (backpacking) trip including:

- Lightweight equipment (1,000 miles is a long way to haul heavy stuff).
- Cooking choices in stoves and accessories (kerosene {white-gas}, alcohol, multi-fuel, wood, propane).
- Foods to carry (i.e. freeze-dried vs. dehydrated vs. fresh) vs. scavenging vs. commercial eateries.
- Food preparations prior to the trip - shopping, dehydrating, freeze-drying, packaging, cooking.
- Sleeping options like tents, hammocks, 'cowboy', bags/pads, dening, hostels/hotels.
- Trail skills like first-aid, water, water scavenging/purification, self-protection, emergency shelters, etc.

Even though the White Blaze Community is primarily about the Appalachian Trail, it is also about everything related to long distance hiking and the advice given is NOT Brand promotional nor biased.

https://whiteblaze.net/forum/content.php

 

[trekrok]

What you would be looking at is a 1,000 mile overland hike.
One site to look at is called White Blaze which is for backpackers attempting to hike the 2,150 mile Appalachian Trail that runs from Florida to Maine.

When I attempted my thru-hike back in 2007 (only made it about half way) I found the very active and constantly updated White Blaze Community of hikers invaluable for the preparations I needed for my upcoming long distance hike (backpacking) trip including:

- Lightweight equipment (1,000 miles is a long way to haul heavy stuff).
- Cooking choices in stoves and accessories (kerosene {white-gas}, alcohol, multi-fuel, wood, propane).
- Foods to carry (i.e. freeze-dried vs. dehydrated vs. fresh) vs. scavenging vs. commercial eateries.
- Food preparations prior to the trip - shopping, dehydrating, freeze-drying, packaging, cooking.
- Sleeping options like tents, hammocks, 'cowboy', bags/pads, dening, hostels/hotels.
- Trail skills like first-aid, water, water scavenging/purification, self-protection, emergency shelters, etc.

Even though the White Blaze Community is primarily about the Appalachian Trail, it is also about everything related to long distance hiking and the advice given is NOT Brand promotional nor biased.

https://whiteblaze.net/forum/content.php

What took you out at halfway on the Appalachian? I've wanted to do one of the long hikes for awhile.

 

[Chuckie]

What took you out at halfway on the Appalachian? I've wanted to do one of the long hikes for awhile.

I was notified through the 'trail grapevine' while on the Trail that I needed to call home, which I did at the Trail Conservancy Office in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, when I got there.

I had to leave because of an emergency at home. After all the money I had spent prepping for my thru-hike plus air transportation to Maine (my starting point) I couldn't afford the airline cost back so I went by train. It still took me almost three days to get back to Oklahoma City via the local Mark light rail from Harper's Ferry > D.C. Amtrak to Chicago > Amtrak to Ft. Worth > Greyhound to OKC. By the time I got back home the 'emergency' had already been pretty much resolved.

I saw and learned so much about a part of our country that I had never been to, met so many great people, but probably more importantly I learned a lot more about myself. I'm older and wiser now but if I could do it all again, a team of wild horses couldn't stop me from being on that Trail again!