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The Water Cooler
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Roughing it.....
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<blockquote data-quote="ez bake" data-source="post: 1645015" data-attributes="member: 229"><p>If you want my advice, I'd do some serious hiking first, then a 2-3 day backpacking trip (try doing it as minimalistic as possible), and then try the survival thing. </p><p></p><p>A good water-filter is always a take-along no matter how bad I'm trying to rough it (and a GPS/Cell-phone - even if turned off the entire time and just for emergency). Oklahoma weather has a way of sneaking up on you despite what the forecast says. Watch most water sources in OK where there are any signs of Cattle or Horses - viruses will put you in the hospital quickly (and you can't filter out viruses). If you are planning on building a shelter, I'd go in the cooler months - spiders, several different types of bugs, and snakes can make for a bad-time under a pancho-shelter.</p><p></p><p>I've done the overnight thing while roughing it, but it just didn't do much for me since I regularly backpack - making fire with a fire-bow is pretty cool. Making animal traps is extremely tedious and not nearly as easy as most "survivalists" believe (think Les Stroud and not Bear Grylls). Also, if you do catch an animal, your day didn't get better necessarily - gutting and cleaning an animal creates all sorts of sanitation issues and cooking one over a fire with little to no cooking tools is a pain. </p><p></p><p>You'll find that if you don't spend most if not all your day putting together a shelter, getting food, or finding water/fire-wood, you're in sad shape at the end of the day (and without a proper shelter, often times the night's sleep isn't going to go well and the next day is going to be even harder).</p><p></p><p>You learn a lot along the way. I've got tons of backpacking gear (I stocked up back when I had plans for the whole family to start doing some serious hiking - we're lucky if we make it out twice a year now with football, baseball, basketball, etc.) and I enjoy backpacking, but for me, the survival thing is just one of those things you can say you did.</p><p></p><p>Good spots right here in OK (or right next door) are:</p><p></p><p><strong>Robber's cave</strong> - its a good 1-day hike to get around the big loop around the entire park if you start from the low-water bridge at the south end and end up back there. You can do a 2-3 day hike if you head to the land north of the caves - its pretty much all open to hiking/camping.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ouchita National Forest</strong> - Start out anywhere along the long-trail (Winding Stair Campground is my favorite spot - right next door to the primitive campsite is a backpacker's camping spot so you have an emergency stop if you need it). Be careful of going there when the bears are around - they're just small black bears, but the momma-bear and babies rule is always in effect. There's over 100 miles of trail to pick from, but be careful as the equestrian trails cross/join the hiking trails and can confuse you.</p><p></p><p><strong>Honobia / 3-Rivers WMA</strong> - you have to get a land-access permit and watch out for the meth-makers/addicts and poachers, but its a crapload of open wilderness that you can try out survival for as long as you want (its very easy to get lost out there and there is not a lot of anything in every direction from the middle of either of these places).</p><p></p><p>Wichita Mountains - there are lots of free-hiking and trails here, but its not very big (and there are plenty of areas that you can't hike or backpack/survival camp overnight). Its definitely cool, but I almost always want to go to Quartz Mountain State Park if I'm heading out that far west.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gloss Mountain</strong> and <strong>Red Rock Canyon</strong> are cool smaller spots to wet your appetite on hiking with neat scenery (and there is a very cool waterfall at <strong>Natural Falls State Park</strong>, but its really the only thing there worth looking at in that park).</p><p></p><p><strong>Devil's Den</strong>, Arkansas - lots to pick from and do here - look it up and you'll find plenty of fun for hiking, roughing it, etc.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mt. Magazine</strong>, Arkansas - You can stray off the beaten path here - there is a lot of hiking to do in the wilderness surrounding the mountain and a lot of trails away from the park headquarters and lodge.</p><p></p><p><strong>Petite Jean State Park</strong>, Arkansas - lots of stuff away from the typical car-camper trails here as well.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mt. Nebo</strong>, Arkansas - not a long way to get around the mountain, but lots of up/down elevation trails and cool out-of-the-way spots. They hang-glide off the south-east bluff - there's a little park-bench you can sit on and watch them go - its pretty cool.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I'm sure that I'm missing a few of the spots I frequent, but those are the ones that jump to the front of my mind when looking back over the last few years.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ez bake, post: 1645015, member: 229"] If you want my advice, I'd do some serious hiking first, then a 2-3 day backpacking trip (try doing it as minimalistic as possible), and then try the survival thing. A good water-filter is always a take-along no matter how bad I'm trying to rough it (and a GPS/Cell-phone - even if turned off the entire time and just for emergency). Oklahoma weather has a way of sneaking up on you despite what the forecast says. Watch most water sources in OK where there are any signs of Cattle or Horses - viruses will put you in the hospital quickly (and you can't filter out viruses). If you are planning on building a shelter, I'd go in the cooler months - spiders, several different types of bugs, and snakes can make for a bad-time under a pancho-shelter. I've done the overnight thing while roughing it, but it just didn't do much for me since I regularly backpack - making fire with a fire-bow is pretty cool. Making animal traps is extremely tedious and not nearly as easy as most "survivalists" believe (think Les Stroud and not Bear Grylls). Also, if you do catch an animal, your day didn't get better necessarily - gutting and cleaning an animal creates all sorts of sanitation issues and cooking one over a fire with little to no cooking tools is a pain. You'll find that if you don't spend most if not all your day putting together a shelter, getting food, or finding water/fire-wood, you're in sad shape at the end of the day (and without a proper shelter, often times the night's sleep isn't going to go well and the next day is going to be even harder). You learn a lot along the way. I've got tons of backpacking gear (I stocked up back when I had plans for the whole family to start doing some serious hiking - we're lucky if we make it out twice a year now with football, baseball, basketball, etc.) and I enjoy backpacking, but for me, the survival thing is just one of those things you can say you did. Good spots right here in OK (or right next door) are: [B]Robber's cave[/B] - its a good 1-day hike to get around the big loop around the entire park if you start from the low-water bridge at the south end and end up back there. You can do a 2-3 day hike if you head to the land north of the caves - its pretty much all open to hiking/camping. [B]Ouchita National Forest[/B] - Start out anywhere along the long-trail (Winding Stair Campground is my favorite spot - right next door to the primitive campsite is a backpacker's camping spot so you have an emergency stop if you need it). Be careful of going there when the bears are around - they're just small black bears, but the momma-bear and babies rule is always in effect. There's over 100 miles of trail to pick from, but be careful as the equestrian trails cross/join the hiking trails and can confuse you. [B]Honobia / 3-Rivers WMA[/B] - you have to get a land-access permit and watch out for the meth-makers/addicts and poachers, but its a crapload of open wilderness that you can try out survival for as long as you want (its very easy to get lost out there and there is not a lot of anything in every direction from the middle of either of these places). Wichita Mountains - there are lots of free-hiking and trails here, but its not very big (and there are plenty of areas that you can't hike or backpack/survival camp overnight). Its definitely cool, but I almost always want to go to Quartz Mountain State Park if I'm heading out that far west. [B]Gloss Mountain[/B] and [B]Red Rock Canyon[/B] are cool smaller spots to wet your appetite on hiking with neat scenery (and there is a very cool waterfall at [B]Natural Falls State Park[/B], but its really the only thing there worth looking at in that park). [B]Devil's Den[/B], Arkansas - lots to pick from and do here - look it up and you'll find plenty of fun for hiking, roughing it, etc. [B]Mt. Magazine[/B], Arkansas - You can stray off the beaten path here - there is a lot of hiking to do in the wilderness surrounding the mountain and a lot of trails away from the park headquarters and lodge. [B]Petite Jean State Park[/B], Arkansas - lots of stuff away from the typical car-camper trails here as well. [B]Mt. Nebo[/B], Arkansas - not a long way to get around the mountain, but lots of up/down elevation trails and cool out-of-the-way spots. They hang-glide off the south-east bluff - there's a little park-bench you can sit on and watch them go - its pretty cool. I'm sure that I'm missing a few of the spots I frequent, but those are the ones that jump to the front of my mind when looking back over the last few years. [/QUOTE]
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