Page 158 – RECOIL OFFGRID

Sara Liberte Battle Van: Adding Insulation, Solar Panels, & Storage

Posted on May 11, 2017 at 6:00 am.

Two months ago, we introduced traveling photographer and videographer Sara Liberte and her new bug-out vehicle project, the Battle Van. If you haven't already read the introduction to this build, we'd encourage you to do so now — here's a link to that article.

The short version is this: Sara is building a 2017 GMC Savana cargo van into a fully-equipped all-terrain home on wheels, and we're following along from afar to document the transformation. This isn't some weekend warrior project that'll be collecting dust in Sara's driveway most of the year. It's her every-day bedroom, kitchen, storage locker, and her transportation to remote photo shoot locations. She'll be living in this van for extended periods of time, and using it to store her camera, firearms, emergency gear, and communications equipment as she drives from assignment to assignment.

A lot has already been accomplished since we last wrote about the Battle Van. First, Sara brought it to Pro Tint in West Virginia for some window tint to provide much-needed privacy.

Then she headed to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to meet David Adams at Clever Crow Fab. David lined the interior sheetmetal with DEI boom mat, which will dampen outside noise and vibration, allowing Sara to get some shut-eye even if the wind is howling outside. It'll also improve the sound quality of the sound system (more on that below).

Next, a custom Truck Vault storage compartment arrived, and David hoisted it into the back of the van. It'll serve as a platform for Sara's mattress, and includes two slide-out drawers with massive capacity. It also locks securely, so Sara can keep her valuable gear inside and away from would-be thieves.

David also applied his fabrication skills to create wood countertops, cabinets, flooring, and a roof panel with inset lighting. An internal battery and electrical system is also in progress, and Kicker speakers will be installed to upgrade the weak factory GMC stereo.

An Aluminess Products roof rack was also bolted onto the exterior, and fitted with large solar panels from Zamp Solar. This will allow Sara to keep her computer and camera batteries topped off, and recharge the vehicle's electrical system throughout the day, even when she's in the middle of nowhere. She eventually plans to put in a backup generator to fall back on in emergencies — as the saying goes, two is one and one is none.

The Battle Van is already shaping up to be pretty dang cool, so we're looking forward to see what's next. We'll keep you posted as the Battle Van receives more upgrades. In the mean time, check out Sara's blog or follow her page on Facebook.

How to Escape a Rip Current, Undertow, or Riptide

Posted on May 10, 2017 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

Human history has been a battle to overcome natural dangers, and we've come a long way in that regard. A few generations ago, we had a much more limited understanding of the dangers found in nature — hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, and so on. Today, modern technology, engineering, and early warning systems have helped us understand these dangers and be more prepared to deal with them. Nevertheless, some harmful misconceptions still remain.

Rip current ocean wave tide surf beach 1

Multiple rip currents in Tunquen, Chile. Photo courtesy of Cecilia and Randy Lascody / NOAA.

You've probably heard of a dangerous ocean phenomenon referred to as a riptide or undertow, but neither of these terms is technically correct. This powerful force is actually called a rip current — it's not a tide, and undertow is a completely different phenomenon. Rip currents pose a serious threat to anyone swimming in the ocean near breaking waves, especially young, weak, or tired swimmers. In the first few months of 2017, the National Weather Service has already recorded 30 surf zone fatalities in the U.S. — more than half were as a direct result of rip currents.

Rip current ocean wave tide surf beach 2

Rip current in Florida after Hurricane Jeanne. Courtesy of Dennis Decker, WCM, NWS Melbourne, FL.

Aside from the confusion over these names, there's some confusion over how rip currents actually endanger swimmers. Due to the undertow misnomer, it's often believed that rip currents drag swimmers down below the surface, but this is untrue. Rips actually pull swimmers out away from the shore and beyond the surf zone. Many uninformed individuals react to this by trying to fight the current and swim back to shore, but fighting the strong current only exhausts them further, making drowning a serious risk.

Rip current ocean wave tide surf beach 3

A diagram from the National Weather Service shows how to escape a rip current.

So, what should you do if you're caught in a rip current? Swim parallel to the shore, out of the path of the current. Once you're out of the current, you can swim back in to shore. Most rip currents are 50 to 100 feet wide, so you shouldn't have to swim too far to escape its pull.

It's also wise to know how to identify rip currents before you enter the water. Look for a channel of smooth surface water where waves appear lower and whitecaps are less prominent — if you see one, that may be a rip, so you should try to avoid it. Check out the video below from NOAA's National Ocean Service channel on YouTube:

Keep these tips in mind as you swim this summer, and share them with your friends and family. As we glean a better understanding of this natural force, we can prepare ourselves to avoid its danger. For more documentation on this and other oceanic dangers, visit RipCurrents.NOAA.gov.

10 Paracord Projects That’ll Bail You Out

Posted on May 9, 2017 at 11:23 am.

Written by Offgrid Staff

In This Article

Paracord Project #1 – Trapo
Paracord Project #2 – Friction Saw
Paracord Project #3 – Improvised Tourniquet
Paracord Project #4 – Improvised Harness
Paracord Project #5 – 1-2-3 Anchor
Paracord Project #6 – Tripod
Paracord Project #7 – Bottle Carrier Net
Paracord Project #8 – Turnbuckle Rattler
Paracord Project #9 – Sling
Paracord Project #10 – Stretcher/Travois
Source
Beyond Paracord

Warning!The content in this story is provided for illustrative purposes only and not meant to be construed as advice or instruction. Seek a reputable self-defense school first. Any use of the information contained in this article shall be solely at the reader's risk. This publication and its contributors are not responsible for any potential injuries.

Paracord is to the survivalist as ketchup is to French fries. Carried in hanks, bracelets, shoelaces, neck-knife lanyards, and all over, paracord is a staple piece of kit. But it's one thing to have some on hand; it's another to know how to actually use it. Many people look at paracord and see a piece of string. We look at paracord and see endless possibilities to increase our survivability.

This is knot your average cordage article. We were provided with plenty of paracord from Campingsurvival.com, and we're here to take your skills and readiness to the next level with these RECOIL OFFGRID projects.

Paracord Project #1 – Trapo

Function: Weapon

Difficulty: 5 out of 5

How To: Anyone who has seen the Steven Seagal movie Out for Justice knows what a rock in a sock is even if they don't know why Ritchie killed Bobby Lupo. Here's how to make one out of paracord with a ball bearing. This version requires knowledge of how to tie a monkey's fist knot around a solid sphere.

Start by passing your paracord around the object enough times to cover it. For a 1-inch ball bearing, this is approximately six passes of paracord. Wrap your cord perpendicular to these passes six more times. Thread your paracord another six times to the inside of the second set of passes and around the first set of passes (there's a reason for the difficulty rating on this one, and you just read it). Dress up the knot by pulling it here and there until it tightens around the ball bearing. Tie the ends into loop that can be slipped around your wrist and flail away.

Monkey fist knots can be tied by hand, but a simple jig made out of wooden dowels and a couple pieces of board make...

Notes: We've tied these by hand without a jig and must admit it's worth the extra steps to assemble one. Not since puberty have you wished as much for an extra hand to help out in in the process. Just drill four holes, 1 inch square, into a wooden board and insert wooden dowels to hold your ball bearing for you.

Paracord Project #2 – Friction Saw

Function: Cutting synthetic materials

Difficulty: 1 out of 5

How To: All that's needed to create a paracord saw is a length of paracord (braided Kevlar cord works well, too, and that's why we carry it in our wallets) with a couple loops tied in each end, large enough for your hands.

With the saw tied, place it over whatever you plan to cut and run it back and forth, increasing the friction and heat on your work piece, while dispersing the heat over the length of the saw. This will cut through duct tape, webbing, PVC pipe, or just about anything synthetic.

A paracord friction saw works by running the cord over a synthetic object like this PVC pipe. With enough heat, the saw...

Notes: Watch your hands with this one. Your saw will be hot when you're done. The longer the saw, the more room to disperse the heat.

Paracord Project #3 – Improvised Tourniquet

Function: Stop bleeding

Difficulty: 2 out of 5

How To: A tourniquet should always be applied “high and tight.” That is, placed up high on the arm near the armpit or up against the crotch. In general, paracord sucks as a tourniquet, as it's too narrow to avoid causing damage to tissue. However, when multiple strands are tied as one, it'll work in a pinch.

Tie a single square knot with multiple strands by passing left over right, tying a knot then right over left and tying a knot. Insert a tactical pen (or something else that will serve as a turnbuckle). If you can, put a key chain split ring around the strands first so you have a place to tuck that pen once tension is applied. Leave it on, and get your buddy or yourself to the emergency room.

A single strand of paracord makes a horrible tourniquet. Multiple strands tied as one will work well to prevent...

Notes: While you can do this with paracord, get in the habit of carrying a real tourniquet. They're cheap and highly effective. What's your life worth?

Paracord Project #4 – Improvised Harness

Function: Weight carrying (read advisory below)

Difficulty: 3 out of 5

How To: You may need to escape a high rise or descend a cliff. If you have no other option, here's a solution. A traditional Swiss seat is tied with about 12 to 15 feet of flat webbing or rope. For comfort, you should use multiple strands of paracord unless you want that tourniquet effect from the previous project.

Once you have your cordage ready, find the center and hold it at your side by your waist. Pass one end around your waist and meet in the middle. Create a surgeon's knot with the two ends. Take the two ends and pass them under your ass. Put the ends over your shoulders and stand up to pull them tight. Pass the ends back through the paracord waistband you made and tie each off with a half hitch. This is the point where you'll feel a pinch between your legs. Remember, it's life or limb – or in this case life or sack.

Take the ends of your harness and tie them off with a square knot and backup knots, to your left if you're a righty and to the right if you're a lefty. Make sure your knot is on the opposite side of your brake hand. If you're wearing a sturdy belt, pass your carabiner through that too, making sure the gate opens toward you. The spine of the carabiner is where your munter hitch will be used for rappelling. The majority of your weight will be supported by your paracord leg loops. This works even better with flat webbing, but can work with what you have.

Keep the gate of your locking carabiner facing you when you clip in. This allows the rope to work against the spine of...

The author rappelling with a paracord harness. While you can do this, it isn't nearly as comfortable as a...

Notes: Seek professional climbing and rope instruction before trying this one at home. Rappelling is inherently dangerous. However, even more dangerous than rappelling in an emergency is doing nothing when SHTF. That could lead to death.

Paracord Project #5 – 1-2-3 Anchor

Function: Vehicle recovery anchor

Difficulty: 4 out of 5

How To: Cut six 1- to 2-inch diameter wooden stakes, measuring approximately 18 inches long. Pound the first stake into the ground at a slight angle in the direction you want your stuck vehicle to go. Don't make this angle too great. From your initial stake, pound the next two stakes about 1 foot further away on each side at 45-degree angles left and right.

From these two stakes, pound the final three stakes another foot behind, continuing in a pyramid pattern. For those of you who have played Beirut/beer pong, this will be a familiar pattern. Tie a length of paracord from the top of the first wooden stake to the bottom of the two stakes off to 45-degree angles.

Tie paracord from the second row to the third row in a similar fashion. You can use a lark's head on the top and a rolling hitch and half hitches on the bottom. Attach your come-a-long to the first stake and to your vehicle. The 1-2-3 anchor works well since the stakes are supported by the following rows.

1-2-3 anchoring requires cutting multiple posts and pounding them into the ground in a triangle stack. Having the right...

Notes: Vehicle recovery can be quite dangerous, even fatal at times. Make sure your vehicle parking brake is on while securing your anchor and off when using it. A small hammer and come-a-long makes retrieval easier than resorting to a Spanish Windlass (the Spanish Windlass will be featured in a future issue of RECOIL OFFGRID).

Paracord Project #6 – Tripod

Function: Suspending objects and much more

Difficulty: 3 out of 5

How To: Gather three poles and place them on the ground. They need not be the same length as the legs can be kicked out once assembled to make it stand straight. Wrap paracord around one of the poles with a lark's head knot to start the tripod lashing. Then wrap the three poles three or four times.

The strength of the tripod lashing comes from frapping, when you pull the paracord in between the middle pole and pole closest to you and pull it tight to constrict on the wrapping on all three poles. Do it a second time between the middle pole and the pole furthest from you. Finish the tripod lashing by taking the end of the cord and securing it to the remaining end of the lark's head knot.

Tripods are staples in traditional woodland basecamps. They can be used to create raised beds, camp kitchen potholders,...

Notes: Tripods can be used to suspend stew pots over the fire, to build raised beds in wet conditions, as camp furniture, or as the framework for a hauling “crane.” Anyone who wants to build advanced tripod projects should also know how to make a square lashing.

Paracord Project #7 – Bottle Carrier Net

Function: Holding bottles, containers, potted plants, etc.

Difficulty: 2 out of 5

How To: Measure eight lengths of cordage by placing it under your bottle and holding the ends over it. It should measure approximately three times the height of your bottle. For the bottle used in our tutorial, this meant approximately 6 feet in length for each cord.

Cut eight lengths of cord out of a 50-foot-long hank. The last 2 feet will be used to create a handle. Attach the eight strands to your split ring with lark's head knots. The trick to this bottle carrier is tying knots with strands of cord adjacent to one another.

Tie the first overhand knot tied 3 inches from the ring, putting the knot on the side of the bottle rather than under it. From here, each knot works its way up the bottle every 1.5 inches. Try to keep your knots spread out consistently or it'll look like rubbish. Continue working up the bottle until you get to the top. Finish the carrier by tying four of the strands together as one handle and the remaining four as the other handle.

Water bottle net carriers are more time consuming to make than they are difficult. Make sure to make your knots evenly...

Notes: This same pattern can be used on almost anything box-like or cylindrical in shape. Make sure your split ring can handle the weight, or use a welded ring available at hardware and boating stores. If you don't like overhand knots, you can use square knots instead.

Paracord Project #8 – Turnbuckle Rattler

Function: Camp alert system

Difficulty: 5 out of 5

How To: When constructing the turnbuckle rattler, look for two sturdy trees with minimal flex in their trunks. This won't work well with small diameter saplings. Take a length of paracord and wrap it around both trees. Tie an overhand knot in the paracord, leaving tail ends to your knot as well as very little slack in the loop you just created.

Just about one foot above the loop you just tied around the trees, tie another loop. From that, suspend a length of paracord down from the center in the gap between the trees and attach a few aluminum cans.

Cut a small wooden dowel from a tree branch or sapling. Put this dowel between the gap in the trees in the original loop and take up the slack in the loop by cranking the dowel end over end, increasing the tension. Slip a paracord loop over one end and attach it to a tripwire. When an unexpected guest enters your camp, they'll trigger the turnbuckle rattler, striking the cans and alerting you to their presence.

Never be surprised in your camp by constructing a turnbuckle rattler with aluminum cans commonly found in the woods....

Notes: The difficulty rating in this trap is derived from the trigger and tripwire mechanism. A simple 90-degree toggle is all you need, but that requires knife carving knowledge and skill. When setting this alert system, watch your eyes. This device is under tension and disrespecting it can lead to accidental triggering.

Paracord Project #9 – Sling

Function: Weapon

Difficulty: 3 out of 5

How To: Paracord makes a great sling. For starters, determine what you plan to toss. For this tutorial, we're using golf balls. On one end, create a loop for your middle finger. About 2 feet from this knot, create a pouch out of duct tape, a couple pieces of leather, or flat webbing.

Tie a second piece of paracord to this pouch; make it as long as the other side with the middle-finger loop. On this end, create a knot you can pinch. If you're skilled at braiding, an entirely paracord version can be made with a web pouch. To streamline it, you can whip the paracord to the pouch with the inner strands.

Slings can be made with leather, nylon webbing, braided paracord, or even duct tape. They're centuries old and...

Notes: This is easy to make but difficult to master. Try tossing this horizontally, vertically, or in a figure eight path. With enough practice you'll be ready to kill that giant or challenge your skills.

Paracord Project #10 – Stretcher/Travois

Function: Moving an injured person

Difficulty: 3 out of 5

How To: Prior to starting, cut two poles at least one-and-half times the length of the person to be carried. If you're making a travois, make them twice as long if you can. The poles should be sturdy and have minimal flex. Place them parallel to each other and as wide apart as your patient for a stretcher; cross them about a quarter of the way down in an “X” for a travois.

Tie your paracord to one pole, then directly across from it. About 25 feet should be enough to hold a patient. Don't cut your cord! Continue zigzagging down your poles then back up again creating web work. Secure the end of your paracord and cover your web stretcher with a camping pad. It can be used without a pad, but for patient comfort, hook them up if you can.

Notes: A non-paracord version of a stretcher can be made with just a blanket and poles. Whether paracord or blanket, learn ways of helping your buddies out and teach them so they can help you in case you're the one who screws up.

Source

Camping Survival
www.CampingSurvival.com

Beyond Paracord

The 550 paracord is the industry standard when it comes to cordage. It's a great baseline of comparison for other types of ropes. For example, tarred bank line is referred to as “thinner than paracord,” and jute twine is said to be “not as strong as paracord.” As outdoor enthusiasts, we hold 550 paracord in high regard, but there are times when other options may be better. Here are a few other cordage options to carry next to the hanks of paracord in your pack.

Braided Kevlar: This line is ridiculously tough. Thinner than 550 paracord, it has much more strength pound for pound. It's harder to cut and knot, but the tradeoff is packability.

Jute Twine: You don't always need 550 pounds of breaking strength, and there are times when you want to tie something up in camp and not worry about taking it down. Jute twine isn't synthetic and can be left behind to biodegrade. That'll make the tree huggers in your group happy.

SpiderWire Braided Line: This fishing line is the only type we trust. If you can catch a 50-pound freshwater fish, you're a stud. All other fish can be landed without worrying about breakage with this super line. Rather than using one of the inner strands of paracord, use this dedicated line. Just watch your fingers if you hook onto a fish and it runs. It'll slice your skin like a laser.

Dental Floss: Wicked strong, pre-rolled into cute spools, and dentist-approved, this is handy cordage. Waxed floss is great for whipping lines that'll unravel, and it also works well for setting up traps. When visiting your dentist, ask for samples. Rip them out of the packaging and tuck them into your pack pockets.

Video: Considering The Grim Realities of Survival Food

Posted on May 9, 2017 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

You eat, and by any means necessary, or you don't, and you die… Life is an endless search for energy. Do you know where your next meal will be from?

This quote from a new video by The Wooded Beardsman reminds us about the harsh reality of finding food in a survival situation. As survivalists, it's a topic we often insulate ourselves from. We may think: My bug-out bag is stocked with several days of freeze-dried food, I have a basement stockpile that'll last for months, and when those run out, I know several places to scavenge in a nearby town. I have firearms to hunt with, tackle to fish with, and traps for small game. I'm prepared.

Survival food psychology meat hunting roadkill 5

Roadkill isn't glamorous or fresh, but it might be a viable food source in emergencies.

It's reasonable to call someone who can make this statement “prepared”, assuming they actually have the skills and training to back up the words. However, there's no such thing as 100% preparedness. Real preparedness is realizing that these steps only delay the inevitable return to a total reliance on nature. In an indefinite survival situation — i.e. the complete breakdown of society as we know it for the foreseeable future — all of these caloric preps will be helpful at first, but the principle of entropy tells us that they will eventually falter and fail. Stockpiles run out, shelves get picked dry, traps break, fishing lines snap, and weapons run out of ammo.

Sooner or later, you might end up eating like you're back in the stone age. It's wise to begin thinking about food accordingly.

As we've said before, one of the keys to survival is mental fortitude. When it comes to eating in a survival situation, that means overcoming your disgust to stay alive. Everyone has a different gross-out threshold. Will you forgo store-bought, sanitized, shrink-wrapped meat to hunt and butcher your own? Some would have a hard time with even this step. Will you eat sinewy sewer rats, wriggling grubs, or a cute animal which was once someone's pet? These are bigger mental hurdles to overcome. Will you scrape maggots off a roadkill carcass to find morsels of viable meat? It's a psychological battle to keep the dry heaves at bay and take that first bite.

With proper preparation, something which looked disgusting may become much more appealing.

The point of all this introspection is to realize that what you can do and what you're willing to do are two different things, even in a survival situation. If you can come to terms with this now, and gradually overcome the aversion to unconventional or unappetizing food, you'll have a valuable element of long-term preparation to complement your short-term survival food stockpiles and tools. That's what we call food for thought.

Recipe for Impracticality

Posted on May 8, 2017 at 2:36 pm.

Written by Offgrid Staff

The Premise: As of this writing, four of the top five best-selling books in Amazon's outdoor survival skills section are written by Dave Canterbury. His latest offering, The Bushcraft Field Guide to Trapping, Gathering, & Cooking in the Wild, is one of them. Upon initial gaze, this manual appears to go into great detail about how to procure and prepare foods when civilization is well out of reach. Canterbury's straightforward approach is easy to read, and the text is laid out so you can find pertinent information quickly. But can the reader trust the source?

The 411: For those who didn't follow the drama surrounding Discovery Channel's Dual Survival, in order to land the role of cohost, Canterbury reportedly embellished his Army record by claiming that he served as a paratrooper and a sniper, among other things, when, in fact, he was military police. The ensuing dustup caused him to be fired after the second season. While misrepresenting one's military record is an abhorrent act, one can still have strong survival skills in the woods.

This leads to the question: Can the merits of a book stand on their own despite the tarnished past of the author? It's possible — but in this case, no, they can't.

The Verdict: Despite being called The Bushcraft Field Guide to Trapping, Gathering, & Cooking in the Wild, the first 100 pages has little to do with bushcraft skills. Though the entire book is laden with useful snippets regarding general camping, food preparation, and gear needed to be comfortable in the outdoors, it falls short of its claims that it's a field guide for bushcrafters. It's more like a manual for casual campers.

Under the confines of “trapping, gathering, and cooking,” the book focuses too heavily on impractical recipes and doesn't concentrate enough on the skills a real bushcrafter craves: tracking, hunting, fishing, foraging, water-sourcing, and container construction.

If you've picked up this book with the intention of learning about real bushcraft survival, skip ahead 129 pages to Chapter 11 (“Hunting and Trapping Game”), the first chapter that offers any discourse on dealing with life in the wild — but ironically it doesn't deal with hunting or trapping game. Instead, it briefly introduces how to locate animals, but does so in a mere four pages. This includes a chart of animal tracks containing those that can be found within city limits (cat? dog? crow?).

A redeeming section, “Chapter 13 Trapping: Beyond the Basics,” is a thorough, nicely illustrated guide to various types of traps and snares, what they can be used for, and how to construct them, especially the section on primitive traps. It's a well-thought-out chapter that would be useful when attaining fauna from the wood.

A blight, however, is Canterbury's recipes at the end of some chapters (in addition to Chapter 16, which is chock-full of impractical dishes). Though they're very creative and probably quite delicious — if you're desperate enough to eat opossum, squirrels, and pond frogs — you're unlikely to have a box of hushpuppy mix, Cholula hot sauce, or a jar of raspberry preserves tucked into your ruck sack.

Probably most damning, the book exploits the spirit of bushcraft, misrepresents the concepts, ideals, and essence of the skills needed, and poorly represents the general topics purported in its name. The title proclaims “…In the Wild” whereas most of this book relies on the reader having a fully stocked kitchen. Subjects are broached broadly and watered down for a general understanding of the concepts without giving the details needed to successfully employ them in the wilderness.

Ultimately, this book doesn't have enough recipes to be called a cookbook, nor does it have enough information to be called a practical field guide. It lumbers incomplete somewhere in the middle, trying too hard to be too many things without succeeding at any one thing. In the introduction, Canterbury writes: “…we cannot go on a weeklong hunting camp and expect to live completely from what we can provide by rod and gun or even necessarily from traps and foraging.” Many would take umbrage with this claim, and an author who would make such an assertion probably shouldn't write a book about bushcraft.

Novel & Author
The Bushcraft Field Guide to Trapping, Gathering, & Cooking in the Wild, Dave Canterbury

Publisher
Adams Media

MSRP
$17

URL
www.simonandschuster.com

Pages
264

Rating
Die

New: Zombie Tools El Choppo

Posted on May 8, 2017 at 1:24 pm.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

Me gusta la biblioteca. ¿Que hora es y dónde está el baño? That pretty much exhausts our Spanish 101 language skills, but you don't have to be un experto to recognize the name El Chapo. Chapo, meaning Shorty, is the alias of ruthless Sinaloa Cartel drug lord Joaquín Guzmán. This seriously bad hombre was once worth $1 billion US, was called “the most powerful drug trafficker in the world” by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and escaped from prison twice before being extradited to the United States in January 2017.

El Chapo's fearsome reputation inspired the crew at Zombie Tools to name their latest blade El Choppo — we can't deny it, that's a pretty solid pun. ZT doubles up on the artful wordplay with its description of the new knife:

If you have the huevos to wander the narrow street of the barrio late, late at night, when tequila worms dream in the bellies of snoring whores, you can sometimes hear slurred songs stumble out the doors of certain cantinas, songs in the style of the narcocorrido, that tell the tale of the knife, El Choppo. Forged in the high mountains to a family that looked up to dirt, El Choppo was raised thwacking at banana trees and cane, chopping kindling for the stove, and fighting back a forest avowed to reclaim all fields.

Putting aside the clever product description, we'll get down to the facts. The Zombie Tools El Choppo is a 24.75-inch knife forged from sturdy 5160 steel. The 8.5-inch curved handle is clad in dark aluminum scales, and then wrapped in a strip of black leather. It includes a fitted Kydex sheath, and like all Zombie Tools blades, it's handmade in America (specifically Missoula, Montana) from American materials.

The El Choppo will set you back $290, and it's made to order, so there's a 6-8 week wait time. However, if our past experience with the company's Vakra kukri is any indication, this blade will be able to take a beating. For more information on the Zombie Tools El Choppo and other ZT blades, go to ZombieTools.net.

Solar Water Purification: Misconceptions and Facts

Posted on May 7, 2017 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

In This Article

When is Water Safe to Drink?
Misunderstandings About Solar Water Purification
The Truth About Solar Water Purification
Conclusions

The internet is a great resource for survival knowledge, but it also has the potential to spread survival myths and misconceptions at an alarming rate. All it takes is for one ignorant individual to post a blog article or YouTube video to a large online audience, and the idea spreads like wildfire. Pretty soon, you may even see less-than-reputable online publications re-posting these myths without fact-checking them, luring thousands of new readers in with sensational clickbait headlines — Bear Grylls doesn't want you to know about this one cool survival trick! You won't believe it! Click here!!, the headlines insist.

Drinking urine through a LifeStraw is a really bad idea, yet it still spread rapidly online.

Those who know the truth behind these survival myths will roll their eyes and move on, but innocent or uneducated readers may fall for it hook, line, and sinker. The clickbait articles go viral on social media, and the misconceptions continue to spread. If you want to see this phenomenon in action, check out our previous articles on the myths of “safely” drinking urine with a LifeStraw and making a fire-starter from a lemon battery. The source videos for those myths received 6 million and 22 million views, respectively. That's infuriating, but it also motivates us to spread the word about the truth.

When is Water Safe to Drink?

Due to the complex nature of the microbiological science involved, water purification is often the subject of these survival myths, like the urine-through-a-LifeStraw video above. We can't observe the bacteria present in a sample of water with the naked eye, and we can't necessarily smell or taste them either. Obviously foul, murky, and stinking water is a red flag. But crystal-clear stream water or even water direct from the tap can harbor dangerous microbes. This leads to all sorts of folk remedies and tall tales about ways to make water potable. Some have elements of truth; others are obviously false.

(For an in-depth look at how water filters and purifiers remove or inactivate bacteria, protozoa, and viruses, check out the article H2O Hygiene from Issue 15 of our magazine.)

We recently stumbled upon an interesting water-related misconception in a comment on social media:

“Calm, shallow water exposed to the sun is pretty safe because surface bacteria are killed by the sun and most everything else settles to the bottom. If you really need to drink untreated water, you are generally better off skimming a calm pond than dipping out of a stream or river.”

This statement is almost entirely false, and it contains potentially dangerous misinformation, but there's also a grain of truth as well. To shed some light on this issue — forgive the pun — we'll delve into the concept of solar water purification. First, we'll discuss what's wrong about the statement above, and then we'll establish the truth about the sun's power to kill bacteria in water.

Misunderstandings About Solar Water Purification

So, would direct sunlight really kill pathogens in a calm pond, making its water safe to drink? If you've studied water purification at all, you should know that the answer is emphatically NO. In fact, water in a stagnant pond is likely some of the most dangerous water you could find in a survival situation. The World Health Organization states, “Stagnant pools should not be considered a safe source of potable water.”

The dangers of stagnant water are twofold. First of all, warm and still water provides an ideal breeding ground for pathogens. Giardia thrives in water at a balmy 70°F (21°C), and its harmful cysts can remain viable for almost one month at this temperature, according to the EPA. Even at a scalding 129°F (54°C), hot enough to burn your skin, the EPA states that Giardia cysts can survive for 10 minutes.

Even in the hottest areas, it's extremely unlikely that the sun would heat a pond's surface to a temperature sufficient to kill all pathogens, much less raise the temperature uniformly throughout the stagnant water. A few inches below the surface, the water may still be cool enough to harbor bacteria or other pathogens. Most ponds also have shaded areas and surface vegetation where bacteria can flourish and spread throughout the water. Then consider that animals may be drinking from this water source, defecating in it, or dying and rotting in it.

Secondly, there's the risk of mosquitoes and other disease-spreading organisms. Warm, stagnant water is frequently a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other insects, and a little bit of sunlight won't deter them. In many parts of the world, malaria and Dengue fever are serious risks around stagnant water.

Again, even the warm surface layer of a stagnant pool is likely to be contaminated in some way, and should not be considered safe to drink without boiling or other purification. Then again, the same can be said for running water, like streams and rivers. Regardless of the flow rate of the natural source, you should always purify water before consuming it if at all possible.

The Truth About Solar Water Purification

Now, we mentioned earlier that there's a grain of truth in the original quote — specifically, it's the phrase “bacteria are killed by the sun”. Exposing water to sunlight for extended periods is actually a viable method of water purification, but it's not going to happen naturally in a pond. It takes effort and human intervention to purify water with the sun's rays.

Solar water disinfection, also called SODIS, has been studied extensively by the Swiss Federal Institute of Environmental Science and Technology. This research has also been supported by one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations and providers of aid in developing nations, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Here's a quote from a UNICEF document titled “Promotion of Water Treatment and Safe Storage in UNICEF Wash Programmes”:

Solar disinfection, which combines thermal and UV radiation, has been repeatedly shown to be effective for eliminating microbial pathogens and reduce diarrhoeal morbidity (Hobbins 2004) including epidemic cholera (Conroy 2001). Among the most practical and economical is the “SODIS” system, developed and promoted by the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology.

It consists of placing low turbidity (<30NTU) water in clear plastic bottles (normally 2L PET beverage bottles) after aerating it to increase oxygenation and exposing the bottles to the sun, usually by placing them on roofs. Exposure times vary from 6 to 48 hours depending on the intensity of sunlight. Like filters, thermal and solar disinfection do not provide residual protection against recontamination. Accordingly, householders must have a sufficient number of bottles to allow them to cool and maintain treated water in the bottles until it is actually consumed.

For a complete guide to this solar water treatment process, refer to the SODIS training materials page. These materials are available free of charge in more than a dozen languages. For more information on solar water purification, and the Swiss research which has proven its effectiveness, click here to view a PDF of the 2016 SODIS Manual.

This method of placing water in a sealed clear plastic bottle and exposing it to direct sunlight is highly effective at creating clean potable water. Unlike the exposed warm water on the surface of a pond, this creates a closed system with a small volume of water. Under these conditions, sunlight can effectively purify the water in most cases.

Conclusions

Like all water purification methods, solar water purification is not foolproof, since the research indicates that certain pathogenic viruses and protozoa will still survive the treatment. However, it's far superior to drinking untreated water, and has dramatically reduced the incidence of waterborne illnesses in developing nations. One study showed that children in Bolivia who drank water that had been treated with the SODIS method were 70% less likely to suffer from diarrhea than those who drank untreated water.

If you ever find yourself in a survival situation without access to clean water, remember the simple technique of solar water purification. If you can fill a clean plastic water bottle and expose it to sunlight for a full day, you can create potable water and avoid illness. Just be sure to follow the SODIS method, and don't assume that all water exposed to sunlight is automatically clean.

Review: Prometheus Design Werx Ti Watch Band Compass

Posted on May 6, 2017 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

In This Article

PDW Watch Band Compass Specs
About the Author

Nobody likes to admit they're lost. Fortunately, the Ti Expedition Watch Band Compass Kit from Prometheus Design Werx will give you no excuse to lose your bearings. Inspired by the NATO watch band compasses worn by UDT divers and the special forces of the 80’s, this compass is extra insurance to your safety; even if you aren’t working behind enemy lines or in the line of fire. The PDW Ti Expedition Watch Band Compass Kit relies on proven magnetic fields instead of digital technology. Even if all electronic devices go down, this watch band compass will prove reliable.

In these photos, the compass is pictured on a Marathon Search & Rescue Diver's Quartz (TSAR) with 20mm black nylon NATO strap.

We’ve used our PDW compass in many conditions and it never disappointed. From high up in the cold mountains while skiing and backcountry hiking to spear fishing and diving in the tropics and during numerous trips to the range, the PDW compass went unnoticed until it was needed. It worked as promised while finding our bearings in the great outdoors, and it helped with general wayfinding in urban environments. The accuracy of the compass was tested against a couple dedicated baseplate compasses and magnetic north registered the same.

At only .72 ounces, the PDW titanium watch band compass doesn’t add any noticeable weight to the wrist. The oil-filled 20mm x 8mm compass functions flawlessly above and below water. Even in the extreme cold of the Northeast, the compass did not freeze.

The markings are luminous and rechargeable with a flashlight or exposure to sunlight. This attribute helps the user navigate in dark conditions and preserves their night vision.

The compass is water resistant to 100 meters, a rare attribute found in few compasses of this variety. Both aluminum and titanium versions of this compass case are considerably more durable than the plastic housings of lesser-quality watch band compasses.

The silicone carrier with UV inhibitors allows the user to carry it girth-hitched around multiple points on gear, and it adds some color and visual flair to your loadout if desired. The PDW Ti Watch Band Compass also makes an excellent addition to a pocket emergency kit if carrying it exposed is not possible.

Navigation and a sense of direction are important for the adventurer, outdoorsman, soldier, and prepared citizen. When batteries fail in your GPS or when you lose your primary compass, this little tool will help you stay on the right track and prevent you from having to ask for directions like a helpless tourist.

PDW Watch Band Compass Specs

Dimensions: 1.063” x .455”
Compatible Watch Bands: NATO style — recommended for bands up to 22mm wide, but 24mm bands may fit with some effort
Materials: 6AL-4V Titanium Body (machined in the USA), acetylcellulose oil-filled compass, luminous gasket
Weight: .72 ounces
Water Resistance: 100 meters
Silicone Carrier Colors: Orange, OD Green, Black
MSRP: $114.00
URL: PrometheusDesignWerx.com

About the Author

Kevin Estela is the owner/head instructor of Estela Wilderness Education, a bushcraft and survival school in New England. He is a Sayoc Kali Associate Instructor, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, and an avid marksman. As a “survival athlete” he can be found regularly testing his physical and mental limitations in the gym, woods, and urban landscape preparing for the fight.

www.kevinestela.com

Infographic: The Growth of Computer Processing Power

Posted on May 2, 2017 at 1:22 pm.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

Have you ever heard of Gordon E. Moore? This name may not have entered the common lexicon like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, but Moore made some monumental changes to technology and the world as we know it today. He is the co-founder of a little company called Intel Corporation, and today he has an estimated net worth of over $7 billion. However, aside from founding one of the largest computing companies on Earth, Moore proved to be almost clairvoyant about the future of technology.

Processing power graphed on a logarithmic vertical scale via Wikipedia.

Processing power over time, graphed on a logarithmic vertical scale. Source: Wikipedia

During an interview in 1970, Moore was asked to estimate the growth of computer technology. In a claim which would later become known as Moore's Law, he stated that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit would double every two years. That statement may not mean much to you, but in layman's terms, this effectively means that the processing power of computers will double every two years. This brazen prediction has been proven true for decades, and despite many claims that it is dead and obsolete, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich stated in January 2017 that “Moore's Law is alive and well and flourishing.”

To those of us looking to prepare for the future of technology, this is an important principle to understand, since it shows that computer development will frequently exceed our expectations.

The processing power of a computer processor (or CPU) can be measured in Floating Operations Per Second (FLOPS). In the following infographic from Experts-Exchange.com (good thing for that hyphen), comparisons are drawn between the most powerful computer processors from 1956 to 2015. Over that time period, the authors claim that there has been a one-trillion-fold increase in FLOPS of computer processing power. (Click here to download a full-size version of this graphic.)

Planning an Ultralight Bug-Out Bag

Posted on April 30, 2017 at 6:00 am.

Written by Andrew Schrader

In This Article

Bedding and Shelter
Clothing
Hydration and Nutrition
Tools
Minimizing Empty Space
About the Author

The concept of packing light is not a new idea. Horace Kephart, one of the men who helped establish Great Smoky Mountains National Park, had this to say about it in his 1916 classic book Camping and Woodcraft: “This is the hardest problem in outfitting. To equip a pedestrian with shelter, bedding, utensils, food, and other necessities, in a pack so light and small that he can carry it without overstrain, is really a fine art.”

Kephart’s idea of “light” varied with the individual and the performance expectations, as you might expect. “If you are a middle-aged city man, soft from a year or more of office work, about 20 pounds on your back is all you ought to carry. A younger man, or one who gets a good deal of daily exercise in the open air, can do the same with 30 pounds, until he gets in training, and then go considerably more.”

Items from the author's lightweight bug-out bag inspired the plan for an even lighter version.

His ideal mild-weather loadout was around 25 pounds, still a reasonable number even by today’s standards. But his dream bag was closer to 10 pounds, what he called a “featherweight kit” made from specially manufactured materials and products. One hundred years after Kephhart published his recommendations, we wanted to see how close we could come to his ideal weight, using modern-day equipment while keeping one eye on his recommendations.

Keep in mind that the production (and upkeep) of a bug-out bag is a dynamic process, not a one-and-done creation. The contents are going to change over time based on your evolving skillset, gear preferences, budget, and even your interests and hobbies. There’s no single way to build a featherweight bag. There are dozens of approaches — the following is one potential combination. Don't just copy the list of gear we provide, use it as food for thought to plan your own ultralight bug-out bag.

Bedding and Shelter

“Don’t bed down on the cold, hard earth,” Kephart recommends. We tend to agree with this advice. Trying to tough it out by sleeping on hard ground can short-circuit your decision-making ability, and directly impact your stamina the next day.

Ultralight bug out bag tent shelter sleeping pad

Top: the Q-Core SLX sleeping pad. Bottom: the Corus HD Technical Quilt.

His choice for bedding was a lightweight cloth bag stuffed with leaves, and a smaller leaf-stuffed bag for a pillow. Without the leaves these bags weighed in at 1.2 pounds. Primitive by today's standards, but it got the job done in the early 1900s. Fast-forward to 2017, and we’d favor the Q-Core SLX Insulated Sleeping Pad from Big Agnes, weighing in at 1.1 pounds. For warmth, a Corus HD Technical Quilt from Thermarest only weighs 1.4 pounds more. So far, so good.

To Kephart, a tent was only feasible if two or more people were hiking together. When going alone (at least in moderate temperatures), a shelter cloth and mosquito netting worked just fine and weighed about 2.5 pounds. It could be rigged between two small trees or forked stakes as necessary. The modern day version of this idea would be the Thru-Hiker 70 Wing Shelter paired with a Thru-Hiker Mesh House 2 from MSR. The shelter weighs just 12 ounces while the mesh weighs 14 ounces, for a total of 26 ounces or just over 1.5 pounds.

Trekking poles support a rain fly over the Mesh House shelter. Photo courtesy of MSR / Earl Harper.

This mesh-shelter system can still be rigged using trees or forked stakes, as Kephart did. But we like the idea of using trekking poles for covering long distances, in order to minimize strain on our legs and increase our daily range. So with that pound we saved by using ultra-light materials, we’ll add one more pound back and throw in a pair of lightweight trekking poles. We’ll use them all day and at night when it’s time to set up shelter, we don’t have to waste time looking for suitable trees or sticks since we can just anchor the poles into the ground to use as shelter supports.

Clothing

“Footwear is the most important item,” Kephart says. “When you seek a guide in the mountains he looks first in your eyes and then at your shoes. If both are right, you are right.”

There are lots of places to try and skimp on weight, but when you're long-distance trekking, your footwear is not that place. Whatever boots you decide on, make sure they fit you perfectly without having to use tricks like very thick or thin socks. We’ve had great luck with hiking boots from Keen such as the Targhee II Mid.

Kephart recommended against carrying a heavy waterproof jacket, instead electing to layer with a lightweight waterproof jacket coupled with a medium-weight sweater. These days we’d find a midweight fleece and couple it with the Airshed Pullover from Patagonia. This soft-shell jacket, weighing in at a ridiculously minimal 3.7 ounces, converts into its own stuff sack with a built-in carabiner loop so that you can always keep it within reach.

The Patagonia Airshed pullover packs down into a stuff sack for compact storage.

We won’t get into pants or shirts in this article, as the requirements vary so widely based on an individual's circumstances. However, we will talk to you about your underwear. Carry spares. As Kephart says, “When on a hike, take your bath at close of day, instead of in the morning; then change to fresh underwear and socks, and put on your sweater and trousers to sleep in. Fresh dry underclothes are as warm as an extra blanket would be if one slept in the sweaty garments he wore during the day — to say nothing of cleanliness.”

Hydration and Nutrition

Kephart’s cooking kit revolved around a frying pan, aluminum utensils, a broad shallow pot (to boil water faster), and a little tin cup he hooked to the outside of his pack. His kit weighed about 2.1 pounds.

Of course, he was planning on cooking over an open fire. And if you’re in the woods like he was planning to be, then cooking fuel is literally growing on trees. However, what if you’re bugging out to an arid region, or a ruined urban area where old-growth forests and wild game are the kind of thing you only see in museum dioramas? And how far away will the smoke from your campfire be visible, broadcasting your location?

Personally, we’re not trying to cook Instagram-worthy blueberry flapjacks in a frying pan. This isn’t Memorial Day Weekend at the lake, and we’re not trying to impress anyone here. We’re focusing on what can give us a head start on survival and can stay fresh in our packs for years.

Coconut-flavored lifeboat rations are compact and ready-to-eat food source.

These coconut-flavored lifeboat rations are a compact and ready-to-eat food source.

We thought of packing a small butane camp stove with fuel and a bunch of freeze-dried meals, but then reconsidered. The stove and fuel add extra weight. And cooking the meals will require lots of water that we may or may not need to conserve for drinking. So with that in mind, we’ll just pack our coconut-flavored lifeboat rations. They are, surprisingly, not horrible. Nor do they make you thirsty like a salty freeze-dried meal would. Six days’ worth of rations will only set you back 2.2 pounds, so we’re all set.

Ultralight bug out bag tent water bottle

The Platypus water bottles collapse and roll up when empty, and they weigh virtually nothing when dry.

Next up is a hydration plan — even more important than food. We’ll add dual 2.0 liter collapsible water bottles from Platypus (1.8 ounces each) and a TrailShot Pocket-Sized Water Filter from MSR (5 ounces) so we can pump clean water into the bottles. This brings us to a total of 2.7 pounds for our hydration gear and rations. Our choices here are a little bit heavier than Kephart’s, but he also only carried about two to three days’ worth of rations. In our case, we like a bit more caloric leeway.

Keep in mind, a liter of water weighs 2.2 pounds. So if you fill up both of those big Platypus bottles you’ll have nearly 9 extra pounds on your back. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of water is a good minimum estimate for how much you’ll consume each day. But if you know you’ll be encountering good water sources, you might consider leaving one of the bottles empty, or even dumping one out if you're certain you’re getting close.

This MSR TrailShot provides a quick clean water source for our Platypus vessels. Photo courtesy of MSR / Earl Harper.

Another way to save on water weight is by “topping off” as much as possible before leaving any water source. If you’ve got a stash of water in your car and you’re about to set out on foot, make sure to take a few extra swallows before stepping off.

Tools

Hand tools are the downfall of many an aspiring survivalist’s light-weight rig. We love tools. And usually we have so many that we can’t wait to stuff our pack with them. Especially when they’re small and light, it’s easy to simply toss one more tool into the bag. I might need that mini titanium prybar. You never know!

They're useful in your toolbox or truck, but you don't want to be lugging all this around on your back.

That’s true, you never do know. But unfortunately, we also don’t know if we’ll even get a chance to use this lightweight bag. If we want to keep it packed and ready that means we probably won’t be using it on an everyday basis. So if it’s just going to sit somewhere, then we won’t plan on stuffing a lot of every-day-use tools in there. Tools, after all, have a habit of never returning to the bug-out bag.

Trust us, we know. If you invest in high-end gear, you’re going to want to use it. But if you're going to raid your bug-out bag on a regular basis, at least create a packing list for it detailing everything that's inside once you consider it completed for the first time. Then have a logistics day on a regular basis (at least yearly) where you unpack the bag, review the list, and make sure everything that you assumed was going to be available is actually still present and accounted for.

Speaking of gear lists, most of them start with a knife. And the knives that many people carry are over-sized in relation to what they actually end up using them for. With that in mind, we’ll start with the Ultralight LST from Gerber.

This is an inexpensive, diminutive, and somewhat plain-looking American-made knife that will perform a myriad of tasks without complaint. It is a folder, but it's of the tough lockback variety, so the mechanism shouldn't be much of a weak point. As with the cooking, we’re not trying to impress anyone here. And we’re still waiting on that phone call from Delta Force to use our Chuck Norris reflexes and help them take out the leader of ISIS in an epic knife fight. So until that day arrives, we’ll get by with this simple yet functional 1.2-ounce knife.

A heavy cutting tool like this ax would put us way over our ultralight weight goal. So we'll make do with a small...

Actually, since we'd be in serious trouble if something should happen to our only cutting tool, we’ll throw in a spare. These two knives provide redundancy, and still weigh far less combined than a single outdoor fixed blade and sheath. You may opt for a single heavier fixed blade, like the 4.3-ounce Mora Basic 511, but then you'll have no backup if you lose or damage it. That's a choice you'll have to consider.

When you enter ultralight territory, even a handheld flashlight can be far too heavy to include. We'll need...

We’ll take the same “two is one and one is none” approach to a light source as we do to our knife. As much as we’d love to bring our behemoth Coast HP17 flashlight, which we may (or may not) have used to transmit profane Morse code signals to the International Space Station, we just can’t afford to haul the extra two pounds (three with its D cell batteries). Instead we’ll pack two compact Coast G19 Inspection Beam Penlights, with the batteries stored reversed to prevent terminal corrosion. They sip power, using a single AAA battery, and weigh only 1.5 ounces each (2 ounces with the battery inside).

This tiny Coast G19 runs on a single AAA battery, but provides enough light for basic tasks at night.

We don’t go anywhere without carrying some type of first aid kit. In this case we’d choose the Micro IFAK from North American Rescue. It weighs 12 ounces and gives us the ability to treat anything from abrasions and cuts to bleeding in major extremities. The kit comes vacuum-sealed, helping to prevent deterioration of the contents, improving its shelf life, and making it that much easier to stick into our pack and forget about — until we need it.

We also want a basic, no-frills compass that still includes scale tools for easily reading distances off a map. The Brunton TruArc 3 Base Plate Compass fills that role, weighing only 1.1 ounces yet remaining reliable and easy to read.

Last, we’ll add a few small necessities into our pack, including stormproof matches and a mylar space blanket. These are detailed in our packing list table below.

Minimizing Empty Space

So where’s the rest of the stuff, you say? Great question. We’re keeping both empty pack space and weight to a minimum for several reasons.

First, you’re fooling yourself if you think you won't be tempted to impulsively grab a few less-than-necessary items around the house, in the car, or wherever you happen to be when you need to grab your pack and go. These items might include the half-eaten box of Oreos on the kitchen counter. The extra pair of sneakers. A second firearm in addition to your EDC. The framing hammer? Seriously? If there's a ton of extra room in your pack, it's possible you'll fill it up with hoarded gear once panic sets in, defeating the purpose of this project.

Here's a run-down of all the items we included in our ultralight bug-out bag setup.

Second, having everything we might possibly need just isn’t the point of our ultralight bug-out bag. The point is to have the bare minimum of necessities so that we can stay mobile, walk all day, and even run if we have to. We’re looking for a head start, not an Ark. Otherwise we’d bring a bug-out diesel generator and a bug-out big green egg BBQ grill — we might even save up for a bug-out RV so we don't have to walk.

The light 30L Ascensionist pack will serve as the vessel for our gear.

With this minimal philosophy in mind, each of these items will get stuffed into an Ascensionist 30L backpack from Patagonia. At 1.6 pounds, it’s small and extremely light. We want a small pack for this type of ultralight loadout. It helps keep us from inadvertently over-packing, and falling into the trap of adding more gear just because we have more room (like we mentioned above). As shown in the detailed list, our total weight at this point is just under 14 pounds which we think is a great start.

We’re also not going to strap a bunch of stuff to the outside of our pack, looking like some casting reject from Call of Duty: Future Infinity Galactic Warfare VII. For the same reason we probably won’t go around making campfires — we want to maintain a low profile. Kephart himself pioneered this Gray Man concept years ahead of his time. “The whole equipment, except the few light articles worn on the person, stows inside a pack sack of moderate dimensions. There is nothing exposed to advertise your mission; so you give the idle curious something to puzzle and fret over — which is good for them.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Cheers to you, Mr. Kephart. And cheers to producing an ultralight bug-out bag that won't slow us down when the time comes.

To learn more, check out our 12 Tools for Survival, our buyer's guide to bug-out hammocks or even learn how to love backpacking in the rain.

About the Author

Andrew Schrader is a licensed professional engineer and is certified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Structures Specialist. His company, Recon Response Engineering LLC, advises state and federal government organizations on the subject of urban search and rescue and building collapse. He recently assisted the U.S. Department of State’s Italian Consulate in the development of their post-earthquake response and rescue protocol. You can follow him on Instagram at @reconresponse.