24 hour overnighter alone

[wilderness medic]

Went out on a 24 hour overnighter by myself in the forest yesterday-today. I would have liked to stay longer but I feel bad leaving my dog at home alone with no one to feed her.

Pack list

5.11 RUSH 72
5.11 Flashlight
Mora bushcraft black
Sleeping bag
UL Tent
Thermarest sleeping pad
Trekking poles
Headlamp
Fire kit (Ferro rod, PJ cotton, Bic lighter)
Water kit (1 smart water and sawyer mini)
Jetboil with 1 serving each chili and spaghetti
Glock 23 with 3 mags
Folding saw
Mini survival/fishing kit
Snivel gear(glove liners and neck cover)
100' rope with 2 caribiners, 15' webbing, and an 8 plate

Things i'm happy never left my bag.
Tent, Sleeping pad, headlamp, flashlight, Fire kit, Jetboil, Food, Folding saw, Snivel gear, Survival Kit.

I set out at noon. My goal was to bring everything I could need, but use as little as possible, and to do some general navigation without a compass. I planned on hiking off, trying to find the creek for water, get to it for a water supply, set up shelter, fire, and maybe food.


I parked off a hardball road next to a creek. I hiked in for a bit then started hiking up the mountain to try and get a general idea of the surrounding topography, and which way the valley with the creek snaked along. I hiked for a good ways up a seemingly never ending mountain. Forgot how hard it was to get a good viewpoint when surrounded by trees. Found two little breaks before the end to get a general idea. Using the sun I head back down at an angle towards the direction the creek snaked off to.

Got close enough to hear running water so I hopped down the side of some somewhat steep terrain. Once I got down I could see the creek, but it was too steep to get down without some serious tumbling, so I hooked up my rope and rappelled down. I 'm sure I could have found another way down if I hike a good distance left of right, but I kind of wanted to get dug in a little and figure out how to get back. And it's fun.

Got to the creek, hiked up it a ways and found a site to build my shelter close to the water supply but not right on top of it. Went with a debris hut lean-to so I could have a fire next to it with a heat reflecting wall. Turned out to be a mistake later, wish I had just made it completely enclosed. Lined the inside with a decent layer of ferns and pine boughs and set up my fire all ready waiting for a spark. Wasn't feeling particularly cold and with the forest being so wet I decided to save what wood I prepared for the cold part of the night.

Thought I was going to get by without touching my sleeping bag. My ground insulation worked better than I thought. Around 8 it started sprinkling, but was it still wasn't freezing. Woke up around midnight to some good rain. Screwed up and didn't have my prepared fire protected under my shelter overhang, and it was too late to catch a spark. I wussed out and grabbed my sleeping bag. Slept snug as a bug in a forest rug until morning. Tried to start it again once it was light out but it was still too moist.

Put away my sleeping bag and headed out to kill a little time looking for food on the hike out. My 24 hours was nearly up, no reason to mess around with the fire, or gather the food without a fire. Found some edible mushrooms, frog, a couple small fish I didn't bother trying to catch, and a few edible plants.

Continued hiking along the river until I came back to the hardball road and then up the trail to my car a little wet.

Couple of good lessons learned. Wish I hadn't used my sleeping bag. Happy I didn't touch a lot of other stuff I thought I might, including a flashlight. When it was dark, I couldn't see. Simple enough. Pitch black, no moonlight. Any bumps in the night, oh well. Slept really good with the peaceful sound of the creek and rainfall.

[hunter63]

Hey very cool.....best way is to go out and try it.....sounds like a positive experience.
Good report....vid says "private".

Thanks for posting.....need to hear about more of these.

[wilderness medic]

Thanks.

Sorry about that, should be working now. Think it was still processing.

[hunter63]

Works now....need a road flare?....LOL.

Good job on the vid............Thanks

[wilderness medic]

Works now....need a road flare?....LOL.

Good job on the vid............Thanks

Haha at that point probably. I'm pretty confident that when I built it it would have gone no problem, but after all the dry insides of the wood from careful preparation got doused, it was not going.

[Tokwan]

Good job! it will be a good experience

[hunter63]

Greatest plans of mice and men......can go sideways.
That in it's self a valuable lesson.

[1stimestar]

Nice video and gorgeous area. Looks like it was a good trip. Thanks for sharing.

[natertot]

Thanks for sharing! Looks like a good time and practice.

[wilderness medic]

Thanks for watching

Something i'm not that used to. Dealt with it a little in basic, and KY, but the humidity...man...

Maybe Tokwan can offer some advice?

If i'm moving i'm hot and sticky. I overheat easy. Even thought it's winter in low 40's high 30's if i'm moving my shirts unbuttoned and i'm sweaty here.

If I stop i'm cold and wet. When I sleep, heck I can't even decide if i'm cold and wet, or hot and wet. I'm not bone chilling cold, but the extreme wetness/humidity is new to me. It's part of the reason I went with the lean to and fire.

I considered hot rocks under my may for a minute, but then thought it might steam me like a lobster.

Another question. I know not to use river rocks because of air pockets and explosion danger...but how do you know they are "river rocks" besides to obvious they were in a river bed? What constitutes a "river rock"? How do I know ones I find up on the side of the hill aren't filled with air pockets?

Any tips critiques or suggestions are appreciated.

[natertot]

I have never used rocks. I have dug a pit about 4 feet long, two feet wide and 6 inches deep. Start a good fire in it as the sun starts to begin to fade. Let the fire burn in this pit real good and get a real good bed of coals in it. Then move your fire to where you want it all night, but keep the bed of coals in the pit and cover them with the dirt you dug out of the pit. Lay down a good bit of bedding over the former pit and sleep well!

[finallyME]

Boots in the field BABY! There are some things that you can only learn when getting out there. Thanks for posting the video (go pro?).

[wilderness medic]

I have never used rocks. I have dug a pit about 4 feet long, two feet wide and 6 inches deep. Start a good fire in it as the sun starts to begin to fade. Let the fire burn in this pit real good and get a real good bed of coals in it. Then move your fire to where you want it all night, but keep the bed of coals in the pit and cover them with the dirt you dug out of the pit. Lay down a good bit of bedding over the former pit and sleep well!

I like that, i'll have to give it a try next time if I can. Thanks.

Boots in the field BABY! There are some things that you can only learn when getting out there. Thanks for posting the video (go pro?).

GoPro on a headstrap. Been meaning to make one of those RickPro? GoRick? Backpack strap mounts LOL. Still have the piece from the box in my garage.

Head strap tends to make everything wobbly like this. I couldn't find my three way (Pole/tripod) on my way out for more stable shots. Of course I found it as soon as I walked in my house after.

[hunter63]

You had a flame there for a few seconds........bring a candle end and get the wick lit........then start piling tinder, sticks, then wood.

[Adventure Wolf]

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

[Rick]

You had a flame there for a few seconds

Either that or bring the tinder outside the wood and inside a tinder bundle (bird's nest) where you can control and protect it better. Once you have a flame then you can slide it back under the wood. But it looks like you had a good time anyway. I've had a lot of trips where I didn't make a fire and relied on my stove to cook. Fires are nice, certainly for warmth, but I don't have to have one just to have one.

Nice job all around. Thanks for posting and taking us along.

[Batch]

I camp in rain all the time. I gather my kindling and smaller firewood when the sun is out, if possible. I lay a dry protective layer on the ground. I use palm fronds. Then I set my fire lay with a good tinder ball if dry grass and palm dander. I use a lot more tinder than most people. I also use a lot more twig sized kindling than most people. After I have my fire lay good. I cover the whole shooting match with palm fronds. You could just as easily use a trash bag or tarp.

I gather a tinder ball and put it away in a ziplock and keep it out of the rain. When I am ready to start the fire I place my tinder from the ziplock bag into the tinder bundle and ignite it. It will get the other fine tinder going even though it has drawn moisture from the humid air.

Worse case scenario I use PJ cotton balls.

Good trip out!

[Fort fireman]

quick question. After your repel, how did you get back up? use the rope back up or find another route? or did you stay down there? If so, how did you get your rope back? Just kind of curious.
And how are you carring your Glock? Chest rig?

Looks like a good time and great video.

[wilderness medic]

quick question. After your repel, how did you get back up? use the rope back up or find another route? or did you stay down there? If so, how did you get your rope back? Just kind of curious.
And how are you carring your Glock? Chest rig?

Looks like a good time and great video.

I spent three hours prusik'ing back up. No jk . Once I got down the side I spent the night there. The next day I hiked the creek back to the hardball road to my car, then retraced my steps back up the mountain to retrieve my rope. Well, more like to retrieve my biner. The rope will now become utility rope, I would not trust it to do that again. New rope each time until I can afford some static LB rope. Basically just made a big circle back to the top where I marked my left behind rope and carabiner, then back down to my car.


The Glock fits perfectly in the velcro cross draw pocket on my 5.11 taclite pro shirt. If i'm out like that without needing it to be completely concealed I can leave the handle poking out of the pocket with one velcro patch undone. Out there i'm carrying for protection against guerrilla grow guards. They're like a plague here and normally shoot first, hide body later. Or don't even bother hiding the body.

I camp in rain all the time. I gather my kindling and smaller firewood when the sun is out, if possible. I lay a dry protective layer on the ground. I use palm fronds. Then I set my fire lay with a good tinder ball if dry grass and palm dander. I use a lot more tinder than most people. I also use a lot more twig sized kindling than most people. After I have my fire lay good. I cover the whole shooting match with palm fronds. You could just as easily use a trash bag or tarp.

I gather a tinder ball and put it away in a ziplock and keep it out of the rain. When I am ready to start the fire I place my tinder from the ziplock bag into the tinder bundle and ignite it. It will get the other fine tinder going even though it has drawn moisture from the humid air.

Worse case scenario I use PJ cotton balls.

Good trip out!

Good idea thanks, i'll always cover my fire with water protection from now on. I thought about leaving the tinder in the plastic bag until I needed it. I knew even without rain it would soak up the surrounding moisture, but wanted to try and keep it more survival oriented without the plastic bag. Surprisingly as you can see in part of the video the tinder still actually was catching a spark and igniting, it just wasn't taking very well.


Had I had more time out there I would have attempted another go at it, and then resorted to PJ. But I was leaving so I just spent the remaining time poking around for food and taking my time back. No sense in lighting a fire just to extinguish it and leave.

[Wildthang]

You had a flame there for a few seconds........bring a candle end and get the wick lit........then start piling tinder, sticks, then wood.

Amen to that, I always have a few tea candles in my Bob just for that reason! Those little dudes will burn for 1 hour and actually dry out small sticks and tinder.