Oh, you mean the more pleasant smelling part of the loop.Originally Posted by TXyakr
Oh, you mean the more pleasant smelling part of the loop.
You ever take your boat under an anhinga in a tree over the water? Best to give them a wide berth as they evacuate the bomber door for an emergency take off. LOL
Mitch said they are all under contact not to reveal the items on the list. Other than watching the videos on what each man bought and deducting those items we don't know. Most all of them chose the same items, I watched all of their videos, save for a few differences. Mitch did say that some of the items on the list were obvious not to choose. His Gore-Tex bivey and sleeping bag count as 2 items even though they are used in conjunction so we can assume there are other items like that on the list that while we would see the practicality f may have not rated as high of a pic with a limit of ten only.
Its the bits between birth and death that define a life well lived.
I don't think I recall anyone got some kind of mini-shovel (or fold up). A mini shovel of some kind is one thing that I personally like. I wonder if that was on their list they had to choose from.
Why in the world would not telling us the options they chose from be a concern?
Nobody took anything like betadine either (?) Fo Rizzel?
Last edited by WalkingTree; 08-11-2015 at 09:22 PM.
The pessimist complains about the wind;
The optimist expects it to change;
The realist adjusts the sails.
- William Arthur Ward
EA I also heard him say very clearly those things about the limited list of items and some very strict specifications on many of them like size of pot, bow and arrows, fishing kit, net size etc. They seemed to be fairly generous with the cheap plastic tarps however, there are a lot of different things you can do with these. Lucas demonstated several. Poncho, roll up with evergreens for bed pad, collect rain water, funnel game or sea creatures or fish to trap or basket, suspended bear resistant bag, tear to strips and weave net or fish trap...
If plastic tarp get a hole or you want to fuse two pieces together it takes some practice but possible to use an improvised iron of Stainless Steel pot (not teflon) filled with hot coals and put a moist cotton fabric between so that plastic does not melt to bottom of pot. This way no need to stitch the tarp material to patch or fabricate poncho, fish net, basket, bucket. An electric clothes iron is easier but where they are it would require a long extension cord. LOL.
Given enough time you can make a shovel and clam rake out of wood with your knife and an axe. There are some fairly hard woods there. Also with a little luck some human made trash on the beach. A log staple would be handy and fish nets, buoys, ropes, etc. I have found some interesting trash in some of the most remote places.
Lucas made a primitive canoe paddle with wood using his knife and axe I am assuming, a shovel is not much different. The producers may have even given them small trowel to use for cat-holes if the land owners or provincial regulations required it. Human solid waste can attract bears and other critters so there are often regulations or recommended guidelines to discourage bears or in my region feral hogs from associating people with a warm fresh meal.
Last edited by TXyakr; 08-12-2015 at 11:28 AM. Reason: uses for plastic tarp material
Yea a pointed stick and my hands can do some shoveling, I guess. I wonder though if show producers or anyone else thought of shovels or something like betadine for their list. Sad that our trash is everywhere even where there aren't people. Does make emergency survival situations that much easier though.
The pessimist complains about the wind;
The optimist expects it to change;
The realist adjusts the sails.
- William Arthur Ward
If I could only bring 10 items, a shovel would not be one of them.
Maybe some tires...
Trash that is thrown from or blows out of vehicles and trailers from backyards and parking lots of shopping centers etc. can wash down ditches into small streams across lakes over spillways down rivers and out into the ocean into the gyros and eventually some of it will end up on beaches all over the world. However, most of it is buried in the sediments along the way. I help out with many river and lake clean ups through out the year. People who come to volunteer are mad at the people just at that lake or wherever we are. I try to explain the trash could have come from 50-100 miles away. A plastic bag you find high in the mountain could have come from a road 20 miles below, not likely but possible they catch hot air and float like balloons on some days. Mylar balloons in trees may actually have come from 50 miles away on a good day. After I paddle under a highway bridge the amount of trash including car and truck tires and large household appliances always increases, also cars and truck frames and sometimes whole vehicles. But it is the tiny bits of styrofoam and plastic that small fish eat then a bird eats them, then an land predator or raptor, this trash kills its way all up the food chain that may be worse than an old TV thrown into the river. I have a photo some where of a block of styrofoam about 3 feet by 6 feet with several salvia plants growing on it. Floatation from an old dock that got dislodged during a flood. A survivor could make a raft with some of these huge blocks of styrofoam.
Last edited by TXyakr; 08-12-2015 at 11:55 AM.
Out around Brownwood, we had a few customers losing their dock floats to nutria. They would ignore the foam or plastic and gnaw on the wood around the attachment points.
Litter isn't a new problem either; hiking with a friend at my mom's place, we ran across a spot near the fence line at one county road where we could have built a beverage container timeline of the county's history from the empties people had tossed over our fence. Everything from punch top cans (the ones you needed an opener for) to pull-off-tabs to current production.
crashdive - You'd have no use for a shovel? That's something I'd use. But yea 10 items ain't much...though, when they get that plus clothes, they sure got it easy compared to the naked and afraid bunch. Makes it more interesting too when the N & A folks would often go the 3 weeks, but in alone we lost 6 people after 9 or so days (?), 3 or so within about as many days. They seemed to drop fast and early. Like you or sarge said, I always wonder how they vet these people. one of the reasons I'd seriously hesitate to do one of these shows myself is because I know the show producers have criteria that don't totally match what it's about - primitive survival.
madmax - Tires? Why?
And yea, arg, our trash. Hard for me to believe that there was a time when people casually threw garbage out of their cars by the sack full on the highways, and we had to implement a movement to get people to stop littering.
Last edited by WalkingTree; 08-12-2015 at 07:43 PM.
The pessimist complains about the wind;
The optimist expects it to change;
The realist adjusts the sails.
- William Arthur Ward
Never said I wouldn't have use for a shovel - it's just not in my top 10 list. Probably not my top 30 list. The tire reference is an inside joke between MM and I from our last camping trip together.
It should be; what if you meet Bear Grylls out there and don't have a shovel to pound him repeatedly with?
You use the shovel to dig a well every night......DUH
Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
Evoking the 50 year old rule...
First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
Member Wahoo Killer knives club....#27
I've thought of the perfect survival show; use the format of Mission: Survive, but all the contestants are TV survivalists. Especially BG.
Real ego battles, without the pathetic squealing when somebody has to light a fire or whack a bunny for dinner.
Ok, that's funny right thar.
The pessimist complains about the wind;
The optimist expects it to change;
The realist adjusts the sails.
- William Arthur Ward
Trust me when I say.......I don't need no stinkin shovel to do no pounding.
A few post back I called Sam the dark horse and he has proven to be just that. The 22 year old has made it to the final 2 by virtue of a generally positive attitude and mental strength all the while embracing the suck to stay another day.
Mitch's tap was wrenching for me. I am just making a guess here that his mother may have a gleblobastoma brain tumor. From what Mitch described about its onset, the survival rate and the limited months to live after detection that is what I am thinking. My brother went through the same thing. His tumors were gleblobastoma's as well. At the time of his diagnosis survival rate was 5% after a year and 0% after at 1.5 to 2 years after detection. Now with the use of HIV as a carrier there have been several cases completely cured within weeks and in the one or two that the tumor was not killed or eaten away its growth was stopped completely. Hearing Mitch talk about his mother so reminded me of my brothers battle and I put myself in Mitch'es place , asking would I have gone knowing that he would be gone when I came home. Would I be willing to give up the short remaining time with my brother for the chance at 500k and the opportunity to change my families life? Mitch made the right decision in my book. Even though my brother had but 10 months left to live those months were spent with him , crying, laughing and forgiving leaving nothing unsaid in the in so that at 3:15 am on Christmas eve morn when he pasted from this world into the next I was there right beside him and in the end my family was changed as well. Now we are the keepers of his memory and if we do not share his life with our younger family members who will? Its no different for any of us really. That episode hit me square in the chest and really cemented in my mind for common we all really are. Wow I guess I just had to get it off my chest. Mitch nothing but respect brother and to your family as well through all that is to come.
I have to say that I did not see Lucas as one of the ones tapping in tonight's episode. It does appear that there has come a point in all of their existence on the island that has become mundane and from what they are saying has transformed their thinking in many ways yet the ways all seem to be similar. Salt and seasoning dress their guarded words now. the rolling wellspring of exuberance that was once there has not become strained and broken by paused of thought as the words trickle forth. Sometimes in non sensible gibberish as in the case of Lucas and his songs, but to him with eyes to see and ears to hear they belie the state of thought he is truly in. I would really like to hear their thoughts after a time they have refreshed and off camera given proper time to reflect if what they came to realize has held true now that they have returned.
Alan is still the favorite for me and he is without doubt a very intelligent and analytical person. Measured and calculating has kept him sharp but seeing the physical change in his body in tonight's episode reveals just how much stress his body is experiencing from the total onslaught of the freezing temps. A normal adult male needs approx. 2000 cal a day but add to that the physical and mental stress he now has and the calorie destroying cold he is constantly exposed to ,i.e. the ice inside his shelter, and the lithe small amount of food he has taken in is not even enough to make a dent in his caloric deficit. He is facing a real struggle, one I have never come close to and can only imagine based on his words and from others that have endured in the wild or in prisons.
All in all thus far has just been an emotional roller coaster for me. I am not one for much tv nor any drama/ reality shows at all but tonight was personal and hit home giving me pause to reflect and to think of the sad times to come for Mitch and his family. All of that said Neither Mitch nor Lucas are diminished in my mind and both did mighty well. If this show has proven anything is that we truly are social beings and can survive better when we are not Alone.
Its the bits between birth and death that define a life well lived.
2 focused on the goal
Well put EA. People who have not gone through similar experiences of loss cannot relate. Also if you have not solo camped for extended periods of time or in an climate like N-V.I. you cannot grasp the significance of the vast difference between this show and Discovery Channel’s N&A. (not better just different) That was all discussed in earlier comments on this thread. Survival is 99+% boring.
Sam has much better skills than some people give him credit for. I have noticed that most wild game will not let you get nearly as close in the true wilderness as they do in the city or suburbs. Therefore hunting close range with a bow and arrows is difficult on this part of Vancouver Island. Also there are a lot of predators there so competition for these prey animals is high, it isn’t suburbia or a state park. In Texas if you win the lottery for a permit to hunt wild game at a State Park (regular campers are not allowed then) it is like shooting fish in a barrel, some deer will eat corn out of your hand, more spooky during the rut obviously. I should post a photo here of about 20 deer surrounding me trying to eat out of my hand, NOT a smart thing to do BTW it really ticked off some other campers but was on a Monday few humans there. DON’T DO IT!!! All total there were about 60 deer near by that is what drought can do, poor starving critters.
I will not make light of the decisions of Mitch or Lucas but as many, many people have said that survival is mostly psychological. If you allow your mind to run in circles and come back to the reasons for quitting it will only increase the chances that you will. Better to focus on the reasons and methods you need to pursue to stay and stick it out. Focus on plans for the pay off and how you will use it wisely. How can I best invest the $500K after tax? Like teaching a bush pilot to land on a sketchy landing strip: if you focus on the trees you will hit them, instead focus on the where the wheels need to touch down. I try to do explain this to newbies on white water paddling canoe and kayak, “see the line thru not the rocks!” “Choose your line.”
Evidently the “line” Lucas chose was to prove something to his family and friends. Hopefully he will learn to live for his own goals and not seek the approval of others as he becomes more mature.
Edit: I observed in college that many of the kids that quit and did not even finish a 4 year degree had the brains and their parents had the money but they thought everyday about quitting far to often and therefore finally did. Others struggled far more than they did both financially and academically but graduated. Similar psychology applies to survival and making it out alive, your will power is often the most important thing.
Last edited by TXyakr; 08-14-2015 at 08:13 AM. Reason: college graduation compare to survival
A little off topic but if a person has health issues that prevent them from living in the wilderness alone to experience that a "Silent" Monastery may be an option. This is a good one:
http://christdesert.org/Monastery_Guesthouse/
"Christ in the Desert" is down a dirt road only accessible by 4WD if it has been raining or a lot of snow in the winter, and is right beside the Rio Chama in Northern New Mexico. Very little talking by anyone there. There are even signs on the river asking the rafters and kayakers to be quite. Then you can hike up into the wilderness during the day and find even for "alone" quiet time which is great therapy in this hectic life. So turn off you mobile phone, be quiet and don't speak to anyone for a full week. Winter time is a great time to go. One way to get there is to fly into Santa Fe and rent a 4WD jeep. If you need a break from the silence you can go visit the Ghost Ranch if you are a fan of Georgia O'Keeffe and be up to your elbows in tourists.
http://www.ghostranch.org/explore/georgia-okeeffe/
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