Bug out bag for uncertain times

I don’t think you want to go ultralight into the apocalypse. However, if you must, bring a Tenkara for heaven’s sake.

that 8 oz. of soap ain’t gonna wash off much radiation.

You probably would not have enough food for the months needed. Check out the call to action and civil defense links. Some think a super-emp is more likely…some of the same outcome.

https://emptaskforce.us/index.php/4-resources/

There has even been a company pop up for strategic relocation to rural america.

https://wealthtimefuture.com/2022/03/03/strategic-relocation-how-to-protect-your-family-from-becoming-refugees-in-a-war-torn-world/

There are much, much better websites than this one for SHTF scenarios.

Should last you about ten days.  Then what?

Ratatosk

Yes but this might be the only site where you see ultralight backpacking and prepping come together. An ultralight prepper if you will.

Small hand held sling shot?

• Small, non-glass signaling mirror
• Recurve bow w/ extra strings, quiver of 10 aluminum arrow shafts, multiple interchangeable arrowheads
• Saw
• 18-20″ machete instead of 6″ knife
• eBooks/downloaded data on phone: edible & medicinal native plants, survival techniques, field medicine, maps, star charts, local languages, shelters, boats/rafts, hunting, fishing, farming, radiation protection & mediation
• solar & crank charging radio/flashlight/device charger instead of batteries
• Epipens

Monte –

BushcraftUSA, PaleoPlanet, and most primitive skills folks have been doing it for at least the decade I’ve been paying attention. BCUSA has turned into an alt-right rat’s nest, but there is a ton of good information there.

I’ve seen enough post-apocalypic movies to know that I do not want to survive the big one.  Being bombed back to the middle ages has no appeal for me.  No guts.  Too big of a wimp.

Why live without the ones you love? It’s seeming awfully real these days. I’ll go out with the first wave, thanks.

But I recognize this as an escape room type activity, not a realistic one, I hope. So… I’d want antibiotic. An infection can finish you off pretty quickly. I don’t think I’d bother with the headlamp and batteries; hole up at night somewhere, and save that weight for something else. I’d want my dog and a really good level-headed friend; those would be worth more than anything in the pack. The worst fate for someone in a hunter-gatherer group is to be exiled. Sleeping bag and warm clothes; exposure is the quickest killer and you cannot stay to tend the fire if you’re hunting.

The Twilight Zone’s aliens’ To Serve Man book…

A bunker, sealed as best possible, with enough beans n’ rice burrito makings, plus beer, for a week.  Oops water too. If not instantly incinerated, about 72 hours is needed to let of most of the fallout expire.  Plus beer is heavy so need to drink all of it if bugging out.  One thing about blasts and fallout is one does not want to be outdoors anywhere near but who knows where the target zones really are anymore?   A car offers absolutely no protection btw, but that’s what most would rely on. From HBO ..

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjd8bq/how-to-survive-a-nuclear-bomb

Updated to relieve some anxiety ..

https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgmke8/nuclear-war-anxiety-is-back-heres-how-to-manage-it

Also fallout will depend on the winds.

The dark humor of the Cold War though was assume the flight crash position then try to kiss yer rear goodbye.

More to the OP, all the stuff I’ve read (besides a hideout in Costa Rica) suggests a tough pack with almost military grade fabrics, but a simple “urbany” style in black or mute colors, ..  along with some ultralight camping stuff.    Realize one may want to bring identity papers and some keepsakes.  Plus food.  Got to store that six pack of bagels found along with peanut butter (more calories) .. vs chasing a squirrel to make “field enchiladas” (squirrel may have other ideas).

@rubmybelly: Does it include recipes for handburgers, finger food, raw men, Frank-furters, stewdents, lady fingers, and men toes afterwards for fresh breath?

You’re sick dude. I’m so fed up with people, it makes me want to up Chuck. Human beans can be so cruel to each other. I need to get out of here – I’m going to eat [at] Five Guys for lunch.

You are already lucky if your somewhat rural home has a basement (below ground level) big enough and is away from a large city and military bases, by some distance (not sure what that distance needs to be).

I’m a pretty huge fan of living.

But surviving….no thanks.

If the BIG ONES get launched, PM me for my address. Those of you determined to stubbornly carry on in a lawless burning radioactive hellscape can have all my rice, beans, and UL gear.

The Twilight Zone’s aliens’ To Serve Man book…

I don’t think many people under 50 are aware of that outside of The Simpson’s parody.

The Twilight Zone’s aliens’ To Serve Man book

For those under 50:

I also thought about packing a wide assortment of seeds to grow food with. Weight and volume are virtually nothing. However, by looking at this Civil Defense poster (admittedly a little dated) I guess I’d have to mitigate the fallout somewhat.

If you start now, you can move to northern Idaho or western Montana and contact the company that does “sustainable homes designed with integrated ballistic and defensive capabilities.” (not making that up)

Of course that ^ exists.  ‘Merica.  Only place on earth where “all you can eat” could have been invented :)

If you’re really bugging out because SHTF, it’s not going to be an UL event. It’s going to be a pickup truck’s worth of gear. Food and water alone will be hundreds of pounds. Sure you can save some weight with a DCF tarp, but you’re going to need a power solution, a means to cook actual meals, stockpile of medicines, a method to care for your family….on an on. Go look at Fieldcraft Survival.

All the stuff I would bug out with is in bins with my camping gear. I gave up keeping a specific kit for SHTF because it was just one more thing to have to maintain. Maybe I save 20 mins of packing but we don’t have enough duplicates of clothes to keep stuff tied up in a duffle bag waiting for the next hurricane or zombie attack.

But…how far is that truck going to get when gas stations and charging stations don’t work? All that stuff can quickly become an impediment to movement, stealth, and long term survival, and even make you a target.

Look at Ukraine and the unfueled, useless, and vulnerable Russian tanks on the one hand, and the 2 million people fleeing with only what they can carry on the other. Almost by definition a SHTF situation (assuming you don’t have a well-stocked bunker somewhere) is one where what you can carry, or maybe pull/push in a small conveyance like a bike trailer/baby carriage/pulk on wheels, is all you can take. And even then, you see many abandoned small conveyances along the roads out of Ukraine, at places where it became clear that getting away as fast as possible was the only way to survive.

My bug out bag is a huge 100L cargo pack, 75% filled with all those items I don’t usually take backpacking like extra layers, extra critical gear (e.g. water filters & sterilizers), saw, machete, large FAK, gillie camo tarp, hardcore survival rations, 100 Esbits, firearms, ammo.

The last 25% on top is where I stuff my usual 11 lb. UL backpack and kit, which has everything I need except water, food and fuel to last indefinitely.

…which has everything I need except water, food and fuel to last indefinitely.

Those are kind of THE crux of survival though, no? In the beginning of the pandemic, most stores in my area had their shelves wiped clean in only about 4 days.

Now imagine they couldn’t get resupplied…

it seems like you couldn’t last long term without society

even frontiers people in 1800s required re-supply.  The “Indians” were doing quite well though, maybe you could emulate them

after a while you’d eat all the local deer and so forth.  The density of humans would have to drop drastically.

it seems like a functioning society is a better idea.  What can we do as citizens to prevent the apocalypse?

There was a story I read about an airplane that crashed on a remote island.  There were two groups of survivors that didn’t know about each other.

One group initially sacrificed one of the members that were severely injured, they couldn’t afford to waste any supplies on someone that was going to die anyway.  They degenerated into chaos.

Another group took care of the severely injured and were eventually rescued.

Humans are social.  Better to focus on how to work with each other and understand each other.  That’s what usually happens and how to make a long term surviving society.

Okay, call me Pollyanna :)