Not long back from the night bug-out.
Thought Id do a follow up to let you know how I got on.
Suppose a small prerequisite would be good. Aim was to simulate what being cut off from home would be like, with no transport and minimum equipment. Based on the fact I work approx 35 miles away from home I doubt I would be able to transverse this distance in a single day - so the idea of being at work and potentially having to make my way back via an overnight stay on route upset me. I don't carry by BOBs everywhere I go. So I happed on the idea of having a bug out jacket available at all times (whether on me, or in the car). Very basic equipment but enough to get through a few days walking until I reach the safety of home.
The jacket is waterproof, fleeced line and heavy duty. One large back pocket, two breast pockets, and three arm sections.
- Jacket
Back pocket-
3x3m tarp
4x heavy duty pegs
25m nylon rope
Bungee cord
Breast Pockets-
First Aid Kit
(too much in here to mention, but includes batteries, water tabs and emergency fishing kit)
Spare Mobile Phone (battery separated)
Energy bars
Steel cup
Arms-
LED torch
Small Fire Kit - flint, candles, tinder etc
Knife
Brew Kit
Whistle
To give the impression of running out of fuel I drove to the area in hand, parked up and set off for about an hours walk before stopping at a pre-planned location and setting up a safe-hold for the night. I had intended on leaving late at night, however as it is dark now from about 4pm onwards I left earlier than planned to give me more time to set up.
Might be worth adding at this point, that I did take a backup kit with me which included a tent, roll matt, sleeping bag and a wee chair. Didn't want to be silly about the whole thing, its winter after all and could quickly change into life threatening conditions if I was caught out.
Im not going to go into the whole night in great detail, it was what it was so here is a quick overview.
I had planned on making a fire first, to provide me with some light for when I arrived however I had the big light on all night (the moon) so surroundings were surprisingly visible. So I moved straight to the tarp which was easy enough apart for the mandatory hour or so messing around with it afterwards.
As expected everything was damp although there was plenty of old mans beard in one spot so that took a spark and I just slowly built the fire up from there. I ended up taking a few fire logs with me for throughout the night as I wasn't confident I would be able to get a sustained burn with wet fuel. Despite the on and off rain the fire burned (burnt?) very well. I pretty much just hunkered down after this and stayed warm by the fire. Cooked a piece of meat in the fire and made a few brews.
- Dinner
- Night navigation isn't too bad, although its an extremely noisy affair. Trying to stay quiet is really hard.
- Its very cold lying on the ground (obviously). I ended up using my mat towards the end of the night which got me thinking it would be a good idea if I could somehow sew patches of thermal material (the cheap roll mat foam for example) to cover the key points of my body when I'm lying on the ground in the jacket.
- Bivvy bag might be the way to go over a tarp for quickness and being more sealed in against the wind. Been looking at the Snugpak Ionisphere which is more of a micro tent, or just a lightweight coffin style bivvy.
- The bug-out Jacket is definitely something I want available. I had everything I needed to get through the night except for the cold ground but next time I can easily get raised off the ground with a little work, or the thermal pad in the jacket if I pursue the idea. I imagine I will prep up a few of them and leave one in the car from now on. A rucksack only encourages more items, and other than carrying gear its a redundant piece of equipment. At least the jacket is functional.
- Bugging out is hard. It naturally makes sense to prepare for a bug-in, but after this experience I've learned that it is essential to be prepared, to get home, to bug-in. Every day I am miles from home at any given point and all the work I put into having stocks in the house would be useless if say for an example an EMP event wiped out my car.
Hope this was useful to read.
All the best
Some pics from the morning
- View in the morning
- Tarp
- View on the walk back
