Dead Reign Survival Tips

[azazel1024]

Pretty much my backpacking gear, with a couple of extras that I don't normally carry.

- Medium to large size internal or external frame pack (peronally medium sized, 4,200cu-in)
- 1 or 2 man light weight tent (personally 2 man)
- Medium duty sleeping bag (20 to 30F rated), preferably down filled as it insulates when wet and is also lighter than synthetic fillers (I have old synthetic fill, buying a goose down one before big trip this fall)
- Pistol and ammo (don't have/carry)
- Light hunting rifle such as a .223 or .30-30 or .30-06 with ammo (don't have/carry)
- compass
- watch
- mess kit, preferably titanium solo or 2 person kit with a couple of good sized metal skewers if you need to cook a large piece of meat over an open flame, such as for hunting (well, after the hunt) (I don't really carry skewers with me backpacking)
- Multifuel stove and several fuel bottles (I personally carry a propane mini-stove, but getting fuel isn't hard in a non-apocolytic real world)
- Hatchet
- 100ft spectra cord (weighs about an ounce or two)
- foam sleeping pad
- a couple of changes of clothes
- medium weight jacket (depends on expect weather personally)
- ultra light windbreaker/rain jacket
- boots
- several pairs of hiking socks
- Medium sized fixed blade knife (pretty multipurpose)
- Magnesium fire starter (or three)
- Flint/steel fire starter
- As many matches and you can cram (lighters okay)
- Chlorine water purification packets, as many as you can manage
- pump Water filter (only carry if I think I'll need it)
- Collapsable water containers (IE soft sided)
- 1-2 water bottles
- As much food as you think you can resonably manage. Dehydrated is better
- Vitamins
- Small first aid kit
- Couple of small bags/sacks that can be clipped to either the front or back/sides of your pack for carry unexpected extras
- A couple of small flashlights/headband LED lights
- NiMh rechargable batteries
- Solar powered batter charger
- Small binoculars
- Toiletries as needed (I tend to carry a mini-contact lens cleaning bottle, contact lens holder, tooth brush, travel sized tooth paste, glasses and a travel sized hand sanitizer. If going for a longer trip where I think I'll run in to rivers/streams and/or camp grounds with showers I'll sometimes take a travel sized body wash bottle and try to bath in there once every week or a little more often (at least cleaning my feet every day or two), in this scenario I'd carry full sized version of as much as I can)

Total weight if not going overboard is probably about 50lbs with the fire arms about about 3L of water. Not light, but managable if you aren't trying to cover a lot of ground in any given day.

Loaded down with a bunch of food and some extras probably around 65lbs with about 5L of water and extra food (extra matches, lighters, clothes, ammo, etc). Barely managable for a resonably strong person just doing 5-6 miles a day normally.

My personal pack, sans firearms (since I don't own any nor would carry any back packing) and most of what I mentioned above with a few exceptions weighs around 40-45lbs when I go backpacking most of the time. Its doable for about 10-12 miles at a time and I have gone as much as 32miles in a day with a similar weighted pack a few years ago. That was a killer though and unless you are in excellent, excellent shape way more distance than most people can manage period, and more than even most people in good shape can manage without needing a couple of days of rest afterward (maximum 2-3 miles a day for a couple of days to rest).

Of course this isn't strictly on flat ground, this is through the moutains on the AT, so flat lands would be somewhat easier to do.
-Matt