My walking pic of the day-
Fox scat
I believe this to be fox scat (crap). The fox diligently placed it on top of a rock so everyone in the woods could see it and smell it. Fox like to do this with their scat. Notice the seeds in it. It looks like this fox has been eating berries.
I keep a bag in my car to provide stuff that I may need if I end up having to walk home. I’m usually no more than 20 miles from home and usually not too far from my car. I don’t anticipate having to spend more then one night away from home. Probably not even. So my Get Home Bag is designed around these specific needs: walk no more then 20 miles and only having to spend 1-3 nights away from home. I also have a fair amount of stuff in my car that isn’t shown. That’s another post.
The first thing you need to do in the event of having to run home is to make yourself safe. After that, you need to unpack everything you have with you, your pockets and the contents of your Get Home Bag (“GHB”). Take an inventory. Figure out what you have and the multiple uses that each item has. Slow down. Bad decisions are made in haste.
This is my get home bag.
Get Home Bag
As you can see it’s a waterproof SealLine 20 liter bag. I have other bags in my car that I can put it into in case I want to go incognito. Carrying the SealLine bag through urban or suburban areas would attract unneeded attention. I usually have a black messenger bag with me that I could stuff the SealLine bag into if I needed to.
The contents:
GHB1
Here we have a survival blanket that has all kinds of survival tips written right on it. Even though you know everything, when you are under stress you forget or can’t recall stuff. It’s good to have everything written down. Next are a few rubber gloves, a dust mask and toilet paper in a zip loc bag.
GHB2
Here are a few large plastic bags with a rubber band around them. The yellow thing is a reflective survival sleeping bag. A cheesy tube tent and cheesy rain poncho. I keep them packed in their plastic bags because it’s good to have bags in the brush.
GHB3
Here is a NuWick candle in a can. Packed inside of the can are the wicks and a lousy pack of matches. NuWick should supply waterproof matches with its product. NuWick knows it’s a survival item so they shouldn’t get chintzy with the matches. The thing in the zip loc bag is an alcohol lamp/stove. The black thing is a small pot/large cup to heat stuff up with. The handles collapse around the pot. The thing with the yellow handle and black rod is a flint fire starter. The shiny silver thing is an old fashioned waterproof match holder packed with strike anywheres and a piece of course sandpaper for striking.
GHB4
Upper left corner are two sets of plastic cutlery wrapped in plastic wrap. Inside the zip loc bag (I love bags.) is a survival saw. You can’t depend on these things, but it’s light, cheap and small so why not pack it? Don’t depend on them though. If you think that you will HAVE to use a saw on your way home get a better one. You can rip the rings off the end of these survival saws with a teeny bit of pressure. Bottom center is a small bottle of Purell hand sanitizer. Bottom left corner is a Platypus bag wrapped with a rubber band. It’s basically a collapsible canteen. The Platypus bags can be boiled, frozen and rolled up very small. These things are great.
GHB5
The silver thing in the black case is a small radio. It picks up AM/FM/TV and shortwave. It’s digitally tuned. I think I got 2 for $20. When I’m walking home I want to be able to listen to the news. The other thing is a headlamp.
GHB6
Here is a shank of parachute cord. It can be stripped down and the inside strands used for whatever. In the middle is a shank of poly rope. At the bottom is a little roll of duct tape.
GHB7
At the top is a Swedish Mora knife with a sheath that has a nice belt clip. The knife is very sharp. It was only $9 or so from Smoky Mountain Knife Works. A Gillette disposable razor and a cheap slingshot. Also, floating around the bottom of my GHB are probably about 50 ball bearings.
GHB8
This is a Survival Straw. These things are great. I can drink out of a puddle if need be. You can get cheaper ones, but they are probably just filters. In which case you may also have to treat the water with bleach, iodine or other chemicals. This Survival Straw has some sort of silver in it that also kills the bugs and viruses. This is the kind to get. http://www.thestrawoflife.com/. You can find it cheaper so look around. Once again, save the bag it comes in and the directions.
GHB8
This is the food I carry in my GHB. On the left is a bag of raisins and brown sugar. It’s like the ingredients for hooch in the can. On the right is more food double zip locked.
GHB9
The zip lock food bag unpacked. At the top two packs of Swiss Miss hot cocoa, a pack of tuna, the black round thing is a small glass jar of honey, two gold and black packets of Earl Grey tea, four or five hard candies, a pack of Top Ramen, four things of Cup a Soup, the things running vertically are three packs of soup bouillon.
GHB10
This is a one liter Nalgene type bottle. It came packed with first aid supplies. I got it for about $10. Of course I had to supplement it with more stuff.
The bottle unpacked is below:
GHB11
A pair of tweezers, a cheap compass, a bag with wet naps, an orange cheap whistle, a small roll of first aid tape and a red Bic lighter.
GHB12
On the left in the little baggie are first aid type wipes, antibiotic, burn and stingeze. At the top the little blue pills are an anti-histamine, to the right is a pack of Advil, in the middle anti-biotic Neosporin, a bunch of brass safety pins and at the bottom is a little shank of poly string.
GHB13
Here we have a bag with assorted bandages and gauze pads, a pair of scissors, in the center is a disposable razor knife. You know the kind it has like ten blades that snap off. The bottom left is a small zip loc bag rolled up and secured with a rubber band.
GHB14
At the top left is a triangle bandage in a bag. The top right is a small pack of tissues. Bottom left is a bag of anti-septic towelettes. The bottom right is a small container of aspirin and Immodium. You have to know not to take aspirin if bleeding is a risk, but to take aspirin in the event of stroke or heart attack. if you didn’t know this you are weak in the first aid area and need to bone up. Not trying to be critical. I just am by nature.
GHB15
At the top left are eight Micropur water purifying tablets. The top right are some disposable brush ups to keep your teeth clean and get rid of foul tastes or just make you feel more human. The bottom right are 4.0 Ethilon sutures. The bottom right is a first aid guide. I’m pretty good with first aid, but under stress I may not be thinking right so it helps to be able to read. Keep directions. An example, you may be suffering from hypothermia and not recognize it because one of the symptoms of hypothermia is confusion. You start reading your little first aid guide and realize that confusion is a sign of hypothermia. Light then dawns on marble head and you recognize that you need to take corrective action.
GHB16
The last items in the one liter bottle is a pack of straight needles and a spool of black thread.
You get that pics GHB11-GHB16 are the contents of the red one liter bottle.
You need to occasionally unpack everything so you know what you have and also to check the batteries. The whole thing weighs about ten pounds and measures 18″ * 9″ * 8″.
Cost = Priceless.
Mens sarne incorporo sarno.