- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
- Messages
- 9,786
Last night I decided to embark on J. William's PSK challenge. It was supposed to rain with chance of thunderstorm, which I thought would make it kind of sexy for a thread. But it didn't and I'm glad for it. It did get pretty cold though at 8oC (47oF) and I made a point of not bringing a blanket.
What I did bring was my regular daybag (maxpedition Falcon II) with usual stuff I have on my dog walks/day hikes. My kit contents contained a PSK/FAK combo which I have reviewed before but I essentially did not tap in this (aside from a rollaide that I decided to eat in the night due to heartburn). I also had a Grabber brand emergency blanket, these are the thicker 5' x 7' tarps which I usually bring along with me because I like kneeling on it. My plan was to use a heat sheet that I had already opened (I have an unopened one in my PSK) but I couldn't find it. Not wanting open my new one, I found my daughters old girl guide tarp which is a 4' x 6' vinyl (think cheap shower curtain) in place of the heat sheet. I had a maxpedition waterbottle holder with SS water bottle and bottle cup. Some hot chocolate, which I usually carry with me on day hikes. I had a firekit which I didn't use. I also had a full gortex rainsuit and wool sweater. My tools were my SAK OHT in belt sheath with firesteel, my Brian Andrews Terracrafter knife and a U-Dig-It belt trowel.
Two things I brought as emergency supplies. I threw in a pair of fleece baselayer bibs (100 wt fleece) and I also threw in the Thermolyte 2.0 emergency bivy. So that was the kit.
So my wife dropped me off about 1.5 km from my destination spot. It was about 6:45 pm when I got there. I did get a little distracted watching the deer romping and playing and hardly concerned about my presence without Beta (my dog) charging after them. I was very tempted to gather phragmites reeds for my bedding but decided I did that too many times already. Instead, I harvested the dead stocks of golden rod for bedding. This was quite a bit more work than phragmities, taking about 4 times the amount of time to harvest. But given the time of year, I wasn't super concerned about conduction of heat to the ground and I didn't need to gather that much. I laid the golden rod stems along a big fallen cottonwood that was clear of any other deadfall. It was nice being able to lay my back towards the log and provided its own heat reflector. I covered the weed stems with the girl guide vinyl tarp for a bedding and hung my heat sheet as an overhead tarp.
I used the u-dig-it tool to dig my fire pit in front of my bedding and just outside the tarp. The pit was about 6" deep and 3' x 2.5' or so in dimensions. The earth was very damp and as such I wasn't that worried about fire, plus there was standing water all around me. Then came the firewood prep. Okay, this is doable, but a lot more difficult with nothing but a SAK and a 4.5" fixed blade. I was lucky enough to find a couple of oak deadfalls that were leaning and very dry and both large but movable on my own. They were about 8" in diameter and 12-15' in length and I hauled them over to the pit using the long fire method. I then broke up/lever broke/smashed very dry cottonwood which burns fast and hot but does not last that long. The cottonwood ranged from wrist size to calf size. I also took a lot of time preparing two large tinder bundles of different sized twigs, one for starting the fire and the second to get that fire back going if it went out in the night. It took about an hour and a half to get what I thought would last me the night. It would have been a lot easier with my buck saw or an axe. Sure you can break up wood rather than process it but its not that easy.
Overall the set-up worked pretty good. I started the fire using my firesteel and shavings from oak/cottonwood and then continued on with a twig fire until I got those big oak logs embered up. I drank half my water (I brought 1 L with me) during the wood prep. Then the other half I used to make hot chocolate. Always feels good to have hot fluids when you are preparing for the night. I dawned my fleece underwear noting that it was chilling down a bit and put on my gortex pants and jacket overtop that. I dosed off with the fire burning nicely and well controlled at about 12:00 pm. I woke up about once every hour to 1.5 h as I would start to chill. I'd stoke the fire with my wood pile and a haul in the big oak log back over the fire proper.
This seemed to work pretty well. I was a bit chill (wearing only my cloths + gortex on top) but not cold. Bedding could have been a bit thicker but it wasn't that bad. Then I woke up at 3:00 am and the fire was down to just a few embers. I was quite cold at this point, but not shivering, just uncomfortable. Noting the time, I figured maybe I could just grab the emergency bivy and see how that worked. It wasn't that great. Now, I had all my cloths on (fleece base layer, wool sweater, gortex jacket & pants) and this bulk made it hard for me to get in the bivy. I caused it to tear a bit at the side seams and I couldn't really close it that well with the velcro tabs. Everytime I moved my arms, the velcro would disengage and the upper slit with open up. This thing is supposed to provide protection to 50oF. It was a bit lower than that and I would say it really didn't help that much. It was better than no bivy, but I can't say I'm too impressed with it. I liked it when I tried it at home but I think if I really want an emergency bivy that I will get true one that is also lightweight.
Okay, so the bivy wasn't helping on my cold situation so I then decided to re-ignite the fire. There were still embers available so all I had to do was use my 2nd tinder bundle of twigs and blow it to flames. However, I was getting low on wood and I had to forage for some more. I had noted a deadfall about 50 feet from my fire earlier in the evening and went to it, breaking off some arm sized pieces of cotton wood and laid them on the fire and dragged a fresh section of the oak logs to get them fired back up. I found that the emergency bivy did work to beef up my under padding. At least that helped.
I woke up at 5:00 am with the birds singing, a firepit of glowing embers, the sun out and two new spark holes in my grabbit tarp. Oh well, at least my gortex stayed in tact. It was a 5 km walk back and I had fun picking my way through both prairie and forest, finding some wild edibles including my first harvest of stinging nettles and enjoying the morning to myself.
Things I could have done. I didn't build a reflector wall behind the fire and I could have dipped into my PSK and use the heat sheet as a heat reflector on the log at my back but I didn't. I guess I was lazy and just stoked up the fire instead of using a more efficient shelter. I felt that 50oF in my clothing would have been pretty easy to do and proximity to fire. It was, but also much colder than I expected. A wool blanket would have made the night go by perfectly. Despite thinking I had put together enough wood for my night, I didn't. I thought the oak logs would burn better but they basically became huge ember generators but they were good at generating heat. They also did preserve embers for when I went to sleep. It was a good test run on a long fire for me as a heat source. Waking up to stoke the fire and move the logs every hour or so was a bit of a PITA, but your body definitely tells when it is time to wake up and do something useful.
I finished my water in the middle of the night and had to get another 1L of standing water and boiled it while the embers were nice and hot. The SS waterbottle worked fine for this, but I still prefer using a pot. More stable, easier to handle. Seems like a good bulk/weight compromise.
I was glad I took the extra's, that being my fleece baselayer. The emergency bivvy was a disappointment in its actual performance. I thought I liked it when I tried it out in the yard, but of course I didn't try to sleep in it. Sleeping in it was cramped and it really didn't provide much extra heat than what my clothes were providing me.
I'll get a video up and post it to this thread later this afternoon. Overall, this was a great challenge. Not the most comfortable, nor truly any kind of survival test per se. But it was a good test of concept of what I normally bring along with me on a day hike and this kit can easily take me through the night in this weather. As mtwarden said, taking extra clothes shouldn't be overlooked. Those fleece undies were a far better kit item then the emergency bivvy and don't take up more more room or weight then the bivvy does.
What I did bring was my regular daybag (maxpedition Falcon II) with usual stuff I have on my dog walks/day hikes. My kit contents contained a PSK/FAK combo which I have reviewed before but I essentially did not tap in this (aside from a rollaide that I decided to eat in the night due to heartburn). I also had a Grabber brand emergency blanket, these are the thicker 5' x 7' tarps which I usually bring along with me because I like kneeling on it. My plan was to use a heat sheet that I had already opened (I have an unopened one in my PSK) but I couldn't find it. Not wanting open my new one, I found my daughters old girl guide tarp which is a 4' x 6' vinyl (think cheap shower curtain) in place of the heat sheet. I had a maxpedition waterbottle holder with SS water bottle and bottle cup. Some hot chocolate, which I usually carry with me on day hikes. I had a firekit which I didn't use. I also had a full gortex rainsuit and wool sweater. My tools were my SAK OHT in belt sheath with firesteel, my Brian Andrews Terracrafter knife and a U-Dig-It belt trowel.
Two things I brought as emergency supplies. I threw in a pair of fleece baselayer bibs (100 wt fleece) and I also threw in the Thermolyte 2.0 emergency bivy. So that was the kit.
So my wife dropped me off about 1.5 km from my destination spot. It was about 6:45 pm when I got there. I did get a little distracted watching the deer romping and playing and hardly concerned about my presence without Beta (my dog) charging after them. I was very tempted to gather phragmites reeds for my bedding but decided I did that too many times already. Instead, I harvested the dead stocks of golden rod for bedding. This was quite a bit more work than phragmities, taking about 4 times the amount of time to harvest. But given the time of year, I wasn't super concerned about conduction of heat to the ground and I didn't need to gather that much. I laid the golden rod stems along a big fallen cottonwood that was clear of any other deadfall. It was nice being able to lay my back towards the log and provided its own heat reflector. I covered the weed stems with the girl guide vinyl tarp for a bedding and hung my heat sheet as an overhead tarp.
I used the u-dig-it tool to dig my fire pit in front of my bedding and just outside the tarp. The pit was about 6" deep and 3' x 2.5' or so in dimensions. The earth was very damp and as such I wasn't that worried about fire, plus there was standing water all around me. Then came the firewood prep. Okay, this is doable, but a lot more difficult with nothing but a SAK and a 4.5" fixed blade. I was lucky enough to find a couple of oak deadfalls that were leaning and very dry and both large but movable on my own. They were about 8" in diameter and 12-15' in length and I hauled them over to the pit using the long fire method. I then broke up/lever broke/smashed very dry cottonwood which burns fast and hot but does not last that long. The cottonwood ranged from wrist size to calf size. I also took a lot of time preparing two large tinder bundles of different sized twigs, one for starting the fire and the second to get that fire back going if it went out in the night. It took about an hour and a half to get what I thought would last me the night. It would have been a lot easier with my buck saw or an axe. Sure you can break up wood rather than process it but its not that easy.
Overall the set-up worked pretty good. I started the fire using my firesteel and shavings from oak/cottonwood and then continued on with a twig fire until I got those big oak logs embered up. I drank half my water (I brought 1 L with me) during the wood prep. Then the other half I used to make hot chocolate. Always feels good to have hot fluids when you are preparing for the night. I dawned my fleece underwear noting that it was chilling down a bit and put on my gortex pants and jacket overtop that. I dosed off with the fire burning nicely and well controlled at about 12:00 pm. I woke up about once every hour to 1.5 h as I would start to chill. I'd stoke the fire with my wood pile and a haul in the big oak log back over the fire proper.
This seemed to work pretty well. I was a bit chill (wearing only my cloths + gortex on top) but not cold. Bedding could have been a bit thicker but it wasn't that bad. Then I woke up at 3:00 am and the fire was down to just a few embers. I was quite cold at this point, but not shivering, just uncomfortable. Noting the time, I figured maybe I could just grab the emergency bivy and see how that worked. It wasn't that great. Now, I had all my cloths on (fleece base layer, wool sweater, gortex jacket & pants) and this bulk made it hard for me to get in the bivy. I caused it to tear a bit at the side seams and I couldn't really close it that well with the velcro tabs. Everytime I moved my arms, the velcro would disengage and the upper slit with open up. This thing is supposed to provide protection to 50oF. It was a bit lower than that and I would say it really didn't help that much. It was better than no bivy, but I can't say I'm too impressed with it. I liked it when I tried it at home but I think if I really want an emergency bivy that I will get true one that is also lightweight.
Okay, so the bivy wasn't helping on my cold situation so I then decided to re-ignite the fire. There were still embers available so all I had to do was use my 2nd tinder bundle of twigs and blow it to flames. However, I was getting low on wood and I had to forage for some more. I had noted a deadfall about 50 feet from my fire earlier in the evening and went to it, breaking off some arm sized pieces of cotton wood and laid them on the fire and dragged a fresh section of the oak logs to get them fired back up. I found that the emergency bivy did work to beef up my under padding. At least that helped.
I woke up at 5:00 am with the birds singing, a firepit of glowing embers, the sun out and two new spark holes in my grabbit tarp. Oh well, at least my gortex stayed in tact. It was a 5 km walk back and I had fun picking my way through both prairie and forest, finding some wild edibles including my first harvest of stinging nettles and enjoying the morning to myself.
Things I could have done. I didn't build a reflector wall behind the fire and I could have dipped into my PSK and use the heat sheet as a heat reflector on the log at my back but I didn't. I guess I was lazy and just stoked up the fire instead of using a more efficient shelter. I felt that 50oF in my clothing would have been pretty easy to do and proximity to fire. It was, but also much colder than I expected. A wool blanket would have made the night go by perfectly. Despite thinking I had put together enough wood for my night, I didn't. I thought the oak logs would burn better but they basically became huge ember generators but they were good at generating heat. They also did preserve embers for when I went to sleep. It was a good test run on a long fire for me as a heat source. Waking up to stoke the fire and move the logs every hour or so was a bit of a PITA, but your body definitely tells when it is time to wake up and do something useful.
I finished my water in the middle of the night and had to get another 1L of standing water and boiled it while the embers were nice and hot. The SS waterbottle worked fine for this, but I still prefer using a pot. More stable, easier to handle. Seems like a good bulk/weight compromise.
I was glad I took the extra's, that being my fleece baselayer. The emergency bivvy was a disappointment in its actual performance. I thought I liked it when I tried it out in the yard, but of course I didn't try to sleep in it. Sleeping in it was cramped and it really didn't provide much extra heat than what my clothes were providing me.
I'll get a video up and post it to this thread later this afternoon. Overall, this was a great challenge. Not the most comfortable, nor truly any kind of survival test per se. But it was a good test of concept of what I normally bring along with me on a day hike and this kit can easily take me through the night in this weather. As mtwarden said, taking extra clothes shouldn't be overlooked. Those fleece undies were a far better kit item then the emergency bivvy and don't take up more more room or weight then the bivvy does.
