November 2014 Challenge - Urban Survival

[DerekH]

Here we go people.

TO BE ELIGIBLE YOU MUST HAVE POSTED A PICTURE OF YOUR EDC IN THE ORIGINAL KNOWLEDGE THREAD!!!

Here is a link to the original thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...rmation-Thread-06-October-2014-Urban-Survival

EDC is limited to the stuff you have in your pockets every single day, and a pack if you carry a pack every single day. That is all. See the information thread or ask in the discussion thread if you have any questions.

This month's challenge is to go out into a part of the city that you are not intimately familiar with (sorry forest dwelling brethren, this one is for the city folk or those that feel like taking a drive) and spend 12 hours there securing the three essentials:

1. Water
2. Shelter
3. Fire (or a form of heat)

Show ways to use your Becker knife to help you in this endeavor. Extra points if you manage to secure additional resources, like food, or a place to wash up, etc... I realize this could be considered dangerous, so as per always, Ka-Bar, Cutco, Bladeforums, Ethan Becker, nor any other entities are responsible for any harm that may come to you by participating in this contest. None are compelled nor required to participate, and participants enter of their own free will and will not hold liable any entity previously named or associated with these contests, bladeforums, Ka-Bar, Cutco, Ethan Becker, or any affiliates. Enter at your own risk, use your heads, keep the sharp bits pointed away from yourself, and good luck.

Let me stress this: DO NOT PUT YOURSELF IN DANGER!

This is a contest and you are not going to win anything near worth enough to put yourself into real danger. If it gets rough, go home.

Start and end pics must be time-stamped. If you cannot figure out how to work your camera well enough to turn on the time-stamp feature, spend more time with your camera and figure it out, otherwise take a picture of your watch, but it absolutely must show the start time and end time in some form or another. I want pictures of the environment, pictures of your gear that you take, pictures of the things you come up with, the whole shebang. If you cannot follow those clear, concise instructions, you will not win. I may even move your entry into the cove so that others can ridicule you for your lack of ability in following simple directions.

Contest is open to all. If you are under 18, you will need your parents permission before we will send you anything. If that is not received within 5 days of the announcement of the winners it will go to someone else.

The contest will be judged by a guest, so keep that in mind when you are posting your pics.

ENTRIES ARE LIMITED TO ONE POST. I WILL ALLOW ONE ADDITIONAL POST IF YOU HAVE MORE PICS THAT YOU CANNOT FIT IN A SINGLE POST.

NO CHATTING!!!

CHATTERS WILL FIND THEIR COMMENTS RELOCATED AND RIDICULED

There will be a discussion thread at the following link where all questions and comments and "boohoo I can't plays" can be made here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...nge-Discussion-Thread?p=14111430#post14111430

CONTEST WILL RUN UNTIL MIDNIGHT ON NOVEMBER 30th EASTERN TIME


PRIZES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1st Place: ???? (Surprise. Don't ask. I am going to try to make it a really good one, but it will be a something nice. Promise.)
2nd Place: BK5
3rd Place: BK11

 

[Chameleonbear]

I'm in, I forgot to slap my John Hancock on here. This post shall henceforth be edited with my entry.

 

[Eero]

*reserved*

 

[NikkiR]

I'm going to go ahead and start posting photos now and throughout the day. I only have cell phone access today, so multiple photos at once will be hard.
Austin recently had a shooter down town, and there have been protests. Going downtown and starting fires would not have been a good idea as law enforcement has been on the increase as of late. I opted for a city park area that is down town.....Still was pretty sketched out while making a fire, didn't let it burn for too long because I didn't want to bring attention to us.
The only gear I really ended up using was my BK11 and my water bottle. Used my flashlight a bit once it got dark.

***i went to a park I was not familiar with, but was about a 10 minute walk to a very busy part of town

This is my starting gear per the original thread. The only differences is my water bottle. I left my Nalgene at the doctors office, so I had to use my Klean Kanteen. Also my medical gear is in the Molle bag. Using my Dueter bag as an urban friendly bag. Time stamps and watch photo.
I will post up more later as I come into wifi



I am blessed enough to live in a city that literally has green belts and parks interwoven with the urban landscape. This is 3 minutes from where I spent most of the day.


This is where we decided to set up shop for most of the day

Found a fountain to obtain water later...alas, there was no water...that would be too easy.

We walked around for a while, just enjoying the day, then found this sweet troll bridge

A sweet troll bridge indeed. I believe I have found a good place to make a shelter, for the most part, already a good shelter.

Starting the fire building. Using the BK11 all day for all tasks

I thought I would add a little bit of cover from the wind, and a little bit of privacy on one side. I will start carrying around cordage with me now. Also, it is very, very janky....but it served it's purpose for the day. Also we were trying to stay out of sight of other people
Gathered some sticks to start the process. Again, using my BK11.

I could grab a nap if need be, and be partially concealed.

Allowed a lot of time for reading/journaling
This is somewhere I would have never noticed, but in the end didn't mind spending a good part of my day there.

We came to a point where my dog needed water, but I hadn't brought anything for him to drink out of. Found a damaged 1 gallon jug, and made a dog bowl out it with my 11

Now we needed to find more water. Potable water. Public restroom....seems legit

Found a second shelter that I did not need to add too. I could crawl up or down and be completely concealed.

Then we found a whole lot of water, and some grub...a tiny bit of grub.

Basically just walked around the park for a while and played with the dog in between tasks. Took one last photo before we headed out. I peed there.
Hope fully everything came through ok.

 

[DerekH]

Congrats Nikki! You win 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places! I will have the boss send you your goodies.

 

[Ulf Krogstad]

Congrats Nikki.

 

[NikkiR]

I don't know if I should post up here, or in the chat board.
I am super grateful and happy to have been able to participate in this. The generosity of the mods on this board, and the people in general is just amazing!
I was able to learn a few things about my personal EDC, and what I need to add. I also had a blast and was able to look at my surroundings in a more opportunistic way, and noticed nooks and crannies that were previously invisible to me.
I do believe that if anyone else would have participated, I would not have won. I was really hoping to see what everyone else came up with.
So here's to the best participation trophy that has ever been won!
Thank you so much again!
D, I sent you a message about my addy.

 

[Chalet]

Congrats, looks like an awesome day! I would've loved to do this but never posted an edc picture (figured it would've been boring because I don't carry much). That'll teach me.

I'm jealous of that weather. Can't wait to see the surprise prize.

 

[TBL]

Congrats Nikki!

 

[Jonny1280]

Nice job Nikki!

 

[NixKustoms]

Nice job Nikki!!

 

[ocnLogan]

Gratz!

I love seeing everything documented, and it looks like you did one heck of a job .

Maybe its because I cycle to work, but I'm always on the lookout for little places of shelter (in case of crazy rain/wind), and for places along my route with water. Its amazing how much there is around if you keep an eye out for it .

Congrats again .

 

[stabman]

Congrats.
Wish I'd seen this thread sooner...it's exactly the sort of thing I like doing.

 

[budazz]

Grats niki!!! And if your looking to unload your extra bk11 lemme know lol

 

[Chameleonbear]

awesome Nikki! I'm glad this contest wasn't a complete bust.

For me I had to determine is it worth it to try this, and have to deal with the protesting and rioting in town, and for me it just wasn't.

 

[ironborn]

Way to go Nikki!

 

[mchipman]

Nice work Nikki, congratulations.

 

[Eero]

Great entry Nikki. I had every intention of doing the challenge but it kept getting pushed to the back burner until I ran out of time.

Although I didn't do the chellenge I planned on it all month so I was thinking about this stuff quite a bit when I was driving around the city and going about my days. It made me realize that I don't carry with me on the daily what I need to survive in an urban environment if the shtf. Like you said in your entry nikki when I really started to look for places to hunker down here in seattle I started to see them all over.

 

[1066vik]

Good job and congrats Nikki!