Hi all,
Zach great job that you got out and stayed in your shelter. To bad about the water tasting bad. There has been some good advise on some things you can do to rememdy that. Pine needle tea is great and the pouring the water back and forth I have never tried that. I have in my pack some Propel packets. They really taste good when mixed in water, you might try something like that. they are made by Gatorade. 2 weeks and 1 day ago, I spent the night out and under a AMK heat sheet. I have and carry a shoulder bag with some survival goodies in it and with the clothes on my back have and still do stay out every once in while,( like 2 weeks ago and going to do it again tomorrow night ) just like if I went for a hike and got lost and had to spend the night out. I got my water from the creek that was near my camping spot. Here is what my shelter for the night looked like.
This pic was taken about 3:30 am ( I had to go pee LOL) so I thought I would take a pic of my little camp site.
Here is a pic of me and the fire after I got in and under the heat sheet. I just held the camera and in the back of me and took the pic.
This pic was taken at 5:30 am I was getting another pot of water so I could have some more coco.
Thank God for being able to take pics with the night exsposure thingy on cameras LOL
Getting out and practicing these over nighters like this will get better and you will learn from them and it will really open your eyes as to what you carry and if it really is going to work for you the way you want it to if you ever have to do it for real. ( Like going for a hike and getting lost and have to spend the night out, with what gear you have with you and the clothes on your back.
I live on a farm here in south east Neb. I was out this morning. I went to a spot that I put up a canvas lean to type set up. I set this up almost 3 weeks back . It has been through 2 rainy days and 1 snow storm that dropped a couple of inches of snow, since I put it up. This pic was taken after I set it up and then went home and got Kathy. We went back that evening to have a fire and coco and just plain relax around the fire for the evening. Here is Kathy in the lean to holding a Axe that I got from Brian Andrews.
After we got there and got the fire going. ( on purpose I did this) I asked kathy if she was warm enough by the fire. She said yes but the ground is cold sitting on just the tarp. I said to her well what should we do about it. She said umm LOL I said how about I get some dried grass. Here is the pic she took of me with the grass stalks I had collected. It took about 3 minutes to collect that much. Way more than enough to insulate us. the temp was 21 degrees with a north breeze.
Once I put that grass under the part of the tarp we were going to be sitting on. Again once we got back in under the tarp and settled in. I asked her a few minutes later if she was warn enough. This time she said yes. That grass that I put down was only about 2.5" high. Only through practice and with using different materails for insulation will you know how much you will need. I have used prairie grass just like that, before so I knew how much I needed to get for insulating us from the cold ground. Remember the temp was 21 degrees and with a breeze comming from the north.
I used just about that much 2 weeks and 1 day ago to when I stayed out then.
I know some have said that the lean to is not any good to use and that you need so many inches and feet of this and that to keep warm. I happen to like the lean to and have practiced enough to know what I need for insulation form the ground. Every body is different so you will have to try it out and see what works for you. Yes a three sided and shelter is warmer but in a pinch the leanto is set up and with a fire going I am plenty warm. I only learned this through practice and in different temperatures.
Now as to wood the same thing will appy. How much wood do you need to make it through the night with the clothes on your back. only through practice will you know that to. So when you go out again take your watch and do a time study on the wood that you use ( hopefuly you will know what kind of wood you use) to see how long it will burn. At 50 degrees If I have a pile of sticks ( roughly 1.5 feet wide and 2 feet long and 12 to 14 inches high and a light breeze) that are small finger to double thumb thickness in that plie it will take about 2.5 to 3 hours to burn through them. That is adding a few sticks ( 3 to 5) on at a time. That is what I did 2 weeks back. I started my fire at 7 pm and by 10pm I was ready to put on my wood that I cut earlyer in the day. I had 31 logs for my night fire they were in lengths of 24" or so and 2.5" to about 5" thick. I used roughly 3 logs every 45 minutes and all throught the night. (I used 24 logs) I put my camp fire out a 6:15 am thursday morning. and went home I had a 3 mile drive on my ATV to get home and then get couple of hours of real sleep LOL and then in the shop to make knives. doing these over nighters or even a couple of them you really do not sleep you doze while sitting or lying by your fire ( or that is how I do it LOL) . Even Horace kephart said in his book Camping and Woodcraft on page 34 and in the chapter called Bivouacs. Horace says the next morning---
A nights rest, even though FITFUL will help you feel better. doing a nights like this are not like sleeping in your bed. Well that has been my expereinces when anyways. like I said you doze and then put more wood on your fire and then doze and so on till morning. In the same chapter but at the end of it Horace says to Keep a stiff upper lip and do not let your self think of this as a tragedy ( that you had to stay the night out) but aninteressting adventure. I like to think of these times that I spend out at night with a tarp and fire. as a camping trip but with out my sleeping bag, tent, hotdogs, and marsh mellows and so on and so forth. LOL unless you really carry these items for just a hike or walk LOL. I am sure some how see what I carry think that is way to much gear for a hike. ( my shoulder bag and the contents inside and the axe and the knife that I carry on the sling weighs in a just under 11 pounds.) But I do not care, I carry what I carry because of the practice that I do and the years of hiking and camping. So keep practiceing Zach only by doing this will you know works for you and what does not for a night or more out. If am on the tractor moving big round bales of hay for my brother to feed cattle or on my ATV moving cattle from one part of the farm to another or just going to the shop ( to make knives) from the house I take that shoulder bag with me. If I am in the shop and decide to quite making knives because I decide I feel like going for a walk/hike all I do is grab my coat and sling my shoulder bag over my shouder, put put my gloves on ( i always wear my filson hat LOL) and grab my walking stick and whistle for Kelly Girl ( she is always ready for a walk LOL) be a 45 minute walk or heading into the timber and then setting up a AMK lean to ( I normally have a canvas tarp or 2 set up lean to style some where in the timber just for this purpose. Heat sheets cost money and they never pack up like when you first take them out of the packge LOL) and getting in a nights worth of wood for a fire to lay by it for the night, that pack is wtih me.
Just this morning Kelly Girl and I headed out to the timber and I went to that tarp that I set up about 3 weeks ago to have a fire and set up a poncho that I got yesterday from a camping store in Lincoln Ne. here is the pic I set it up just for fun near the canvas one and higher up. Notice the fire in the pic and my carhart coat in the lean to. I go to hot with it on and decided to vacate the lean to to take a pic. of the set up. The temp was 20 degrees and a north breeze blowing. with just a lite weight and a med. thermal shirts
on I was chilly then so I took to pics and then went back in under the tarps to warm up.
That is the same place I will be staying tomorrow night. With my pack and the clothes on my back. only this time I am going to wear my lite weight long john bottoms LOL. That is what I wore this morning. I was out and sitting by the fire from 9:15am this mornig to about 1pm this after noon. while sitting next to that fire and sitting on top of the roughly 2.5" of dreid grass stalks and the little bit of the canvas tarp I was plenty warm. kelly girl ran around next to the timber area looking for rabbits and what not and I just sat and feed the fire. I would go and cut wood for a little bit and then back to sitting next to the fire LOL
So Zach and all, I hope you get to get out and do some over nighters and see what they are like to do. they are great times and the practice will show you just how good your kit is or if you need to make some changes to it.
It seems to be a work in process though for me at least LOL.
Bryan
LOL. You will really learn what your kit is like when you practice that way and what you carry after that to LOL. I did untie them 2 sticks and burnt them LOL. I learned that it pays to be real careful when walking inmy neck of the the woods LOL.