I notice a lot of people talking about clothes- what about a plash palatka? Maybe made from the same type of material as the stuff at Tentsmiths- so that it's more portable? Very versatile & able to be kept in a smaller bag at that point (maybe even a lumbar pack). I know a regular poncho of the same style would work for most of that, but it's not too fire/ember resistant (even with the flame resistant spray, I'd think it wouldn't be as good overall- since it's louder to move around in & less durable).
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What about general tools to take into serious situations?
- Thread starter Wolfeye
- Start date
Where do people even GET maps of an area, anyway? Besides 7-Eleven & AAA? I don't know where to get maps of the woods or anything (not in any detail). Would be good to know where you might be able to find water, where trails are & aren't, where there are mountains/canyons/rocky ground, etc... .
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I've been told Delorme makes great maps and map products. It's on my list of emergency prep things to buy.
http://delorme.com
Local EMS type store should have topos and other maps of the area
US Geological Survey publishes standard topographic quadrangle maps of 1:10,000 through 1:250,000 scales.
http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/b2c/start/(xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&layout=0_1_75&uiarea=1)/.do
1-888-ASK-USGS
http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/b2c/start/(xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&layout=0_1_75&uiarea=1)/.do
1-888-ASK-USGS
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Interesting side-note: There are glow-in-the-dark maps on ebay. It's under "Made to Order Glow in the Dark, Waterproof, Topo Map. on Ultralight Paper." Apparently, it has kind of a grippy underside so it doesn't slide around on the hood of a car or whatever. Saw it on Black Scout Survival's channel, just to be complete with information.
You should be able to "MacGyve" your way out of most situations with the above. I'd also throw in something to burn things- bic lighter, etc.
Eastern Mountain Sports. They sell outdoor equipment. I've bought topo maps from them before.
Eastern Mt. Sports (I think). Basically, its an outdoor adventure store for hiking, kayaking, etc.. I'd think Cabella's, LL Bean type stores would also have that kind of map.
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As Leghog said USGS has them for any area you want in a variety of sizes, just download and print. I'd add that knowing land nav with a compass and protractor is a very valuable skill to have and maintain. It takes practice.
Depending on whats going on body armor can be a good thing to have, always a good first aid kit, portable water, filter, multitool, folding knife, and whatever armaments you want or need. Absolutely good footwear, that won't wear out or tear up your feet. Then there is the need for a pry bar. The big sears one is pretty handy.
Depending on whats going on body armor can be a good thing to have, always a good first aid kit, portable water, filter, multitool, folding knife, and whatever armaments you want or need. Absolutely good footwear, that won't wear out or tear up your feet. Then there is the need for a pry bar. The big sears one is pretty handy.
Yeah, I need to get around to that. I can find my way around pretty good visually & keep on course when I'm going somewhere (ex: you go two blocks over to get around something & you'd go two blocks back to get back to where you were aligned before- whatever that's called). I can gauge distance & angles pretty well, but map scales & deviations from what's actually there confuse me. Why don't they just print things the way they are?
Apparently quite a bit of the depiction of areas on world maps is not to scale- Greenland isn't nearly as large as it's depicted (I remember hearing it was because they, whoever they are/were, didn't want to depict that much water), Africa is larger than North America, India is larger than the Scandanavian countries, and Mexico is bigger than Alaska! Oh, but school is so important.
Apparently quite a bit of the depiction of areas on world maps is not to scale- Greenland isn't nearly as large as it's depicted (I remember hearing it was because they, whoever they are/were, didn't want to depict that much water), Africa is larger than North America, India is larger than the Scandanavian countries, and Mexico is bigger than Alaska! Oh, but school is so important.
Maps used for navigation do depict the way things are. In the vast majority of the world there is a deviation between true north an magnetic north so that declination must be accounted for in a map with true north gridlines when taking and following bearing using a compass's magnetic needle.
Such maps are not used to navigate. Their scales are worthless to precisely navigate but the chart is depicted with such irregularities so a straight line in the map translates to a straight line on the Earth's surface. To do that, the earth's curvature in three dimensional space must be accounted for in a two dimensional chart. There are two dimension charts of the entire world with land masses all the appropriate scale and sized relative to one another, however a straight line on the Earth's surface must then be translated into a curved line on the chart/map. Check out a 7.5 minute (1:24,000) map, a 15 minute map, a UTM (1:50,000) map, or a 1:62,500 map. Maps with these scales are extremely useful for precise navigation precisely because they do depict "things the way they are" and precisely because a straight line on the map equates to a straight line on the Earth's surface.
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