I'm really lucky- she can carry 2 duluth packs! With that, the 45 lb kevlar canoe, and a 20 lb day pack on my back, we make it through portages in one pass. That makes them so much less unpleasant!

Chris, you're one of the hardcores, eh? I mean, anyone who wears eau du coyote...

For me - in my experiences so far - practicing and really being caught between a rising tide and a beachless cliff have not been the same. One either rises to the occasion when it matters or not, and if fate is not unduly cruel, one manages with what the situation tosses at us. The knowledge and any bits of gear are well worth gaining, but it's still just not the same in a practice situation as it is in a real situation.

I generally believe in practicing with/how one reasonably expects he/she might someday find themselves situated. IME, again, having some accustomed gear fail/go missing is not that big of a deal most of the time - if it's critical, one improvises from whatever may be available. We're basically a tropical animal who has adapted mostly through making and using "gear" to survive most climates and weather on this planet.

There are plenty of situations where some bit of gear is absolutely required - I can't survive in vacuum without a suit and breathing mix. If I fall in frigid water without an immersion suit and have no way to emerge from the water, I'm gonna die. I personally cannot survive long naked above the treeline at sub-freezing temperatures, and so on. Let's leave those sorts of exercises in futility aside.

It is useful to stay out a night or two with only the waist pack / day pack a prudent person always carries when venturing out. No cheating, folks - pick your real pack and don't succumb to adding whatever you''ve been meaning to add to it... (I use a different day pack in Winter than the rest of the year, and that is realistic. It's still just a daypack and I really do carry it all the time.)

It is useful to go "car camping" with only what you normally carry in your vehicle. It is useful to camp off your horse/ATB/ATV with only what you normally pack.

IMHO, doing things like that are reasonable enough for most of us to practice at least once a year. Twice a year, with one in the "bad" weather season is 10 times better - for me, that means early rainy yucky spring as the "bad" weather. I admire the knowledge of folks who are proficient with some useful abo skills and try to learn some from time to time, but life is so short... I'm not willing to practice going strictly abo because I do not expect that I will ever *need* to do that. "Use what you've got..."

From upwind, Regards,

Tom

Learning the concept of "reducing ones exposure to risk" is fundamental to survival and one that can be carried EDC with no weight in your pockets and at no cost.

Flip

I would love to go camping, with the least amount of kit, testing skills ( knowing the theory helps but practise makes perfect) but my wifes idea of rough camping is a 2 star stone cottage in Brittany.

Stokie: My wife and I enjoy dual vacations every year. We find a nice rental cabin in a state park, or near one. The cabin has comfy beds, hot showers, a full kitchen, etc.

She stays in the cabin, I sleep in the woods. We go on nice day hikes together. I use the cabin as a base for one or two solo survival trips.

It seems to work out pretty well.

Bear

I just take the dog (if anyone) and the wife usually goes on a weekend-long shopping binge. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

>>Chris, you're one of the hardcores, eh? I mean, anyone who wears eau du coyote...

Tom, I think you may be on to a viable product idea here. It could open a whole line. The bottle of fox urine you buy for few bucks in the garden center could turn into a fortune in tiny bottles sold as "perfume!" <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />