As I mentioned in a post Sunday night, this weekend we went on a hiking trip. We eventually ended up about 60 miles from the nearest town. Although we did not have any trouble and as always, were well equipped, however we did run into another couple who were truck camping. We spent about 10 minutes talking with them which during this time, I had a chance to have a critical look around their campsite and made some observations of their kit. Other than the kit listed below, the door to their truck was open and I did not see any other kit in there nor in the truck bed.

After we left, I thought of what would have happened if their truck broke down and they had to walk out based on the below scenario, options and the kit I seen that they had out in the open.

Let's assume for sake of this scenario, you do not have a PLB nor a SPOT nor did you tell anyone where you were going. Also, lets leave the politics of why someone would not carry such safety devices nor not leave trip/route details with families or friends. In a nutshell, this pretty much describes the quintessential Mr. and Mrs. Weekend Car Camper.

So Mr. and Mrs. Weekend Car Camper, your truck is broke down and as a non ETS forum member, you have a modest but not overwhelming car camping type of kit with you and your SO. (remember no PLB or SPOT)

Your route to safety is 60 miles away and there are 2 different options:

1) Fairly open semi-arid mountainous (up to around 4800') terrain that is not all that dissimilar to some areas of Eastern Washington State, Colorado, Idaho etc. The weather is around 85-90F daytime and lows of around 50F at night. The odd, cold spell is not uncommon and rain mixed with sleet can occur in July as we seen on Sunday morning. By lunch though, it had warmed up to 77F. This route to safety is along old logging roads and trails that may or may not be on some maps. Although there is plenty of creeks and rivers, this time of year with high winter runoff, the terrain and environment dictate that the water is heavy with sediment and filtering by various means is time and labor consuming not to mention that even with pre-filtering, your water filter will not last very long.

Option 2:
Hike out over a 6000' mountain pass along an old forestry access road. The terrain starts off much the same as the above but soon turns into cooler and higher elevation coastal mountain forest. With this type of terrain, there is much more abundant, cleaner water and the daytime temps are usually cooler. This route, while shorter is of more demanding terrain in terms of energy and calories burned. Again, unexpected cold weather is a possibility, if not much more then Option 1.

Kit available to take which we seen at the their campsite. Explain what you would to take and leave behind and the reason.

Mini BIC lighter - sitting on a table
Small pack of paper matches - sitting on a table
Old school kerosene hurricane lamp

Mixed food for 4-5 days - just a guess as from what the couple told us on Saturday, they would in the area until Tuesday morning. Lets assume though that when they set on foot, they had 3 days of food.

Various plastic plates and utensils
Large aluminum coffee percolator

Cheap C or D size flashlight. Keep in mind that daylight in this area currently comes very early and complete darkness is not until around 10:00 pm.

Large Coleman type cooler (around 30 quart)

Small Coleman type cooler - big enough to hold 10-12 cans of pop etc.

Collapsible water jug - about 4-5 gallon capacity

Several filled store purchased water bottles. 500 ML sized.

Tent looked to be about 9x7' Looks heavy, but has more then enough room for 2 people and a full fly to protect you both from the elements.

In the open to view, tent: 2 sleeping bags - appeared to be 3 season type but cheap and heavy department store quality

2 foam sleeping pads. Not the best type as they are prone to soak up water if they get exposed. Again, cheap, heavy department store quality.

1 Fleece blanket - Draped over the truck bed side, looked to be about a double size, definitely not queen sized

Various items of clothes such as extra jeans, shirt, sweater etc but no warm jacket visible for the cooler nights.

Both had on running shoes - no signs of any boots.

Small 13 inch hatchet - with no sheath sitting near a small amount of chopped firewood.
I folding knife - could not distinguish brand/model
1 fixed blade knife - On the male's belt, could not distinguish brand/model

Large scale off-road map book - No signs of gps or compass

Backpack or bag - No sign of either. All gear appeared to be transported in a couple of rubbermaid style containers.

I am sure there were a few more typical car camper items that were not immediate to my eyes that may be of some use that you would assume that the typical truck camper may have and would want to take so feel free to add to your hypothetical list.

Again, based on all this, explain if you were Mr. and Mrs. Weekend Car Camper what would take from the above from your walk out and how long would you expect it to take.

Lastly, I know the area very well as I have spent years around there and am very confident in my knowledge of the area, the terrain, environments etc. Based on this, I can give a qualified estimate of each route of about 60 miles if my SO and I were to walk out. Any guesses? I would expect that for Mr. and Mrs. weekend car camper this would be much longer.