Equipped To Survive Equipped To Survive® Presents
The Survival Forum
Where do you want to go on ETS?

Page 2 of 6 < 1 2 3 4 5 6 >
Topic Options
#80021 - 12/12/06 11:05 PM Re: Items in Survival Kit
ducktapeguy Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 03/28/06
Posts: 358
Quote:
No offence intended, IzzyJG99, but what do you need with a Topo map? I know the area around you (I lived about an hour south of there two months ago). That land has exactly two elevations: dry and wet.


I had to laugh out loud when I read this, because it's partially true. I can imagine what a topo map of florida looks like, just one giant contour line around the entire state <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I took a road trip over there a little while ago, I remember passing these "observation towers" which were basically a two or three story building. It felt like you could see the entire state of florida from the top of one of those. I never got a chance to go to the northern part of the state, but the southern half is as flat as....well, i can't think of a good analogy, cuz whenever I need to describe something extremely flat, I use Florida as the analogy. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Top
#80022 - 12/12/06 11:10 PM Re: Items in Survival Kit
wildman800 Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 11/09/06
Posts: 2846
Loc: La-USA
The 6 P's: "Proper Planning Prevents [censored] Poor Performance"

It is never a bad or wasted idea to carry a topo map for the area(s) that you are going to be operating in!
_________________________
QMC, USCG (Ret)
The best luck is what you make yourself!

Top
#80023 - 12/12/06 11:37 PM Re: Items in Survival Kit
harrkev Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 09/05/01
Posts: 384
Loc: Colorado Springs, CO
Quote:
It is never a bad or wasted idea to carry a topo map for the area(s) that you are going to be operating in!
Sounds like you have never been to Florida.
_________________________
--
Darwin was wrong -- I'm still alive

Top
#80024 - 12/12/06 11:43 PM Re: Items in Survival Kit
Alan_Romania Offline

Addict

Registered: 06/29/05
Posts: 648
Loc: Arizona
Okay, now that I am not in a classroom waiting for my students to finish a quiz let me expand on a few things.

First, as many have intimated, no tool is worth a damn if you do not know how to use it. These days, it seems that land navagation is the lost skill of the outdoors. Inexpensive GPS seem to be one of the last nails in Land Navigation's coffin. Learn it navigate without a GPS, you can find courses across the country but you can get started with a good book like Be Expert with Map and Compass by Bjorn Hjellstorm and practicing alot. Once you are good at finding your way without electronics, you can add a GPS if you feel like it for added safety. I like to mark my location with my GPS and then turn it off so that I have the batteries to find my way back should I need to. Another thing to not forget is at least one set of spare batteries for each device that uses them.

If you can, buy some extra materials to build fires and shelters with and practice with these items.
_________________________
"Trust in God --and press-check. You cannot ignore danger and call it faith." -Duke

Top
#80026 - 12/13/06 01:21 AM Re: Topo maps in Florida
Excomantia Offline
journeyman

Registered: 11/27/06
Posts: 98
Loc: Moved to my new home and now h...
Assumeing that you can somehow find a way to tramp through the vine encrusted palm meadows infested dry spits of sand while covered in bannana spiders webs over the clothes your wearing over every inch of your body so that a swarm of the second place choice for the Florida State Bird and Insect (The Mosquito) doesn't carry you off and suck you dry, stoping every three steps to pick the sand burrs out of your pant legs and shoes, wishing someone would turn off the sauna and praying that wasn't lightning you just heard just ahead.. You could use a topo map in Florida to avoid the real swampy areas moveing cross country, as well as move to the small inland lakes and streamlets and such for fresh water to purify.. or avoid major roads if that floats your boat..
_________________________
Excomantia

Words Mean Something.

Top
#80028 - 12/13/06 03:02 AM Re: Topo maps in Florida
Excomantia Offline
journeyman

Registered: 11/27/06
Posts: 98
Loc: Moved to my new home and now h...
No problem..
By the way, thats not the way Florida truely is; It truely is a beautiful place if you know where to look.. that was just my first impression after I moved here from the high deserts of Southern California near the northern side of the Angeles National Forest in Palmdale, 11 years ago.
_________________________
Excomantia

Words Mean Something.

Top
#80029 - 12/13/06 03:34 AM Re: Items in Survival Kit
ironraven Offline
Cranky Geek
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 4642
Loc: Vermont
RTFM- if I had a dollar for every tech call I've had that came down to reading the directions, I'd be rich. The same applies to any kind of gear- at least the items is the PSP are hard to use wrong, and there are directions, but in the field is not the time to find out you have the the one-in-a-million oops from AMK, or that you can't use your gear.

And Night raises a good point- don't plan on being peak when you need this. I always assume that I'm going to be soaking wet in zero-ish temperatures with a good wind going, along with either a mild concussion, a broken arm, knee damage, or any combination of the three to go along with my hypothermia. :P
_________________________
-IronRaven

When a man dare not speak without malice for fear of giving insult, that is when truth starts to die. Truth is the truest freedom.

Top
#80031 - 12/13/06 03:56 AM Re: Topo maps in Florida
OldBaldGuy Offline
Geezer

Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 5695
Loc: Former AFB in CA, recouping fr...
I have never been to Florida, and after your vivid description probably never will, but I have been in the jungles of Central America, and sometimes the hardest thing in using a topo is finding landmarks to check your location against. Given your description, how does one actually use a topo in Fla? Count steps (or canoe paddle thrusts), or something else???
_________________________
OBG

Top
#80033 - 12/13/06 04:57 AM Re: Topo maps in Florida
Excomantia Offline
journeyman

Registered: 11/27/06
Posts: 98
Loc: Moved to my new home and now h...
I've never tried it, but I don't see why normal methods wouldn't work.. its mostly the large patches of palm meadows that would be your problems, but the Seminoles and other natives moved around well enough.
North eastern Florida is almost a whole different biome then even the rest of the state, we have plants and animals here that don't go further south, and plants and animals from further south that can't live much further north..
The bad thing about this area is that a lot of the land was/is owned by the paper mills in the area, which plant pines that they harvest for paper products so half the time your driveing along giant corn rows of pine trees..
It is flat though, when I first moved here I 'suffered' from what I called 'elevation deprivation', symptoms included but were not limited to climbing to the rooftops of tall buildings and sitting for hours saying to yourself 'wow, there is a horizon', driveing over tall bridges several times in a row just so that you can see, for the 15th time, that your not driveing around in an endless circle of trees, and puting together a notebook with clipings of 'elevated' places out of magazines, so that you know there are real places like you remember.
*Points to Izzy* He would know better then I would about how to use a topo map though...
_________________________
Excomantia

Words Mean Something.

Top
#80034 - 12/13/06 05:57 AM Re: Topo maps in Florida
OldBaldGuy Offline
Geezer

Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 5695
Loc: Former AFB in CA, recouping fr...
Thanks to both of you. It sounds like something you would have to experience to really understand and be profecient with. As are most of the important skills. I'll take more hills and mtns myself...
_________________________
OBG

Top
Page 2 of 6 < 1 2 3 4 5 6 >



Moderator:  Alan_Romania, Blast, cliff, Hikin_Jim 
March
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online
0 registered (), 269 Guests and 21 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
GallenR, Jeebo, NicholasMarshall, Yadav, BenFoakes
5367 Registered Users
Newest Posts
What did you do today to prepare?
by dougwalkabout
Yesterday at 11:21 PM
Zippo Butane Inserts
by dougwalkabout
Yesterday at 11:11 PM
Question about a "Backyard Mutitool"
by Ren
03/17/24 01:00 AM
Problem in my WhatsApp configuration
by Chisel
03/09/24 01:55 PM
New Madrid Seismic Zone
by Jeanette_Isabelle
03/04/24 02:44 PM
EDC Reduction
by EchoingLaugh
03/02/24 04:12 PM
Using a Compass Without a Map
by KenK
02/28/24 12:22 AM
Newest Images
Tiny knife / wrench
Handmade knives
2"x2" Glass Signal Mirror, Retroreflective Mesh
Trade School Tool Kit
My Pocket Kit
Glossary
Test

WARNING & DISCLAIMER: SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.