While certainly an interesting challenge, unless you typically EDC two Nalgenes I'm not sure that it is very realistic. Wouldn't it be more practical to simply set out with the EDC items that you generally carry?

I've always felt that camping is a more practical (and enjoyable) means of testing your skills and validating your equipment. While heading into the woods for two days with nothing but your EDC items may be a realistic test, it isn't very enjoyable, and is kind of like practicing bleeding.

The problem with a two day challenge is that unless you are completely unprepared or the weather conditions are extreme, most anyone could survive without food or any water, and only the most basic of shelter (ie and improvised lean-to fashioned from available materials).

Although I haven't done it for awhile, one of the more insightful challenges I have done in the past is to impromptly set off into the woods with nothing but my EDC items during a steady and prolonged period of rain or snow.

I don't typically spend more than a few hours in the woods, but this is generally long enough for me to determine if I'm able to successfully start a fire using damp materials, create an improvised shelter to get out of the rain, and begin to dry out my clothes.

Without being able to do these three tasks I'd likely be toast over an extended period of time, and conversely if I am able to complete these three things, then "surviving" for an extended period of time would really only additionally require that I find a source of water.

Jim