Hi all,

About a week ago a good friend of mine calls me up and tells me he and some other friend planned a small camping trip on an island in a nearby river. Only being about 30 mins. from my house I said I'd go and hang out for a bit, but I didn't want to stay overnight. I'd just been on a hiking trip the past weekend and was just planning to have a nice relaxing day off the next day.

So I drive down to were everyone was parked and called up my friend to come pick me up with the boat. I had my PSK, water and food for a meal, other fire and survival items, but not actual "camping" gear such as a tent or sleeping bag/roll.

Everything was going fine until another friend showed up and called us to come pick him up. A couple guys got in the boat, motored over and dry docked on the bank. They loaded up some "essentials" and tried to come back. -- The motor wouldn't crank. -- I realized I was going to have to spend the night on the island. It would be a bit uncomfortable, but all the essentials were taken care of. We had food and water, I had my PSK (with a shiny new space blanket I would be sleeping in under a field constructed lean-to) and a even remembered my small FAK.

The night was pretty much uneventful and no where near a "survival" situation. We had several people that we knew could pick us up first thing in the morning and I'd be home to have breakfast. It was no one's fault and to the guys on the banks' credit, they were working as hard as they could to remedey the problem to get back out to us. (Keep in mind the water was moving too fast to try to safely cross any way but by boat. Our best option, with what we had available, was to just sleep it out.)

My question to all is do you guys double up on gear such as a space blanket and other small items on short trips like that just in case you might have to be "Equipped To Stay"? Or, do you simply have the "I'm taken care of with my PSK" mindset on short outings that could potentially turn longer? As I was lying by the fire, fairly comfortable and with a good peace of mind thanks in part to what I've learned here, I had a lot of time to think about this.

--Luke

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