Samhain,

The main purpose of the outing was to play in the woods, but my choice of gear was based on testing the gear I have with me if I were trying to get home from a remote work location. It was inspired by raydarkhorse's post on this very concept. I always planned on walking home if TSHTF but hadn't really done anything more than pick over my hiking gear. I guess technically it wasn't my BoB, more it was my Get Me Home Gear (GMHG?). A cheap bag filled with Walmart gear worked for my day-hikes and seemed reasonable for longer situations.

Unfortunately, gear of this sort probably won't get me 1,000+ miles to home.

About not using a tent, mainly I'm lazy. I don't like the weight of tents (well, any I can afford). I don't like the time and trouble of setting up a tent. I don't like trying to find a spot big and flat enough for a tent. Also, being 6'5" it's rare that I can find a tent that I really fit in. Plus, I can't drag a tent out to work spots with me, but a tarp of some sort can be easily scavenged. I'd rather just throw up a tarp or painter's dropcloth over a hammock. I didn't use the hammock his time as I was on a sandbar with no good place to hang it.

Now when my wife and kids are along we use a tent. A huge, annoying, complex beast that my wife absolutely loves (it has a ceiling fan and a potty).

As for a stove, I use an old (15+ years) Gaz S-200 butane-canister stove for the BoB mainly because I've found it to be rugged, effecient, and goof-proof. One canister will cook quite a few meals, Replacement fuel canisters can be found at Walmart. Sidenote: If I'm flying this stove stays home and I'm limited to cooking over fire. That's not a problem but I had some new cookware this time and I wasn't ready to get it all sooty.

You can see pictures of my test at my blog linked at the end of this post.

Really, what I wanted to get across was two things with these posts:
1. Load up your pack and go for a long walk! It's easy to assume you'll have no problems but reality will probably be very different. I do a lot of day hikes with a fair amount of gear, but this was the first time I humped my GMHG farther than across an airport terminal and those times it was usually strapped to wheeled luggage.

2. Certian things you juust can't take the cheap path and expect to be okay. My $20 sleeping bag may as well have been a hankie. My backpack could have been used as a torture device. My space blanket...well, I don't even need to go there with this crowd. Sure, some inexpensive things are great but if you want low weight AND high performance you'll usually have to pay $$$. I'm already saving up for a Wiggys sleeping bag and a real backpack.

Hopefully y'all will be inspired to test your stuff out. Sadly, having gear and using gear are worlds apart...

-Blast