A gentleman from our church and I took some boys from the youth group camping last Friday night and Saturday morning. I am not a huge camper, and outdoors man. I went car camping a ton as a kid, and I was a cub scout, so I know more than your average suburban slug, but I am no avid camper or outdoors man for sure.
Here are some things I learned.
1. Most High School boys know virtually nothing about outside. One asked me what a pine tree was. Teach those that do no know stuff.
2. I taught some of them how to make fire with a striker, dryer lint and Vaseline, and fat-wood as starters. I told them, it was fairly easy given what I had and I used a lot of fat-wood as it was aay humid in the woods last weekend. Most did not know any of this stuff.
3. These guys were not all real good decision makers. One tried to ask me if he could wash the mud off of his leg. I said yes the best I could, but he seemed confused and I was also confused as to why he asked. There was some sort of mis-communication that I still cannot figure out, but oh well. These were good kids, but probably a little too sheltered. Mine would be in the same boat probably, so I need to work on that.
4. I tried to go with some minimal gear, while still having enough. That said, I did pretty well. It was just an overnight, so not a ton needed.
5. Wool socks are awesome! We hiked though some creek beds with just standard hiking shoes. While I did not just totally submerge my feet in the water, it was impossible to keep my feet 100% dry and did I mention it was humid. I have not sweat that hard in a while for so long. Anyway, my feet eventually got wet, but the wool kept my feet dryish, and that is awesome. Not swampy cotton feel and that was awesome.
6. Although, I usually do about 2.5-3 hours of cardio, mixed HIT training and walking, I felt VERY old trying to keep up with these young guys hiking. Dang! To be fair, the trails we were on were some of the most rugged I have been on in a state park and we did not do them very slow. We were at Shades and many of the trails are pretty rugged. Even if they are not all up and down, the walking over rocks in a creek bed is not as easy as just walking down the sidewalk in my neighborhood for sure. I am over 40 and have about 15-20 pounds that I should lose. I have determined that I need to do that with more speed and attention than I have given it this past year. That means I need to cut back on the intake. I am already doing well in the cardio and I am stepping up my strength stuff (nothing hardcore, just body weight stuff at home), but I need to get after it much better in the weight area. I was worn out on Saturday, but Sunday, I recovered, pretty well, and even put in 3 miles with a touch of running at an aggressive overall pace. So while I am pleased at my next day recovery, not so much with how spent I was on Saturday.
7. Age is what it is! I am not sub 18 and I will not be again. I can mitigate some of that in 6 above, but I will probably not be able to feel like I did at 18. That includes knees and ankles.
8. I need a good head lamp. I had a good flashlight, but could have used a head lamp doing a night hike. I had a backup light that I ended up loaning out and that was good to have, but It would have been nice to have a head lamp, main and backup as we were in rugged and hard to hike at night places. If a light had gone out, it would have been a rough go.
So, I wanted to treat this as sort of a test of preparedness and conditioning. No, it is not a true bug out test and all of that, but it did teach me that bugging out without a vehicle would suck. Yes, I could manage, but it would not be the movie situation. If I was to have to hike like that, there would be more breaks and stopping to keep a little gas in the tank. It would not be some sort of red dawn running and jumping through rough terrain and being OK to sprint 300 yards and all of that. I would obviously be carrying more on my back and perhaps a rifle and hardware in my hands if the situation dictated that.
It sure makes me hope it never comes to that.
Here are some things I learned.
1. Most High School boys know virtually nothing about outside. One asked me what a pine tree was. Teach those that do no know stuff.
2. I taught some of them how to make fire with a striker, dryer lint and Vaseline, and fat-wood as starters. I told them, it was fairly easy given what I had and I used a lot of fat-wood as it was aay humid in the woods last weekend. Most did not know any of this stuff.
3. These guys were not all real good decision makers. One tried to ask me if he could wash the mud off of his leg. I said yes the best I could, but he seemed confused and I was also confused as to why he asked. There was some sort of mis-communication that I still cannot figure out, but oh well. These were good kids, but probably a little too sheltered. Mine would be in the same boat probably, so I need to work on that.
4. I tried to go with some minimal gear, while still having enough. That said, I did pretty well. It was just an overnight, so not a ton needed.
5. Wool socks are awesome! We hiked though some creek beds with just standard hiking shoes. While I did not just totally submerge my feet in the water, it was impossible to keep my feet 100% dry and did I mention it was humid. I have not sweat that hard in a while for so long. Anyway, my feet eventually got wet, but the wool kept my feet dryish, and that is awesome. Not swampy cotton feel and that was awesome.
6. Although, I usually do about 2.5-3 hours of cardio, mixed HIT training and walking, I felt VERY old trying to keep up with these young guys hiking. Dang! To be fair, the trails we were on were some of the most rugged I have been on in a state park and we did not do them very slow. We were at Shades and many of the trails are pretty rugged. Even if they are not all up and down, the walking over rocks in a creek bed is not as easy as just walking down the sidewalk in my neighborhood for sure. I am over 40 and have about 15-20 pounds that I should lose. I have determined that I need to do that with more speed and attention than I have given it this past year. That means I need to cut back on the intake. I am already doing well in the cardio and I am stepping up my strength stuff (nothing hardcore, just body weight stuff at home), but I need to get after it much better in the weight area. I was worn out on Saturday, but Sunday, I recovered, pretty well, and even put in 3 miles with a touch of running at an aggressive overall pace. So while I am pleased at my next day recovery, not so much with how spent I was on Saturday.
7. Age is what it is! I am not sub 18 and I will not be again. I can mitigate some of that in 6 above, but I will probably not be able to feel like I did at 18. That includes knees and ankles.
8. I need a good head lamp. I had a good flashlight, but could have used a head lamp doing a night hike. I had a backup light that I ended up loaning out and that was good to have, but It would have been nice to have a head lamp, main and backup as we were in rugged and hard to hike at night places. If a light had gone out, it would have been a rough go.
So, I wanted to treat this as sort of a test of preparedness and conditioning. No, it is not a true bug out test and all of that, but it did teach me that bugging out without a vehicle would suck. Yes, I could manage, but it would not be the movie situation. If I was to have to hike like that, there would be more breaks and stopping to keep a little gas in the tank. It would not be some sort of red dawn running and jumping through rough terrain and being OK to sprint 300 yards and all of that. I would obviously be carrying more on my back and perhaps a rifle and hardware in my hands if the situation dictated that.
It sure makes me hope it never comes to that.