Absolutely! As strange as this sounds, if the temperature is cold enough, eating ice or snow will dehydrate you. Consuming snow or ice will drop your core temperature, which will work your body to continue heating it.
Being thirsty is not necessarily dehydration, like being hungry is not starvation. You hit moderate dehydration when you have dry mouth and an increased heartbeat at rest. You are in severe dehydration when you feel like, or you start vomiting and have diarrhea. Remember 3 days without water may kill you and rapid dehydration can kill you sooner.
There are a few ways to do this. One way is to make your own anchor and leave some gear. Some locations do not allow this. The second way is using a rock or a tree and use the equivocation or macrame hitch.
The best way to train for carrying your heavy pack is to do this at least 3 times a week. It will be strange, and some neighbors may start calling the police if you are toting a backpack with guns, axe, and knife attached on a regular basis. Here is how to get started without looking like that weird prepper creeping in the neighborhood.
Absolutely! GPS can fail, or if you take a bad fall it can break. Same with a compass, but I have my compass in a padded pouch as well as a map in a waterproof map holder.
People hate my answer, but the best survival pack is the one that carries all your items you need to survive while making it relatively comfortable to carry for an extended period. Most people shop for a pack, then all the items, and find out that the pack is not sized appropriately (usually too small) for what you need to carry.
There are seven essential skills for survival. If you have these 7 skills down and practice it on a regular basis, you will be able to survive for a very long time. That being said, you need to practice often like more than once a year. I recommend camping in a remote location (not glamping or car camping) and test these skills 4 times a year at minimum.
I love this question. All of this can be packed, nested in different items, or worn and it doesn’t take as much space as you would think. It weighs less than 20 lbs. In the event I get injured or lost (I have never been lost yet), this provides enough items to survive until I am evacuated by a medical helicopter or found by search and rescue.
It’s amazing how many people I know go on hikes and only have water, wallet, cell phone, car keys, and maybe a snack. I usually carry a full pack of items, enough to survive for a few days while I am signaling or attempt to make contact to be exfiltrated out if I am injured. I don’t get lost, but even if that happens, what I have in my pack will get me back out.
Yes. Most phones have mapping apps that can support offline downloading of a map of an area. Make sure to do that before you go on a hike or a hike through camping trip. Here are two native apps that can be used for GPS navigation using offline maps.
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