Quote:
Originally posted by Stefan:
TA, I guess what I mean is unless you know an area like that, have some idea of what the weather is going to be like and so on, stuff like this is bound to happen.
You should try living over here, we don't know what wilderness is. Something I realised on the Canadian prarie and in the rockies this year, in the UK if you ditched me in the middle of nowhere, as long as I had a coat and some water I'd be fine. Out there, unless you have some pretty serious knowledge of the area you're stuffed. Guess it's what happens when people aren't ready for what nature can throw at them.
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Yes, many people these days have never "roughed it" a day in their lives. Sad.
I grew up in what was the real "Old West." Sierra Vista / Fort Huachuca (aka Sorry Gulch /Fort Hoochie Coochie) 23 miles from Tombstone (yes, that one. Or, as we refered to it The town to dumb to die). I learned from day one how to unditch a car up to its floor pans in sand or even quick sand, how to drive on everything from open range to snow covered mountian tops (yes, southern Arizona has these in the winter). Typically, you carried several shovels, a pick, several jacks of various sorts, two spares, extra water, sand mats, an axe, and at least one firearm.
Maybe that's why I ended up doing Pro-rally (ie rally driving on dirt roads at incredible speeds while trying not to go over some cliff) for a number of years.
Even today my idea of camping is topo maps, "forest roads," and a compass. (one of those "make a left here onto this road"....while the "road" you are on is a boulder strewn overgrown track last travelled 30 years ago) then putting up a tent, scavenging some firewood (or cutting some if necessary) and cooking dinner on a rock because you have no cooking utensils (more room for important stuff like beer that way). Maybe shoot something (ala the
Talking Heads song
Flowers..."We caught a rattlesnake now we have something for dinner"...been there done that) to round out the meal. None of that whoosy GPS / cell phone crap! Tote either the 12 gauge or for most small stuff a .22. Serious game gets either the 30.06 or Sharps .554 with 550 grain minie balls.
In Canada I'd carry several cases of cigarettes and beer for trade in the remote areas...just a suggestion.... 15 or 20 extra gallons of gas in Jerry cans wouldn't hurt either.
As I've been to England more than once, I'd say camping there is like RV park or US Forest Service "campsite" camping here. Bring the RV or trailer with all the amminites. Hell, they even have toilet paper and you don't have to dig your own latrine! How utterly urban!