One final comment that I'm adding as a separate post since I reached the size limit in my post above: for anyone who is looking for additional information concerning backcountry ailments and injuries, I highly recommend the book Deep Survival, by Laurence Gonzales. In addition to drawing from his own experience, the author analyzed countless reports of backcountry injuries in writing the book. One of the biggest takeaways that I got from Deep Survival is the idea that injuries in the backcountry are rarely the result of a single factor, but rather usually the result of multiple factors- and those factors are often seemingly inconsequential when evaluated on an individual basis. If you can learn to recognize and address various factors as they crop up, then you can generally reduce most of the risk of injury.
Personally "SAS Survival hand book" by John Wiseman. It's not a prepper book in the sense your looking for, but it is important in that it teaches mental preparedness.
SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062378074/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_HzorDbTMVBCZP
You need a load bearing hipbelt, you really should have a dedicated avalanche tools pocket, and no, 32L is not big enough for overnight even during the summer let alone during the winter with avalanche gear. Don't try cut corners with winter backcountry gear.
Pick up a copy of Freedom of the Hills and read it if you are serious about this kind of thing. You really shouldn't be doing a winter overnight in the backcountry if you have to ask this kind of stuff. I mean that with safety in mind, not to be a jerk.
Strength training and running keep me busy while I'm working now.
Read Freedom of the Hills, it'll likely take a year.
1.5 years is a really long time though. If you prioritize it, getting on trail is totally doable in that time frame. Being a weekend warrior is definitely a skill that takes time to learn and perfect.
I use a nylofume plastic bag as a pack liner. Others use a trash compactor bag.
Place bag in pack. Stuff quilt or sleeping bag in the bottom along with other items which I won’t need until camp or which I definitely want to stay dry.
Then gather the opening of the bag up and compress. Squeeze a bunch of air out. When it’s compact enough, twist the top of the bag to seal it up and stuff the “elephant trunk” down the front of the pack.
This and many other great tips can be found in Mike Clelland’s book, Ultralight Backpackin’ Tips. It’s definitely worth checking out.
Ultralight Backpackin' Tips: 153 Amazing & Inexpensive Tips For Extremely Lightweight Camping https://www.amazon.com/dp/0762763841/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_XRN-CbZC01PJ1
Deep Survival -- an informative read of when things go wrong in the wilderness and how the survivors make it out alive. It shines upon the personalities and characteristics that tend to have the highest survival rate by analyzing the craziest stories of people that have lived and also sometimes died. Such a good read in fact that it's the only book that could hold my attention for the last 4 years. ^((I don't really like to read))
The top 5 bowel movements of my life have been outdoors. Seriously, a spade, some paper, and some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet. Somebody even wrote a book about it...https://www.amazon.com/How-Shit-Woods-3rd-Environmentally/dp/1580083633
But to just go willy nilly in your neighbors yard?
SAS Survival Guide and the Bushcraft 101 books are two good ones.
If you haven’t already, you should read ‘Norwegian wood’ by Lars Mytting. It’s an excellent book about chopping, stacking, and drying wood.
Here’s the link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1419717987/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_36ASJN61XP5VVKNVZ8MK
Quarantine restlessness is definitely a big reason how I stumbled on the PCT, too. It's encouraging to see that you didn't phase right out of it and wen ton backpacking trips, too. As I mentioned, that is where I'd like to get. However, I definitely do not relate to you about having outdoor experience. Do you have any resources (such as books, guides, etc. -- I've recently stumbled on How to Shit in the Woods which looks promising)?
And yes, this thru hike is such a commitment, I'm sure careers are holding a lot of people back. I hope you enjoy your future hikes, though! Thanks for your anecdote.
i did a quick google to see if leaf springs were ideal and they are so i put out feelers for some of those.
And also in the course of that found recommendation for the $50 knife shop book so I bought him that on amazon. link: https://www.amazon.com/Wayne-Goddards-Knife-Shop-Revised/dp/0896892956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482254778&sr=8-1&keywords=50+knife+shop
Thanks folks You both got me exactly what I needed!
Thank you for your thoughtful feedback. I do have a high degree of trust in the book as it is often refereed to as the bible of Mountaineering; however, as you pointed out testing it would yield better insights/improvements. Here is a link to the book on amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594851387
This is what I read when I'm taking a dump...
And it has been great.
If you don't want to spend the money, just keep reading this subreddit.
There are absolutely beginner level ways to make knives. I've heard good things about this book on cheap knife making. I may have gotten a little fancier than most beginners, but I'm one of those crafty people who's always making things.
I learned 90 percent of my starting information from bladeforums.com . Once I had a basic understanding and didn't feel like a complete idiot, I reached out to a couple other makers.
You can get started for a lot less then you think if you're willing to put in some dedication and elbow grease.
http://www.amazon.com/Wayne-Goddards-Knife-Shop-Revised/dp/0896892956
Is a decent book and not terribly expensive.
This site recently awarded the Marlin 7 Hardtail of the Year for the £500 category: http://www.mbr.co.uk/reviews/hardtail/mbr-hardtail-of-the-year-sneak-preview-video The 6 will be a small step down in component quality but still a great place for you to start. As for getting the basics down this book has helped me: http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Mountain-Bike-Skills-2nd/dp/0736083715/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430842403&sr=8-1&keywords=mountain+bike+skills
Everything mentioned here, and more, can be found in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Mountain-Bike-Skills-Edition/dp/0736083715
Every mountain biker should read it, no matter how long you've been riding you're likely to learn something new from it.
I would suggest reading the book "Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way" to learn about the tried and tested techniques behind all of this.
These tips come from me as a scandinavian, there might be some difference in the UK, but see these as general tips.
Always buy wood in bulk, if you can buy unseasoned wood then do it. It's alot cheaper, but remember that wood should be handled and laying for drying before midsumer - ish early june. Wood is like insurance, its really freaking nice to have. Buy atleast for 2-3 years forward then you'll be able to get a good price. Here someone from the UK will have to step in, but i'd say never pay more than 500sek per cubic meter. What a decent price in the UK is, idk.
Here comes a rant on BTU, i've never understod it so i'll use Kw/h. But what i mean is count on how much you need, 1 kg of birch wood is ish 4kw/h (1364 btu). You'll easily be able to heat your house with wood, but man you need like 10-20 cubic meter. And thats alot of work to handle.
When it comes to burning remember to do it correctly, every burner has its pro's and cons and be sure to read the manual. You cant keep a burner going for over 400 celsuis for a longer time, it will destroy your burner and your chimney. Your relation with your burner is a deep one, you need to learn how it works.
Sweep your chimney, here we have rules that it needs to be done every second year. With that said you need to do it alot more often if you burn alot. We do it every year and we only go through 3-5 cubic meter every year.
If you want to deep dive and learn alot i'd recomend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Norwegian-Wood-Chopping-Stacking-Scandinavian/dp/1419717987/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1668171181&refinements=p_27%3ALars+Mytting&s=books&sr=1-1
It's 50% tips and 50% poetry regarding wood.
Still highly recommend acquiring "Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills". Read the parts that interest you first, and then eventually, read the whole thing. The book is 600 pages long and will teach you safety and skills. https://smile.amazon.com/Mountaineering-Freedom-Hills-Mountaineers/dp/1680510045/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2N2B4Y2MS4FF0&keywords=mountaineering+freedom+of+the+hills&qid=1664170043&sprefix=mountaineering%2Caps%2C218&sr=8-1
US Marine here and I think a great place to start would be the book they give us in boot camp. It has tactics for firefights to intelligence, guides on weapons systems and standard military gear. Can't find it on Amazon but here's a link, $12
https://marineshop.net/product/guidebook-for-marines-pb-0940328151/
For survival tactics I recommend the SAS handbook which covers basics on survival in any climate or situation. This is to include how to protect yourself in a nuclear event.
Godspeed
The sheds my father uses to dry and store firewood has 1" slits between the boards in the walls, and even some hatches on the walls without doors that can be opened to let even more air in.
He usually built the sheds with a front and back door, then stacked along the back wall first, then rows in front of that until it was filled up. This can take several years. Then he opened the back door and used the wood there first. That was he always used the oldest wood first.
Anyway...
Have you read this book?
https://www.amazon.com/Norwegian-Wood-Chopping-Stacking-Scandinavian/dp/1419717987/ref=sr_1_2
Start with the Ultralight and Ultra-cheap Gear List in the sidebar to fill in the gaps.
Best way to figure out what works for you is to do lots of shorter test/shakedown hikes and test different things. Upon returning from each hike examine each item you carried and ask yourself "Did I really need this? What would have happened if I left this behind?" Apply each lesson the next time out. Over time you will learn what you don't need.
In the dessert, no hat. Ugh; sigh.
A massive component of survival is psychology - as was well documented in Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why Paperback,by Laurence Gonzales. And what our hat-less survival LARPER is failing to recreate is this critical component, one that even trained 'survival' experts can often not manage when they are finally, and actually, in a dangerous situation and not merely waiting for Mom to pick him up in the morning a few minutes walk from where she dropped him off in the day before.
Moreover, we have no idea how many times he just packed up and went home when it got too hot or he stubbed his toe.
It is very easy to 'survive' in the desert when one's survival is not at risk.
Survival means water, food, and shelter, more or less in that order depending how how dangerous conditions are. You can survive three weeks (possibly longer) without food, but you can't survive three days without water.
As with food, your body has enough salt to live for many days without needing more, so if your water is really limited the last thing you want is to taint it by adding seawater. Drink plain water, drink slowly and steadily, rationing as you can, and meanwhile use everything available to collect water to fill up your reserves. Fill every container, and then whatever else you can find that will hold some water, and then keep those out of the sun.
If you have no food and plenty of drinkable water, then at some point I suppose you'll feel the need to drink some sea water to get salt. Someone else mentioned pathogens in sea water but really in a survival situation that's the least of your worries. If you get hungry enough you'll eat anything that looks edible, and spit it out if it tastes bad. That's the kind of conditions humans evolved under, and we're pretty well adapted to stay alive even if we eat really noxious stuff. If you read survival manuals there's a process you can go through to determine if something is edible, first by smell, then rubbing it on your skin, then putting a little on your tongue, then ingesting a small amount, each time waiting long enough for any poisons to take effect.
If this kind of thing piques your interest, then "SAS Survival Handbook" is a classic. For it to be really useful you have to practice everything in there, but some people adopt it as a hobby, going out in the middle of nowhere and trying to survive with just a knife and maybe a few other tools, or with nothing at all.
So I’m in the process of trying to be able to survive with as little as possible. Here’s what I recommend. Basically start with reading and practice. Bring a lot of stuff for your first backpacking/camping trip out. Then learn what you don’t need. Get rid of what you didn’t use or didn’t necessarily need. That’s the first step.
Then try to go camping often to get practice and try to do something different and/or new each trip. That’s what I’m doing. Each trip camping I try to accomplish something new and at the same time reduce what I bring. For example, learn how to hunt and gather, then you don’t need to bring so much food. Learn how to master building a shelter, then don’t bring a tent. But the unfortunate reality is it’s damn near impossible to survive for an extended period of time with nothing but the clothes on your back. So it’s a tough goal.
I recommend this SAS survival guide this book is great and is a guide to do just about everything you need to know to survive with very little materials.
I’ve learned a lot in the last year that I’ve been in the practice. But I’m still a novice. Your goal is huge and something that will take years and decades to master. You’ll need to be dedicated and patient.
lol these comments are so salty.
Go pick up Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills. This book is going to give you a LOT of detail on gear and how to use it, but it's only theoretical. You need to find someone with more experience than you, be it a formal teacher, or a guided climb, or someone from a local climbing group to show you how to do everything in practice.
Alternative position: the Tripod! Squat, then lean back to put a hand on the ground behind you. This position uses different muscles, plus can make it easier to aim for people who are nervous about that sort of thing.
It sounds like your butt might also be shy about pooping in the woods in general, which is extremely common! You may want to get a Squatty Potty for your home toilet to get your body more used to the position.
Here is an extremely helpful book that every hiker should own
Haven’t ever had to really use it but I take it anywhere where I might get “stuck” SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062378074/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_a_7DFKXH339WX536G739YF
At the end of the day, if he had any shoes on, he'd probably would have been better off. Accidents like this happen because of a cascading series of (usually) small, bad decisions - a theory expanded on in the Laurence Gonzales, Deep Survival. He left late, he went alone, he summited when the weather worsened, he lost his way, he lost his shoes. It wasn't just the shoes.