Back Country Camping For The Beginner – Part 1

\”Are YOU Ready?\”

For those of you haven’t been camping before – and I’m talking about back country camping – I thought I’d write a little “survival guide” on gear and things to look out for.  This is going to be a three part series, so be patient and don’t write, “But Jarhead!  You need a stove too!”

Don’t worry.  I’ll talk about stoves and other gear in later posts.  And there’s nothing better than a back country hike to test yourself and your gear for any possible bug-out scenario.

Let’s talk for a second about the Rules of 3 when it comes to survival.  It’s a good place to start because when you trade the comfort of your home for the deep woods you’ll be carrying everything you need on your back.

According to the Rules of 3 you can survive:

3 minutes without air

3 hours without shelter (in bad weather)

3 days without water

3 weeks without food

Air shouldn’t be a problem, so let’s talk about shelter.  If you’re new to camping or don’t want to take the time to build a shelter you’ll have to take your house with you.  This usually means packing in a tent.

Tents come in all shapes and sizes, but the one thing you have to keep in mind is that when hiking you are carrying everything on your back.  I know I’ve said this before, but what I’m driving at here is weight.  Every single item you put in your pack has an associated weight cost to it.  Thus your gear needs to be as light-weight as possible unless you like carrying a heavy pack.

In this case I’d look at an ultralight one or two man tent.  They don’t have a lot of room, just enough to get out of the rain and sleep in at night, but you won’t be spending a lot of time in it other than that.  You can pick these tents up that weigh a couple of pounds and cost in the $200 – $300 range.

I picked one up at the LL Beans discount shop here in Maine for about $100.  It had been used a few times, but basically was like brand new.  If you have discount shops you might want to look around and see if they have any decent tents at good prices.

The picture on the right shows my military five-man extreme cold weather tent.  This would not be a good backpacking tent as it weighs about 60 pounds with the liner.  But it’s a very good tent if you are sleeping in the cold and have a sled to pull it on.

Sleeping Bag

The next piece of gear you’ll need is a good sleeping bag.  In the camping world you’ll find that the lighter you go the more expensive the equipment becomes.  A good sleeping bag will usually start around $150.  Make sure you get it for the season you’ll be camping in.  If you buy a bag rated for -20 you’ll be miserable when it’s 60 degrees at night.  Conversely, if you buy a bag rated for 40 degrees and the temp goes down to zero you’ll freeze your butt off.

Again, the idea is to go as light as possible, so when you go shopping make sure you tell the sales person that it’s going to be for a back packing trip.

There are many options when shopping for bags.  Probably the two most important are the fill and the style of the bag.  I prefer a synthetic bag over down for the simple fact it will keep you somewhat warm even if wet (down bags will not).  I also prefer a mummy bag over any of the other styles.  I’ve had both synthetic and down bags and was satisfied with both, but to cover all the bases I now own synthetic.

Do your own research here and find something that will work for you.

Sleeping Mat

A sleeping mat is simply to put air space between you and the ground.  This helps to insulate you and when the ground is colder than your body temperature it will help to prevent getting cold.  In colder weather you must have something between you and the ground or you’ll wind up losing heat even if you have a warm sleeping bag.

They provide some measure of comfort as well, but it’s really designed to help keep you warm.

Again, there are many foam (and air) pads out there, but I stick with foam because it’s least likely to fail.

Pack

Your pack is another important consideration.  I’ve done posts on some packs over the years and the one I’d recommend is a medium weight hiker’s backpack.  I’ve used an ultralight pack on the Appalachian Trail and it started coming apart after just a few days.  On the flip side there’s the military Arcteryx Main Pack, which weighs almost 8 lbs empty!

You’ll probably want something in the 4000 cubic inch category.  This will hold a lot of gear and the temptation to fill it will be strong, but only pack the equipment you’ll really need.  If that means you don’t quite fill the pack that’s good!

The pack should fit you properly.  I would suggest working with someone in the hiking section of your sporting good store to ensure you have a good fit.  At LL Beans in Maine they have soft weights you can put in the pack your looking at and let you carry it around.  There’s also rock displays you can climb on with the pack to get a feel for what it will feel like in the wilderness.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions and try it on!  Most real sporting goods stores will be glad to help you out.  Carry it around for awhile with some weight in it to get an idea of how it will feel.  A good rule of thumb is that if your feel a slight dig or pinch when you first put it on after six miles it’ll feel like someone’s sticking a knife in you.

I would suggest a pack that allows you to carry water on the outside to make it easy to get to.  I also prefer a pack that allows you to get to your sleeping bag without digging through all your gear.  Many packs come with a zipper at the bottom of the pack that sports this feature.  Another good feature to have is a small pouch at the top of the pack where you can store your map and compass, headlamps, and other gear that you might need to get to in a hurry.

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In the next article I’ll discuss some of the gear you’ll want to take with you.

Questions?  Comments?

Sound off below!

-Jarhead Survivor