All Packed Up and Ready to Go: Packing For the 3 Day Camp

We’ve spent the past few months talking about all different types of gear that fall under the category of David Canterbury’s 5 C’s of survivability, why they are important, what options you have, and comparing and contrasting those options. This week I am going to pack a backpack full of some of that gear we’ve discussed and go out on a 3 day camp using only the items I’ve packed. 

Now I have set up some rules for this camp and they are as follows: 

1. Once I have left the house I am not allowed to go back inside for any reason whatsoever. (No going back for forgotten or broken gear, restroom needs are an exception to the rule.) 
2. I will be treating all of my water which I will obtain from a garden hose as if it is an unsafe source and follow all of the necessary steps for purifying it. 
3. I will only be using gear that we have talked about in the last six months of blogs with the exception of one item.

Now, let’s get into what is actually going into the backpack. First I want to talk about food items. I have packed with me canned goods such as soup, which I can heat over my fire in my mess kit or in the can itself, and fruit cocktail which is quick and easy for breakfast and does not need to be cooked. Both of these canned items have a pull tab on top for convenience. I also have with me a flour kit with flour, sugar, salt, and coffee, which I can use to bake bread over my fire. Lastly I have brought some Slim-Jims along as a snack or to be paired with my other meals.

I have chosen these items because if I work strategically I can get most of my cooking done over one fire and that is less work for me. For example, once I have set up camp and started a campfire, I can boil my water, cook my soup for dinner, and bake some bread for lunch the next day. In the morning I will have my fruit, lunch will be premade, and I will have no further need for a fire until dinner time the next day. This way I get the most out of my resources.

The next personal item I will be talking about is a medicine kit that I have put together. I purchased a medicine organizer and sorted out allergy medication, ibuprofen, multivitamins, and sleeping pills. I chose these as I figured they would be what I would most likely need outside. Honestly, the sleeping pills will likely be the most useful to me on this trip as I will likely have trouble falling asleep on the ground so I anticipate needing them at least for the first night.

The last two personal items I will be taking are some simple dish cloths and some insect repellent. The cloths will be used for cleaning or drying out my mess kit, cleaning my gear, other hygiene needs, and maybe even to wrap my bread in to keep bugs out. The insect repellent is for the mosquitos which are awful this time of year. I purchased the sportsman max and have been left completely alone by these little pests after using it.

Now that we’ve gotten the personal items out of the way, we will talk about the gear I have chosen to take with me, starting with my backpack. I have chosen the Arrowhead bucket pack from Outdoor products. It has two side compartments, a compartment in the front, a larger and smaller compartment on top and the inside is one large compartment large enough for a bucket which I have inside. I chose this pack for the simplicity and how easy it is to pack, which I will show you how to do now.

First is the bucket in the main compartment. Truthfully this is more useful for an extended stay in the bush with such uses as a seat, latrine, or washing bucket, but for my purposes it will just make my pack sturdier.

Now a good rule of thumb for packing a bucket pack is to place the items you will need sooner than later on the top. My food items I won’t need until after camp has been set up and I have a campfire going so it will go on the bottom. This includes my canned goods, flour kit, and Slim-Jims. Next I will add my medicine kit and dish towels.

These next items which will be closer to the top of my pack fall under the category of the 5 C’s. I have chosen the mess kit that I put together myself that we talked about in a previous blog as well as a water bottle that I can boil water in. The mess kit consists of two large bowls, one with a rounded bottom and one with a flat bottom that can be used for frying. There is also a smaller bowl that I can use as either a cup or a mixing bowl. I also have included a tripod to cook over my campfire, a vice grip for taking my bowls on and off the fire without burning myself, and lastly, a fork and a spoon to eat with.

Next is my cordage. I have about 10’ of 555 paracord and a large roll of 36

bank line. Now, I have other cordage with specific purposes spread throughout my kit. This is more for backup in case I have forgotten something or something goes wrong. If needed I could use either of these items to set up my tarp or for my tent stakes.

I have several options in the way of cutting tools. I have my hatchet for processing wood, the Camillus Bushcrafter which I have as my fixed blade knife, a folding saw, and the Camillus Trench for my pocket knife. Now typically these items would go on my belt and they will in the field, but for now they can be stored in the pack. The folding saw is used for processing wood with a larger diameter down to a manageable size to be split with my hatchet. The Trench has various uses such as a can opener in case the pull tabs on my canned goods fail, or any fine carving tasks such as making feather sticks. Finally the Bushcrafter will fill in for any equipment for tasks such as splitting or carving.

I want to take a second to talk about the combustion kit I will be taking with me as well. The container for my fire-starting items is a chocolate covered pretzel can that I have spray painted and drilled a hole in so I can make charcloth. Its content are a piece of flint, some charcloth, a ferro rod, two bic lighters, and a magnifying glass. The magnifying glass comes with a simple cover with cloth on the inside so you are wiping away debris when you put it away.

Lastly is my bedroll which we made in a previous blog. This will serve as my cover. It consists of an 8x8 tarp that we had made, a wool blanket, and other essentials. I will be placing my bug repellant in the top of the pack so when I step outside I can spray myself down and I will be ready to get started. I hope you are as excited as I am to see what these items can do over a three day span. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. If video is more your thing, check out my YouTube channel Backpack Bushcraft or just click here to watch now. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.