well not sure where to start so I'll just ramble while I wimper in pain,LOL fairly new here but have been reading like a mad man for awhile. this is a great site and prepared me for this past weekend. while all this advise helped me theres one thing that only myself could prepared for.    
the physical vs the mental parts. mentally I think I was good to go. practiced skills in the back yard for months.  that helped alot seeing that I'm 47 and have never hiked or camped in my life time up to this point!
physically I thought I prepared fairly well. I started walking at first a few times a week. then I would add my backpack. then I would add weight a little at a time. my practice pack came in at 42lbs when I decided to test myself in a full out SHTF walking bug out sim. the trip was 4 days, about 35 miles, and some sore ass muscles in the end! LOL

loadout was a full 3 day assult pack, sleeping bag and mat. 2 molle sustainment pouches with food, mre's and some mountain house, and power bars.   2, 3L hydros in the pack. 45acp 50 rounds. ccw
vest was loaded with weight to simulate a full ar gun and ammo loadout= 16" AR15, 12 ar 30rd mags, dump pouch with 300 rounds,  2 mil canteens, kabar, maps and such... my scale is not the best but it worried me at 72lbs. but after thinking about it I realized that some weight would come off as I used food and water.

let the sim begin
friday morning, up at 3:30am, no breakfast, loaded and out the door at about 3:50am. route planed and hit the R&R tracks about 100 yards from my house. first thing I have to deal with was the tracks, should I walk on them or down the side of them in the big chunk gravel. started on the tracks, it was dark and didn't want to end my trip with a twisted ankle in the gravel. little after 6am stopped under a bridge after clearing most of the city.  eat something and rehydrate. temp was about 55 or so and I'm feeling good.  

tryed to plan trip in equal miles per day but didn't work out that way so what the hell. my first stop would be about 11 miles out at a friends pasture.( he knew I was coming)rest of day was just walking and avoiding contact with anyone.(SHTF)  arrive at camp site about 4:30pm and I was wiped out,,LOL  
made fire pit and a few hits on the spark rod and I was cookin.. LOL , eat and rest for about an hour then setup camp in a small bunch of tree and bushes that would cover me pretty good. about maybe 1/2 mile from friends house. only problem with camp site was setting up poucho lean to, trees were a little too far apart and caused a big sag in the middle. so got to use the Gerber change a blade folding saw and cut some small branches and tied them to the each end of the poucho to prop it up. it worked and was happy...note to self,,,add some tent stakes to pack!!
"gerber saw" while not a camp saw it worked like a champ. the branches I cut were about 2" in dia, so I was happy with that.
about 8pm rolls in and I'm tire, fat and happy but theres one thing. I used up a lot of water , more then I planed on.  
I thought I would make it to my final camp site with what I had. theres water there, but i'm still about 6-7 miles away from that. so I thought I would creep in my friend backyard in the early morning and refill from his hose. watch alarm set for 4:30am and hit the sack.  

Saturday morning, woke up about 10 minutes late, LOL never heard the alarm,,LOL I don't think I ever slept that hard in my life. put camo's back on,  painted my face up some and grabbed the camo netting for cover. walked and got about 300 yds from house and heard a dog bark. don't know where it was but I know it was a ways off!. hit the gound and stayed for about maybe 15 minutes til the damn dog stopped barking. 300 yds to go and sun rise will be around 6:30. I took about 35-45 minutes to belly crawl that 300 yds, right up to the fence. shit! I forgot there was a fence. well didn't want to go over and risk that damn dog seeing me so I dug under it with the kabar. 10 yds to go!  creep up to hose, refill 2 canteens and almost a whole 3L hydro. it time to get the hell out, its coming up on 5:55am and I see a little less darkness in the sky.
back under fence and crawled forever until I knew it was getting too light in the sky. got up and bee lined it to the camp site. eat and broke camp down in about 30 mintues and was on my way.

2nd leg was going to be a little more physical. started getting into the hills on the way up to the lake. about an hour into the days walk. I stopped to drink, reached down to adjust my boot and there it was, shit,, blood!!  pulled pants up and right above the boot line was about a 3" cut, not to deep but bad enough.  had to be from the fence when I went under it.
rinsed with water then a little splash of alcohol and alot of non repeatables,,LOL  wraped it up and on my way.
about another hour or so I started to get really tired and some muscle pain was starting to set in my upper legs. goody's powders and a power bar and I pushed on,,  1:45pm rolling into camp site. had alot of stops on this day, legs feel like they were beat with baseball bats.  droped pack and vest, down to underware and hit the lake. the water was cool as hell but my legs needed it so bad,,,LOL  got soap from pack and took a bath, then decided it was the perfect time for a nap! LOL
got up around 4:30 pm and setup camp with out problem, went on a fatwood hunt to start fire with and was again cooking and feeling better.
spend the night reading and listening the to the sounds of the woods.  I wish my dog was young enough to make this trip, but she would have told me to call someone after 3-4 miles LOL.  

another great nights sleep as sunday's sunrise wakes me up! legs are sore but nothing like yesterday. get fire going again and decide to see if fish was on the breakfast menu this morning. set up the mini fishing kit but no luck, not even a nibble! after about 45 minutes I'm too hungry to keep fishing so mre will have to do!..
get set up with full water load, break camp and load up to head back. decided on a different return plan so I wouldn't have the last 11 mile leg all at once. I thought I would try cat napping all the way back, go 5-6 miles get rest for a little while and then another 5-6 mile and so on.
so go back to first camp site and rested then went on, when I got back on the R&R tracks I stopped to eat and wouldn't you know it, theres a little stream that I didn't see before. covered pretty good by bushes and stuff. refill water and rested.  
this was working out good. I was feeling alot better and legs were keeping up just fine.
sunday night set in on me and had to stop and change clothes. little chill in the air around 10:30-11:00pm. stoped around 1:30 am monday to sleep. I checked the weather before I started all this and know I was good to go, so I was winging it.
just drop sleeping bag and mat and that was it. just over and over.
well to bring this to the end as I have rambled on forever,LOL I rolled into the house about 5:20 pm monday. dog waiting for me at the door only to give me that "your insane" look. bath,,took a nap and now the legs are throbing while I peck away at the keyboard.  I have a feeling that the next few day are gonna hurt like hell! LOL

I will spend the next week going over what I did and how to do it better, but then again this was a SHTF sim and I know I can only prepare so much for that.  while this trip was not my real bug out route that I would take if something happen which would be easier. it helped me prepare a little better. more physical then my real route.
 
how do I feel about this whole trip. I feel really good knowing I can do it at my age.  
what did I miss the most about home while on this trip??
MY DAMN TOOTHBRUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  forgot to pack it,,,,shit!!! 4 days, my mouth feels like ass!  LOL

thanks guys, couldn't have did it without you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S.
Buddy was pissed about hole under fence,,,LOL

Kewl write up!

....would love to see the look on your friend's face when he looks out in the yard and there is a hole under his fence with K-Bar marks all around it.  LOL  

I did edit that. forgot to say he was pissed,,,LOL

How much does you gear together weigh? Back pack, ammo,etc.

my practice pack only was around 40lbs, had to simulate the gun and ammo weight for the trip as best I could in the vest. weighed gun and ammo load and just filled the mag pouches with anything I could find to get equal weight. then added the food and water and a few other items. bathroom scale said this trip pack was 72lbs. don't know how much its off. its an old scale.  I should have weighed it when I got home when most of the food and water was gone.  I'm pretty much done for the next few days LOL I can barely walk..

must try to lighten up the pack for sure. but want to keep it fairly real. a real SHTF walking bug out may not go as planed so don't want to leave something behind either. I guess its a give and take thing. would like to carry more ammo but that may mean leaving other important stuff!

One thing to consider, if you could get your pack weight down to 40 pounds or so, you could make that 35 mile trip in 2 days instead of 4.  That's 2 days less of possibly running into bad situations, 2 days more to recover from your trip and start your life at your new location.  

What can you drop from your pack?  Two weapons and ammo seem like a luxury.  Pick one.  MREs could be traded for lighter dehydrated foods.  You should do well on 2 pounds of high calorie dry food per day.  If water is available en route, leave the canteens and one of the 3 liter hydros empty, fill them later or when you get to where you're going.

If you are planning to bug out 35 miles on foot, you may want to think "light and fast" rather than "slow but ready".

yeah lots of way to go. as far as how slow I was, I think it will come together in time. I'm 47 years old and as mentioned before I have never hiked or camped in my life. so the physical part of all this is a work in progress. my practice walks are from 5-10 miles on weekend and 2-5 miles once or twice during the week.

agreed on the mre's, they do add up on weight. will try dried food the next time. I just got a good price on the mre's while the dry stuff cost more.
you think side arm is too much??? 45 with 5 10rd clips??
will look into water along my real route. that does sound good to light up on that if I can.

my first bug out plan will be by jeep. I live 2 mins outside down town so if SHTF it most likely will be crarzy around here. GF house is about 35 miles away out in the country with lots of good ol boys that I know in that area.
this walk out plan is my backup plan if the first plan fails.

good job getting out there.

Was this 35 in ...35 out..or 35 round trip?



doing 30+ here soon myself...

keep in mind that if you go with dehydrated food you'll need additional water to re-hydrate stuff... an important consideration if resupply is a problem

thanks
this trip was 35 miles round trip

yeah thought of that, need to check out my route more to see what water is along the way.

started going through my pack to take inventory and see what I could change or take out to lighten it up. will have it reweighed over the weekend and see where I end up. my repacking so far is looking better then before. I'm getting it more condensed, its like a big jigsaw puzzle. pack, unpack, repack, unpack, repack,,,,,,  

so far I was able to get rid of one sustainment pouch. when to the store and measured the mountain house bags so I can lose one big pouch. but damn those things cost $$$$

looking for opinions on the side arm. in a full SHTF,,,carry or not?

Thanks for sharing.. Very entertaining!  Makes me want to get out for a 20 mile plus trip!

~DoubleA~

personally i see the sidearm as a 2nd line of defense if someone were to rob you of your ar while you slept or something . shit happens. or if you had to leave your camp site but couldnt be seen with a full sized assault rifle. keep it hidden in your pack or ccw liek you said. the extra bit of space or few pounds could save your life.

just my .02

You did more in your first outing than many folks do at any time.  

Good going and good write up.  How ya gonna know what you need and what you don't if you never go out there?

Can't carry everything but we can learn to take what we need and improvise where we need to improvise!

LOL on digging under the neighbors fence.

thanks, I think it was a little bit much to bite off for my first trip. but after playing in the backyard for months and planning the whole thing, I just said what the hell how bad could it be?  LOL it took me a week to recover from that trip!!  people at work thought I was in a car wreck, I was hurting bad..LOL

my buddy was pissed about the hole in his yard but after a few days he got a laugh outta it after I filled it back in.

I'd say lighten the weapon loadout. 8-10 mags and not so much spare ammo to refill them with. The pistol doesnt need a whole lot of extra ammo, just a few magazines (IMHO).
Good job though, all in all. At least you're out there testing the gear.

I'm looking forward to doing something like this myself, this summer to start, and the following winter, with plenty of run & gun drills with my gear in between. Excellent write up.

Think calorie dense foods for bugging out... not necessarily dehydrated food...



It's not healthy, but Candybars, and best of all Peanut-butter...  VERY calorie dense, and takes up little space.  Many people who do extreme distance treks take calorie dense, 'junk food' just to keep calories up...



Just a consideration...

I've got couple of points for you to consider.

1.  If you want tent stakes, then look for the wire ones as the weigh nothing and take no room.
2.  You mention fishing, did you use a rod and reel?  Ditch that if you did and go with drop lines that you can set up and check later.  It will keep fishing for you when your doing other chores.
3.  Learn to build small smokeless fires and a reflector wall for the winter.  This will reduce the chance of your fire getting seen.
4.  On mistake made early was digging a hole and then not filling it in.  You left evidence of you being there.  Should have gone over the fence or thru the gate.  Speed is security at times.
5.  On the MRE/dehyrdated food.  You may not have the water or all the water souces are frozen.  Hard to eat dehyrated food on the run also.  Don't go with only one option, pack a bit of both.  Also did you purify the creek water, if so with what?
6.  Dump half your AR mags and reload them as needed.  Saves a bit of weight.  Might want to look at a compact 9mm pistol such as a G19 or Smith 6900 series.
7.  You didn't mention it but on your GI canteens do you have the canteen cup to go with it?  Makes a great cooking pot with just a LBE loadout.  I would keep at least on canteen as there are times that it is nearly impossible to refill camelbacks out of small streams.  That's another reason for the canteen cup.  Put a small 2x2" green scratch pad under the canteen cup for cleaning the inside out after cooking.
8.  First Aid kit which you didn't mention but needed.  

Good job on your field training exercise (FTX) as we used to call them.  Do you know the train schedules as you walked down the tracks?  You can also learn to do some cacheing of equipment along your route (concealment, burial and submersion).  For future reading you might consider reading the old Boy Scout Field Manual and the USAF survival manual (good stuff in there on evasion techniques and not being seen/found), lots of good fieldcraft in those.  At least your out training, good luck on your next one.

CD

You laughed out loud a little too much. Other than that, your stealth is coming.

some points since its a bug out and you brought a rifle i assume you want to be semi tactical

dont walk on roads, tracks, trails etc. we call them linear danger areas and they are great for ambushes on untrained groups or people, stay at least 100M off LDAs

when you hear a dog, run. hiding from a dog never works, especially if its trained and looking for you, youre better off gaining distance

dont leave to get water, get water comeback, break camp and then leave again. get up, breakdown, leave to get water, go from there. if you came back from getting water and your shit was gone then what?

less cooking more moving. dont stop and make camp and cook and do all that. just sit down and eat and keep going. fire gives off a visible and thermal signature and people can smell what youre cooking and possibly hear the crackle as well.

you did good but remember we can always do better.

if you need some teeth cleaning chew green pine needles at the base not tip. lots of citrus

Brewing the pine needles for a tea is good also.

CD

i never thought of that

GREAT JOB!!!! Thank you for the time to write this up......

speed is security, but in your situation, I agree with the plan of action you took. Slower, but you did learn alot, and that ultimately was the goal.....

You never said if you filtered the water from the stream or lake..... did you? What filter did you use and how did it work for you???

72 lbs seems awfully heavy for a three day pack.... for that kind of weight you need a frame pack to not kill yourself....

like I said, you did GREAT!

Excellent report!  May I add some "food for thought".  Consider what you would have to do if you were not alone; if you had to travel with a loved one or a companion?  Taking the dog, what then? Making your simulation at night?  What to consider if you "DO" have to discharge your weapon?  NO water pressure at the friend"s house?  Making a lean-to using only one corner of your tarp/poncho?  

Don't get me wrong, what you did is great.  Now, put more mental challenges in your "walk-about" by throwing in a few different situations each time.  

Goatey

Good job.   you can think it to death, but until you put thoughts into practice, you won't know what really works for you.

nct

What a great post! Thanks for making it. You already touched on the area a little bit, but I'm wondering what kind of area you are in where you can camp for four days on foot with fires and everything without coming across another person. Walking 35 miles in any direction from my place and I'd likely end up at a McDonalds parking lot or something.

Nicely done!!

been away for awhile, great replies here with good points from all. I'll try to answer all the questions that were asked.
all my firers were kept as small as possible and hidden, no blazing flames.   water was boiled in canteen cups(have 2) on esbit stove.. need to get water treatment or invest in a filter, just didn't have the money at that moment to buy a filter.
did have a small first aid kit.  fishing was from a kit, no rod and reel.

3 day pack was kinda small. I really had that thing packed out, didn't even need to use the compression straps on it. it was that tightly packed. may look into something a little bigger but I feel a big ruck pack may be too big. is there something in between the size of a 3 day pack and a ruck pack.
weight,, the whole setup at 72lbs is alot. thats the pack, full loadout vest, sustainment pouches and sleeping bag with mat.  I don't remember what the pack weighed by itself.  but the vest was at least 1/3 of the total.  rifle,12 full mags,300 dump rds, 2 canteens and other little things add up. so if this was just a walking camp trip weight would have been more like 45-50 lbs total.  has everyone here figured a vest into a walk out plan?  

dogs. interesting point made here! I think it would come down to an "at the moment decision" on what to do when dogs are present. where I was and what it called for was hiding until the dog loses interest. and the average dog would. 4-5 in the morning no one looking for me, just a random dog.  now if dog was being used to hunt me down. relocate would be wise but at the same time the dog must be taken out if possible. you can't out run a dogs nose!!  make a meal outta it!!

food storage was a problem I don't think the weight of it was but the size of it.  looking into smaller condensed items on that.

traveling. well as I said early I live a stones throw from downtown. so R&R tracks is pretty much the only way to go for a walk out. for the most part all the tracks around here are covered by trees and stuff. very few big open rail yards. hard to say what it would look like in a SHTF, but I'm sure the traffic would pick up and would have deal with it on a first come first serve basis. but night travel is the plan from the get go.  my real intended route has a few more miles to get free of the city and more open areas so night is the only way.

I think I may have covered everything.

Random questions/ observations would be

Did you field stripped the MREs when you loaded up your stuff. Theres a bit of weight you can lose,a nd its less garbage to either give youa way or have to pack out if you're in a "pack in/ pack out" area.

Other than that, equipment-wise I'd say a way to purify your water is a priority.

Alarm...was it an alarm setting on your watch or a seperate alarm clock? If it wasn't your watch, ditch it. Set any alarm to vibrate for noise discipline.

What kind of bag were you carrying?

Sleeping mats are hit and miss..I know some people swear by them, but every good one I've seen  is bulkier than I like and one of the first things I'd ditch. The only one I have is one of those old
German surplus folding mats that I bought back when we humped large Alice packs. It would fold up and fit into the pack frame. No room for it in my current BOB The only use I have for one is as a barrier against the cold ground. Heaped up leaves/ pine needles can do the same or a better job most times and places of the year.

As far as your camp, I'd look at it with a tactical mind. If you had to be up and out of there on short warning, did you have a couple of alternate egress routes planned. Small things like packing up everything as you used it rather than leaving it out ( not that you said you did, but I used to see young guys do that a lot  their first time out)...did you site your camp with good lines of site for the surrounding area while limiting your own visibility.

Other than that, paying attention to your surroundings while under way...were you attentive or dreaming or fixated on the stuff that was hurting you, for instance.....

Everyones already hit my other points.

I'd mend fences literally and figuratively with your friend by going over and fixing the damage you did. Its some other guys property and its the ethical thing to do.

Other than that, congrats on your experiment and keep us advised of your future experiments.

Some suggestions on food:
Besides the premade stuff, like MRE's and mountain house (both of which can be expensive), you should look at putting together your own food supply kit.
Trail mix:



Mix of your favorite kinds of nuts: cashews, peanuts, almonds, etc.



m&m's



reeses



sunflower seeds



etc



Put this all in a big ziplock bag and shake it up. Voila.
A can of peanut butter has a TON of calories, and can keep you going for a long time. It's not really messy either, you just dip a finger in and eat a bite, then repack and keep going.
Also, take some gum or small mints with you. Chewing it will take your mind off of hunger.
Gatorade powder (comes in a can) is VERY useful. Mix it with water and replenish electrolytes and some carbs.
Also, rethink your packing methods. I haven't seen your pack firsthand, but a lot of people new to backpacking will put WAY too much stuff in their packs.



You also don't want to use and of the "factory" casings for items, as they tend to be larger than necessary. Use ziplock bags instead.
Also, take some rope or paracord with you, to help with your tent setup. You can use it to tie branches together and for a nice lean-to or teepee. You mentioned that the two trees were too far apart for a lean-to. Try using just one tree next time. Fallen branches are your friend.
Another thought - if you are making your shelter, don't bother bringing a tent. It's just extra weight. I prefer to bring my tent, but it is pretty lightweight (something like 6 or 7 pounds, including stakes, IIRC). REI has some nice backpacking tents that are lightweight and waterproof. Same thing goes for the sleeping bag. You can find some lightweight mummy bags that use a compression bag to keep them small and compact. If you prefer, you can leave both the tent and bag at home and sleep under the stars. Take a small bivvy sac or some kind of sheet for comfort. This will save time and weight, especially if you are creating shelter out of your surroundings.   You may not want to leave your tent at home on your first try though, in case it fails
Don't forget your toothbrush next time. That should be one of you main priorities to remember. Bad dental health can and will lead to more problems.
ETA - You did a great job on your first outing! Very impressive for a newbie - eventually, you will begin to enjoy hiking/camping/backpacking as a hobby, and may find that you spend your vacation time on a camping trip