Something that pisses me off completely is the concept of bugging out. I read article after article about this perfect bugout vehicle. They range from some idiot’s concept of a super SUV, to some other idiots converted school bus. Pulling a trailer to boot!
Leaving aside the obvious, which is that all of these on road vehicles are stopped by as little as washed out bridge over a small stream, there is also the issue of how big a target you are.
“A big fat school bus pulling a trailer? Nah, I won’t hit that“, says the bad guy. “There won’t be anything good in it. Let’s let it go by…”
Right. Pull the other one.
But for all the lack of realism in the vehicular bug out camp, there is an even worse set of assumptions out there. There seems to be a whole lot of people that think they will play Davey Crockett and just walk off into the woods with their trusty rifle and their ‘possibles’ bag. These live off the land types are largely ridiculed, and for the most part, justly so. It’s just not realistic to believe that you can carry enough in a pack to survive more than a week or two without some sort of re-supply.
This is where a third set of assumptions come into play, whether as a primary bug out plan or as a Plan B from a failed vehicular bug-out. The assumption in both these plans is that they can walk to their retreat, cache, or what have you. They believe that walking can get them and their family out of trouble. But can they?
Aside from the obvious issues of attackers, weather, and supply, most of these folks are gravely over-estimating what they can do and carry on foot. For starters, we’re likely not walking the major roads. In fact , if you’re planning on walking roads at all you’re likely going to come to a bad end. This means you will be walking ploughed fields, bush, mucky bottom land, slopes and rocky trails.
And that’s where the problem starts. Not everyone can make good time in these conditions. Much is dependent on age and conditioning. Let me give you an example. A friend and his 10 year old just hiked a fairly difficult trail in my area. The trail is 8.3 km long and it took them six hours to get to the end. My spouse and I hiked the same trail a day later and it took us less than half the time to complete the same distance.
Obviously, hiking with kids will be a lot slower process. But there were other factors at work. The spouse and I are used to carrying packs and are seasoned, well-conditioned hikers. We have experience on rough terrain, and I was using hiking poles which helped me hike faster with less fatigue.
Age, injury, and conditioning all have an effect. Age we can’t do much about, but conditioning is under our control, and through conditioning, we can control some of our risk of injury. I believe in our car oriented world that few people have the fitness and conditioning to make the sort of hike I just made, never mind one that might take weeks or even months to accomplish.
Bugging out on foot isn’t an impossible, or even a bad plan. Sadly, far too few are preparing properly to walk to safety, even though they are planning on it. A few things you can do:
Practice. Walk your route with a loaded pack.
Get conditioned. Walk, run, swim, whatever it takes to be active and fit.
But remember that the best conditioning is doing what you would actually need to do.
It’s just common sense.
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