Camping

Part of my recent disappearing act was going camping–but not just any camping, I was Bug Out Camping.

Bug Out Camp is a 3-day event put on each year by the folks at PrepperNet. This year’s was at Stone Mountain State Park here in North Carolina. While it seems to be geared toward those who are early in their prepping careers, there were sessions that were of interest the seasoned prepper as well. In particular, I attended the ones on night vision, emergency communications and colloidal silver (among others) and was well pleased with the quality of the information.

At the night vision presentation, we had the opportunity to look through the presenter’s collection of night vision gadgets. One in particular, the Nightfox 110R Handheld Night Vision Goggles, really got my attention as they were only $90 at Amazon, who currently had them at $70 with a $20 off coupon, a deal that’s still going on, BTW. These are not based on image intensifier technology, but are more of a very low light camera with a small screen you put up to your eyes. They have a number of drawbacks, ranging from the light of the screen potentially giving you away to someone with better gear to functioning best with some additional IR illumination. They still beat having nothing at all, and I ordered a pair when I got home. The set I got works as well as the one I played with.

The weather wasn’t the greatest we could have asked for. It ranged from rather cool to cold and windy (gusts up to 40 MPH) and rained cats and dogs one night. I’d guess most of the attendees were tent camping and I felt for them, although I didn’t hear a single complaint. I’m sure they probably had some better-than-average gear. Me, I plan on surviving in style, so I took the RV and ran a couple of electric heaters. 🙂 M-m-m, toasty!

PrepperNet also runs another event, Prepper Camp, another 3-day event that seems geared toward folks who’ve been at this for a while. It was held in Saluda, NC in September, and judging from the list of classes I would have missed out on 2/3 of the things I’d have wanted to attend. If the 2024 edition is within a decent drive and WW III hasn’t broken out, I’m going to try for this one next year. I’ve already gotten something from this year’s without attending–a potential new freeze-dry food source. They’re ReadyWise, and their stuff is interesting enough that I ordered a couple of entrees to try out. I’ll let you know how they taste.

See you there next year?