hiking not camping

HIKING NOT CAMPING

We are spoiled consumers. Everything we do must cost money and require extra tools. Even prepping TRIED to introduce new tools that we absolutely positively needed, but not really, and the whole industry pretty much sucked an egg and took a big squishy. You might maintain that this downturn was the Trump Effect, but I think it was just the continuous unemployment as mass layoffs and store closures took their toll. Too many minions, Bison's Little Helpers who report as boots on the ground ( which frankly I need on occasion as I am isolated and out of the loop ), even gun sales crashed.

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Think about that for more than two seconds, or however long you can pleasure your lady-whichever happens first-and ask yourself why Scary Black Plastic Poodle Shooters are flying off the shelves at a reduced rate? Why are Bubba's having no luck consigning used guns? I know, you know, and if Ross Perot was alive he'd know that the economy is going off the cliff and Bernie Sanders might get elected, as welfare money will be needed from the hovering Federal Reserve helicopters to quell the riots from the ghettos and suburbs.

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That means now and now only and perhaps for never more if Virginia is any indicator, this is THE time to be buying and burying guns and ammo ( vacuum sealer is the Amazon link O' The Day at the end of the article ). Why aren't sales higher than ever? Because we already have enough guns? LOL Damn, Chief, that is a GOOD one. Hilarious! As if there is any such thing as enough guns. If there is any one thing gun owners, also know as patriotic Americans, can all agree on is that you can never own enough guns. That crap is like, Guns 101, dude.

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No, I think less people can swing FINANCING guns. It has nothing to do with desire. Oh, their credit card company is happy to extend them more debt, but they are already using the cards to pay the utility bill each month. No way you can also buy another gun. The wife says fifteen is more than enough. Bubba can't sell his used guns for the same reason Palmetto State ONLY raised their AR kits ten percent after Red Flag laws and Virginia. They don't have enough demand to raise the price further. So, to get back on topic, the indicators I look at seem to be telling me the Prepping Industry is dying from demand, not disinterest but lack of ability at spending.

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And prepping was almost always about cannibalizing demand from other industries, not providing their own tools. Outside #10 cans of freeze dried foods ( and a lot of that might just be frugal campers buying in bulk and creating their own meals rather than buying an expensive pouch ), preppers don't need their own tools. What I mean is, why buy from a preparedness vendor what you can buy cheaper from a camping supply store or gun/knife store or military surplus company? Demand crashed with the REAL economy ( that part not propped up with inflation ), and ad revenue died as did the whores profiting off product pimping.

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One of the few product placement successes seemed to be from camping. Sammy Survivalist might not be buying freeze dried yak spleen, radiation meters or FLIR scopes, but he just might still want camping supplies, so by gum and to sacrifice another slice of your soul at the alter of Mammon, you start writing articles on bushcrafting and camping! Winning! I've even fell into this trap, not the gear queering, but the statement that going camping helps you practice your survival skills. And it can.

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Yet, it seems to me, on reflection, that camping errs on the side of preparedness rather than survival. It is all just consuming mass quantities of tools. It isn't REALLY about skills, past a certain point. To some, it is just an excuse to drink beer, but I doubt any of those are reading here. I think camping is helpful learning to wing it, learning that not all your needs need to be met by tying yourself to a vulnerable grid. You can see how well those off grid tools work. You can see what isn't worth the weight of packing. To actually experience a bit of discomfort, and learn to overcome that with real gear, as opposed to Peacock Feather gear.

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To illustrate one small example, now we have folks pimping the military high tech layering system, those pieces of clothing a few hundred bucks EACH. What The Ever Living Hump? The military went WAY too high tech ( cough, FLIR, cough ). I don't think you really need much past WWII military gear. Cotton thermal underwear, cotton clothing, wool and an outer layer of whatever for wind. If it wasn't keeping soldiers alive in Russia eighty years ago, being MORE artificially manufactured shouldn't make one whit of difference.

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Throwing money at a problem rarely solves a problem, and often makes more of them. Camping can rapidly turn the biggest learning experience about CONSUMPTION. That is the danger. You spend more time researching products, then spending the time working to afford them, than actually camping. And while camping is great for the above listed reasons, are you really going to be spending a lot of time camping, after the collapse? If you employ the hermit nomad plan, sure. But how many of you are going to be living outside full time, resupplying from caches?

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As an emergency measure, sure, you might need to retreat to a selected forest location with supplies, as marauders attack the village or homestead. BUT! How do you usually avoid those attacks ( or, at least, know of them well in advance )? By patrolling. Which is...Bueller, Bueller? Hiking. And by practicing hiking primarily, you learn quick what not to pack for camping. Which is just secondary. On patrols you'll be packed light and not pitching tents ( you want to be in an enclosed fabric room if you are attacked at night? ) or worrying too much about fires ( of course, in case of a freezing rain or similar accident...).

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I believe we should be focused on hiking, NOT camping. Forget all the gadgets and doo-dads. Forget all the expense. And for the love all that is good and just, forget “ultralight camping”, an excuse to spend ten times the money, and having flimsy gear. Spend your recreational hours chosen to spend outdoors hiking. If you have adequate footwear, and foul weather clothing, which we all should, your expense is negligible. And you learn your area, learn how to move silently, learn how to condition your muscles. And Seniors can hike!

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Not the most doom porn relevant information right now, but a nice change of pace from Beer Viruses and Liquidity Crashes.

( .Y. )

( today's related Amazon link click HERE )

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note: the locusts have hit Pakistan and are now moving over to India.  Got wheat?
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note: I thought this was a relevant video.  The top five best movie heroic last stands.  Motivation for our own HERE  And, unrelated, but always priceless, "Scrubs" on bastards HERE 
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