B.O.B. and Questions.

Bug out Bag. Do you have one?

I understand this is backpacking forums, but i've noticed every time i look at hiking gear, backpacking loading techniques, hiking trails, etc. on forums and youtube i start to stumble on branches of self-defense, BOB, stocking up in freeze-dried food #10 Mountain House (that can last 30-years), solar-energy, survival gardening, Survival kits, and defense (e.g. fire arms).

Question #2: Are you noticing a trend? (e.g. self-defense, preparedness, planning for the worst) or has this hobby been around and i just noticed it?

I keep a "go kit" as, we call it in CERT's, which includes stuff to handle short term emergency deployments. Otherwise, many of us on this forum have so much "survival" gear in the way of....gear...that a 'bug out bag' is a matter of stuffing a pack and getting out of Dodge.
I keep "warmth, fire,water, and communications" in my cars, always. I can pretty much make anyplace home at any time.
A 'bug out bag' tends to be area specific. There is no chance of a flood in my area, fire is possible but nowhere near like the pine forests to the west. It's a good idea to think through possible reasons you'd need to 'bug out' and pack accordingly. 90% of the time, staying put is your best option.

You can survive quite a long time without food, but not water. Bug-Out gear is no good if you do not have a water source. Purification tabs or a filter would be good items to have. You may have to drink the water from the toilet tank!

I personally do have a B.O.B. in addition to an emergency kit in my car. The B.O.B. has basically everything I would need to survive for a while, minus food (I have a few power bars in there). Purification tablets, purification pump, survival knife, multi-tool, rope, flashlights, a survival mini-handbook, my backpacking first aid kit that also has a sewing kit and other stuff in it, etc etc.

I also keep an external hard drive in there that I back my computer up to. Basically if I have to run out of the house quickly (fire, flood, earthquake), it's the first think (and possibly only thing) I'll grab. I also carry it in my car if I'm going to be driving on desolate roads and might possibly have to walk a long distance.

Yes, I do. Backpacking techniques help me keep it small and light.

It is an old trend.

I have a "grab & go bag", but not a B.O.B. A lot of the latter seem to be heavy on the weapons and light on practical clothes. What my wife and I have is not much different than what we'd pack for a 3-day hike, except the food doesn't need any prep and the insulating items don't mind staying stuffed in a bag 24/7. Plus we keep more tools in there.

Growing up, it was a given that a lot of people were always prepared for the worst simply because it was rural Alaska. It's a habit that stuck with me when I moved to Washington. I can't say whether preparedness is a trend that's gotten more popular in recent years.

I think most people realize there are few places to bug out to. Earthquake boxes get raided for flashlights in California. Most people just assume they will either be rescued by society, or die anyway, so why bother? It also assumes that you can get to the kit if you house collapses or burns.
Jim

I do not have a bug-out bag in the strict definition of the term. We do keep earthquake kits in our two cars, packed into 5 gallon buckets with handles, so they could be carried if necessary. They'd be awkward to carry for any distance, but in the event of an earthquake while we're away from home, we're almost certain to try to return home, not bug-out, and 98% of the time that will be a short trip.

We also are about 80% of the way toward having some more extensive disaster preps stored at our home, but not inside it. We have about 60 gallons of water under a sturdy work bench in our detached garage. It should survive even if the garage fell over. The remaining supplies are in two garbage cans on the patio.

On top of that, we have oodles of camping gear, food and water in the basement, but that could be inaccessible, so we are not banking on it being available. If it were, then we could ride out a disaster for a very long time, if need be.

The traditional bug-out bag is more designed for someone leaving their home in a great hurry in response to a warning of impending disaster. Where we live there aren't hurricanes or tornados or flash floods. Earthquakes don't come with a warning, so a BOB wouldn't be a very suitable preperation in our case.

As for a trend, it is possible, but it has roots going back to the 1950s fallout shelters, up through the 1980s survivalists, and the Y2K alarmists. However, recent events like Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami, and Japanese earthquake/tsunami and the swarms of destructive tornados this year have got more people aware of how vulnerable they are to sudden disasters.

That's good as I see it. Rural people have always understood how precarious good fortune can be. As so many have moved to cities, this knowledge has dulled considerably. It's about time that ignorance and complacency was corrected.

I remember one night at Chaco Canyon. My wife and I were playing Monopoly with another couple and the power failed. The other guy and I got up and fetched our respective Coleman lanterns, lighting them up so the game could continue. No one commented - just another routine operation out in the country. Power was restored sometime early the next morning, so we didn't have to worry about the food in the freezers.

I always made sure we had plenty of chow on hand. Bad weather could block the roads and I thought there was a possibility we would need to feed stranded park visitors.