An Illustrated Guide to Bugging Out

Don't forget your pets.

This weekend, I got to work on the bugout guide. It’s something approachable, and yet it’s something many people avoid. Packing is hard enough for a normal trip. It can get overwhelming when you start to think about all the things you’ll need during an emergency. Even for someone who’s been doing it for a while, the list of items can start to get out of control. For me at least, the task became easier to wrap my head around with a visual list of items, organized into loose groups.

This guide also starts to address some other questions, like what you can do without carrying a lot of weight. Camel packs, fanny packs, and vests can still hold a lot of items without adding a lot. Then there’s rolling suitcases...

Bugging out doesn’t always mean heading into the woods. In fact, I suspect many of us will be throwing stuff in a car and heading for another city, in which case you might not always need sleeping bags or tents. Until doing this dive, I’d seriously underestimated the value of camel/hydration packs. One of the most important things to take with you during a bugout isn’t just a water purifier, it’s water, and hydration packs make it a lot easier than lugging aquatainers, if you’re in a big hurry.

I’m going to add one or two more pages going into more detail on lightweight bugout options. Let me know about your bugout plans and what you would add. And... we have a new version of Cassandra. She has a companion.

For the next section, I’m trying to decide if I should dive into food growing, or if I should do an illustrated version of my plan for sickness that includes plant-based antivirals and HOCl. Let me know your thoughts.