Camping Made Easy with an ATV Cargo Rack and Bag

Taking your ATV for an overnight camping trip is a great way to get away from it all. With your all-terrain vehicle, you can avoid the crowded campgrounds and find hard-to-access camping sites that offer one-of-a-kind views and a total escape from civilization. With an ATV drop rack and bag, you can do just that.

The best way to pack your utility quad for a camping trip is to use ATV front and rear racks and a rack pack. Tailgate style or drop racks make for easy loading and unloading and give you extra space to stash your cargo. An ATV luggage bag fits nicely on the front or rear of your quad and helps keep your cargo clean and dry. Make sure your rack bag is waterproof to seal out rain, water, mud, sand, and dirt.

Pack items that are as lightweight as possible. The following list will give you a basic idea of what to pack. Depending on how much you like to rough it, you may want to leave some of these items behind.

• Lighting (flashlight and batteries or lantern and fuel)
• Shelter (tarp or tent and sleeping bag)
• Emergency supplies (first aid kit)
• Repair kit for your ATV (tire repair kit, basic tool kit, etc . )
• Shovel
• Recovery gear
• Extra fuel
• Cell phone
• Maps and GPS unit
• Food and water (including a water purification system for emergencies)
• Cooking supplies
• Matches or fire starter
• Clothing and toiletries
• Rain gear
• Garbage bags

Pack heavier items towards the bottom of the ATV rack as a base; then pile lighter items on top. Lightweight, bulky items (like sleeping bags) you can strap down on top of the load with bungee cords, but seal them in a plastic garbage bag first in case of rain. Try to include items that can serve more than one purpose in order to cut down on extra luggage and weight. Also, keep items that you need to access frequently at the top of your ATV bag.

Balance the load out from the front rack to the rear rack and from side to side. Check your owner's manual for the manufacturer's rated load capacity. In some ATV models, the rear capacity is double the capacity for the front of your quad. Check the load capacity of your ATV racks as well. Try not to stack the load too high. You want to keep the center of gravity as low as possible.

Place the rear cargo as far forward as possible on your ATV drop rack, and keep the front cargo clear of the handlebars. Leave enough room to easily turn the handlebars. With a heavier load, your ATV may handle differently, so drive with caution until you get a good feel for what your quad can handle under load. Avoid steep grades and uneven terrain that could cause your quad to tip.

With an adequate amount of planning ahead, you'll be able to relax and enjoy your trip in the backcountry. Remember to pack out what you pack in, and leave your campsite cleaner than you found it.



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Prepping for women

Survival Food: Emergency Item Your Survival Kit Should Contain

Surviving an emergency has nothing to do with luck. In fact , if luck plays any part at all, it's probably too small for most people to actually benefit from. The best way to survive an emergency – any emergency – is to be prepared, aware and know what to do. Having the right resources is also advantageous, particularly if these are exactly what you need to survive. If you're planning on buying a survival kit or putting one together yourself, here are the types of emergency food you should consider:

Dehydrated food

Dehydrated food is excellent as emergency food for your survival kit because they come in small , compact portions. They are convenient to pack and easy to prepare. You will need to heat them up with water, though. They are a good choice as part of your survival kit if you are ever in an emergency situation where you need warm food.

Dehydrated food includes meat, vegetables, fruits and flavored meals. Information on the number of calories included in a serving is usually included, so pack enough to meet your most basic calorie needs on a per day basis.

Canned food

Do not use raw food that still needs to be cooked for your survival kit. Emergency food has to be convenient to store, prepare and eat. Besides, raw food will rot. Canned food is a better choice for emergency food because they can keep for several months to a few years.

Canned food also provides plenty of choices – meat, fish, fruits and vegetables. They can also be eaten straight out of the container. Probably the only preparation you might have to do is to heat them for more comfort and flavor.

Consider packed meals as well. Not only do they keep well, they are also very flavorful. They come in single serves which make it easy to keep track of the number of meals you have. Make sure to choose those that can be stored outside the freezer. If the emergency food requires freezing, make sure you have the facility to do this.

Drink

Water is the best choice for all emergency situations and as such, should be a major component of your survival kit. Regardless of the season or location, the ideal amount of water you should pack should be 1 gallon for each person per day. If you're storing emergency food at home, consider keeping enough to supply your need for fluids for at least 10 to 14 days.

Other excellent choices for emergency food for your survival kit are drink mixes, particularly the ready-to-drink or pre-mixed varieties. Drink mixes not only contain pleasant flavoring (quite helpful in stressful situations such as emergencies), there are many made available in the market that are formulated with vitamins and minerals. These drink mixes are especially helpful in combating the first signs of dehydration and can replenish important nutrients that may be lost due to the lack of proper food.

A disadvantage to drink mixes is that they cannot be used to cook food. Your priority should be pure water and then simply supplement what you have with drink mixes. If you're unsure about the purity of the water you've stored in quite a while, keep a bottle of water purification tablets. You can treat the water with these to ensure its safety.



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Prepare Natural Disaster Survival

Survival Skills

Survival skills just for backpacking? Why not? For ultralight backpackers like myself, skills replace gear, and therefore weight. If you spend any time in the wilderness, it also just feels good to know you can deal with whatever comes up.

Survival means staying warm and dry, hydrated, uninjured, and finding your way out of the wilderness. Of course, eating is nice too, but not crucial if the situation is just for a few days. Here are some survival skills you can learn easily.

Easy survival skills

1. Put dried moss or milkweed fuzz in your pocket as you walk, so you'll have dry tinder to start a fire, just in case it's raining later. Cattail fuzz works well too, and you can experiment with different materials.

2. If it looks and tastes like a blueberry, strawberry, or raspberry - it is. There is no berry in North America that looks like a blueberry, strawberry, or raspberry, and can hurt you from one taste. Take a taste, and just spit it out completely if it doesn't taste right.

3. Make a pile of dry leaves and dead grass to keep warm in an emergency. I have slept warmly without a blanket, in below-freezing weather, in a pile of dry grass.

4. Put a stick upright in the ground, and mark the tip of the shadow. Mark it again fifteen minutes later. Scratch a line between the first and second marks, and it will be pointing east. Techniques like this can save you when your compass is lost.

5. Clouds form in the Rocky Mountains just before the afternoon storms in summer. Hikers are regularly killed by lightning in Colorado. Birds often fly lower before storms. Learning to read the sky and the behavior of animals can keep you out of trouble.

6. The biggest wilderness killer is hypothermia, and getting wet is the biggest cause. Get in the habit of watching for ledges or large fir trees to stand under when you think that rain may be coming. Learning to stay dry is one of the more important survival skills.

7. To stay warmer, sleep with your head slightly downhill. It takes some getting used to, but it works.

8. Get in the habit of filling water bottles every chance you get, and you won't have such a hard time with any long dry stretches of trail. Drink up the last of your water right before you fill the bottles too.

9. Break a "blister" on the trunk of a small spruce or fir tree, and you can use the sap that oozes out as an good antiseptic dressing for small cuts. It also can be used to start a fire, and will burn when wet.

10. Bark from a white birch tree will usually light even when wet. In a jam, you can also use it as a paper substitute if you need to leave a note in an emergency.

The above are just a few tips and techniques you can easily learn. There are many more, and they can make backpacking not only safer, but more interesting. Why not practice one or two of these survival skills?

Survival Gardening 9