well actually every "what should i pack" thread on this board is somebody asking strangers to do the one thing the principle says to do yourself. radical self reliance. You figure it out. thats the whole principle.
20 burns, all open camping. my first year i brought too much of the wrong stuff and not enough water and i learned more from that than from any list anybody could have posted.
not saying dont read. read the survival guide. then go camp in the desert near home for a weekend and see what you forgot. thats a packing list you wrote yourself.
lorraine says im going to get yelled at. probly. -W
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- HOOct 6, 2026
Okay. I am the person you are talking about. Prep list version 11 is three threads down.
1. You are right that I should have just gone camping first.
2. I went camping first. In the backyard. In April. In the Falls. It snowed.The list is not because I can't figure it out. The list is how I figure it out. I post it so somebody tells me what I forgot. Somebody told me electrolytes. Version 4. Saved my week probly.
Year one I overpacked everything except water. Did the exact opposite of what you should do. A list would have caught that. Mine did not exist yet.
Not changing. Sorry Walt.
Anyway. Bishop sat on the printout this morning. Rook ate a corner of it. Cats are fine. 🐈
ReactReply - SKOct 6, 2026
Respectfully I lowkey disagree with this one 😅 I was SO nervous before my first burn and the people who actually answered my questions are the reason I made it out there at all 😭
"Figure it out" sounds like self-reliance but when you're new you don't even know what you don't know?? Nobody told me about vinegar for playa foot until someone in a packing thread did 🙏
Asking for help isn't the opposite of self-reliance, it's how you get there. And then you turn around and answer the next person. That's Communal Effort too ✨💛
(Also huge thank you to hoop_auntie for posting every single version of the list, version 7 is literally saved on my phone 🙈)
ReactReply - CHOct 6, 2026
Ok I'm gonna split the diffrence 🙃 Read the survival guide FIRST, then ask. If your question is answered on page 2 you're getting roasted. Lovingly 💅
But Walt, the people who never post "what should I pack" aren't the self reliant ones. They're the plug n plays. Somebody packed FOR them 🚫 Back in 2019 the packing threads were half the fun no cap 🫖✨🔥
ReactReply - HAOct 6, 2026
I'm going to push back a little here, from a slightly differnt direction. Walt is right about one thing: the principles were written as a description, not commandments. I'll stand on that hill with him.
But then you can't turn around and use one like a commandment. The actual wording is "discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources." It doesn't say alone. It doesn't say without asking. Respectfully, asking a question is how most people discover anything.
And the boring part nobody here wants to hear: the person who "figures out" water by running short ends up at the medical tent, and the medical tent is in the permit numbers. Somebody's packing list is a lot cheaper than that.
Edit: yes, I know Walt has 20 burns. "I did it the hard way" isn't an argument either.
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