if i only had a brain

As the cold weather arrives, I’ve been pondering how to travel on longer wilderness adventures safely and comfortably without adding much bulk and weight to the pack. Mo and Greg got me tuned back into these “miracle of science” suits.

A thought crossed my mind in my waking hours this morning: what about an insulated suit for an unplanned bivy? And what about integrating primitive survival skills for shelter with this 21st century technology?

What we have here is a potentially useful garment for about 1 pound, 10 bucks and 10 minutes of time. The concept is simple: procure two tyvek suits, put one inside the other and tape all the cuffs of the inner and outer suits together (legs, arms and collar).

Now if you find yourself in a forested biome, natural insulation should be pretty abundant and easy to come by. Unzip both suits and get in. Zip up the inner suit and begin to gather all the leaves and pine needles (omitting sticks where possible) you can, which will help generate warmth. Stuff the legs, arms and body of the suit through the zippered opening.

When dawn arrives and you find yourself alive, unzip and dump the leaves by pulling the suit inside out and give it a good shake before packing up. Or if you prefer, walk a while in your scarecrow attire and alert other hikers about the plague of the crazies.

Good luck.