On New Years Eve, I completed the first ever GORUCK Scavenger in Washington DC. Due to OPSEC, you won’t find a lengthy after action report but I can provide just the most bare bones intel from this classified event.
The first rule of Scavenger: “No talking about Scavenger.”
The only way to find out what you are missing is to do a Scavenger for yourself. Since this is a GORUCK Tough Alumni event only, so you’ll have to complete a GORUCK Challenge first. Trust me, it’s worth the price of admission.
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We live in a very digitally connected age. Everyone is constantly texting, tweeting, and surfing on their mobile devices. But what do you do when your battery runs out? If you don’t have access to an outlet, you’re probably out of luck.
My only digital camera is my iPhone 4S and I rely on it to have power when I want to capture a moment with a photo. I brought my iPhone on the GORUCK Ascent and managed to extend the battery life as long as possible by turning it off when I wasn’t using it but I could have gotten more photos had I brought some sort of a charger.
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With our legs screaming, our breathing fast and shallow, we continue climbing. The GPS says we’re just a few hundred feet away and while we tried to resist bushwhacking due to the waste of energy, if this gamble pays off it will net us a solid 40 points. The second most valuable checkpoint in the race.
My brother and his wife have joined me in the second ever Gear Junkie Treasure Hunt taking place in Roanoke, Virginia. It’s quite a drive from Washington, DC but it sure is scenic this time of year and the weather was absolutely perfect. [Read More…]
If you’ve been following our progression as we get closer to the GORUCK Ascent, you’re probably wondering what gear we’ve decided to take.
When Bryan and I first committed to the Ascent, we knew almost nothing other than everything we’d be taking would have to be carried in or on a GORUCK GR2 and that we’d be climbing 14′ers. We didn’t receive the packing list until about a month after signing up.
Though the packing list set in place by GORUCK is strict, we have the freedom to choose exactly what pieces of gear we will be taking. Everything from what base layers to a tent (if you even want a tent). They were also adamant that if it wasn’t on the list, we wouldn’t need it; including food other than lickies and chewies.
Before getting too far in this article we’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to Todd and Julie at Tactical Distributors for working with us as a liaison between many of the companies you’ll read about that are providing gear for our adventure to allow us to tell you all about how it performs for us. [Read More…]
I’m sitting at my desk as I feel the floor gently ‘bounce.’ I work on the 11th floor of an office building in downtown Washington DC. Being at the top of the building and next to a small bridge, it’s not uncommon to feel small ‘shutters’ of movement as a large truck passes by.
Was this a truck? An earthquake? An explosion? The bounce subsided for a few moments as my coworkers and I stood and stared blankly at each other.
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The air is thin at 14,000 feet. That’s a little over two and a half miles straight up. At that altitude, the oxygen available is only 61% of that which is available at sea level. Breathing and heart rates will be more strained, struggling to find oxygen. That’s why fitness is both paramount and completely irrelevant.
When it comes to altitude sickness (acute mountain sickness), it doesn’t always matter how physically fit you are. Being as in shape as possible is still important and if you don’t do what you can to prepare your muscles for the riggers of non-stop uphill hiking, you’re going to have quite an interesting time.
What Bryan and I have been focusing on are a mixture of physical fitness and gear choice. We plan on arriving to Colorado a few days early for the GORUCK Ascent to try and get a head start on the acclimatization process. In a best case scenario, we would need a good couple of weeks at altitude to truly acclimate but a few days certainly won’t hurt. Also, having quality lightweight gear will make the hiking less strenuous on our bodies. [Read More…]
Geocaching Ready - circa 2004
Most of you are probably familiar with Geocaching (pronounced ‘geo-cashing’) one way or another. In it’s simplest form, Geocaching is a ‘treasure hunt’ where users with GPS devices find hidden containers (called caches) and log their visit.
Sometimes there are even items in the caches to trade. It’s honestly just a great excuse to get off the couch and explore the great outdoors.
My Geocaching ‘career’ started in high school. I picked up a Garmin Geko 101 from Radio Shack and while it was super entry level and didn’t have any bells or whistles, it did everything you need it to do for Geocaching; Just input the GPS coordinates and go! [Read More…]
If you remember my previous post about the GORUCK Challenge I completed, it’s an evolution that takes strangers and individuals and transforms them into a team.
The GORUCK Ascent will be no different. While there are no bricks involved, this will be a 100+ hour challenge in it’s own right. Multiple 14,000 foot summits, mission planning, land navigation, survival and medical courses; this won’t be easy.
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On May 7th, I completed the GORUCK Challenge (class 031) in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and will be forever changed. If you aren’t familiar with the Challenge, it’s billed as a team event that lasts 15-20 miles and around 8-10 hours. Although, the cadre loves to under promise and over deliver.
Straight from their site, here is the Challenge in a nutshell:
You and your fellow Challenge takers all wear GORUCK backpacks throughout the Challenge. Yes, your bags will be weighted down with bricks, but if the Challenge were easy you wouldn’t sign up. In fact, the greatest hurdle is signing up. We are proud that the pass rate is over 98%.
You won’t know the route but it showcases the best of every city. Think of it as a guided tour. The miles don’t disappear on their own, and 8 to 10 hours can feel like a lifetime. Welcome to our version of good livin’.
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Even though we just reviewed the near identical twin brother of this kit, the sixth kit in our Pocket Sized Survival Kit series is the Pocket Survival Pak Plus from Adventure Medical Kits.
As the name implies, it’s quite similar to the standard Pocket Survival Pak. But this kit has some tricks up its sleeve.
What I like about these past two kits from Adventure Medical Kits & Doug Ritter is that the packaging includes a section on “Improving The Odds in Your Favor.”
It urges you to not only go over the survival instructions before stowing your Pak, but to also practice with it beforehand.
The advice makes sense no matter what Survival Kit you’re using, you can never practice too much before you’re in the situation where you “have” to use it.
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