11:05
We are surrounded by thunderstorms at the moment. The biggest one is to our north and it's moving away from us. But let me tell you all, it is active. We have a few other cells to our south. I don't know if they pose any danger to us or not. My friends, welcome to this episode of the outdoor gear review. I hope you all are doing well. This is a tactical overnight adventure where just about every single piece of gear that I have with me is tactical in nature. The conditions today are hot and humid. Current temp is around 78° with 100% humidity. It is hot. It is humid. And it is very, very muggy. The hike up the
mountain here, I was just drenched in sweat. Getting that backpack off, one of the best feelings I've ever had, ever. I should go ahead and take off this chest rig, too. Talking about this chest rig, is there anything different about this? It looks like a numbat, but check this out. This is the mini numbat from Hilicon. That's right, folks. Hilicon has just released a smaller Numbat. And I have to say, this is really, really cool. I need to go ahead and get a tarp set up real quick just in case a storm hits. It's hard to see the sky and to see what exactly it looks like right now because this forest is so thick. I have little windows but nothing that really shows me the whole picture.
So, we might as well be proactive just in case. All right, everybody. We got the tarp set up now. We are in good shape. I don't know if it's going to rain or not. I just can't tell. Still, there's plenty of thunder out there, but nothing too threatening. It is warm, everybody. It is a warm day. Super humid, too. The humidity makes it so much worse. You wouldn't think 76 78 degrees would be that bad, but with 100% humidity, it feels so much hotter. Like it feels like it's in the '9s right now, even though it's not.
As far as the weather goes, the sky is definitely getting darker looking. When I first made it up here, the sun was still out, but right now it's definitely hidden. What has the summer been like for you all so far? For myself, it's been pretty hot. Definitely not the hottest summer that we've ever had. I don't want to complain too much because in truth, it hasn't been too bad. We've had basically the last month it's been warm and humid. We had a few days where it hit like 95°, which is really hot for us, but 90s happen ever so often, but for the most part, it really hasn't been that bad.
What has it been like where you live, where you're camping at and backpacking? Has it been too hot to go out or just right Yeah. My sleeping bag for this adventure is right here. This, everyone is pretty wild. You may have seen or heard of the Hill Tech Swagman roll before. This is the Swagman scarf. It is a poncho to block the wind and it can also be a sleeping bag. It's a little bit too warm to use this as a poncho, but check this out. What the? Talk about perfect timing, everyone. It just started raining.
I'm pretty sure I hear heavy rainfall approaching. I can hear this roar going through the forest. And I believe it's getting closer. a doubt, everyone, we have a thunderstorm right around the corner. I just saw a flash of lightning through the trees here, followed by a huge crack of thunder. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Let's do it. Anytime a thunderstorm is close, I get so excited. You just never know what's going to happen. That mystery is so thrilling to me. We are surrounded by thunderstorms, but nothing's directly on top of this.
We're getting a little bit of rain now. I don't feel like it's going to last very long. That could change though. This is a quickly evolving storm system. Anything could happen. H Are you thinking what I'm thinking? It's coffee time. Check this out, everyone. The sun is out and it's still raining. I bet you on top of us there's a rainbow. 5 minutes later, before the coffee is even done, it's looking dark. And again, I'm hearing that heavy, heavy, heavy rain sound.
I don't know if we're going to get hit or not. Already, we've gotten some rain, but not enough to soak the inside of the forest. That type of rain there that we can hear, that's the type of rain that causes mass flooding. Oh yeah. Cheers, my friends. Cheers. This weather here, it is so chaotic. Heavy rain over here, lightning over and now I believe I'm hearing something from our west. And if I am in fact hearing rain, that means it's coming this way. If we do have heavy rain coming this way, I need to make an alteration to this tarp. I think we have a storm coming in, everyone. That storm that's to our east, someone is getting it so hard right now. I wonder if there's a flood warning in
effect. Unfortunately, I don't have any service here, so who knows? But I suspect there is still raining and we're surrounded by storms, but luckily we're not receiving like flooding rain or anything like that. It could be so much worse. Maybe 500 yards from here towards the east. It was raining super hard. The storms are not done though. This is just the beginning. I believe I'm hearing quite a bit of thunder to our west and that means it's coming our way. Will it hit us? I don't know. You and I will find out together. The rain has certainly cooled things off, but it's still rather muggy.
Standing out in the rain here feels incredible. When it comes to the gear that I have with me, I believe I've talked about most things in at least some detail, but not the backpack. This is from Direct Action, which has a connection to Hilicon. They are owned by the same company. This is the Ghost Tactical 31 L backpack. And yes, I was able to get my entire loadout to fit in this one pack here. I was able to do that because all of the components of my kit are rather small. When it comes to this pack, I have to say I'm really impressed with this. This is really comfortable to carry and it looks super cool.
More important than that, it has some really nice features. I'm still hearing thunder from the west and it's definitely getting closer. I tell you one thing everyone, the forest is dark. Let's see what time it is cuz I'm not even sure. It's about 6:30 which means we have 2 hours before sundown. It's pretty dark for 6:30. everyone. As soon as I turned the camera on, a bolt of lightning struck right over the hill here. It was so close that I can actually feel the energy in the air. If I didn't have this rain jacket on, you would see that the hair on my
arms is standing up. There's that much energy, that much electricity in the air right now. That was super close. And I'll be honest, it startled the hell out of me. The feeling alone of the energy in the air. My adrenaline is definitely pumping right now. My heart is still racing from that lightning strike. That was so close. Nothing makes you feel more alive than that. As you all can hear, it's raining again. It'll be interesting to see how heavy and hard it gets.
Hopefully, there'll be just a little bit more thunder and lightning. It's just so dang exciting, everyone. It's so exciting. I just want more. When it comes to being in the outdoors, nothing will put you in your place as fast as lightning. All of a sudden, you don't feel so big and bad. Scary. And I love it. It is time for an update everyone. It is currently 7:30. Rain continues and so do the storms. We are surrounded. Nothing directly on top of us. No more close strikes or anything like that. I've just been chilling here enjoying the cool air, drinking my coffee, and I'm starting to think about dinner. Originally, I was going to set up a foldable, collapsible wood burning
stove. I came across one a few weeks back that is really, really interesting. It has a chimney that goes in the center and it basically causes the stove to have a second level of combustion, meaning it's more efficient, goes through less wood, and also produces less smoke. I did a quick burn test last week with this stove on an adventure, and it performed rather well. Unfortunately, everything in this forest is now soaking wet. So, having a fire tonight, it's out of the question that it is simply not possible.
Anyways, I was thinking as I was sitting here listening to the rain, I get so many questions and comments as to why I don't put my tents underneath my tarps. And that's because 99% of the time I'm at an offtrail sort of campsite like this one here. What you might not be able to tell about this campsite is that it is sloped like this. Even where I pitch this tent, it is somewhat sloped. There's just simply not enough space underneath this tarp for that tent. And that tends to be the case with most of the campsites that are off trail. If you're at a state park or maybe even a national forest like that on a main
trail, you may have a campsite that is big enough and flat enough for you to set up your tarp and have your tent underneath it. But when you're at a campsite like this, one that's very remote, really more forest than campsites, oftent times that doesn't work. When you see videos of people putting their tents underneath their tarps, they're at established campsites. Most of them are not at offtrail campsites like this. And that everyone is why my tents don't generally go underneath my tars. This stove here is the BCB Fire Dragon stove. Initially, it was designed for the British military to use with hexamine, but the British military discovered that hexamine is toxic. So, they wanted something less toxic for
their soldiers. That's where BCB came up with these ethanol cubes. Basically, it's alcohol. While these cubes are not cheap, they do perform well if you know what you're doing. As you can see here, I've taken this piece of tin foil and I've basically put it around the stove itself. That way, I can make sure that all of that heat goes to the bottom of my pot and doesn't escape. If your heat is escaping, it's going to take more cubes to boil your water and so on. It is still raining. everyone. That means we have had rain steady for over 2 hours. Not very heavy, but still steady. Considering the drought that we're in, I'll take it. Any rain is good rain. To our west, someone is getting it good.
It's been non-stop thunder. This has been an awesome trip, everyone. I love the rain. I love the lightning and the storms. Makes me feel alive every single time. It never gets old, which is surprising considering how many adventures I've gone on throughout my entire life. everyone, for dinner, biscuits and gravy from my good buddy Greg, my friend. I hope you're doing well. Thank you so much for this meal. I've never had this before. I sure hope it's good. Okay, I have this all the time. I have it all the time because it's freaking awesome. I love biscuits and gravy. When you hike 8 miles in, 8 miles out, the 800 calories in this bag doesn't mean a whole lot. It was early this year around January, I mentioned in some
video, I think I was talking about New Year's resolutions. So, this year I wanted to lose some weight. Over the last couple of years, I've been working out really hard, bulking up, and I got up to roughly 200 pounds. At 200 lb, that was too big. So, I decided that it's time to go back some, right? Due to the messages that I've been receiving, I know that some of you all have noticed. So, thank you so much for noticing and for the kind words. I definitely feel better. Currently, I'm right at 170. There was nothing wrong with the silverback gorilla look, but I was just too big. I was too winded at almost 200 lb. At 170, I feel a whole lot better.
This here is a great way to wrap up the evening. Some good food, good friends, great weather. Life is good with the rain here. The National Weather Service really missed this one. It was about a 45% chance of rain and they stated it was between 2 and 5:00 p.m. The GFS weather model nailed it. 100% right. They showed it really beginning around 5:00 and lasting till like 8 9 10 something like that. And that does appear to be accurate. If you're interested at looking at weather models yourself, right, for your area, go to a website called Tropical Tidbits and go to the forecasting tab. I'm pretty sure the GFS model pops up first, but you can select others. And from there, you can do the exact same thing that YouTube meteorologists are doing,
such as like Ryan Hall. That's one of them. I don't believe he's a real meteorologist. I'm not even sure if any of those people are on YouTube. It doesn't really matter. They still provide information. Anyways, you can look at the exact same models that they're looking at. It's all free. You don't have to subscribe to anything. All you have to do is go and look. the other day everyone I was out at Lonewolf Mountain and I noticed that the leaves are beginning to change colors already. It appears that the change is going to begin early this year. Maybe because it's been so dry. When it comes to the leaves and them changing colors, people will say the same thing about
different results, right? If the leaves are really pretty one year, they'll say it's because it was dry or because it was super wet or very hot or quite cool. If the leaves aren't pretty, they'll say it was too dry, too wet, too cool, too hot. Nobody knows. I don't know. I'm not sure what impacts what. What I do know is that the leaves are beginning to change colors already. And some are really, really pretty. With us being in a drought, I definitely have noticed that I haven't had to mow as much. At Lone Wolf Mountain, I have only mowed twice this year, and that's it. With typical rainfall, I'm mowing every single week.
Not this year. Well, everyone, it is certainly time for bed. It's a little bit after 9:00 and I am beat with the heat. My energy is zapped. I may watch a movie, but then again, maybe not. For now, I'm just going to kick back, listen to the rain, and enjoy the night. I will see you all in the morning, bright and early. By the way, I have my fan going and thank God I do because it is hot and humid inside of this tent. Good night everybody. Sleep good. Good morning everybody. Good morning. 500 a.m. came quickly already. The birds are waking up. The forest is alive. I have to say I slept great last night with the rain coming down. That was some really good sleep.
Ultimately, the rain did stop and it stopped around midnight. Then it cleared up. No breeze, not that cool, but yet chilly enough for a fleece jacket. The saving grace last night was the fan. It was so hot, so humid, so muggy inside of that tent. I don't know if I could have slept in it without that fan. It made all the difference in the world. Those fans are ultra inexpensive and very lightweight and they don't consume much power either. As for this morning, it's warming up already.
It won't be long and I'll have to take this off. As far as the tent goes, that's an MC Twount bivvie tent and it did a great job. Fully waterproof, very lightweight, good size, no complaints. The Swagman scarf that I used as a sleeping bag worked surprisingly well. It's not very insulative, but it did hold in just a little bit of heat once I cooled down. It worked well. I was going to wear it as a poncho this morning, but it is simply too warm for that. I will have a preview on that coming up soon along with a preview of the Numbat Mini. That thing is definitely cool. It's a smaller Numbat and I have to say I like it.
Oh. Oh yeah. Cheers everyone. Good morning. The sun is officially coming up. I can see some color to the sky over there. This has been a fun trip. That lightning bolt that struck so close, it startled the hell out of me. My heart was racing for a while after that happened. As I mentioned yesterday, all it takes is for that to happen. And it kind of puts you in your place. You know, here I am in the woods thinking that I got all of this under control and that sort of thing. It humbles you. I think if you've ever been in this situation where you've had lightning strike that close, you understand what
I'm talking about. I think the best way to say it is this. When you experience something like that, it puts you in your place, right? Your place in within nature. Hopefully that makes sense. Everyone, it's early. Forgive me. As far as the tactical gear that I've used on this trip, this has been a lot of fun. I really do like tactical military gear and over the years I've reviewed a ton of military surplus, a ton of tactical gear, but I don't review that much of it in general compared to like other products that I do. And that's because in general, I don't think people care for tactical military gear all that much. I could be wrong about that.
Comment down below and share your thoughts. But in general, that's my sort of observation based upon how good certain videos do and how good certain videos don't do. When it comes to military surplus specifically, I have reviewed so much of that stuff where it basically got to the point where I reviewed all of the really, really cool stuff. Now, of course, there's all sorts of obscure products out there, but I don't think most of that stuff is going to interest you all. And that's one reason why I don't review much military surplus anymore. There's just not a whole lot of stuff that's new. There's quite a few companies that have been awarded military contracts with US military. Those packs are
interesting, but at the same time, they're so expensive. Most militaryra backpacks cost around a thousand bucks, which is absolutely ridiculous. Over the last couple of years, the prices on that stuff has gone skyhigh, just like most things have. Talking about things becoming more expensive. Here's an interesting story for you all. So, back during Hurricane Helen, where everything flooded at my house, we almost lost the house. I had a lawnmower, right? It was submerged in about 3 f feet of water and mud. I pulled it out, dried it out, cleaned it up, and I was able to get it running. It never ran super good, but it definitely ran enough so that I can mow the yard. Well, the other day it
started acting really wonky. So, it's time to get a new mower. because it was acting up. I decided that I would take a look and see what it would cost to replace the lawnmower because I'm getting tired of messing with it. I go online only to discover that the price has gone up on these lawnmowers to like $650. Originally, I paid $250 for that lawnmower. My mind was absolutely blown. I can't believe it. 650 bucks for a lawnmower. That is insane. For 650 bucks, I'll keep messing with that lawnmower. The issue that I'm having deals with the fuel pump and the fuel lines. The lawnmower was submerged in all of that
water, all of that mud, feet and feet of mud. Getting everything cleaned out has been a real chore. I've got it cleaned out enough where it will run, but obviously there's still some junk in there just causing some problems. But I'm not going to pay 650 bucks for a lawnmower. Not unless I can ride that damn thing. That's ridiculous. For 650 bucks, you can buy an electric lawn mower, which is an interesting idea. I do have some 60 volt batteries, so I could do it. I don't know. That's so much money. What do you all think? Comment down below. Should a self-propelled lawn mower, push lawnmower cost 650 bucks?
Maybe I just haven't looked at the prices of those things in a really long time, but I was shocked. Everyone, it is time for me to go. The sun is up. It's time to pack up and head out of here. I want to thank you all so much for joining me for this trip. I really do appreciate it. I hope you all have had a good time. Strength and honor, everyone. Cheers. If you don't mind, please hit the thumbs up. That's a great way to support this channel. Also, if you want to join the Wolfpack, you can do so on Patreon and on YouTube. Make sure to check out my
second YouTube channel, A Quiet Place Adventures. You will find a brand new adventure there every single Monday.
