Staying Warm and Dry by @cahlen on 3Speak
How to stay warm and dry is the most important thing you need to know when living outside. After three years of living outdoors full-time this is the gear that I have come to rely on. --- DONATE: C...
Tags: #outdoors #survival #camping #backpacking #travel #minimalism #lifestyle #nature #life
Hey everyone, Callan here, and in this video, second video of my Wilderness Adventure series, I'm going to talk about really the most important thing that you need to know when you're living outside, which is staying warm and dry, because if you're not able to do that, then you're not going to last very long. You know, first of all, you're going to be miserable. Second of all, you know, if you stay cold and wet for an extended period of time, you're going to die. So, anyways... This is when you're talking about survival, this is number one. So anyways, this, I'm just going to basically walk you through the clothing that I use because the clothing is the most important thing. So first layer is basically your wool layer, okay? So I have a wool layer for every part of my body from my feet all the way up to my head, okay? So first of all, the actual shirt and pants. This is marino wool. It's 400 GSM grams per square meter, which is about as thick as you can get it, and you're going to want to have as thick as possible, okay? First of all, this keeps you warm, it keeps you dry because even if this gets wet, you're still going to be able to keep you warm. A lot of materials, if it gets wet, you're going to freeze, like cotton. Cotton kills, they say, when it comes to survival, okay? So anyways, base layer against your skin. Another nice thing about this is you can basically wear this. all the time, and this is one of the secrets to why I never need to bathe. And I have several videos about this, so if you want to know more about that, but basically, I often will go a year at a time without bathing, and even when I do, I didn't really need to, okay? And this is why, it's antimicrobial, and it basically stops you from smelling, okay? So, a shirt I use, minus 33, I've been using them, basically the whole time I've been living outside, which is many, many years. and I love this stuff, okay? And I currently like to get the one with the, I don't know, they call this, it's almost like a turtle neck, okay? I had one before that came up on your neck, but it had a zipper. The thing about zippers is that zippers break, and then you have to get a new piece, but if, and plus it has metal in it, and metal is not necessarily something you want to have against your body all the time, okay? So I really like this mock net, neck, okay? Then the pants, which is basically the same thing, just long, long johns, okay? And for my, where'd that go? Okay, and then for my head, I like to wear a baklava, balaclava, or whatever they call it, because you can, it basically covers your head, it goes down, you tuck it into your clothes here, okay, so there's no air gap, and also, when it gets really cold, you can... bring this up over your mouth, okay? Normally, you can actually bring this down, and it's just down here. So, like, in my last video, I was wearing this thing. But when it gets cold, you can bring it up, or if you need a mask for some reason, you can bring this up, right? Okay, it's almost like a ninja hat, okay? Okay, then for the gloves, these are also minus 33. I think they, they're probably not 100% wool. The other things I've shown you are all 100% wool, and that's... ideal, but for things like gloves and socks, you're going to want to get something which is a blend, okay, because it's just, it's more durable. When it's got all these little parts, you know, they're just more likely to fall apart. And if this was 100% wool, it would not last very long at all, okay? Then the socks, these are darn tough, darn tough socks are, as far as I'm considered, the best socks on the planet. They are mostly marina wool, but they have a meshing of synthetic fiber, which makes them... pretty much, I mean, they're not indestructible, but for normal use, like if you have multiple pairs and you're just wearing them to work or something like that, they're going to last you an extremely long time. Now, I basically just wear one pair of socks, you know, for long periods of time, and so they will eventually get holes in them, but the nice thing about it having the synthetic part of it is that it's easy to sew up the holes, and it will actually stay together. 100% wool, when you sew it up, it's just going to tear again, okay? So anyways, this is the one thing that I think it's the one thing that I keep two pairs of. The one thing in terms of my clothes that I keep two pairs of. Because one, you can wear both of them at the same time, and that'll make you warmer. Or you can just wear one pair, and if they get, you know, if you get them wet, like you walk through a mud puddle or something like that, then you know you have an extra pair, okay? And it's starting to rain right now, so I'm going to have to put all this stuff on. Okay, so the next layer is, well, it would be this, okay? So these are basically my work clothes, and I have work pants, but I'm just going to leave these out of it because you really don't need these things. They're just nice to have clothes, which are like normal people clothes where, you know, you're not going to look strange going to the public wearing them, okay? But when I go to bed, I will take these off because they've got all kinds of things in their pockets, which when you're rolling around when you're sleeping, you're going to be, you know, laying against them and they're hard. And they're not comfortable, okay? Plus, you know, you've probably been sweating in these all day, so it's just nice to take them off and put on these other clothes before bed, okay? Okay, so the next layer over the wool would be a fleece layer, and I recommend getting the thickest Sherpa fleece. This is this, all this stuff here, they basically call this Sherpa. The thickest Sherpa fleece that you can get, and the nice thing about this stuff is that is very inexpensive. So it's made of polyester. I wouldn't want to really be wearing this against my skin. I don't really like the feel of it, but having it over the wool makes it much more comfortable. Okay, and you can get this stuff. On Amazon, this, you can get this hoodie for probably around 40 bucks, okay? The hoodie basically covers the head as well, okay? And then the same thing with the pants. These are also extremely inexpensive and very durable, and when they do wear out, then it's not hard to replace them. And then the next layer is going to be your waterproof layer, okay? So, basically just a waterproof jacket. I like the Carhart. I used to have a coat, which was basically made for ultralight backpacking, but the problem with that is they can get holes in them very easily if they get caught on something. So I decided to go with something that's a little bit heavier, but much more durable, okay? So this is the Carhart raincoat. It's not the... heaviest one, although, you know, that'd be nice to have too, but I think you can go down to the, you know, midweight, or I don't know, I can't remember what this is exactly. If you go to my website, calendar org slash gear, I do, I think I've updated the link to show you these. Okay, so this is just a raincoat, which is extremely durable, and rain pants, it's basically the same, comes from the same company, and it's in the same line that they... sell, so these are basically meant to go together. Okay, so let's talk about the rest of the hands, so you don't need the fleece layer necessarily on your hands. Well, I guess maybe you could consider this the fleece layer. I don't know, these are, I don't know if these are waterproof, but these are basically skiing gloves. And I honestly, unless it gets really, really, really cold, I don't even wear the wool gloves because I don't really like having gloves because it makes it hard for you to, you know, manipulate things. But when it does get really cold and your fingers are starting to freeze, then you do want to keep them warm, and the wool by themselves is not going to cut it. But wearing the wool and then wearing these things over the top, these are a bit heavy, but it's worth it, because you can pretty much go as cold as all the rest of the gear can handle with these things, okay? Then the rest for the shoes, I mean, the... For the rest, I think the last thing I need to mention is the shoes, okay? So these are from Zero X-E-R -O. I think they're called the Alpines. I've been using this model of shoe for a long time. This is probably the third set I have. And each one lasts probably about a year and a half to two years, okay? And that's basically being the only shoe that I wear. all the time, even when I'm doing manual labor and things like that, using shovels and all that kind of stuff. So these things are extremely durable. When you get them, they will be waterproof, though as they wear out, that will start to go away. They are insulated with kind of wool, and they also have an insul in them, which is aluminum lined. So these things are extremely warm, and when it's really cold, I wear the two layers of socks, and then I wear these, and that's what I wear to bed. I actually wear these into my sleeping bag. Okay, so I'm gonna actually, it's getting late and it is getting a little bit rainy, so I'm actually gonna change into all these things, and then I'll talk about the rest of the stuff, like the poncho and the sleeping gear. Okay, so I'm all changed into my clothes, and I've got gloves on one hand. Again, I won't really be wearing these tonight because it's not even necessary. But this is basically what it looks like, and if you are up and walking around in active, Even in the coldest weather that I have yet to experience while living outside, just when these three layers by themselves will keep you warm, okay? So, this is not very much close that you're going to need. If you take care of them, they're all going to last a really long time, and they're going to be able to deal with basically any weather condition that you come up to. You know, this is going to protect you from the rain, it's going to protect you from the wind, and it's going to be able to deal with you, you know, dealing with the roughness. of living outside, you know, sticks and twigs and pokey things and sitting on the ground and all that kind of thing. Okay, so let's talk about the actual shelter and sleep system. All right, so this is basically what I slept under when I was living outside for three years straight, and this is just a poncho. So if it even gets even more cold, you know, I can throw this on. You can wear this thing, but it also serves as your shelter. And so what I have here, this is the rapid ridge line. which is a, basically a line that you make, which is tight, has knots in certain places, which makes it so it's extremely easy to put up very quickly, and it's also extremely easy to take down very quickly, which can be important if you're in a situation where maybe there's people looking for you, or maybe, you know, you just need to leave the area quickly for some reason. Okay. So then underneath, is my sleep system. So this is the sleeping mat, which I made, which is basically half of a thermorest ridge rest, with a layer of bubble insulation that people would use in their house, and then covered in gorilla tape. Okay, so this thing is extremely warm. I've never been cold from my back while on this thing, and it's basically indestructible. Okay, so this thing, this is a military... bivisack, okay? So I've had another bivisack that I've been using for a long time, but it is extremely lightweight, but it's also fairly fragile, okay? So I decided to go with this thing, which is about three times the weight, but extremely durable, okay? So I could use this as my shelter and just this, without any of the rain gear I'm wearing, or the poncho over it, and it would be totally fine, and it adds a whole lot of... extra warmth, you know, if you actually seal yourself up in this thing. The downside is if you're in a rain, if you were just using this and it's raining for hours on end, then you basically just have to stay in here for that entire time, which can get kind of boring. So that's basically the downside of that. Then inside, I have the snug pack, special forces. sleeping bag. There's two of them which are meant to go together, but I only have the warmer one, so I can't remember it's probably, this is probably number two, and the other one's number, the lighter one is number one. And I haven't made a video about this thing yet, but I have been using this for several years at this point, and even when I was sleeping inside, this is what I used to sleep in instead of the sheets that were on the bed, just because this thing... is super awesome. So, anyways, I'm not going to pull it on and talk about it in depth here, but I will make a video at some point talking about this thing more. Okay, another aspect, important aspect, is keeping your gear that you're not wearing, and that's not in your sleep system dry. Okay, so this is, this sleeping, no, this backpack, what is this, this is the hyperlight out, ah, I can't remember what it is, but it's, it's a hyperlight, and I've had, I think it's a hyperlight southwest 70 liter or something like that, okay? And this thing is very lightweight, and it holds a lot of stuff, and it is waterproof, okay? So anything that I want to keep dry, I just put it in there. Then for my food, this is where I keep all my food. This is full of oatmeal and some protein powder. and it's the sea to summit, I can't remember how many liters it is, but it's fairly thick and it's extremely durable, okay, so sometimes I sit on this, and basically anything you put in there is not going to get wet. So anyways, that just about covers how to stay warm and dry when you're living outside. Basically for your clothes, three layers, a thick wool layer, a thick fleece layer, and a durable rainproof layer, and then For your sleep system, I do recommend having a good durable bivisack, and really that's all you technically need, but having the poncho over the top can be nice because it gives you, you know, space to move around. You don't have to be laying down, you know, and you can set it up in all kinds of different configurations based on your situation. So anyways, I hope that's useful to you, and I'll talk to you guys later.