Visiting a remote destination? The supply of electricity and other public services becomes less reliable and more prone to interruptions the further you travel from civilization. Treating blackouts and other utility shortages as unavoidable – and planning for them – will increase your comfort in the likely event of occurring.
My wife, Virginia, and I were fortunate to spend a month in our cabin in northern Montana while on vacation. Five days before we returned home, a windstorm cut off the power. Instead of finishing the trip early, we decided to do it, but we could have been more comfortable if we had packed a few more essentials. Based on what we learned that week, here are some tools and approaches that could have facilitated our experience – and will ensure comfort when there is a power outage.
Pack your own power
Portable power supplies (generators) used to be huge, expensive, heavy, noisy and dirty. No longer. Batteries in simple, affordable boxes are now able to handle most normal power needs with much more convenience. The Jackery Explorer 500 ($ 600) is a good example. Equipped with USB ports, a 110-volt three-prong socket and a 12-volt car adapter, it can charge your phone, turn on some lights and turn on a TV. And with a maximum power of 500 watts, it can probably do all three jobs simultaneously.
I’ve been using an Explorer 500 for the past nine months to charge devices and turn on the lights around the camp, as well as to power my barbecue at home. (It is more convenient than an extension cord in some circumstances.) I didn’t remember bringing it to the cabin this time, but I would have liked to have done it. We had downloaded a lot of movies to an iPad ahead of time, since the satellite internet connection is slow and unreliable at best, let alone during extreme weather. That was a good plan, until we could no longer keep the device charged.
Batteries in boxes like this are great for light appliances, but they usually don’t have the ability to power high-consumption devices, such as heaters or power tools. When purchasing, compare the battery specifications with the power requirements of the devices you want. If you stay out of the network for a long period of time, consider pairing your battery with solar power. Adding Jackery’s SolarSaga 100 foldable panels ($ 300) to the Explorer 500 gives us the ability to meet most of our power requirements indefinitely.
Let there be light
I always have a flashlight on my key ring and we keep the headlights in our suitcases. While they are great for meeting immediate lighting needs, they are less able to provide long-term area lighting.
We kept candle lanterns in the cab and I remembered that there was a battery powered LED work light in the truck’s tool kit. But we both agreed that some battery-powered flashlights would have made nighttime chores like preparing food and navigating the cramped confines of the hut much easier.
To prepare myself better for the next time, I ordered a dozen of those $ 3.25 flashlights that I recommended last year. We will store them together with a large pack of lithium batteries (which have a useful life of ten years) in one of the cabinets in the cabin and we will never find ourselves without adequate indoor and outdoor light again.
Cook like you’re camping
When my wife’s family remodeled the cabin a few years ago, they combined a gas stove with a huge outdoor tank, so that we were able to light the stove with a lighter. If we were counting on an electrical break or running out of fuel, we would not have been able to to cook or boil water.
Simply throwing a small camping stove, with the fuel of your choice, in your car is an easy guarantee. I only use Mountain Safety Research stoves for indoor adventures, because they are made in Seattle and the company takes the time to validate the function of each unit before sending them out. At just 2.6 ounces, Pocket Rocket 2 ($ 45) is my favorite. It takes a minute to bring a liter of water to a boil at sea level, but the stove also provides a fine heat setting so you don’t burn the bacon. Take a 16-ounce bottle of the branded isobutane fuel (starting at $ 5) and you’ll cook for a week or more, regardless of temperature or altitude.
Whenever cooking on gas, be sure to do it in a well-ventilated area and make sure that the fuel flow is completely turned off when you’re done. I always disconnect the stove from the fuel when everything cools.
Don’t forget the fire
Eager to use the newly rebuilt fireplace, I carried a good chopping ax and a packable bow saw for the trip. It turns out that the fireplace is still limited in its ability to breathe, so I had to carefully size the wood for quick combustion and make it work. With a 3.5-pound head and generous 30-inch length, Hults Bruk Sarek ($ 160) did a quick job with the cut logs I stored last summer. And the Agawa Canyon folding saw ($ 75) was able to grind small branches and large branches to make kindling.
Digging around the cabin’s pantry in the dark, I found a box of Ignite-O Instant Fire Starters ($ 14 for 12). I never found a commercial fire starter capable of overcoming the cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly that I make at home, so I was skeptical about them. I shouldn’t be. The weatherproof plastic packaging caught fire and burned for almost 15 minutes, lighting even larger logs with ease. Since each starter weighs no more than one of my tested and proven coated cotton balls, I am replacing cotton with instant starters for all future outdoor activities. I ordered several boxes to keep in the hut and at home, where I have used them to light charcoal grills. (They will not change the taste of your meat.)
I was concerned that the wind storm that cut off the power would also knock down trees on the rarely traveled dirt road leading to the cabin. If I had, I would have been left with nothing but an ax, saw and tow truck to clear our way home. But nothing exploded that I wasn’t able to drag out of the way on my own. We were lucky, but I know that will not always be the case. So, for peace of mind, I bought a chainsaw to transport in the future. Dewalt’s FlexVolt 60V Max chainsaw shares batteries and chargers with my other power tools, and its 16-inch bar should be a good compromise between cutting speed and portability. This will make my firewood processing tasks easier as well. Why go wireless instead of using gas, especially considering that I may need to use it during a power outage? With no gas to leak or smell, Dewalt should be easier to pack on a trip, increasing the likelihood of having it when we need it.
Take sanitation seriously
In most urban areas, tap water is supplied by gravity, not electricity. Our cabin uses an electric pump to draw water from the lake in which it is located, which is not uncommon at similar properties, but it obviously means that you lose water when there is no power.
No water means no toilets, sinks, showers or an easy source of drinking water. And besides being an inconvenience, it also increases the chances of getting sick.
We are all guilty of worrying about dramatic rather than ordinary dangers. Without running water, the risks we faced at the cabin this time did not come from brown bears – they came from the raw chicken we fed our dogs, cross contamination from our own poop and the meals we prepared four ourselves.
As we were prepared for the pandemic, there was no lack of hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and Lysol. This was simply a good reminder to remember to pack these things up next year as well.
One thing that I didn’t bring and that I probably should have brought was a good water filter. With the lake right there, we spent many nights in the summer sitting on the veranda, watching the beavers work. Giardia is called “beaver fever” for a reason. The MSR Miniworks EX ($ 110) that I am planning to leave at the cabin on our next visit will provide guaranteed access to drinking water in the future.
Stay warm
Northern Montana is not a hot place. Although this year was a little milder than the year before, we were still dealing with single-digit temperatures at night, and the heater turned off when the power went out.
The heating of the cabin with the fireplace works – to a certain extent. But the room is a long distance from the fireplace, and keeping it on day and night keeps you from getting too much sleep. For that reason, I always carry a variety of cute camping blankets every time we visit.
While Rumpl’s lighter, more packaged options work best on a sofa or backpack, we have the Sherpa Puffy blanket ($ 249) to keep us warm in bed, whatever happens. It combines a 30-denier ripstop polyester face (durable and drool-free and dog-drool-free), fluffy synthetic insulation and a high-pile Sherpa wool bottom. At 4.5 pounds, the two-person version fits on a queen-size bed and is heavy enough to almost function as a blanket for heavy comfort. It is also extremely hot. Even without heating, we could just crawl into bed and be comfortable all night.
Lead photo: Wes Siler