I have found it interesting to see what type of terrain/obstacles others have to negotiate with. It definitely makes me more pleased with my location. A straight azimuth in one direction would put me in a Forest Service mountain range in 40 miles and in another direction a Forest Service mountain range in 45 miles. Both of which would not cross thru urban areas/towns. The avoidance would be for the most part isolated farm and/or ranch houses some of which I am on a good friends basis
TR, thanks for putting this thread together and the others in the past. It really gets a guy to thinking. I have had several rucks/packs thrown together with various stuff but none specific to a situation. I will be doing some testing this summer as in a couple of months some friends and I are going to trek across the Snowy Mountains. It's not a great distance but will sure give me a feel for loads at altitude, something I haven't had a lot of experience with.