As far as I can tell it's real.
Anyway, yeah, Outlaw, I get having a few weeks worth handy, in a place like where you are, even a month or two on hand. I shoot a lot, backpack and hike and a lot of that gear and forums crosses over with preppers....there are a ton of people that think a nuclear war, a financial collapse, a super flu, Obama, something, is going to happen that will cause mass panic, roving gangs, government collapse, for supply lines to be cut, a military takeover (weird, because they often also think the government will collapse), super earthquakes and volcanoes, etc., and that society will be destroyed.
These people are building bunkers, stocking up on MREs, canning meat, buying surplus medical equipment, as many guns as they can get their hands on, etc. I think they are loons. The funniest ones are the ones that think Obama is somehow going to cause all of this and are saying they will refuse to help any of the leeches and takers that voted for him. Somehow a lot of this gets tied into politics.