I had an illuminating experience with my PSK this past week that I thought worth sharing with the group.

Like many backpackers these days, I try to cut weight wherever I can. As I was loading my pack for a trip in the Desolation Wilderness last week, I looked at my PSK (the "modular" one I described in an earlier post ) and thought about leaving it behind - I had most of the basics covered elsewhere, and even at just 2.3 ounces it seemed like it might be redundant weight. On a whim, I tossed it in the pack anyway.

Well, during my trip, a four-day section hike of the PCT from Echo Lake to Barker Pass via Dicks Pass, it turned out that the kit was both a handy resource as well as a comfort. For example:

- My First Need water purifier developed a pinhole leak at at a point on its filter cartridge seam. Tape in the PSK allowed me to effect a temporary repair, and when I finally decided that the filter matrix was compromised, I was able to use the Puritabs in my PSK as a backup.

- Matches I brought to light an alcohol stove proved unreliable (even though they were in a sealed zipper lock bag). Having lifeboat matches and a Sparklite meant that I had no worries.

- When I thought I'd left my minitool behind at a previous night's campsite, knowing I had razor blades and other implements in the PSK made it a non-event (later it turned up in an odd corner of my pack).

- My hiking companion's shoe soles started to delaminate; the glue stick piece in my PSK would have made for a quick and easy repair, though ultimately we didn't use it.

So, while I of course carried primary ways to handle almost everything the kit covers, the fact was that I ended up using a few of the backups, and knowing that everything else was there allowed me to continue my trip without concern. All of this this was enhanced by my modular system that made it easy to get at specific elements and keep the rest together in a neat package...not to mention making it no big deal to open it up in the first place. I'd say that because of this experience I will never again consider going backpacking without my PSK, and that this validated my reasons for packing it the way I did, as opposed to in a sealed tin.

I thought this was an interesting twist on the usual scenario for which we prepare our kits (e.g., a true survival situation) - that is, using the kit for a day-to-day resource - and would love to hear others' thoughts or similar experiences.

I'm an ultralite hiker myself, but backups are good and I try to find creative ways to compromise on the extra weight.

I like the Navy SEALs' position on backups: "two is one, and one is none".

Someone else on this forum once described his as an Urban Convenience Kit. That's basically how I describe mine. The situations I'm likely to encounter rarely are life-threatening, as in true survival. They really involve convenience. I'm always using bits and pieces of my daily carry.

Take the blackout, for instance. I normally carry on my person an Arc Light AAA and a Princeton Tec Blast. Should I have been in NYC and had to use a stairwell to make my exit, there would have been no problem. My shoulder bag contains my SureFire E2e-HA and a CMG Infinity Ultra. My jacket pockets contain a Princeton Tec Attitude and a Princeton Tec 20.

My sister-n-law said I would have been very useful in NYC during the blackout, as I carry enough flashlights to have outlasted the blackout as well as enough first aid supplies to have taken care of headaches, mucles strains, minor scraps and cuts, etc.

Remember to replace all used items ASAP.

That's one of the few nice things I can say about being an untight, anal-retentive -- I replace all my crap pronto.

Just the other day I was at a picnic thing for an organization of which my wife is a member and the stuff I always have with us in the car proved to be useful in many ways - zip-lock bags, rope, tape...we're the folks who are always "prepared" and we like it that way. Most of the stuff in my EDK is literally that - stuff I use almost every day.

As a matter of fact, my freind Joe, upon arriving at the picnic site, asked why I had not yet rigged up a lean-to shelter with hot and cold running water - and I told him that the day was not over yet!

Thanks, Chris - that's an important point to note. I actually disassembled the kit when I got home, laid everything out, and noted what needed replacement or improvement. Among other things, I'm now wrapping my tape (duct and electrical) around a small credit-card-sized floss container. Wrapping it around one of the small plastic bags, as I'd previously done, didn't work well - the tape stuck to the bag, tearing it open when I removed the tape. I also finally tracked down some of the Katadyn purification tablets (finally available in CA) and will supplement the Puritabs currently in the kit (eventually replacing all of them as they near expiration).

(And Martin - loved the lean-to comment - hah!)

Boy if I had to open my PSK for the items you suggested I would have turned around and headed back to civilization.

You got to remember when packing and weighing your pack to pack backup gear just in case. Plus you should have a PSK for survival reasons. Before I set out I inventory everything in the kits I'm bringing along, replace anything thats old and rapackage it.

If I were you I would start with a list of items you should bring and then decide where to cut superflous items to save weight.

<img src="images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />But to use up your PSK gear, when everything is supposed to be going well, is going to leave you with nothing when your lost, freezing, hungry, and in need of medical attention.

I think that's not a completely unreasonable position. However, I merely used some tape and a couple of purification tablets, and considered that a couple of other items would be useful. The core of the kit was intact - and you can bet that if I'd had a medical emergency or felt that my safety was ever in danger of being compromised, I would have immediately headed back to civilization (which, given where I was hiking, was never more than a partial day's hike away). I was also hiking with another person.

Like most of us here I'm continually evaluating my situation when out in the wilderness and making decisions about whether it's safe to press on or time to call it quits. Gear is part of that equation, but so's weather, my condition, my location, the presence of others, and so on.

Unlike a fair number here, I see my PSK as an ongoing resource that I am pleased to use any time. In this case, I thought it made sense to do so, and I got to keep enjoying my trip with no worries. I even tried out a couple of other things in the kit, just for practice and/or to see if they worked for additional purposes - e.g., trying to use the Sparklite to light a Brasslite Turbo alcohol stove (it didn't - a good thing to learn). Like you, I also continually evaluate what's in the kit, and replace things to keep them fresh and/or because I come up with better ideas (practice helps with that, too).

So, my personal philosophy is to continually experiment, practice and learn, while always being cognizant of safety and reasonable choices. I like using my kit when it makes sense, but I also respect others here who believe it prudent to make a kit that is sealed and safe until needed for a truly dire situation.

While I think that the PSK should be available in emergencies - that is the idea after all - I do think that any tool I am carrying should be useful and available whenever I need it. How you define emergency also comes into play here. Of course if I have three days of iodine tablets in my PSK and I use one of those days to continue my journey then my preparedness is reduced by that much but I wouldn't immediately interpret that as an unnacceptable risk that would force an abrupt halt to my adventure.

To be in the midst of an adventure and discover that my filter had broken or my regular supply of iodine tablets had been compromised or lost I would consider an emergency worthy of invading my PSK supplies. After having done so and thanking ETS for pointing out that my PSK should be with me and contain those supplies, I would then take stock of my situation and determine if I could continue safely or not.