I've put together a list of emergency gear to be carried while hiking. See the list down below my "signature". I'd love to get your thoughts on the contents. What should be added? What should be deleted? What are important considerations when selecting the items that are on the list? My target is hikers in general, not just those who are interested in preparedness.

A word about the list: I started with the original "10 Essentials" put out by The Mountaineers. I then added three more groups of 10, each group being less critical than the group before it. I live in Southern California, so my choices reflect my location. For example fishing gear is way down on my list because the chances of finding fish are generally quite low here. I didn't list some things like a digging implement which I consider something that a hiker should already be carrying.

That being said, I publish my list below and invite your (thoughtful and intelligent) feed back.

HJ

**The 10 Essentials**
Map (topo, preferably around 1:25,000 scale with approx. 40' contour intervals)
Compass
Light (headlamp or flashlight)
Sun protection (hat, glasses, sunscreen)
Extra food & water
Extra clothing
Matches (or lighter or fire steel or sparker) <==at least 2 methods
Firestarter (tinder) -- e.g. Tinder Qwick, Wet Fire, Vaseline cotton balls, candle, etc.
Knife -- Fixed blade preferred
FAK

**Other essentials**
- Chapstick (SPF 30)
- Personal meds (3 day supply)
- Duct tape
- Whistle
- Signal Mirror
- Shelter (e.g. space blanket, space blanket bivvy sack, tube tent, etc.)
- Rain gear
- Watch
- Bandana
- Pen & paper

**Important but not essential**
- 55 gal trash can liners (3) -- Can be used as a pack cover when in camp, ground sheet for shelter, pack liner, etc.
- Insect repellent (DEET or Picaridin)
- Needle & thread
- Squeeze light (as a backup)
- PLB
- Parachute Cord ("550 cord") -- Mil Spec
- Water retrieval device (straw or sierra cup)
- Multitool or SAK
- Water purification means
- Backup compass

**Other Items**
- Fishing gear
- Two way radio
- P38 can opener
- Cell phone
- Head net
- Work gloves
- Thermarest patch kit (Particularly in Winter)
- Insulating foam pad (Winter)
- Goggles (Winter)
- Pot, stove, & fuel (Winter)

Good list. Do you mean day hiking or overnights? I'd leave behind the 2 way radio, unless you mention it on your hiking/ trip plan

What,No Doug Ritter PSK? Wire,You must have Wire,Emergency or Not! Fishing kit should be a Top 1 Priority,there are lakes,streams,ponds thruout So.Cal.,Not to mention the Largest Pond, this side of the planet,Pacific Ocean! Fishhooks work Real well for Trapping small-game.A fishing kit is multi-use,weighs very little & displaces nothing in a pack,Yet provides food,comfort,& confidence when you Really need it!How about slingshot materials,Dove/Quail are delicious,& Abundant thruout almost all of California,they snare fairly easy,too.

My thought with the list is that it would form a core kit that you would carry with you on all hikes, overnight or day. Obviously, some things might change depending on whether your staying out overnight or just going for the day.

Good thought on the radio. If you're using an FRS or GMRS, not only should you list that on the trip plan you leave with your check-in person, but you should also list what channel you'll be monitoring and possibly even a back up channel.

HJ

Hi, Rich,

Thanks for your interesting thoughts.
Recall my target audience: Telling the average person who isn't on a forum like this that they need a Ritter PSK is going to be a tough sell. My idea is to have people put together their own kit that would have at least the top ten items on my list or better still the top twenty.

Well, perhaps so, but again convincing a typical hiker that he needs to carry snare wire is going to be a tough sell. In general, I'm interested in a typical hiking emergency scenario where things frequently play out within 72 hours. I'm not thinking of longer term survival where snares would be quite useful.

Wow, that's great! Please tell me the specific hiking trails that you're talking about. I'd really like to hike there. In my hiking travels in the San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mtns, San Jacinto Mtns, etc. I encounter very few places where fishing is feasible in the backcountry. Of course there are fish available in tourist places like Big Bear Lake, but I generally like to get away from the crowds and roads.

HJ

For me, minor shift in two items up to the "most critical" list.

As a hiker (including Sierras), my essentials closely mimic yours, but personal preference/priorities have signal mirror and whistle included in first "critical" list. Maybe ahead of extra clothing, depending on weather, time of year, conditions, hike location etc.

In event of impaired mobility caused by mishap -- say broken leg or worse -- and maybe where fuel for signal fire not abundant, I absolutely want to have signaling basics well-covered.

And for where I might typically be hiking, fishing kit would be higher importance.

You're being sarcastic, aren't you... Having the top 10 plus the "other essentials" in your pack is far superior to any PSK, including Doug Ritters PSK. I've got one, and I love it, but I'd rather see more people bring the appropriate items in their packs than relying on a PSK. Those are backups, not do-all magical talismans.


For the most common "hiking trips" survival scenarios, gathering food is not really high on your list of priorities, so I'm with Hiking Jim when he doesn't include a fishing or snaring kit. Trust me, if you're in trouble you want to go home, not go fishing. That being said, if you've got nothing to do but waiting anyway then you might as well do some fishing while you're at it. Some hooks, wire and line weigh next to nothing and the wire and line can be used for a zillion other purposes. But I would not include gear for fishing, snaring or trapping on any lists of this kind.


Jim, your list makes very much sense to me. Changing to a different location would perhaps mean that some items would gain priority, such as shelter being a very high priority for me in a Scandinavian climate (except in wooded areas in the warmest part of the summer).

One seasonal/locale dependent thing I would like to add to your list is bug avoidance (such as a mosquito hat/net or bug repellent). Trying to sleep while being eaten by mosquitos and bugs is a sure morale killer. My recommendation is a mosquito hat together with clothing that covers your feet and hands.

Another thing: I love Paracord, but any cord is better than no cord at all. Not everyone will be ecstatic about hearing they need to go online to purchase some genuine "mil-spec" because they really need that magic elfish rope or whatever. I would edit that part so it reflects the virtues of bringing some minimum quantity of whatever synthetic cord they're happy with. Personally, I bring a mix of paracord and 2mm nylon generic no-brand cord (plenty strong enough, and packs much smaller). For most emergency bushcraft and shelter building I can think of, I'd rather have 90 feet of 2mm nylon line than 30 feet of paracord. And yes, I know you can split the cord into 7 strands and all that, but this is not something I want to fiddle with when being wet, frozen, hungry and very much in need of shelter NOW.

I think it's interesting that in all the episodes of Survivorman I've ever seen he always sets snares but I've never once seen him catch anything. Of course, I only see the show sporadically on youtube so I haven't see them all or anything. Most situations where you're lost you probably will be found within a few days; in extremely remote areas you'd be wise to carry more gear. Depending on the circumstances and the space I have, I'll normally have some snacks on me. It's for moral as much as anything. If you can build a fire, keep the rain off you and stay hydrated I'd say you're in good shape for a few days. For a 3 day kit almost anything else borders on being a luxury. Of course, that's excepting medical supplies. And you can never count on being found in X amount of days.

That pretty much describes my current hiking setup except for a couple things.

Added
Trekking poles - I always have them
Camera - Personal preference, but I always carry mine
Webbing - If there's a chance of doing some cross country bush-wacking or off trail, I may carry some webbing and short length of rope and a carabiner.
At least 2-4 sources of light - If night hiking it's 2 headlamps and 2 flashlights, otherwise 2 headlamps is standard.

Deleted-
P38 an opener - I never carry one, because I don't carry any canned food and have never run into canned food out in the backcountry.
Two way radio - Don't normally carry them unless I'm going with other people who are carrying them. One exception is when canyoning.
Rain Gear - If the forecast doesn't show rain, I've been leaving this at home. I do have a homemade silnylon poncho/tarp/bivy that I may carry instead of dedicated rain gear and bivy. Of course this varies quite a bit, usually I err on the cautious side.
Pen and paper - Never used it, so I haven't carried it for a long time.

Other than that, everything else is just like mine. I've been trying to cut some weight off my normal hiking pack, so I'm slowly removing things that aren't absolute necessities, so on really familiar trails I sometimes go even lighter.



I hike pretty much the same areas, and didn't think fishing was very feasible either. But I was wrong, there are a lot of fish up there, you just have to be looking for them. I've gone fly-fishing at East fork right past Heaton and at the base of Baldy, two high traffic places I would never would have thought would be very good for fishing, and have caught some fish. I have a friend that can catch 10 fish an hour in streams you can literally step across. In fact when he did a overnight "survival" hike up the East fork he actually caught a couple of fish with his survival kit contents.

However, I still don't carry any fishing gear. I probably should, but even with regular fishing gear, I'm still not any good at catching anything. Like anything else it's a learned skill, some people have it, I definitely don't.

Nice hike north of you if ever the opportunity: Graveyard Lakes. Great fishing last time there few years ago. Area photos.