When I was doing SAR, members of our group regularly gave presentations to groups, most often elementary school classes on basic overnight survival if you were ever "confused' on an outing.

One night we were beating the bushes for a kid who had wandered away on an outing. About 2 AM we learned that he had attended one of my recent presentations. This definitely upped the stakes for me.

About dawn we found him. He had sought shelter and got some rest; in fact, he was sound asleep when an earlier search party had gone by.

I don't think we necessarily have to encourage people to carry a lot of stuff in the woods. It is more important to encourage folks to acquire the knowledge and skills that will serve them well in an emergency.

I can think of three instances where parties carrying a reasonable amount of gear got into trouble. A hiker with a fifty pound pack was sitting still, quietly going hypothermic on a cold, misty night when we contacted him. He informed us that "it was impossible to start a fire."

In the second case a party with backpacks, startled by an unexpected turn in the weather, started to run, discarding their gear. They did indeed create a genuine problem when one of them turned an ankle. They did have their priorities; all had their bongs when we reached them.

Another backpacking party managed to saturate their sleeping bags by sleeping outside their tents as a storm arrived (!!). The following day they attempted to surmount a pass; when they reached the pass, one of them could go no further. They left him there (taking his gear) and then headed downhill to their cars. The next evening we reached the frozen corpse after an all night hike through deep snow. They had attended a "survival school" after getting in trouble on an earlier trip - can't say they learned very much.

My point would be that education should stress acquiring skills and knowledge, not just shiny goodies and trinkets. What is between the ears is far more important than what is in the pack. In the best situation, both are well equipped to survive.