Emergency Hiking Gear List -- Revised

The following is a revised list of emergency gear for hiking. You can view the original thread here. This list is a series of three groups of ten items each, the first ten being the classic Ten Essentials developed by the Mountaineers of Seattle Washington. My idea, for people that hike with me, is to require the first 10, strongly urge the second 10, and recommend that everyone carry all 30. Of course 30 items will not cover every and all situations. These 30 are intended to be a manageable, practical 72 hour emergency kit that will greatly aid in some of the common emergency situations that might arise on a hike (injured, ill, lost, stranded).

**The 10 Essentials**
- Map (topo, preferably around 1:25,000 scale with approx. 40' contour intervals)
- Compass
- Light (headlamp or flashlight), LED strongly preferred -- with extra batteries
- Sun protection (hat, sun 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

**Additional Essentials**
- Duct tape
- Important Meds (3 day supply) -- Perscriptions, Antihistimines, Immodium, Anti-Inflamatory, etc.
- Whistle
- Signal Mirror
- Shelter (e.g. space blanket, space blanket bivvy sack, tube tent, etc.)
- Raingear
- Watch
- Bandana
- Insect repellent (DEET or Picaridin)
- Chapstick (SPF 30)

**Strongly Recommended**
* Multitool or SAK
- 55 gal trash can liners (3) -- Can be used as a pack cover when in camp, ground sheet for shelter, pack liner, etc.
- Needle & thread
- Squeeze light (as a backup)
- PLB
- Strong Nylon Cord -- Parachute "550" cord (Mil Spec) is an excellent choice
- Water retrieval device (straw, tubing, sierra cup, etc.)
- Water purification means
- Backup compass
- Pen & paper

Your insights and experiences are welcome.

HJ

That's a solid list, Jim; good work.

My only suggestion is to elevate the priority of water purification. Water is extremely important (thus its inclusion in the Top 10 items) but being able to safely use water found in the field can make all the difference in the world. When I check off "water" on my packing list, that term means "a certain amount of water in certain containers, plus a means of purification and an emergency water container".

With chlorine dioxide you can have world-class purification with very little weight & bulk in the Top 10. Even a near-weightless sheet of 20 Aqua Mira or Micro Pur tabs can be a godsend.

I've never quite understood the language used in the original 10 essentials. "Extra" food and water? What happened to just "food and water"? And really, you don't need food in the 10 essentials but I would move that down to the second or even the third group because you can survive many days without food and consuming food without enough water only dehydrates you more. A few tidbits like hard candy however can be a pyschological boost.

IMHO - things like the whistle, signal mirror, shelter, cordage -- all belong in the top 10 essentials. Some people use a space blanket as the shelter, I prefer to take a ultralite tarp and use things like space blankets and gargbage bags as alternative shelters not primary means. Water purification can be ranked higher depending on the environment.
Needle & thread are part of my survival kit, it is so small and light that it is worth carrying all the time. Whereas the fishing kit is only included because it is small/light and part of the original package. Otherwise, it would rank much lower on my priority list.

The meds are an add on to the 10 essentials but because of their small size and weight, I include a number of meds in my FAK including things like Benadryl. This really came in handy last week after I was devoured by mosquitoes in Yellowknife last week.

Otherwise your top 30 is right on. During my fishing trip last week I took my essentials which also included things like rain pants, toque, and gloves - which fall under the heading of extra clothing. Everyone else in the group was stunned that I carried these goodies but were glad when I was the first out with the "fire"! Being properly eqipped in my mind was a bit of overkill in their mind.

Jim,
Love your list.

Fairly close to what I take. I tend to be the cheif Sheepdog watching the flock during camping trips and much better prepared than the others in my group. I have noticed a slight change in some of the gear my Father-in-law is carrying due to him not being fond of always needing something from me.

Yeah, that's what everyone is saying.

At least where I hike (in the mountains of California), once you're away from the trailheads and popular areas, the water is pretty safe to drink. I've been drinking it since the 60's with no mishaps. I think the amount of contamination in wilderness areas is exaggerated.

However, maybe I'll bump up water purification means another notch.

HJ

I think the idea is to bring more than you think you'll need. For example, if I'm heading out on a six mile hike and the temps are going to be around 90, I figure I'll need about three liters of water. In terms of the 10 essentials, maybe I throw in and "extra" half liter or so.
I basically agree with you. I feel that the 10 essentials are really only complete when you supplement them (for me, it's the second set of 10 on my list). Maybe you could remove the bandana from the "essential" category, but it has so many uses including sun protection, (first step) water filtration, bandage, etc.
Yeah, pretty much everyone is on me for that one. Believe it or not I include a lightweight fleece hat (i.e. toque) and gloves in my kit even in the summer in S. Calif. Combine a light weight fleece hat with a trash bag, and you can weather pretty much any summer mountain storm even if you're caught out overnight unexpectedly
I've been around too much and seen too much to not carry what I carry. If you're out much, it's just a matter of time before something unexpected happens, if not to you, then to someone you run across.

Thanks for the comments and insight.

HJ

I think it's a good list. Obviously it's going to vary from person to person and even from outing to outing. For example, if I'm up on Amisk Lake in Sask on vacation I won't bother taking more than a drinking cup and maybe one bottle; the camp draws its water directly from the lake and isn't treated in any way IIRC. For years I've dipped my cup right into the lake for a drink, and it's probably safer than my municipal water. Likewise I wouldn't waste much space on purification stuff, either, for the same reason. But Benadryl and mosquito repellent would be in my Top 10, I'm not sure you'd survive a night out there without some protection. Last trip up I got several bites between the time when I opened the door of the truck and the point where my foot touched the ground! That's not even an exaggeration. The skeeters could probably grab a bull moose and fly off with him!

Closer to home water would be a top priority. Some kind of food would probably also be in my bag but I know enough to only eat if I can stay hydrated. Hydration is a big deal, and I always carry electrolytes and WHO forumula oral hydration salts.

Hmmm...maybe I need to list my own Top 10.

Yup, my mindset exactly. How's the old saying go? "Every mountaineer should expect to eventually be involved in misfortune, if not his own then someone else's".

Nice list. Even for short day hikes and fishing trips I will usually carry a brew kit consisting a cheap Titanium Cup (Alpkit) and cheap Titanium Stove (Gelert Blaze PZ micro stove) with its own piezo ignition and a small 100 gram Butane/propane gas cartridge and a few black teabags (usually Earl Grey), dried milk and sachets of sugar. Total weight is around 450grams so is not too heavy even for a day hike. The stove and cartridge, tea etc all fits into the ti cup.



Another piece of kit which I have found quite useful is an inflatable seat pad from Thermarest. It is very light weight, and when rolled up fits easily into a coat pocket and can even by used to insulate the chest area in biting cold winds.

Shelter is usually catered for on a day hike with a bothy bag. Bothy bags are useful for quick lunch time stops in poor wet and windy weather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHmfxOBB3Ug&feature=related

The OR LightHaven looks pretty impressive as well. (I wouldn't mind having one myself)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrifqMXVY58&feature=related

A Goretex rain jacket and over trousers are basically essential items to carry in this part of the world. Goretex Paclite is very lightweight with many jackets such as the Nike AGC minima paclite weighing in less than the 1lb mark.

I would personally replace the squeeze light backup with a Paklite Super Lithium Battery LED flashlight. (with a Nitze head strap could even possibly be used a primary flashlight)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDeiYM_Ityw

The problem with the 10 essentials is that the 10 essentials do not cater for differing terrains and weather conditions. Priority of what is carried will vary just as to whether shelter (sub arctic mountain) becomes the highest priority over water (desert) procurement for example.

I personally wouldn't carry a PLB or carry one as I probably wouldn't be able to refrain from pushing the button just to see if it worked. This could be extremely embarrassing.

You may want to rephrase this one for a more generic and well understood term. It took a while to figure out what you meant with "squeeze light", and I'm a borderline flashaholic!

I suggest the terms "keychain LED light" or "keychain size LED light".




For me, limiting myself to an arbitrary "X number of essentials" is limiting and really not helpful at all. But to nail the point home when educating people, those "essential" lists are very good, I think.


Another way to drive the point home is to break down into these 4 questions:

• 1) Can you get enough to drink, even if forced to stay out for a night or two?
• 2) Can you protect yourself from the environment, i.e. being too hot, too hot, wet or eaten by bugs, even if forced to stay outside for a night or two?
• 3) Can you find your way home?
• 4) Failing that, will someone be able to find YOU?

1) Obviously covers the water procurement/treatment debate.
2) Covers shelter, clothing and bug gear.
3) Covers navigation and light.
4) Covers leaving a game plane with a responsible party and some means of signaling (whistle, light, bright colored gear and clothing).



In Scandinavia, I drink water pretty much everywhere away from too much urbanization, industry and agriculture, and consider myself lucky that I might do so. I put the into the "locale dependent" part of priorities.

This reminds me, I've seen Benadryl listed before, not just on this list and wondered since a side affect of Benadryl is drowsiness I wouldn't think it would be advisable to take in a survival situation. I have inherited both sleeping and allergy/sinus problems so I take Benadryl at night to help with both issues and it does make you quite sleepy, its not somehting I'd want to take if lost in the woods unless I knew I had a good shelter and was safe to sleep.

Benadryl should, in my opinion, be in every FAK. If you encounter someone having a serious allergic reaction it could make a significant difference in that person's survival. Same with aspirin for cardiac events.

I second having benadryl and aspirin in a hiking FAK. Benadryl can make you drowsy - it's often given to people who are going to, for example, be settling in for a several hour chemotherapy session (first hand experience on that). But in a hiking/emergency situation, the effect would be virtually non-existent, since the user is likely to be amped up.

I left this list on the screen last night. My wife read it long after I was asleep.

Early this morning I find a note on the key board -

"They forgot the Kahtoola MICROspikes!"

I checked my list and something we never think of leaving home without WAS NOT ON THE LIST! They are always on the boots.

The back country of Idaho is steep and slippery. Most injurys by local hikers are "slip & falls".

I know that myself, when I take it I cannot fiht the effect. My wife has many times tried to wake me up too and couldn't. I've since changed and only take a half dose at night but still have a hard time fighting the effect when it kicks in. I don't think I'd be able to fight it in an emergency situation.

Point well taken. Change made as highlighted above.

I agree. Arbitrary limits aren't helpful in life or survival. My exercise is about teaching and informing. Hopefully a concise, limited list will be less intimidating and more likely to be accepted by someone not well acquainted with the idea of preparedness.

Excellent. Whatever list we bring, and whatever strategy we intend to employ should be tested by questions like those above or by actual scenarios as suggested by Cliff in the original thread.

Same here. The water in the mountains of western North America is very clean. Studies I've read indicate that it's actually cleaner than most municipal water supplies. If one uses common sense (don't drink water downstream from livestock for example), the chances of contracting a waterborne illness are very low. Even if one were to come into contact with such pathogens, one normally will show no symptoms unless the concentrations of said pathogens are high. Of those who do contract an illness, the symptoms typically are minor and pass on their own. It is a very small percent of people who contract a waterborne illness in the mountains of western N. America who display the pronounced symptoms that grab everyone's attention.

HJ

Agreed. There's no substitute for sitting down and thinking through what kind of outing one is going to undertake. A list can be a helpful starting point, but thinking to one's self "I've got everything on the list; therefore I am prepared" is a recipe for disaster IMHO.

I put "antihistimines" on my list. Hopefully that covers it.

Sounds like a good idea.

HJ

Eugene: Hmm. Good point about Benadryl. I've not had a strong reaction to Benadryl, so I'm not sure how to properly address the issue in a list. Perhaps an advisory: "Warning, Benadryl may cause drowsiness; use with caution". What do you think?

Cliff: Good point on micro spikes. Of course an ice axe and crampons might also be appropriate depending on the circumstances.

HJ

Well, Benadryl has a warning on it, but my though is maybe there is someting else that could work that doesn't cause drowsyness, just doesn't seem good to have your rescuee fall asleep and be dead weight.
Maybe its just me that gets affected, my wife seem to be affected similarly, whe's had a couple minor surgeries and the anastesia (hate trying from work with no spell checker) really knocks her out. My guess is because we've never had any kind of alcohol, tobacco, or any of the less than legal substances in our bodies we don't have any tolerance to any of those kind of chemicles.

Ah, I knew all my beer drinking training would pay off!

Not sure what the correct answer is here. I guess each person would have to know what his/her reaction to Benadryl type medications is and then compare that to the severity of the reaction to the insect bites.

I've experienced a bit of drowsiness before with Benadryl, but nothing significant.

HJ

Benadryl (Diphenhydramine hydrochloride) and it's drowsiness effect is different on different people. I had 6 tablets in a blister pak in my FAK. I gave two to my nephew as a "just in case", who I knew has reactions to bee/wasp stings. That left me with 4 x 25mg which is basically 1 day's worth that I stretched over 7 days. Next time in heavy mosquito country, I will bring more because while it was handy to relieve the itch, my body still reacted to the mosquito bites with edema in my hands.

My other issue was that I experience cramping in my legs when I don't replace my sodium/potassium sufficiently. Sodium is easy to get in any salt but I lacked the potassium which I prefer to get naturally by bananas or artificially with Gatorade. Powdered Gatorade (G2) is probably going to be a staple in my FAK in the future.
http://www.powdermixdirect.com/G2-Gatorade-Propel-Powder-Sticks-s/38.htm

I keep these electrolyte tablets in my FAK. Much more compact and they seem to be pretty effective in my experience. I don't recall where I actually bought them, probably RedFlare, Emergency Essentials or Chinook.

Hmm. Electrolyte tabs are not a bad idea at all.

I keep little packets of salt in my kit. I also sometimes bring Gatorade* or Cytomax* powder pre-measured into Ziploc bags as part of my normal (non emergency) carry. I don't plan to use salt on the trail; it's there as a just in case.

On other fronts, I made a slight tweak to my list. Let's see how this flies. I moved Chapstick* from a separate item to the general sun protection category. I like calling Chapstick out separately since a lot of people will remember things like a hat and sunscreen while forgetting Chapstick, but it does belong in the sun protection category. Hopefully people will read the list carefully.

Moving Chapstick up to the Sun Protection category allowed me to move a multi-tool or SAK into the top twenty which I think is more in keeping with the actual value of a multi-tool or SAK.

I added a cell phone to take the place of the multi-tool or SAK in the last ten items. A cell phone is kind of questionable item I realize. If you're really out in the wilderness, there aren't going to be any cell towers. I certainly would never depend on a cell phone, but it just might be a handy tool provided there are other things in your arsenal. Also, while I do like to get out into deeper wilderness, I only have time to do so occasionally; the majority of my outings are closer to town where a cell phone might come in really handy. I'll append the revised list below.

HJ

*Usual disclaimer: I have no financial interest in any product I mention.


**The 10 Essentials**
- Map (topo, preferably around 1:25,000 scale with approx. 40' contour intervals)
- Compass
- Light (headlamp or flashlight), LED strongly preferred -- with extra batteries
- Sun protection -- hat, sun glasses, sunscreen, Chapstick (SPF 30)
- 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

**Additional Essentials**
- Duct tape
- Important Meds (3 day supply) -- Perscriptions, Antihistimines, Immodium, Anti-Inflamatory, etc.
- Whistle
- Signal Mirror
- Shelter (e.g. space blanket, space blanket bivvy sack, tube tent, etc.)
- Raingear
- Watch
- Bandana
- Insect repellent (DEET or Picaridin)
- Multitool or SAK

**Strongly Recommended**
- Cell phone
- 55 gal trash can liners (3) -- Can be used as a pack cover when in camp, ground sheet for shelter, pack liner, etc.
- Needle & thread
- Key chain sized LED light (as a backup)
- PLB
- Strong Nylon Cord -- Parachute "550" cord (Mil Spec) is an excellent choice
- Water retrieval device (straw, tubing, sierra cup, etc.)
- Water purification means
- Backup compass
- Pen & paper

To me, it never made much sense to count items needed for a particular outing. That is why I decided to group my essentials into Ten Essential Groups. Multiuse items may fit into multiple groups.

1. Medical- ID/medical tag, first aid kit, medications, insect repellant, bug netting
2. Shelter- raingear, garbage bags, emergency blanket, bivy sack, tarp, tent
3. Fire- matches, lighter, sparker/tinder, fresnel lens, stove/fuel
4. Hydration- water container, purification method, straw
5. Communication- safety plan, whistle, pen/pencil and paper, signal mirror, cellular phone, satellite phone, HAM radio, personal locator beacon, weather radio
6. Navigation- map, compass, light, altimeter, GPS
7. Nutrition- extra food, fishing kit
8. Insulation- jacket, hat, gloves, footwear, foam pad
9. Sun Protection- sunscreen, sunglasses, wide-brimmed hat, lip balm with spf, long sleeved/legged clothing, gloves
10. Tools- knife/multitool, repair kit, wristwatch, bandana, rope/cord, duct tape, money

That's actually a very good, certainly better than the original ten essentials, way of organizing things: around functions as opposed to individual items. The Mountaineers, the organization that came up with the original ten essentials now promotes the Ten Essential Systems just as you do.

One thing I've always objected to with respect to lists is that they tell you what to bring but not why. A list organized around function (as yours is) is a step in the direction of rectifying that short coming.

HJ

A cell phone (smartphone) can be much more useful than just making/receiving phone calls (even when not in range of a cell tower).


Here are things it can do even when not in range of a cell tower:

Most now have a GPS.
Many also have a compass app.
Many can store off line topo maps that will work with the GPS.
Together these can track your trail on the map.
They can measure inclines and distances.
They can store medical reference manuals, or edible wild plants info and pictures, etc., etc.
You can make electronic notes.

I put mine in the top 10 (including either a spare battery or a solar charger).

Interesting.

I know my phone has a GPS chip in it, but I don't know if it can display coordinates. I'll have to check into that.

Cell phones have the ability to broadcast your position. Most of the time, cell phones only broadcast your position if you call 911. However, since I'm a hiker, I set the locator function to "on" so that my position is broadcast continually. In other words, as long as there's a cell tower, the phone company has a "track" of where I am. Now, in deep wilderness this may not be particularly useful, but at least they'll have a last known position for me. The Sheriff's office here won't even start a search unless they can verify where a person is by finding a vehicle at a trailhead or other positive proof that the person is actually there. At the very least, a cell phone track might be able to persuade the local authorities to start a search.

HJ