Survival Clothes

The wool blanket thread (and others) has me thinking about the extra clothes I keep in my hiking kits and GHB. The purpose of these is for an extra layer of warmth for an unexpected overnight and also for something to wear while my primary clothes dry, should I somehow end up soaked.

I carry a wool jacket in my short hike kit and a polar fleece top & bottom in my long hike kit/GHB, along with wool socks and mitts, thinsulate neck gator and hat, as well as an emerg poncho, in both kits. I have rain pants in the GHB as well and I also just picked up a Polar Buff that I'll probably EDC.

What do you carry for back-up clothing and why? Kit fiddling - ain't it fun?

I'm going to arbitrarily decide that footwear counts as being on-topic for this thread. I have a nice pair of waterproof hiking boots that I wore just enough to break in and then stashed in my car kit. With my bad back and exceptionally flat feet I'm dependent on custom orthotics to be able to walk any distance. That means only buying shoes that they'll fit in, and it also means that I have an old-but-still-good pair stashed with those boots. Footwear is rounded out with a pair of Under Armour socks (try them, you'll be glad you did) and some wool socks.

My car kit has a pair of quick-dry pants that are marginally acceptable for the office. I do have an inexpensive rain suit in the car, so I could wear the bottoms to get some degree of protection from snow as well. Skivvies and a belt round out this area.

I'm more well-prepared North of the equator. I've got a short-sleeve T-shirt, a heavy long-sleeve shirt, a heavy fleece jacket, a sweater, a light parka, my favorite rain shell, the upper half of my inexpensive rain suit (it's been handy to have both on several occasions), a scarf and ski gloves.

This kit was put together at minimal cost other than the boots. I bought a cheap duffel bag that's held up well in my trunk. The clothes are largely old, several pieces come from a former employer with their logo on them.

GI boonie hat, long sleeved nylon cape backed flats fishing shirt, nylon ripstop pants, polypro wicking socks, old pair of Rockport walking shoes

GHB has GI poncho and mosquito net

GoreTex rain jacket, fleece jacket, and watch cap always in car

Survival clothing in my usual SOCAL haunts would be a short list, primarily consisting of clothing for a short period following a serious earthquake.

However, I'm not always in SOCAL and for the times I leave there is a large duffel bag with clothing I don't typically wear in SOCAL:
- Nylon canvas pants which will soon be replaced/supplemented by REI Shuksan Pants. Depending on how they fit, I may provide for another layer.
- Parka w/liner
- Wool long underwear
- Wool shirt
- Wool sweater
- 2 pair Wool socks & 4 pair sock liners
- 8" Boots
- SmartWool Cuffed Beanie
- Gloves & glove liners

For some of you that may seem like overkill, but when you're acclimated to the lower elevations of SOCAL, anything south of 30°F is really cold. If it's too much I'll skip a layer.

That's about -1 C? that's cold, especially if you're not used to it. If you add wind, it's worse.

"I'm going to arbitrarily decide that footwear counts as being on-topic for this thread."

Absolutely!! Footwear makes a huge difference. Anyone who doesn't think so should throw on a pair of regular running shoes and go stand outside for a while in minus 0 C temps and then do the same with nice warm boots.

BTDT and it's a primary reason the winter kit came into being.

Excellent discussion. My car has been well outfitted the past few years (especially in winter) including Gore-tex hiking boots, Smartwool socks (stuffed in the boots), long underwear, several pair of gloves and mittens (which gloveless friends have appreciated), fleece neck gaiter, balaclava, fleece hats.

One of my favorite layers in the car is a Marmot Dri-Clime vest. Campmor often has a great price on them.

New to the car this year: down booties. I had three pair in the house and decided a pair would take minimal space in the car and would be such a blessing if stranded.

And while not clothes but useful for putting in clothes: chemical hand and toe warmers. Costco sells them by the box.

I carry as back up, 2pr-fleece boxer shorts, 1pr silk longjohns,2pr merino wool socks-Ballstons,1-medalist longsleeve shirt,1pr Goretex pants & Jacket,1-wool beenie,1-fleece beenie,1pr wool mitten liners w/trig finger,1pr mittens w/trig finger,2-wool 10x48"kidney wraps(scarves),1-merino wool Balaclava w/visor,Ballistic goggles-smoke/clear lenses

Forgot about the footwear,I also carry an old,very comfortable pr of leather 5" hikers that were treated with mink oil,many yrs ago,they still have some knobbys left on the soles

I've always carried extra clothing and insulation in the Jeep, but due to storage constraints I only kept a pair of trail runners for extra footwear.

This spring I loaded-up for a 4-day off-roading trip and set-off wearing a pair of Sanuk slip-ons. I had actually taken the trail runners out of the truck, intending to replace them with my Solomon hiking boots. I get to our first trail, around 40 degrees and raining, the first obstacle is stream crossing then a steep 300-yard long rock gorge, complete with running water and three "marbles": 18" to 30" diameter loose rocks. This was what we call a technical trail, meaning you spend as much or more time outside the rig checking obstacles, stacking rocks and, often, winching. This is the point where I discovered I'd forgotten the Solomons. It was a miserable day spent mostly inside the Jeep with cold and wet feet.

That night, after finally making it to our campsite, I drove an hour each way to a Walmart; the only store in the area that was open late and sold footwear. I paid $40 for a pair of Herman's Defenders hunting boots. They were pretty much the only acceptable option available in my size-13. I didn't expect much, but was very pleasantly surprised that they were warm, comfortable, and most important, waterproof.

Having learned my lesson well, the Defenders are now permanently at home under the rear seat of the Jeep.

I have saddlebags mounted inside the rear cargo area of the Jeep, above the wheel wells. The driver's side has a packable Gortex rain jacket and pants, sil-nylon rain poncho, an old synthetic fleece zip-up hoodie, merino wool base layer (in a large zip-loc bag), two pairs of insulated gloves and two polar-fleece toques. (The passenger-side is reserved for food and water purification.)

Then I have a dry bag strapped to the rear-driver's roll cage (lesson learned -- don't ask). This has 1 each synthetic boxer-briefs and T-shirt, nylon running shorts, Polartec pants and half-zip shirt, Wool/Silk hiking socks and silk liners. There's another dry bag in my GHB strapped behind my front seat that has the same plus a second set of underwear, t-shirt, socks and liners.

I'm a big guy. In this case its an advantage because whatever spare clothing I have is pretty much guaranteed to fit on any passenger as well. He (or she) might look ridiculous swimming inside my spare clothes, but will at least be warm and dry.

Some of my GHB is culturally different than most people here, like the cloak made of camel hair (wabar) to be used like a "wearable banket" in winter.

Anyway, one thing should not be forgotten for those where it can get TOO HOT while bugging home ... Besides the cotton underwear, I have included cotton and vaselene , not for fire, but for lubrication down there!!

When it is hot and humid and you are a bit over-weight, and have to hike a few miles, the inner thighs will burn like hell, never mind the cotton underwear. It will only help, but may not totally prevent the chafing and burning. So, if you are in Texas, Louisiana, or florida for example, take note.

For the colder part of life , I have included a shemagh ( head scarf) and socks, but not much else. The wabar cloak can serve as a sleeping bag or walking "blanket".

IMO,traditional clothing was developed over generations to help people survive in the local climate. Probably a good idea to always look at what was worn in the past.

For example, a survival handbook I read many years ago had a section on desert survival. In it, it recommended covering over with a white cotton sheet or something like it to, in its words, "dress like an Arab". Apparently, the idea was to reflect the strong sunlight (white) and create a mini-climate under the outfit that makes one cooler than if you did not have this covering. It always made sense to me. Mid-east traditional desert clothing was developed to aid in crossing some really hostile deserts; perhaps we should learn from them.

I tried something like this one day while sailing on the Chesapeake and suffering from one of our "Brain burner" hot/sunny days. I put on a white cotton long sleeve t-shirt (with an attached white hood). My companions in their short sleeve shirts were really complaining and suffering and thought I had lost my mind. Yet, I was quite comfortable. Totally counter-intuitive, but it worked.

Vaseline is one of the last things I would use for lube on the inner thighs. It is messy, hard to clean off clothes and being heavily oil based, it blocks the skin from breathing. I don't have the problem of skin chaff like a lot of people do but there some much better products out there such as Body Glide and many people also use Mennen Speed Stick Deodorant which works just as effectively and costs 1/3 the price of Body Glide.

Also you may want to look into form fitting running shorts. These are synthetic based which helps to wick away moisture and are long enough (8 inch inseam) that they will prevent thigh chaffing. I have a couple pair of these that I wear underneath my regular shorts while multi-day hiking and I cannot say enough about how well they work. Usually at the end of hiking day, a quick rinse with some soap and water, the shorts can be wrung out and they will be dry within a very short time...can't say the same about cotton underwear.

Form fitting running shorts apparently work in the same manner as the tight fitting cycling shorts standard for most bike riders - same reason.

Agree, compression shorts are a much better option than lubing up.

Thanks , great advice on the shorts.
Another review for my GHB contents

Vaselene is messy, yes, but can be applied in little amounts. IMHO it is very stable in hot environments. Can't say the same about ointments and medical stuff.

However, if there are any health risks from using vaselene down there, please advise. Thanks

I am kind of agree Chisel in this regard of creating frictionless surfaces in the heat, though I never wear cotton underwear. My normal wear options are tighter boxer briefs by Ex Officio or recently Under Armour. I run and do most outdoor activities in triathlon bottoms.

I use petroleum based lip balm, like Vaseline or generic and carry it on my bike, in my running belts and EDC packs. It is small in size, and in dire need will help with chaffed lips, nipples, groin or inside of arm issues due to heat rash.

As an endurance athlete in the desert Southwest I have run into my issues with body glide melting in the car, thus I use Two Toms SportsShieldlove this stuff for preparing larger chaff potential locations. Its like teflon for the skin.

Ok, back to clothing guys. All this talk of lubing up is a bit dodgy

Now that winter has hit properly where I am I've added a set of Snugpak softee trousers and jacket to my minimal car kit along with 2 pairs of thick socks, 2 pairs of gloves and some arctic shooting mitts.

This goes along with my padded lumi jacket and dew liner. ( dew liner is a canadian insulated coverall, issued to me for a very cold Bosnian winter.)

Enough basically for my better half and me to stay toasty if we get caught by the snow again.