Backpacker WITH a survival kit. (Images)

In another thread I explained that I mix EDC items with the things I use for backpacking, hiking and walking trips.

I thought I'd post another thread to illustrate what I mean and also take the opportunity to solicit advice. Also, since I know you guys like pictures, I took some!

I should say in advance that I in no consider myself an expert in survival techniques and although I carry a PSK, advice and suggestions are welcome.

When I go camping or hiking I like to travel light but also to be comfortable. I can sleep under a plastic tarp rigged with paracord if I need to but unless I've been dropped out of a plane I want to enjoy myself out there. Also, although I know how to make a fire I tend to avoid doing so when I'm camping - partly due to a penchant for no-trace camping and also because the area around here is prone to forest fires.

I get about a lot on a bicycle and generally carry a small pack around with me in which I always keep a few things. When I go hiking or camping, I use the same pack and merely add my camping gear.

Here's the pack and the bits and pieces that go in it daily:



On the right is my wallet, keys with a couple of LED torches and a lighter, and a Leatherman, always on my belt. Not pictured a Casio Pro Trek and my mobile phone which I'm using to take the picture!

Here's what goes in the front pocket of the bag:



That would be a FAK (limited, suggestions welcome), a PSK, a headlamp, a bicycle tool, a compass, a banana case for my glasses, pencil with duct tape, a spare torch, Miox and a notebook for jotting.

I have, and used to carry camping, a ceramic/activated carbon filter but the Miox is so small that I have taken to carrying it both camping and day to day.

The FAK:



Pretty self-explanatory and comments and suggestions welcome.

Torch:



With a spare set of batteries. Handy for cycling but also for camping.

PSK:



As I said, I am no expert here and I have picked up a few ideas from this very forum. There is room for extra items - what might be useful?

Here it is all packed up into the front pocket of the pack. There's 30 feet of paracord wrapped around the top handle in a quick release weave.



Now here's the interesting part. This is the sort of thing I take with me for a couple of nights hiking and camping:



Sleeping bag with a liner to increase its rating if it gets chilly. A packtowel for the swimmin' hole. A Hennessey hammock which is probably the best piece of outdoor gear I have ever encountered. Cooking pot, Esbit stove, cutlery and a flask for keeping my tea warm (hey, I said I like luxury), hard bottle of water and a couple of Platypus bottles with a hydration kit for drinking on the move. Spare clothes and a couple of packets of dried dinner.

As I said when I'm on a planned trip, I try to avoid fires, so I bring this:



All pretty self-explanatory except that flask isn't booze, it's pure alcohol which I pour into the aluminium candle holder and use instead of the Esbit tabs in order to cook. Unlike the tabs it doesn't reek when it burns. I carry a batch of tabs regardless, just in case.

And here it all is, packed up and ready to go for a few nights.



There's room in the pack for a handful of granola bars to munch along the way, and more food and extra clothing to extend the trip or for when it gets cold.

The only thing that changes when I'm camping or hiking is that the PSK clips to my belt, instead of sitting in the pack.

The flask is a real luxury and serves my obsession with a nice hot cup of Oolong tea during the day, which I would brew up in the morning before breaking camp.

Even when only hiking, I throw the hammock and the bag in the pack. They weigh so little and are handy in a tight spot.

As you can see, I mix up EDC with camping gear quite happily.

Your thoughts?

Looks pretty good to me. Add a tarp and folding saw and some signalling equipment (whistle, mirror).

Thoughts about your FAK: add gloves and a blood-stopper: ABD-pad or traingular bandage.

Your PSK is pretty minimal. I would at least add some waterproof tinder and a redundant way to start a fire (BIC, matches)
That fire-steel takes two hands to use, maybe suppliment with spark-lite or even a blast-match for one-handed use.
Or better: add a Doug Ritter PSP to it. It has all the basics that you can suppliment with the PSK stuff you already have (I would keep the photon, for example).

My PSK (I now put it in a BCB-tin and added a signal mirror)

I would question your choice of compass. Those lensatic copies might show you were north is, but are pretty hard to use with a map. An inexpensive Boy Scout type compass, with a straight edge, is much easier, at least for me, to use with a map, or just to follow a heading...

So you pour the ethanol into the candle holder for cooking? What is your performance, in terms of X volume of water taking Y time to come to a rolling boil? Say, 500ml.

The reason why I'm asking is becuase you look like you may have space for a trangia stove, and certainly space for a soda can stove, both of which should be more efficent.

Before I comment on your PSK, how large is that pouch?

That's right. It was something of a cookware experiment that worked well enough for it to have stuck with me. I ususally fill the flask with 750ml of tea and that will take me between 5 and 7 minutes to get boiling.

Funnily enough I have been examining plans for a soda can stove. They look lightweight and efficient. Something like this looks perfect. Time to break out the tools.

The PSK is this size:

Thanks for your comments, Jim.

There is a lightweight painters' tarp in there already (the scrunched up plastic). I have a lightweight folding saw and also one of those hand chainsaws. Whistle and mirror would be a good idea.

You're right about the additions to the FAK, at the moment it's really for cuts and scrapes. I'm also trying to find a sterile suture set.

I would probably go for a Bic over a blast match; smaller. Tinder is a good idea. I hadn't considered that. I'll take a look at Doug's PSP but I'm in Europe and it might be hard to get hold of it.

I know what you mean. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

One thing: Only if you are a doctor (or otherwise trained in suturing), I would concider a suture-kit.

Not a bad idea. Perhaps finding a small one that would slip into the PSK would be worthwhile. To be honest I've never had much of a problem using the lensatic with a map when hiking.

I've read on the site of Aeromedix that they do ship to the Netherlands. They charge $31 for sending 1 psk, but be aware that Dutch customs might add BTW and other taxes etc. As far as I can tell, the price will be at least over $40 before it get's here.

I know. That's what's keeping me from buying all that stuff that's available online.
Most sites also require a credit-card to be able to purchase. I don't have one, and won't get one soon...... <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I may be able to special order it for you, let me know.

Try zenstoves.net- they may have the widest assortment of plans for making ministoves that run of methyenol and ethynol, and some other interesting ones.

As for the size of the PSK, if it is hand sized, then you basically have a lot of cotton wool, a light, a compass, ferro rod and striker, a tiny bundle of fishline, two snelled hooks, one needle, a lot of very thin wire, and a that's it....

Is it the last resort part of your survival kit, or is it a true PSK which is carried in case you are seperated from the rest of the kit? If the former, ok. If the later, I'd say less cotton wool and a bit more gear.

If it works for you then stick with it...

I would say it's a last resort AND it could use more gear.

In fact, what looks like cotton wool is a plastic painters tarp.

I do intend to add to it and a lot of what Jim has suggested I can lay my hands on fairly easily. Perhaps adding Doug's RSK to it will be a shorthand to completing it.

Oh, oh wow. A tarp, serious overkill. Shelter and a sharp are the places where PSKs generally don't work so well. I don't know if the tarp is really worth the bulk.

Remember, in the scheme of things, IMHO, the PSK is the next to last resort, along with your EDC and clothing. If you loose that, its a naked you in the naked wild.

The first thing I would put in rather than the tarp is some tinder, like tinderquick tabs, or a couple of cotton balls with vaseline in a tiny zipper bag. Then some way of purifying and carrying water. Then a small lighter. Spool of dental floss, maybe, or maybe a small swiss army knife (pry off the handles to save space) or a micra or squirt. Aluminum foil, the good stuff. About a half meter of repacked duct tape.

Doug's home built PSK is here. Search through the archive of the forum, I'd say about a third of the regulars have posted lists, and usually pics, of thier pocket kits.

maybe instead of prying of the SAK handles, get an alox one.

Are they thinner? And it is an optional thing.

alox handled SAK's are pretty thin and very strong. They will probably be more comfortable and safer to use than removing the handle scales.


alox farmer...I measured mine and it is right at 1/2 inch thick. Pretty good tool for about 20 bucks. It is hair popping sharp and can stand up to batoning plus is has a saw and awl. Oh, and a beverage opener!



alox secretary...I don't have one but I would guess it would be about 1/8 inch thick. Certainly no more 1/4 inch.