I won't go into the woods without a military type poncho. Preferably the nylon one, as it saves weight.

Uses -

Ground cloth
Tarp
Sleeping bag
Stretcher
Water hauler
Raft
Sunshade
Pillow
Pack

Alton Brown says he has one uni-function item in his kitchen, the fire extinguisher. I like to see how many functions I can get out of the stuff I carry.

There are no uni-taskers. I have been told that suitably rigged fire extinguishers can act as mortars to propel projectiles, baited fishing hooks, etc., several hundred yards. The empty would make a good weight, earth or snow tamper, improvised hammer, core to coil or bend stuff around, and that is just a start.

Even Alton could form some dough on the thing, or maybe use it as a big rolling pin, to prepare some Good Eats.

Chapstick as firestarter - read it,tried it,loved it! Wiped some on dryer lint,paper towel,cloth,cotton ball and burned each one side by side to an untreated sample and was quite impressed. Easy to carry,clean to use,can be used as originally intended and looks very innocent.

Chapstick / petroleum jelly is a decent improvised lubricant, fuel, sealant, particulate abrasive carrier, dye / ink / paint solvent, and waterproofing agent.

Carry a little notebook. Write questions, comments, to do's, sketch a pic, or the location of a pic in your phone on the right hand page. The left page is for answers, info, what have you. Example: Right page:Is this mushroom poisonous? Additional Storage 08-27-09_103759 On the left: yes. Extremely so. do not touch and a sketch including the color, size, and early form.

Personally I'd save the fire extinguisher for fighting fires. Multi tasking is great but when you break or disable something that's meant to be used as an emergency tool, you're kinda screwed.

Obviously if I had to roll some dough in a life or death situation, I'd reassess...

There's a point beyond which multi tasking becomes problematic.