The various "Ten Essentials" lists (often containing 15 or so items) are excellent aids for wilderness preparation, but they need to be tweaked for prevailing environmental conditions. I perused Byrd Hunters fine list and gasped, "He has no canteen! He's gonna die out there." Well, he would in the arid Southwest, my home range, but this is not the case in Lake Wobegone country, where the problem is likely to be too much water, rather than too litle.

Doing SAR in Southern Arizona, I kept a backpack ready to go, so that all I had to do was dress, grab it, and go. During the winter, it had lots of warm clothing and gear designed to cope with the prevailing subzero winter conditions in the nearby mountains. In the summer, it became a giant water bottle, with band-aids and snacks.

You almost always need the ability to light a fire. It provides immediate warmth, soothes and centers you psychologically, and signals your presence very effectively, as well as being useful for cooking and water purification.

I recently developed a little list of my "Ten worst nights in the woods." In all but one of them, lighting a fire was the most important act I took. In the top two, it may well have been a life or death matter.

Most importantly, none of these survival toys mean anything if you don't have the ability to use them effectively. Knowledge is the ultimate light weight hiking appliance.

With appropriate skills, you can carry everything you need for an unanticipated night out in an outfit that weighs less than two pounds, with the exception of water.