cheap stuff, D-tape, 1st aid
Misc tips:
1. Great stuff at local thrift shops, just be very selective don't buy junk i.e. metal water bottles, pots, coats etc (independent stores in my area are usually cheaper than Goodwill and great discounts on Sundays, ask for sales days and never hesitate to bargain/negotiate down a price at checkout if it seems high) Dress simple not fancy but not like a homeless person or they will not want to encourage you to return. Thank your parents or friend for driving you there, you can save parent's money on clothes budget.
2. Store Duct tape in multiple places in your gear, roll up 1" around a plastic straw or itself put in 1st aid kit, around water bottle, your trekking poles etc. Use to patch everything, also yourself, blisters, or if minor cut, put over bandaid to make it more water resistant and keep dirt/infection out. Also extra wide electrical and Tenacious tape are occasionally useful.
3. I get rectified by AHR in First Aid CPR AED every 2 years. It is not easy to find a place that will teach this to individuals and do it well. If local rec center does not offer, try places of worship, child care facilities, where your parents or their friends work etc, local swimming pool life guard program any of these places may allow you to join in for $40-50 just ask very politely. Also try to find a very good instructor, some are rather poor. If local REI etc has a Wilderness First Aid class (NOLS) that is great but more time and money.
Also much of what is in a First aid kit can be used to start a fire, especially after it expires so don't just toss it, use for tinder.
Reuse containers from the gods above, but beware
This may not apply to you in Michigan but in the SW water is worth cacheing in the wet time of year for dry periods. But up north you may want to Cache insulation or pots, fuel etc. Food is rarely a good idea due to scavengers: bear and raccoons etc.
Cheap (almost free containers) are those 1 gallon or larger food (pickle) plastic jars that most restaurants will give you for next to nothing (ask a friend that works there) or buy online:
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/ite...6063&catid=604
http://www.uline.com/BL_8185/Natural...ide-Mouth-Jars
I also clean out and reuse peanut butter plastic jars etc, use tubes of silicon, wax or generic automotive gasket material to seal. The key is to use baking soda to remove all trace of food smell. Then bury the water or backup supplies deep in the ground, or in a hollow tree (vertical or horizontal, i.e. dead). Triangulate the position and write down in notebook. Geocaching is fine but GPS devices can fail so don't depend 100% on them.
I camp in remote parts of relative's and friend's ranchland in TX & OK were no human may go for days or years but if you are in an area more populated by humans then covering the cache very carefully with debris and making it look very natural is important.
The key is this allows you to camp miles from people during extreme drought or winter and be far from noise pollution, very relaxing. When the only signs I see of civilization for days are the jet contrails in the sky I am truly on vacation. Just don't drop a coke bottle or I may think that "The gods must be crazy" These are the sort of folks I grew up with as a small child they may be offensive to some city people, I hope not. People are people regardless of what they wear or how they live.
http://youtu.be/gCQIGiXf0JA
I found this article:
http://howtowilderness.com/2012/03/3...o-cache-water/
Not very good, those disposable water containers are notorious for leaking, and not UV resistant and rodents will chew thru them. Even if all you have is a tiny titanium cat hole trowel dig a hole and bury it, and cover with rocks and "punky" wood etc.
