On Various Sizes of Emergency Kit
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jfeatherjohn
This is such an important point, Sarky.
My pocket kit will go along way to help me survive, but it fits in a pocket.
Each solution is covered in my bag, but in a "bigger" way.
My vehicle bag includes food, plus xtra tools.
My kayak bag is not designed to go anywhere; it carries things, (like clothes),that I might change into or strap on someplace.
It is a "graded" response; just because its not in or on my bag right now doesn't meanit wouldn't be. Everything is situational.
Yep. I kayak, and a kayak is a quite different animal than a bicycle. I only kayak one-night, for one thing.
I tend to have three emergency kits. One is nylon cordura with a carribinger to snap it onto my beltloop. It is a greatly pared-down emergency kit I take on day hikes. It contains the barest essentials such as bandades, a multi-purpose tool, hand wipes, extra toilet paper in teeny plastic ziplock bags, chapstick.
You could never truly survive with the pared-down kit. It is more for bare necessity than for survival. I tend not to take things such as water purification tablets (in the Superstition Mountains one has no water to purify anyways, most of the year. Right NOW there is tons of water in the streams; but that's rare).
However, I don't take my emergency bivy or my biggest firestarter, etc. I take the teeny versions of such things. I tend to throw an emergency blanket in case it starts to pour if there's impending rainstorms (the Superstition Mountains are pretty reliable. You don't get rain all-of-a-sudden if there is zero chance of rain, for example).
One thing I always take is a tablespoon of cayenne pepper; being over 60 years old with a long history in the family of heart attacks and hardening-of-the-arteries. Cayenne has been known to stop a stroke or heart attack in mid-flight.
Also always carry baking soda in a teeny ziplock for when my Gerd backs-up. Tend to take one beer with me when I hike for when I stop, and that sometimes creates horrible stomach acid problems.
Carry a good compass in that kit, waterproof matches, a fire starter, etc. There's the luxury kit which is way too big to carry on day hikes. It has the huge stuff such as the Sigg box and such. Yes, it is what I take when I'm backpacking many days. That is definitely not what I take when I go hiking in the Superstitions on Saturday or Sunday, though. That is my long-distance camping kit... the one which becomes your home when danger truly arrives.
If you're hiking places where someone is bound to be by in a few minutes, the need for true survival definitely goes down. The Superstition Mountains has become overpopulated. Too much hype about it, which attracts the wannabees and soon there's people traipsing all-over. I've seen footprints out in the middle of nowhere-nowhere when I had just got up in the morning. What used to be wilderness is becoming someone's back-yard, now.
I also steal from the bigger kits to taylor what I need. Some will go into the gray tiny kit.
