I was weighing some of my gear, looking things over trying to figure out where I could drop a few ounces in anticipation of some longer hikes this summer. This is where all my kits stand right now, I don’t anticipate any major changes to this moving forward. Always happy to learn about new techniques or tips to lighten the load a bit though.
First off at 2.8 ounces is my emergency/repair kit.
So here is what 2.8 ounces gets me:
- 2 big pieces of Tenacious Tape
- Needle
- Nylon thread
- Mesh screen patch
- 10 AquaMira tabs
- Live Fire tinder
- Compass
- Ferro rod
- Mini Bic
- Ear plugs
- Sentimental dinosaur figure
I figure this emergency/repair kit allows me to repair gear with tape or by sewing up something. Allows me to start a fire of necessary. Gives me a backup compass that actually is fairly accurate for its size, and gives me an extra pair of ear plugs for backcountry sleeping should I forget mine.
Coming in at 3.3 ounces is my first aid kit. I did have some help for this one from a friend of mine that’s an EMT. He did suggest an emergency tourniquet so I may have to add that in the future. Here are the contents.
- 2 medium non-stick gauze pads
- 1 quick clot gauze pad
- Medical wrap tape
- Tweezers
- Ibuprofen
- Aleve
- Imodium
- Benedryl
- Baby aspirin
- First aid & burn cream
- 2 medi-lyte packs
- Rubber gloves
- 4 band-aids
- BZK towelette
- 2 moleskin pads
I figure this kit gives me everything I need to handle typical trail injuries. I can treat symptoms with the various over the counter medicine, treat wounds, treat blisters, handle dehydration, and in a worst case scenario hopefully stop someone with a bad bleeding wound.
Nothing too exciting here. I may 1/2 the amount of hand sanitizer, moving it to a smaller bottle then bringing an ounce of picardin lotion or sunscreen depending on the conditions.
- Small towel
- Travel toothbrush
- Travel toothpaste
- 2 ounces hand sanitizer
- 3 flossers
Last but certainly not least is, in my opinion, the Cadillac of poop kits!
- Deuce of spades poop trowel
- Roll of TP
- Little dropper of Dr Bronners soap
- Culo clean bidet attached to old sawyer squeeze
This kit lets me dig a quick cathole, get down to business, and be squeaky clean and back on the trail without any monkey butt.
All together these kits total up to 14.2 ounces, which I don’t think is so bad.