Survival kit

From Trail-Finder -- Dedicated to getting you outside

Contents 1 Overview 2 Use 3 Contents 4 What Not to Include 5 Lifespan

Overview

A survival kit is a sealed pack of small, light-weight items which you should never leave home without, but should just throw in the bottom of your pack and never touch again. It is not the same as a first aid kit, which should be (but often isn't) designed to be used regularly. While the materials in a survival kit won't usually summon helicopter rescue parties, and generally won't even make you especially comfortable, they can literally make the difference between life and death.

Use

A survival kit should always be carried if you're on a multi-day trip. It should also be carried on any day trip where you're not going to be running into other people pretty routinely. Since survival kits should always be very small and very light, and are usually pretty inexpensive, simply throwing one into the bottom of your pack, or into one of the watertight compartments of your kayak, then just leaving it there is the best way to ensure you always have it in a survival situation.

Now that you have a survival kit, the secret to its use is to never need to use it. For routine things, like unexpected rain, etc, the normal contents of your pack should suffice. Survival kits should only be broken out when you have a serious emergency, one where you're likely in serious trouble, and possibly even one where you could die.

Contents

While not necessarily all-inclusive, these items are generally be included in a survival kit:

• Durable, sealed case: Survival kits are often placed entirely inside a pocket-sized candy tin. Larger kits may be placed into a small pelican case.
• Matches: Ideally the waterproof, windproof, strike-anywhere type.
• Fire starter: Fire starter sticks allow you to much more easily light a fire, even with limited numbers of matches and wet wood. Sticks are better than pastes for survival kits, since they are much less likely to leak.
• Compass: Since survival kits are small, the compass needs to be small, also. The compass you find on zipper pulls, etc, can work well here, if you can extract it from the larger housing.
• Water purification tablets: This may be the only place these really belong in a modern pack. Make sure they're shelf-stable.
• Knife: A very small, sharp, brand new pocket knife. Brand new knives are coated so they won't corrode, even after ignoring them for years.
• Bullion cubes: These are loaded with salt, which is critical when in the wilderness. They can also help to improve the tastes of whatever you might catch.
• Fishing line: This can be wrapped around other components of the kit, and more than 15-50 feet is excessive. Useful for both fishing and snares, it can also be used to tie gear or emergency shelters together, if needed.
• Fish hooks: A couple small to medium sized hooks, barbed, as much as possible. They lay flat and take virtually no room, but it's easier than trying to make your own.
• Emergency blanket: These thin, aluminized sheets don't weigh much, and don't really provide a huge amount of insulation, either. They are waterproof, windproof, and do stop much of your body heat from radiating away. It may not fit inside your actual kit, unless you have a larger case, but should be in the bottom of your pack nonetheless.

What Not to Include

Some things really don't belong in a survival kit, either because they're just too big, too perishable, or too frequently needed.

• Food: If you don't touch your survival kit for five or ten years, what food could survive? Besides, food is bulky. The only exception is a few bullion cubes.
• Flashlight: The same problem as food. Batteries won't last more than a year or so of being ignored, and they're generally too big to fit into a small survival kit, anyway. If you're using a larger kit, you might consider a very small chemical light stick, which is shelf-stable, but likely still too large. Carry a flashlight separately in your pack, and check the batteries regularly.
• First aid kit: Drugs, bandages, etc belong in a separate first aid kit. First aid kits should be broken out routinely, just like going to the medicine cabinet in your home. Also, drugs have limited shelf lives, so are not well suited to go into a survival kit.

Lifespan

Survival kits will last for years, but maybe not quite forever. The only two perishable items in a survival kit are bullion cubes and water purification tablets. Neither lasts forever, but if they're kept dry in a sealed container, both will last for years. In the case of the bullion cubes, all you'll likely lose if you exceed the "best if used by" date is that they won't dissolve as quickly or easily. For the water purification tablets, though, using them past their expiration date could mean they don't work. Replace them.