Answer for: Backpacking Essentials
#3 First Aid kit
Lightweigh & designed for backpacking
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Comments
don't forget to put all your unused pain pills in here, in case of bad accidents deep in the woods
Nice one! What a handy tip!
to tell you the truth, I've been radically slimming down the first aid kit each time I go out.
Now i've got it down to:
a few bandaids of each size
antibiotic ointment, and some disinfectant swabs
pain pills (i like alleve/naproxin)
sutures (my father is a doctor, so I hav an"expired" pack)
ace wrap
tweezers
tampons, no applicator (not just for your period, they're *really* absorbant for blood and good for clotting/stopping further blood loss.)
it's about third/quarter the size of the kit pictured.
and duct tape works better than moleskin for blisters IMHO. I always keep several turns of duct tape wrapped around my nalgene.
I like to reduce every ounce on a backpacking trip. But if backpacking in the backcountry where help may be many hours (or days) away, I feel better with first aid capability to handle deep cuts or wounds. Elastic wraps, gauze roll and gauze pads, large cravat bandage, adhesive tape, something that can be used as a tourniquet (for extreme arterial bleeding), etc. Fairly lightweight stuff, but maybe life saving.
I agree on the duct tape. A million and one uses.
@MDA, and yet you carry a pump water filter?
@skrrrriti -- OK, you got me on that one. But like I said, I don't like iodine or chlorine. I'll carry a filter (11 oz) and a book (10 oz), and Jolly Ranchers (8 oz) just for frivolous purposes.
new tech, anybody tried these?
http://www.rei.com/product/709012 or
http://www.rei.com/product/761906
Re: high tech purifiers -- I had noticed the MIOX before, but it looks like a portable salt chorinator. Having had one of these on a swimming pool, I wouldn't buy it. Too many variables to cause problems (temperature, PH, contamination). And, it generates chlorine from the salt.
The UV Steripen looks very interesting, though. I hadn't noticed that one, and now I think I'll have to try it out. Kills everything down to virus size, as well.
I use the God Cleaner - 3 months later, I'm now rust free!
http://www.kilian-na...eet-not-gods/
(doesn't do much for your drinking water, though.. Unless you thrive on the delicious juices of pseudo-science)
@MD good point... but a lot of that stuff can be improvised from clothing, duct-tape, tent poles, etc. (tourniquets, wrap, splints etc.) There's got to be a preparedness/weight tradeoff at some point though; i mean we can't all carry defibrillators into the backcountry... It's sort of a matter of personal preference.
There is no doubt that safer is probably better, however.
@skritti:
The MIOX thing is essentially no different from iodine/chlorine tablets, they just use an electrochemical reaction to produce it on the fly instead of premade tablets. The chemicals do "break down" after 30 minutes or so, which is a little different from iodine tablets. It's more similar to something like like those super-duper "level 4" purification tablets that pur (i think?) makes.
I'm personally a little skeptical about the UV thing. it doesn't seem like it would be intense enough...
IMHO you might as well just get the tablets; they're lighter and don't use batteries; you'll still have floaters either way...