[pct-l] 10 essentials

[Eric]

I would always take some form of the 10 essentials.  They were developed by
the mountaineers in Seattle for a reason - to keep you alive in a worst-case
scenario.

As always, you must HYOH!

Regards,
Eric
www.primalpct.com

On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 9:09 AM, Devon Taig <devon.taig at gmail.com> wrote:

> The ten so-called essentials list is below along with some comments. Of the
> ten essentials, I bring only map,and compass all the time.  There are five
> others (sunglasses,extra food,rain-gear,flashlight,first-aid kit) that are
> often but not alway in my backpack. Three I don't bring at all
> (knife,matches (I use lighter instead),firestarter (I carry a stove)).
>
> 1) *Map *- Yep. This is a must have
> 2) *Compass *- Yes for me, but I'm surprised how many hikers I see who
> don't
> carry one or don't know how to use it properly (it does more than just
> point
> north you know).  If you can't take a bearing with your compass, it's
> probably not worth a whole heckuva lot.
> 3) *Sunglasses & sunscreen* - Hardly essential.  I suppose if you're hiking
> naked on a glacier in July.  I rarely take sunscreen as I'm naturally
> pretty
> tan and never burn.  Sunglasses on snow only.
> 4) *Extra food* - Food yes, Extra? Not so much.  I'm fat enough that I can
> go a couple of days if really needed with no food.  On a 10 day backpack
> trip, I bring 10 days worth of food.  But really, that does qualify as
> *extra
> *food.  Even in the Sierra, you really are never more than a a few days
> hike
> from a trailhead.
> 5) *Raingear/extra clothes* - Extra clothes, yes. Raingear? Maybe.  Depends
> on where you are.  It's definitely not an essential everywhere particularly
> if you have a tent,tarp,and sleeping bag (which strangely aren't on the
> list).
> 6) *Headlamp/flashlight* - Been many times when I didn't have one.  If you
> have a tent and plan to use it and not hike at night, then you really don't
> have to have one.  More of a comfort than an essential.
> 7) *First Aid kit* - I once hike with an emergency room doctor who's first
> aid kit was so minimal that it could hardly be called a kit.  His
> contention
> was that his first-aid kit was between his ears. A couple bandages, yeah,
> some neosporine, some pain killer.  I've heard mostly bad things about
> snake-bite kits.  So, I guess this isn't really a necessity for me. If I'm
> so badly injured (e.g mauled by a bear) that I can't hike out, it's
> doubtful
> that anything in even the best first aid kit is really going to
> help...short
> of that, I can hike out and get help.
> 8) *Fire starter* - Never used it.  I bring three lighters (one in my
> pocket
> (stays dry), one with my stove (stays dry), one with the TP (hopefully
> stays
> dry).  That's enough redundancy for me. But I guess this is more about
> something flammable to burn, right? I dunno...I guess I trust myself in an
> emergency situation to either stay in a reasonably dry tent/bag and/or find
> enough dry sticks to start a fire.
> 9) *Matches *- I've never brought matches.  See above.
> 10) *Knife *- Of no value that I can think of.
>
> *Notable in there absence*: Water/bottles,shelter,sleeping bag,whistle, a
> dose of common-sense (e.g. do not free climb up the face of that 30'
> boulder
> when it's a two day hike out to a hospital).
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