P
reparation and planning arm you with the tools you need
to make it through a crisis alive and well, not to mention that they
strengthen your psychological state. And among pretrip tasks, none
is as crucial as putting together your personal survival kit.
Most people take the time before heading into the backcountry to
obtain the necessary basic equipment such as proper clothing, a tent, and
a stove. But you may not realize that your basic survival kit could be the
single most important thing you carry with you on any expedition. At vari
ous times, I’ve ventured into the world’s most remote areas with differ
ent sorts of survival gear: fully stocked survival kits, basic “whatever I can
carry” survival kits, and sometimes even no kit at all. Survival items have
dangled from my belt or hung around my neck. Sometimes they’ve been
in fanny packs I barely noticed and other times in fanny packs so heavy I
would have preferred not to carry them at all (but did anyway).
How you set up your kit is limited only by your imagination. Why
not fill the hollow end of your fishing rod with a lighter and some kind of
ignitable tinder such as cotton balls? Or if you’re a mountain biker, pop off
your handlebar grips and fill your handlebars with a few items, such as fire
starter, some cord or rope, or a multitool. Once I even had a kit that was
drilled into the stock of a rifle.
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