Alright…now we move on to the first aid, repair/emergency and hygiene kits…OMG!
First aid
First aid kit
This was the most difficult item in my backpack to put together. I wanted it to be ultralight, functional and sufficient. I had a hard time finding good data on first aid kits during my research. Here are some guidelines I decided on.
- The first aid kit will contain personal items for you.
- You don’t need everything, just the essentials.
- Label your first aid items, not for yourself, but for someone else who may need to access your first aid kit for you or someone else.
Personal items
My first aid kit contains several personal items. I take two different daily vitamins and blood pressure medications. Since I’m very allergic to poison ivy, I carry a pack of steroids (also in case I want to get more benefit while I’m on the trail, haha!). I carry some antibiotics, so I don’t have to go to a clinic if I get sick.
Essentials
I carry the essentials for wound management and symptom treatment. This includes:
- Assortment of bandages
- Leukotape for blisters
- Ibuprofen
- Benadril
- Antidiarrheal
- Super glue – to close wounds (and repair – multi-purpose!)
- Children’s aspirin for heart attack (I’m getting old)
- Anti-itch cream
- antiseptic cream
- alcohol wipes
Labeled
Label your first aid items. It’s easy to do. If you are incapacitated, another person can easily identify the items in your first aid kit.
Repair/Emergency
Repair/emergency kit
These are the guidelines I used when putting this kit together.
- Items needed to perform field repairs and get me to the next city.
- Basic emergency materials.
Field repair
This includes items such as Dyneema patches, sleeping mat patches, basic duct tape, rubber bands, super glue, alcohol wipes, needle and thread, and a patch to keep bugs out of the tent.
Emergency
I carry the basic materials to be able to start a fire easily. And earplugs… because loud snoring at night is an emergency!
Hygiene
hygiene kit
For obvious reasons, my hygiene kit is separated into two bags. One is my poop kit, which has a paddle, bidet, and soap. For a palette, I use BoglerCo. It is super light, long and strong. you can get it here.
I had been reading about mountain bidets for a while and thought they were crazy. I don’t even use one at home. However, on a whim, I bought one because they are cheap and tried it out at home before taking it to the track. I highly recommend testing at home. It took a little practice for me. But after a few tries and a few failures, once I figured it out, it’s MUCH better than toilet paper. And better for the environment too! The one I have is from Igneo. you can get it here.
I use Dr. Bonner’s soap. I keep it in an eye drop bottle that I reused. It’s environmentally friendly, but you should still use it at least 200 feet from any water source. you can get it here.
As a toothbrush, I use a children’s bamboo toothbrush. It is light and compact. Also, I tried taking a regular toothbrush and cutting off the handle, that’s for the birds. In my opinion, the children’s brush is much better. you can get them here. There are many options.
Kit Summary
I think that’s it for the kits. Hopefully you can take away a nugget or two from this post to try in your kits. That’s exactly what I did with the posts I read. I’ve taken 1 or 2 things from several different posts and articles. That in combination with some of my own ideas!
A faster thing. I have a small dry bag to store my first aid and emergency/repair kits. I don’t want any chance of them getting wet.
If you’ve made it this far… Thank you very much for reading!
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