what is a perfect hip-pack

[protocoldroid]

This thread, and especially WildernessPhoto's mention of his axe being most important, reminds me of one of my favorite books as a kid.... Hatchet by Gary Paulson.

[sacco]

moving this thread to the gear/survival area

[ashtonscavette]

won a few wildernessphoto.......

[Wildernessphoto]

I don't know about small...

come on ..what is the smallest item that you think is ideal to stay alive for three days ?

Hi Ashton,
I think for me, I would say my ax is the most important thing. With my ax I can build a shelter with a thatched roof, build a pine bow bed, cut firewood, make other tools like a bowdrill for fire, a spear to fishing, a fish trap by driving stakes into the lake bottom like a coral, spring traps for hunting small game. There's a lot you can do with that one tool.
This is my daypack list for 3 seasons. I add some down items in compression sacks in the winter.
-Gary-

[ashtonscavette]

rik thats good ..well the hole idea behind this thread i was reading that LOST thread and about the mind making problems for you .me i take alot of walks in the woods on a daily basis and alot of risks about doing it so i was thinking i always carry a hip pack now with the basics..just trying to put togeather a setup that left me with the cofindence that if somthing happen i'm not going to be standing there wishing if only i had done this or that rather just know i can deal with it ...

[Rick]

To get back to the original question,
I once forgot my cup and ended up making one out of a spare bit of tin foil and it worked very well, (though a paper cup would work just as well to boil water over a fire.)

I usually carry a small compass (I used to carry big flip-open Silva Ranger, but now that I have a GPS, I carry a much smaller Suunto compass) and always, always a map of the area.

Things I also carry -
- Handful of hard butterscotch candy and several cough drops,
- 15' of the black braided fishing line (used on my bait casting reels) and a
hook with 2 splitshot.
- several "Penguins" - caffeinated candies (caffeine will lift my spirits)
- stub of candle,
- Spare matches and spare lighter
- Cotton Balls soaked in Vaseline stored in a film canister
- Swiss army knife with magnifying glass, small saw and scissors
- small blue pocket survival book (You can't always remember everything)
- Small pinch LED flashlight with strobe functions (about the size of a quarter)
- Small bottle of tincture of iodine (a pharmacist will sell you a dark brown glass
eyedropper bottle for $.50 of you ask for one at the counter. (I read once
that the efficacy of Iodine is prone to deterioration from light)
- Tin foil - several squares as mentioned
- Glue Stick (from a glue gun - Will repair most anything)
- Immodium AD tablets
- spare bandanna
- spare shoelace
- several spare band-aids and several single use packets of first-aid cream
- small earbud radio
- pen and small notepad
- one large unopened lawn & leaf bag (try to get a bright orange one when they
are sold around Halloween) I Keep it unopened or it will never fit in my pack
- 2 spare ziplock freezer-style quart bags (with several coffee filters in one) and a
$20 bill in the other.
- Several Vicodan's, ibuprofens, tylenols and a small hotel sewing kit.
- Several coffee filters inside one of the Ziplock Freezer bags.

I can store all of this in an OR Zippered nylon storage pouch that is about 9" by 5" and about 2-3" deep. It weighs just about 1.5 lbs and usually goes either into the top pocket of my backpack or in the main storage pocket of my hip-pack or bottom of my daypack.

I always carry a wind or rain jacket with my hip pack (my Marmot Dryclime is very compact) and I have 2 side pockets on it for waterbottles.

This is usually the minimum I take out and while some think it might even be overkill for a something as simple as 5-mile hike on an established trail, I was glad I had it with me one time on the AT in PA when I decided to try a shortcut on an old tote road instead of backtracking 6 miles on the trail 2 summers ago.

Though I ultimately didn't need the kit, the tote road faded into a herdpath and was soon lost. Darkness was closing in on me within an hour and a half. I got a bit nervous then realized I might make foolsih mistakes - it was after all, summer and I was prepared.

The worst that could happen was that I spend a night in the woods with no threat of rain. When I decided to make a camp and started to look for a nice flat area to spend the night, I found a very old faint AT blaze from there I set a compass bearing and found another and realized I was on an abandoned section of the AT which brought me back to the main trail.

(BTW, I also later discovered that when rerouting trails, many times trail crews will only black out the first few blazes at the junctions of the re-routes and leave the rest of the old blazes intact.)

[protocoldroid]

i forgot the most imporant one: tequila, if you can finish the bottle, you can get the worm out to use for bait.

(this thread is going on a huge tangent, and I can't help but add to it.... must, resist.... temptation.... shoot, that's the only thing I can't resist -- temptation)

[Neil]

Smart a$$ answer: a handgun, either to shoot game or to hold up other hikers for their trail mix.

Poor A$hton, you're taking a beating here. All in fun of cour$e!!

[redhawk]

No, the smart ass answer is cell phone. Then, just call Dominos and order a pizza.

Wouldn't work anyway. here in the Southern Dacks we not only don't have cellular/wireless service (we don't even have 911), we don't have Dominos. or Pizza Hut,

[Rivet]

No, the smart ass answer is cell phone. Then, just call Dominos and order a pizza.

[Neil]

Dunno what this thread is all about but here's 2 cents...

The stuff mentioned above is standard stuff that goes on every day hike anyway. (Not sure about the brain) I carried all that plus a fleece and a rain coat minus the filter in a 10 liter (600 cu in) trail running pack plus a 2 qt. platy to Nippletop (and back on the same day ) The sharp knife was only a swiss army knife and probably isn't all that sharp anymore.

[Rik]

Now for the smart a$$ answer: I would fill my pack with those self cooking hot dogs. ie techno-weenies.

[redhawk]

smart A$$ answers...it could happen to you ...all i know is if or when it happens ...it would be more have a first aid kit we all have them and but this one for your life......like tin foil i mean how many use things could i do with that the list would go on ..a trash bag or two a tiny bottle of lighter fluid.. ...we'll have to leave your state of mind if your lost out of it ..i think thats diffrent i figure knowing you have these things would change your state of mind .

I don't think there are any "smart-a$$" answers there. look at the question....

come on ..what is the smallest item that you think is ideal to stay alive for three days ?

All the answers apply. The question is vague. You are not asking about Navigating out, but staying alive for three days.

The Map and Compass will keep you alive because they insure you can find your way out, unless injured.....

The knife can be used for many things, shaving a stick to start a fire to keep warm, or a signal fire. It can cut a vine to make rope for a rabbit snare and then gut and skin the rabbit. It can cut kindling and tinder. The blade can reflect the sun to signal, the handle can be used a makeshift hammer to pound stalks into tender edible nourishment, or to crack nuts. It can be used to dig roots, for nutrition or for medicinal purposes. You can cut the fungus off the birch tree and open it up for firestarter. You can tie twine around the hilt and use the knife as a weight for throwing a rope/string/vine over a tree limb.

You can use matches to light a fire for warmth or for a signal or to cook a rabbit or squirrel you snared.

And you need a sharp mind to figure the ways to utilize what you have in the most efficient way.

So there were no "smart a$$' answers.

[protocoldroid]

In all practicality.... When I'm just carrying a hip pack (i have a camel back one, it holds more water than it holds "stuff"), the stuff in it is: Water, Headlamp, tiny first aid kid (including compass/whistle/thermometer -- a $2, .5 ounce doohickey), extra batteries.

My thinking is, play it safe and take the things that will help you get out OK, before there's an emergency. I'm big into planning my trips (i just may spend more time planning than I do out and about -- a curse of day dreaming, mostly ), so on 9/10 day trips, I probably have half memorized the lay of the land before stepping foot.

If you're got water, and are hydrated the whole time -- you won't become weak from that. If it gets too late and you've got a headlamp, you can make it out without breaking your leg in the hurrying in the dark. I also carry a GPSr and a multitool with me pretty much whenever out of the house... in the backcountry or the front.

Didn't mean to be wise either! Although, I can be somewhat of a "wise acre".... maybe more times than not

[sacco]

what rik said.