This is my fast-and-light, no-backpack first aid kit for minimalist adventures. It needs to deal with emergencies long enough to get me, a friend or Wiley a few hours back to the car and to a hospital. How would you improve it?
So the idea with this little first aid kit is to create something that can come along when I’m not carrying a backpack. It needs to fit in the breast pocket of a shirt or jacket, the cargo pocket on a pair of pants or a similar tiny space that can’t accommodate much weight. But, it also needs to be able to deal with real injuries. I hunt and ride mountain bikes and climb mountains and do all manner of stupid shit, often with little regard for my own well being.
In there, I have a tube of super glue (should be Krazy Glue, which works better, but this is what I had lying around. As you can see, it’s now used) to seal cuts; a self-adhesive Ace Bandage type thing to immobilise a sprain or break (can be supplemented with sticks to work as a splint); a safety pin to turn an item of clothing into a sling; Pepto Bismol because sometimes you get the poops and don’t want them to stop you; generic Neosporin for preventing infection; tincture of Iodine 2% for sterilizing drinking water; and three Bloodstop iX hemostat bandages for dealing with major wounds and stopping blood loss.
This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive first aid kit, allowing me to deal with all injuries myself, it’s just the bare necessities for when I’m headed out a few hours from the car, without the space to carry my big one.
Obvious upgrades to me would be four Benadryl tabs, which is one dose for Wiley should he be bit by a snake. I’ll probably also lose the triple antibiotic, as it doesn’t solve a pressing need. And, I may swap the Iodine for a few chlorine dioxide tabs in a dime bag to save space.
What would you change? I’d like the entire thing to fit in this tiny 4″x6″ Hyperlite Mountain Gear cuben stuff sack. And keep in mind that it’s augmented by my keychain toolkit and a good knife; things I always carry.