Bottom Line, Up Front
- Your survival kit is only as good as your knowledge, skills, abilities, and mindset. The kit provides you with the tools; you need to know how to use them.
- What you need depends heavily on where you’ll be, what you’ll be doing, how far away from civilization you’ll be, and how much you can/should carry.
- The “Ten Essentials” provides an excellent structure to think through what you need.
- Almost all prepackaged “survival kits” are a combination of overpriced, too big, too much, and utter garbage. Your absolute best bet is to put together your own kit. Sorry.
What You Need
The Ten Essentials are a formulation of the key things you need for survival in wilderness, originally formulated by The Mountaineers and later expanded on or adapted by many other groups. They provide a basic structure to formulate your survival kit within:
Navigation
At a minimum, you need a map of some kind and a compass of some kind to navigate. A GPS is a helpful addition. Phones and phone apps can be incredibly powerful but must not be relied on exclusively.
I recommend having topographic maps for areas you’re planning on hiking/backpacking/being outdoors in, and street maps or a road atlas for areas you’re driving in. Paper maps don’t ever lose their charge or fail to have cell coverage. In a pinch, however, even a rudimentary map will still be helpful.
While any compass will work, a basic baseplate compass is compact and enables effective navigation using a map. If doing more serious navigation, a better compass with a sighting mirror is nice edge up. So are pace beads, but you need to know your pace and how to use them.
A GPS is supremely helpful, and doesn’t have to be super expensive or bulky. I personally have used my Garmin Foretrex 401 for years—it’s not fancy, takes AA batteries, and handles the essential aspects of navigation easily—adding waypoints, setting a course for a waypoint, tracking routes, displaying time, distance, elapsed time, elevation, and barometer pressure1, and can display current location using grid coordinates which helps in navigation when using a topo map (with grid coordinate lines) and a grid reader.
For a lot of navigation needs, my phone with the Gaia GPS app is exceptional. You can download offline maps in a wide variety of formats, including topographical maps at different scales and marine charts. It works excellently offline. It tracks trips and routes seamlessly, lets you mark waypoints, and even has a great CarPlay app view. A phone is a great survival tool, but is susceptible to battery drain, so not a bad idea to also have a battery backup pack to recharge your phone as needed.
Lighting
“Two is one and one is none”—in general, you should have at least a headlamp and a flashlight. These can be as expensive or cheap as you want, but you probably should go with LED lights, have spare batteries for them, and make sure they are water-resistant. Many lights are now USB-rechargeable, which is convenient, but I’m wary of those as you lose some flexibility that comes from using replaceable batteries. I’m partial to my Petzl headlamp which has a USB-rechargeable battery pack but can also take AAAs.
Communication/Signaling
If you’re lost in the wilderness, it really is helpful to be able to call for help. A whistle and signal mirror are solid starting points. Beyond that, having a good ham radio (and ham radio license) might be useful (depending on area), and a personal locator beacon (PLB) or satellite communicator is exceptionally useful. Newer iPhones have a built-in satellite communication system that renders PLB devices redundant for most people (assuming you have a way to keep your phone charged).
Sun Protection
Hat, sunglasses (with UV protection), high-SPF sunscreen, and SPF lip balm.
First Aid/Medical
A decent first aid kit (see my page on that), insect repellent, and an ID/medical card. If you have prescription medication that is essential to your daily functioning, you need to have some of that as well. Certain medications—such as blood thinners, high-blood pressure medication, some diabetic medications, and most antidepressants—should not be skipped. If in doubt, ask your physician and/or pharmacist for guidance on what medications you absolutely should be sure to take every day and which ones are safe to skip for a day or two.
Knife/Tools
A good knife is invaluable in wilderness survival settings. I’m partial to the Mora knife—it’s fixed blade with a full tang and well made. You don’t need a machete or a Ka-Bar. Other tools can also be really helpful, depending on your activity:
- a trowel for digging holes to dispose of waste, or digging period;
- A hatchet is incredibly useful for working with wood faster than just using a knife;
- A saw (even a compact wire saw) is so much better at cutting through wood than a hatchet or knife;
- My personal favorite hatchet includes a small saw in the handle. Can’t beat it for camping/bushcraft.
- I almost always have my multitool in my bag with me. Having a serrated knife is great for cutting rope/cordage; small scissors are useful for a multitude of tasks; being able to turn screws is great; and most importantly—pliers are an exceptionally useful tool to have.
- If you anticipate potentially being gone longer than a few days, having a way to sharpen your knife is critical.
Fire Starting
“Two is one and one is none” applies here as well. You should have a lighter and/or waterproof matches, along with tinder; and you should also have a backup ferro/sparking rod.
Shelter
What shelter you need depends on where you’re going, but at a minimum, think about having a way to stay warm and to stay dry. A poncho, rain jacket, or rain tarp are important. Hypothermia is a high-risk condition that can happen even in the summer time, and you need a thermal blanket or bivy to protect you.
I add paracord/cordage under this heading because while it is useful for a wide range of tasks, it is especially helpful for setting up emergency shelter.
My most basic shelter setup is a heavy-duty trash bag which doubles as a poncho and the SOL Emergency Bivy which provides excellent protection against hypothermia while being lightweight and compact.
Extra Food
How much depends on where you’re going to be and how long you might stay there. Having a couple of high-calorie protein bars is a great option, but for longer trips, its not a bad idea to carry an MRE or similar to have more calories.
Another great option here is to be comfortable fasting for extended periods (> 24 hours) while still being fully functional. To get here requires practice—both for the psychological aspect, but also, importantly, for upregulating the metabolic pathways your body requires to effectively get fuel from body fat while fasting.
If you anticipate being in the wilderness for a longer period of time, a fishing kit, trapping/snare wire, and foraging know-how are your best bet at efficiently feeding yourself. Always follow local laws and rules. Trapping/snaring is almost always illegal, and fishing requires a fishing license. In a true survival situation, you’ll do what you need to do to survive, and hopefully the circumstances are such that you’ll avoid any legal repercussions.
Water
You should have extra water, but you also need to have a way to obtain, filter, and purify water. There’s a lot of options here. When space is limited, I carry a compact kit that has plastic water bags and water purification tablets. When backpacking/hiking I usually carry a steripen along with a prefilter device. This pen uses UV light to disinfect water and make it drinkable (assuming its not contaminated with chemicals or too dirty to effectively hit with the light).
You should also consider electrolytes here, and have electrolyte powders or tablets. I think the LMNT electrolyte powders are by far the best, although a different electrolyte blend (higher in potassium) is helpful when fasting. My compact water kit also includes quart-sized doses of fasting electrolytes.
Extra Clothing
Depends on the environment, but you’ll usually want some extras to help keep you warm and dry. Spare socks are mission-critical if you’re walking/hiking.
For cooler environments, a hat and gloves are nice to have.
Wool is your friend—it insulates well even when wet, and doesn’t develop a smell. Wool socks keep your feet happy which in turn helps keep you happy.
Assembling a Kit
Consider the environment you’ll be in, estimate how long you might be in that environment, and use the categories above to figure out what you should have with you. Aim to find the balance between being prepared and not having too much weight and bulk.
Then figure out how to carry it. This depends on the activity, but in general, you want your survival gear to be reasonably well-protected, organized, and accessible. Here are a few solutions that worked well for me:
- A small waterproof hard case—like a Pelican case—provides a high degree of protection at the cost of bulk and weight.
- I’ve had a lot of success using a packing cube with waterproof cases/bags inside.
- A small waterproof sil-nylon bag also works great but at the cost of organization.
- You’ll find a lot of organizers—Maxpedition and Vanguard are popular brands—but I find that they add bulk and may not work for your personal needs.
You can purchase supplies and gear from a variety of places, and my recommendation is to start out small, read reviews, watch YouTube videos, and figure out what you want. Don’t spend money on items you don’t know how to use; you’ll inevitably waste money on doodads and gizmos that aren’t useful, are cheaply made, or don’t work for you.
Deep Dive
Philosophy of Survival Gear
Staying Alive: The gear, plus your know-how, equip you to survive the core threats to your ability to function. So what are those core threats?
- Hypothermia is a key risk when in the wilderness. Even in the summer time. You need to be able to stay warm and dry, which is where extra clothing, shelter, and fire-starting come in.
- Dehydration is another key risk. Not having water sets you up for a heat emergency and severely limits your ability to continue functioning before it eventually kills you.
- You need food for optimal functioning, although if you’re used to fasting, you might be fine for a limited period without any food.
- Sun protection is paramount; we tend to underestimate the danger of sunburn.
- You need to be able to address minor wounds with first aid before they turn into major ones.
Two is One and One is None: You must have redundancy built-in. This extends to having spare batteries for your battery-powered items.
Training
First, as above, the kit is only as good as your training. Get some training—and importantly—don’t rely solely on book knowledge or YouTube videos. Nothing replaces actual hands-on experience. Here’s a brief list of the basic life survival skills everyone ought to be comfortable with, in my opinion:
- Navigation using a street map and compass directions (N, S, E, W).
- Procuring and purifying clean drinking water.
- Starting a fire using a lighter or ferro spark rod and tinder.
If you spend time outdoors, you should also be able to:
- Read a topographic map, identify landmarks, identify bounding lines2, and navigate using a compass on a specific heading (i.e., 315º).
- Start a fire in the wilderness.
- Find or make a hasty/temporary shelter.
- Use a signal mirror to seek help.
- Procure and purify water in the wilderness.
So how do you learn these skills?
Taking a hands-on class is the best option—look for a course with good reviews and if possible talk to others who have already taken the class. There’s a lot of charlatans in this space and finding a well-qualified instructor who is good at teaching makes a big difference. NOLS is a great option here. So is REI—stores will often have classes and events, and REI has a reputation for vetting their classes and instructors.
If classes aren’t an option, YouTube is actually a rich source of education, especially if paired with hands-on self-directed practice.
Adding in one or two good survival books is a great way to make sure you’ve covered all of your bases. I personally recommend Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life, by Neil Strauss, and SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere by John “Lofty” Wiseman.
What about Guns/Firearms?
Haivng a gun can be a tremendous survival tool. However, they come with their own limitations, risks, caveats, and frankly, fall entirely outside the scope of this article. In my experiences actually having to survive and actually being lost in the Rocky Mountains, a gun never made a difference or was necessary. That said, if you’re going into the wilds of Alaska, maybe a gun would be a good idea.
What about the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI), SHTF, etc.?
If you want to assemble a bug-out bag or prepare for the end of the world, I’ll respect that. That’s an entirely different level of preparedness, and frankly, a bulky bug-out bag is not necessary for almost any real-world scenario you’re likely to encounter.
- Monitoring barometer pressure is invaluable for watching for severe weather, especially when in the mountains. ↩︎
- I’m not sure if this is the correct terminology. I’ve also heard them referred to as “fences”. The idea is to identify natural landmark “lines” on as many sides of your area as you can. This could be a highway, a river, or a prominent ridgeline. Navigating using a compass to a specific point is challenging, but navigating in a general direction and knowing you can hit somewhere along that line is much easier. If lost, you just need to head towards one of those lines and then follow that to a known point. ↩︎