Ten Essentials for Hiking Kit - Why is this so hard to find?

Factual Questions
1

A hundred years ago (ok, 40) I bought a Ten Essentials Kit to throw in my day pack. It was about twice the size of a tennis ball tube.

Now, when I search ten essentials–I get kits the SIZE of a day pack.

Anyone have a link to an old school kit?
A16 in West La used to have a great one.

I DON’T want GPS, an altimeter watch, a t-bone steak dinner for 12, a condo, a ultra foam mattress, and a complete wardrobe change for a dinner party with Kim and Khloe!

FFS–what has happened?

2

What are the 10 essentials? Is it possible that the list has changed over time to include bulkier items?

3

This page has the same list I remember from my Scouting days:
1: A pocketknife
2: Means to start a fire
3: Water
4: Food
5: Sun protection
6: Rain protection
7: A change of clothes
8: Flashlight
9: Map and compass
10: First-aid kit

Also recommended, but not officially on the list, was some means of signalling for help in an emergency, which is a lot easier now in the era of cell phones. For that matter, a cell phone can also be your flashlight and map/compass.

4

The 10 essentials has indeed changed over time and vary depending on the type of trip your are on, but the pre-made kits are for the most part completely useless.

Consider the essentials to be broad headings, and how you implement them is up to you. This is a common list:

  1. Navigation: map, compass, altimeter, GPS device, personal locator beacon (PLB) or satellite messenger
  • Do you need a map and compass or is your phone navigation good enough? None of this (except a compass) will be in any pre-made kit, but you’ll want to pick a compass you’re comfortable with and practice with. Your map will be individual to the trip you take.
  1. Headlamp: plus extra batteries
  • A light source is critical, and extra batteries essential. I usually carry two light sources at all times, and they’re not going to come in a pre-made kit either. You also have to check the batteries often and replace.
  1. Sun protection: sunglasses, sun-protective clothes and sunscreen
  • Aside from sunscreen, what’s going to be in a pre-made kit?
  1. First aid including foot care and insect repellent (as needed)
  • Make your own F/A kit based on your needs, and what you can supply. Take a Wilderness F/A course and keep everything in the kit up-to-date and restocked.
  1. Knife plus a gear repair kit
  • This is honestly the thing I use least. I use the scissors more than anything else.
  1. Fire matches, lighter, tinder and/or stove
  • Cheap disposable lighters are my choice here. Pick up a few and throw them in the kit. A stove for longer trips or where there is a greater danger of overnighting.
  1. Shelter carried at all times (can be a light emergency bivy)
  • This is the big ticket item. Those disposable emergency bivies or space blankets are all but useless in a real emergency. I have a small bivy that I bought but fortunately have never needed. On most day trips I won’t take it, but I will on longer trips in colder weather. The ones that come in the pre-made kits are useless.
  1. Extra food Beyond the minimum expectation
  • Again, nothing in a pre-made kit
  1. Extra water Beyond the minimum expectation
  • Again, nothing in a pre-made kit
  1. Extra clothes Beyond the minimum expectation
  • You see the pattern
5

It can be, but it’s pretty awful for that. LED headlamps weigh next to nothing and keeping your phone charged is much more important. They work better as a navigation device, but have pretty severe limitations in the mountains.

6

Something like this?

Expensive, but it seems pretty comprehensive.

7

I know what time it is.
I don’t care about the history of watches and clocks.
I don’t care about what you granma used when she crossed the great plains.

This is what I want.

@mods: close the thread.

8

Power bank.

9

Honestly, I’m surprised that the Boy Scout list hasn’t changed. Back in the day, it’d have been wholly impractical to expect everyone to carry a two-way radio, for instance, but nowadays that’s so easy that it’d be completely irresponsible not to bring a phone (and probably a way to recharge it). And while it’s good to know how to use a paper map and compass, a GPS is a lot more useful if you have one (which you do).

10

This has most of the items and I have one in my remote go bag when I was working in the bush as part of my emergency kit:

11

If you’re hiking somewhere where there’s cell service, you probably don’t need an emergency kit. Just yell and someone will hear you.

12

You can be pretty far up the side of a remote mountain and still get cell service, far from where yelling will do any good.

13

Cell service doesn’t guarantee rescue. People have succumbed to exposure while in contact with EMS.

14

Yup, and that’s why a good emergency kit contains a lot more than just a signalling device.

15

And while it’s good to know how to use a paper map and compass, a GPS is a lot more useful if you have one (which you do).

I would love a GPS, but if I ever get one, I would also take a map and compass when going out in the wilds. Maybe not the whole map; just a printout of a digital map for just the area in question. So why be old-fashioned? Because the old things don’t need batteries and cannot fail electrically.

I would not bother with a ready-made First Aid kit, I just take the things that I think I am likely to need. Usually, a few plasters, some gauze if it gets messy, and something for blisters, plus an antiseptic cream. And these days a tick removal tool would be a really good idea.

16

Many places one would go hiking (especially if you’re remote enough to need a ten essentials kit) are not going to have cell service.

17

So if you are regularly hiking in potentially life-threatening remote situations, it would probably be worth investing in something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Satellite-Communicator-Technology-Messenger-HogoR/dp/B08F3YJFXG

Or if you have a higher budget:

https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Explorer-Satellite-Communicator-Navigation/dp/B01MY03CZP

18

Oh, and the kit the OP linked on Amazon is pretty worthless-- It doesn’t even have ten items, period, and certainly not anything that could be called “Ten Essentials”. It looks like it’s just a cheap plastic whistle, a toy compass, some matches, a few square inches of duct tape, and a space blanket-- The blanket’s the only piece that’s worth more than ten cents, and it gives no indication at all of how good it actually is, meaning it’s probably just a single-layer sheet of mylar. And it’s all packaged in shrink-wrapped plastic that you’d need a pocketknife (not included) to open (and after it’s opened, you “re-seal” it by folding over the top).

19

I didn’t see it here so forgive me if I missed it.
A powerbank to keep your cell charged for an extended time as necessary. I have one anyways so why not throw it in my pack when hiking?

20

I am always amazed that kits like these have “fishing kits” included in them. Fishing, takes time and patience, and I wildly doubt would be successful by a novice under duress. I have to wonder if they’re included as a psychological factor to give the stranded something to do, to placate them.

Signalling devices, I predict, are also of mixed results. Mirrors would require someone to be paying attention, where whistles can rely on passive hearing to get someone’s attention.

I’m of @Telemark’s opinion/link. 'Tis better to make one’s own, and be familiar with/trained on use of the contents, rather than staking one’s life on commercial-off-the-shelf packs.

Tripler
I recommend bear spray too. YMMV.