Backpacking First Aid Kits

[Nick]

What's in your backpacking first aid kit and how much does it weigh? Mine seems to swell over time with things added and I'm looking to pair it down to the essentials. I haven't done much with it for a while, but I just tossed it on the scale and it was 11 ounces.

My kit is the Adventure Medical .7 with some additions. According to their site, it weighs 8oz as it comes.

EDIT: Correction, it's the .5 kit in the .7 bag.

 

[scatman]

Some Ibuprofen, a needle and dental floss.

 

[Parma]

i use the .5 version like you have.
just a little smaller

 

[steve]

I'm a copycat. I 100% copied mike clelland's 1st aid kit to a tee (except that hydropel is gone now). I've also added neosporin and super glue now.

 

[Nick]

I like his idea with the leukotape. I love that stuff, but the roll is pretty heavy and it gets kinda messed up (maybe due to heat?).

 

[steve]

I just put a few a trips on the release paper. I don't carry a full roll

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

11 oz!! A full size Z lite sleeping pad is 14 oz. I have a pretty light compact "everything you need" bag that stays in my pack. I'll post pictures and weigh it when I'm back home tomorrow.

 

[Nick]

I like to be prepared!

Looking through my stuff, if I take out the unnecessary stuff sack and the 3.3 oz emergency mylar quilt/shelter I carry, I'm down to 6.7 oz including my repair items and lighter. I'm kind of a fan of that mylar quilt though, particularly for day hikes and canyoneering where you might get in a situation of being forced to spend the night. Extra stuff I keep in there includes doggie pain killers, water purifier tabs, more meds than ultralight guy and some actual bandaids and neosporin. Oh, and a tiny princeton tech squeeze light (.25 oz)which has come in handy when people forget a head lamp or accidentally left theirs on in their packs and killed the batteries. Now I'm really not sure how much of this I would actually want to get rid of...

 

[Nick]

Come to think of it, I actually have the .5 kit in the .7 bag (old kit), with stuff added in.

 

[Nick]

Okay, pulled out some junk, removed the 3.3 oz shelter/quilt (save it for canyoneering & long day hikes), added super glue. Now at 7.2 oz for both First Aid and Emergency Repair kit. UL guy is 4.3 oz so I feel fine with that.

 

[WasatchWill]

I too carry the .5 AMK with some little straw pouches of neosporin and hydrocortizone as well as some moleskin and blister patches added in. I have also carried one of these before. For longer trips, deep in the backcountry and deserts, I also have a little Altoids tin survival kit w/ mylar blanket that's ready to go in a pants pocket for backup in case something causes me to loose my pack (eg knocked off a cliff, lost in a river foward, etc), but I don't consider that part of my "First Aid' kit.

 

[Nick]

That would drive me crazy to have something like that in my pocket while I hike. I don't know why, but I have to have mine basically empty. Good thing for pockets on pack hip belts! Hopefully I never fall off a cliff and survive long enough to need a mylar blanket!

Straw pouches sound neat. Do you just fill it with neosporin and melt the ends shut? So they are just one time use? Ever had one break open or had any other issues with them? What's the weight savings like? I usually keep a partial tube of neosporin in my kit. My current tube weighs in at .35 oz.

 

[Parma]

We got a big first aid kit for our home and it came with some single/small use neosporin packets. They are good to have. And I always pack 2 aleve/naproxen per day and they help with the overall soreness that may happen.

 

[WasatchWill]

That would drive me crazy to have something like that in my pocket while I hike. I don't know why, but I have to have mine basically empty. Good thing for pockets on pack hip belts! Hopefully I never fall off a cliff and survive long enough to need a mylar blanket!

Straw pouches sound neat. Do you just fill it with neosporin and melt the ends shut? So they are just one time use? Ever had one break open or had any other issues with them? What's the weight savings like? I usually keep a partial tube of neosporin in my kit. My current tube weighs in at .35 oz.

Oh, I definitely prefer not to have something in my pockets bouncing around as well, but if a part of the route justifies it, I'll pay that price to have some extra peace of mind. By falling off a cliff, I meant the pack, not me. That is to say, if I were to ever take a break near a cliff, take the pack off, and for whatever reason, was careless enough to let it topple over or get bumped off. If I were to go with it, well...

You are right on the straw pouches. Just cut a straw up in sections, and use pliers and a lighter to make the seal. I use neon colored straws to color code between the neosporin and the hydrocortizone. The weight savings is probably minimal but it's still worth it in my mind. It also saves in space, especially when the little AMK baggie is pretty tightly packed as is and I prefer to keep it contained to that size.

 

[Opi]

Found these pill bags at walmart the other day. just what I was looking for.
My first aid kit weighs 3.4 oz photo below. Those 'band aid' blister strips work pretty good
I don't include emergency or repair stuff.

 

[HomerJ]

I'm a copycat. I 100% copied mike clelland's 1st aid kit to a tee (except that hydropel is gone now). I've also added neosporin and super glue now.

So what does he use the Tyvek Tape for? He never mention its use. I really like his idea for the leukotape. I bought some but never take it due to its weight.

@Nick I keep a myler sleeping bag in my daypack too. Weighs 4 oz. Hope I never have to use it.

My med kit weighs 5.9 oz. I have the usual stuff plus I added some mole skin and some Diphenhydramine. I keep my pain meds (ibuprofen, aspirin, etc.) in a old airborne container in a small pocket at the top of my daypack for easy use. I keep quite a bit in there so I don't have to restock each time I use some, or more likely forget and don't remember until I need it.

 

[Nick]

I added some mole skin

Just my .02, mole skin is worthless compared to some leukotape. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. A lot more uses for it too. It's like 10x stickier than duct tape but made of soft fabric like material instead of plastic. It's great stuff.

So what does he use the Tyvek Tape for? He never mention its use.

I too am very curious about this.

 

[Nick]

Found these pill bags at walmart the other day. just what I was looking for.
My first aid kit weighs 3.4 oz photo below. Those 'band aid' blister strips work pretty good
I don't include emergency or repair stuff.

Nice. I've been wanting some little baggies like that but haven't seen them in any stores. Granted, I haven't looked that hard, but still.

One thing I've been frustrated by in the past was combining my pills into one bag. It all makes sense when I do it, but then the next season I forget which ones are which or some disintegrate more than others and leave them all dusted and less identifiable. Because of that, I bag them individually and label the bags. A little more weight but I've found it easier as the seasons go by.

 

[HomerJ]

Just my .02, mole skin is worthless compared to some leukotape. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. A lot more uses for it too. It's like 10x stickier than duct tape but made of soft fabric like material instead of plastic. It's great stuff.

That's good to hear! I have been having to wrap duct tape over the moleskin to keep it in place.

 

[Nick]

That's good to hear! I have been having to wrap duct tape over the moleskin to keep it in place.

And it still doesn't hold on after hiking 5 or 10 miles! At least not for me on my heal. This was the last trip I ever packed duct tape. I had to tap everyone else's duct tape supply because anything less than this and it would slide off after enough hiking. Hell, I think even this slid off. A small piece Leukotape would have stuck for the entire trip.