Backcountry travel essentials (What to carry in your backpack to survive)
George Pastorino | Published on 1/20/2020
I am not an expert and this is not an exhaustive guide. These are just some things I learned along the way that can be helpful when things don't go as planned. When planning an excursion into the wilderness always remember "When you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans" I always feel it is better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. This Guide is primarily for Day Trippers as that is who is most vulnerable as they are not expecting to be out in the wilderness overnight so often go out without the proper gear to do so should injury, being lost or storm necessitate it.
Pussanee I are very careful and prepared when we go into a true wilderness area. Our backpacks are huge, but we realize that we alone are responsible for our lives and we want to give ourselves a chance to survive if there is an accident, navigation failure or a storm. Still, you must accept the fact that no matter how prepared you are, sometimes Mother Nature is just too strong and you can't win. It's a risk, but you can make it a calculated risk, not a reckless one.
Alex Lowe was a hero of mine when I was Mountain Climbing and he was one of the most careful mountain climbers of all time and still he was killed in an avalanche in Tibet in 1999. That hit home for me that no matter how careful you are sometime Mother Nature wins. This a risk we must accept. However, you can help your odds, there are careless mountain climbers and old mountain climbers, but no old careless mountain climbers.
There are two questions that I ask myself before heading out into a true wilderness area:
1) Can I respond positively and calmly to an accident, emergency or severe weather/storm?
2) Can we safely spend a night, or more out with the gear we have?
If I can't answer yes to both, I either get the supplies and training I need, or I don't go. You can't be foolish with the wilderness.
Since weather conditions can change quickly, winter adventurers especially need to carry the Ten Essentials; but you can get in serious trouble in summer also, especially in the High Mountains or remote wilderness. Also, if you don't know how to orient your compass to your map, both are fairly useless. REI and others teach very good one day courses in Compass Navigation and I would take 101 and 102 and practice a lot before heading out to a true Wilderness Area.
If you carry a GPS, you still need a compass and map as you can't risk your life on batteries. I am not an expert at all, and have only taken 3 navigation classes; but I am not helpless either. I understand that just because I am lost, it doesn't mean my compass is broken.
Critical to rescue is to tell someone your route and stick to it; this makes a rescue much easier. Also give them a time they can expect to hear from you, after which they can assume you need help and can alert authorities. If you stuck to your route, finding you should be easy. Please watch the movie 127 hours to see this point illustrated in agonizing fashion. We always file our route plan with someone responsible and stick to it. If we don't contact them by a set time, they know to initiate a rescue.
Here is what I carry in places like The Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness and La Verendrye Provincial Park in winter,
1. Navigation (topo maps, altimeter, GPS, compass).
2. Sun and bug protection (sunglasses, bug spray, sunscreen).
3. Insulation (Extra Clothing) in a waterproof bag inside your pack.
4. Illumination (headlamp, flashlight, batteries).
5. First-Aid Supplies. (We carry an extensive one from My Medic).
6. Fire (bombproof lighter, matches in a waterproof container, fire starters).
7. Repair Kit and Tools ( Leatherman multi-tool and duct or electrical tape).
8. Nutrition (jerky, nuts, granola, and dried fruit).
9. Hydration (water, enough to accommodate additional requirements due to temperature, altitude, exertion, and emergency). Water Filter and in a winter a small stove.
10. Emergency Shelter (emergency tent, or small tarp, reflective emergency blanket, hand and body warmers).
I also carry a very loud whistle, cell phone with GPS, extra batteries and cash.
Get some training, Pussanee and I are certified in Winter Wilderness Survival and hold a Wilderness First Aid certification from The National Outdoor Leadership School and still feel that we really need more training. Know when to abandon the trip and turn back, your life is not worth any trip. My friend Baltimore always says the only goal on an expedition is to survive, everything else is a bonus.
If you are in an remote wilderness without cell service you will want to carry a Satellite Communicator with a personal locator beacon like this one that we carry: Garmin In Reach Explorer This allows you to text people even with no cell service and has an SOS button that when pushed will send your exact location to a call center who will initiate communication to the local search and rescue team and provide them your exact location. This Device also navigates and you can set way points to guide you back where you started. However devices can and do fail or get lost so you must file a route and expected return time with a responsible person.
A note about cell phones in winter. I place it deep in my backpack in a small pocket. I also place a hand warmer in the pocket along with the cell phone. This keeps the battery from freezing, which can happen very quickly in cold temperatures. The GPS has a more robust battery and needs a clear view of the sky so I hang it on my backpack
Sounds excessive? When everything goes according to plan, it is. But when an unexpected storm hits and you can't see, or when someone breaks a leg, it really is the bare minimum to give you a shot at survival. My friend Ken and I got slammed with a blizzard while mountain biking very high above Lake Tahoe on the Flume Trail in November of 2003.
Ken got wet and cold and I used the extra clothes, hand and body warmers to get him dry and warm. I had the tarp and space blanket along with fire making materials but we got lucky and found a concrete outhouse even though we were 4 miles from the nearest road. We stayed in there several hours until the wind died down, even ate lunch in there. Sounds disgusting, but with 40 mph winds and a whiteout outside.....it was a life saver. The forecast called for a zero percent chance of snow and was 100% wrong.
Had we not found the outhouse, I think we could have survived with the tarp, space blanket,hand and body warmers and fire making capabilities; I am 100% certain we would not have survived without them. Here are some pics from that trip: Lake Tahoe in Snow The pic of me enjoying my sandwich in the outhouse is a classic and I am shocked Pussanee married me after seeing that pic,
Here are pics of some what we carried on our Porcupine Mountain, Boundary Waters and Sylvania Wilderness winter trips: Survival Gear
Thank you for reading, stay safe out there and remember it always OK to turn back short of your planned destination if you have safety concerns. This is a very hard lesson to learn but could save your life. Legendary Swedish adventurer Göran Kropp turned around just 350 vertical feet from the summit of Everest becuase his turn around alarm went off and it was too late in the day for him to get down safely. This discipline kept him from being one of the eight climbers were killed in May of 1996 painfully detailed in Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air. He lived to fight another day and made the summit 3 weeks later. If he can turn back early due to safety, so can you.
George Pastorino
President & Mountain Bike Coordinator, Elmhurst Bike Club
Graduate Winter Wilderness Survival School
Wilderness First Aid Certified
National Mountain Bike Patrol Instructor
Certified Mountain Bike Guide
Accredited Bike Medic
CPR, AED and Life Support Graduate