I started carrying a first aid kit last year. I never bothered with one, since 1976. Now I am doubting that I need it. I hiked out once thinking that I needed stictches on my hand from a fall on some slate, but by the time I finally made it to the doctor all he did was put some butterflies on it. Other that that I have survived without a kit or having to hike out. I think if my limited first aid kit will fix the injury - then it would most likely heal on it own anyway. I will always carry my snakebite kit, but am considering leaving the rest at home. What are your thoughts?

My kit - 7 ounces/includes sil sac
12 Assorted Band aids, 6 butterlfy closures, small roll gauze, betodine, polysporine, aspirin, antihistimime tabs, whistle, 2 esbit, sealed iodine tabs, 2 safety pins, moleskin, snakebite kit

By the way - I am limited to 5 days max, but mostly 3 day trips,
and I go almost every week (law of averages)

All I carry is an ace bandage, duct tape, dental floss\needle, benadryl and some vicodins. But according to my girlfriend I am an idiot, so ignore this post

I also have my stuff sacks, can be used to irrigate a wound. Duct tape for closure, sling making, blister prevention. Benadryl for allergies, bug bites, killer bee and wasp attacks... Vicodin for partyin. Ace bandage for my idiot mishaps of the feet and sling making. Shredded clothes for serious bandages, bandana and ziploc also as bandages. knife, etc. Pretty much multi-use stuff, I can't think of anything I can treat that would need something other than these items. I would like an epi-pen to carry but havent gotten my hands on one. I dont use bandaids at home, why use them when I am hiking? I dont use neosporin at home, why use it while I am hiking? If something serious happens I am getting out asap or trying to find help. Hopefully I get a PLB soon, I think that covers all the major areas. When I get around to attending med-school or a NOLS EMS course then i might consider carrying things that can help with more serious issues.

i would suggest to keep your first aid kit it seems light enough. if you decide to leave it i would strongly suggest to take your whistle i feel that you should carry one always preferrably the new style loud and pealess. it should be kept with your signal mirror

First aid kit: Good idea, they say......

Snake bite kit: NO Snake bite is such a RARE malady that it's simply irrational to worry about this possibility in N. Amer.. But if it happens,first aid treatment with a snake bite kit, THEY SAY, is likely to make the injury worse.

If for whatever reason, you want to be prepared for medical emergency of any sort, have a sat phone or viable cell-phone or radio connection to call for evacuation. Otherwise, good luck.

But true medical emergencies almost never happen and if they do, a first aid kit of any sort, and certainly what you mention, is, in essence, worthless.

IMO it's a reasonable risk to NOT be prepared in this manner, with regard to communications equipment, when travelling typical USA trails in the hiking season. Other circumstances are best evaluated on case-by-case basis.

Band aids and Advil are something else. I always try to have at least the pills. And Rabit's foot..............Builds character, maybe.

My kit has been reduced to Vitamin-I, Benadryl, Tylenol PM, Pepto, some antibiotic ointment, assorted band aids, and moleskin. With the gear repair stuff included (needle and thread, duct tape, safety pins) my whole kit is about 2.8oz. There's enough stuff there that I feel comfortable but its still light enough that I don't think twice about bringing is along.

It seems like a good balance to me.

Adam

I'm more along your lines. a tiny silnylon sack with a piece of moleskin, 10 band aids, some antibiotic ointment, some drugs and a couple of butterflys. I of course have gear bits, duct tape, shirts, etc. that can do double duty in a pinch. Basically, I don't take
anything that I wouldn't feel comfortable using, and reasonably expect to.

I just attended a rattlesnake workshop conducted by Dr. Sean Bush, leading venomous bite Dr. in the U.S. One of the questions were about the snake bite suction kit....or any snake bite kit for that matter. Basically, the word is, leave the snake bite kit at home. There's nothing you can do in the back country to make it better. If bit, concentrate on getting to a medical facility. Don't waste precious time fiddling around with something that does no good. Ed.

To all

I notice no one mention, having a small tube of instant glue ( 1/2 oz crazy glue) best wound closure when you need more than a butterfly for closure. Also has other uses in the field.

Just my observation.

Mike

I actually include that in my kit, I just forgot to mention it. You're right, it is pretty versatile and weighs next to nothing. Its kind of like liquid duct tape.

Adam

I go with a few bandaids ands some moleskin and a little vaseline. I used to carry more, but that's all I did with it, carry it. The bandaids get used, and occasionally the moleskin does - either by me or someone I'm hiking with.And the vaseline is useful with a blister - I put a dab on the actual blister before doing my coverup routine and really helps.

Pain meds, benedryl, pepto, iodine, lip balm... pretty much all I've ever used in the last 25 years. Seems like I don't need them until I forget them...

I carry more, but not so much for personal use. An elastic bandage may be the only thing I've needed a time or two and sometimes forget to carry.

MNS

My experience is that even little cuts can easily get infected while out in the woods for a few days, so I always carry a kit. The only items we've ever used are:

moleskin
band-aids
antibiotic ointment
elastic wrap
ibuprofen
alcohol wipes
antihistamine
latex gloves

The ever-present gauze, bandages, sting relief ointment, tweezers, tincture of benzoin, etc. in our kit have never been touched. I'll take them out someday. A few things that small kits never contain that I always add are a small irrigation syringe, antidiarrheal pills, and iodine tablets for mixing into a solution with water. Once kids enter the picture, I'm going to add a dental filling kit too; I had one or two friends who broke their teeth while falling during hikes when I was young.

I figure major bleeds that require professional help will not be really treatable with a kit's supplied gauze. I'd use stips of clothing & evacuate, I guess.

Taking a wilderness first aid course really helped me to learn a lot about wound treatment.

Once a week? Lucky dog. I'm fortunate if I get out 2 to 3 times a year. I've got my nose to the grindstone and my wife is behind me pushing it harder.
If you go that much, I would carry a basic kit. Include some super glue. Great for a lot of things including glueing yourself back together.

Interesting thread. I carry a first aid kit with a little book which contains directions on how to take care of catastrophic things like broken legs, dislocated joints, etc. It also contains gauze, band-aids, moleskin, various pain relievers, tweezers, alcohol wipes, a few other things. I've only ever used band-aids, moleskin, pain relievers, but I always bring the whole kit anyway. Better safe than sorry I guess. Sometimes I bring an Ace bandage along, too. On one trip a friend turned his ankle, the ace bandage really helped him.

My basic first aid kit is about 3 4x4's dressing and gauzes,med tape, advil, allegeries tablets, moleskins, antibiotic cream,lip balm, and hand santizer,and of course my bp meds. I figure if myself or someone get hurt bad enough,use your common sense and use whatever you have. It doesn't have to be pretty,but enough to save a life until help comes. I never gotten hurt on the trails except a few minor blisters so I never thought of carrying anything else.

I'm not real superstitious, however I'm a believer that you won't need something until you stop bringing it. It would in fact suck if you injured yourself, and then thought well it sure would be nice to have the first aid kit that I didn't bring for the first time.

Murphy's law is still live and well.


Tom

For most things that can be closed with butterfly closures, a product called "Urgent QR" has been quite good in my experience. It's a powder that comes in a teardrop-shaped blister pack. Each blister weighs about 1 gram. The QR product worked exceptionally well on a deep cut in the side of a finger that went to the bone, stopping the bleeding within a minute. The finger was splinted until the next morning, and no sutures/butterfly closures were required to keep the wound closed after that. In fact, I've never seen a cut that severe heal so quickly.

Some things that I can recommend:

Bring several types of analgesics and/or antihistamines. Since I have no problem taking both Tylenol and Aleve, I take both, in case some one else is allergic to one or the other. I find that most of the times I get into the first aid supplies, it's not for my personal needs.

If you put any controlled substance (Vicodin, Demerol, Percocet) in your kit, make sure you have a prescription for it. Some LEO rangers are real sticklers for the law and will cite you for possession without a prescription. If your personal doctor won't do it, there are "online" doctors who will.

Ahhh....kids are complaining that they're hungry, so I'll leave off here. Remember that you don't need to bring the whole paramedic's kit. Most things can be improvised from what you already carry.

I carry a bsaic kit as well as a few things extra like superglue, moleskin and other odds-n-ends.

As another poster mentioned, often your first aid kit is used to help someone else. I think it is common courtesy to have at least the basics to help out a fellow hiker. I rarely ever bring my kit out for other than blister treatment.

Last week I neglected to take my first aid kit on a day hike. "It's only a 2 hour hike, what could go wrong?" I said to myself. Sure enough, I came across a rather attractive young lady in need of blister treatment, and here was me without even my duct tape. Not only did I lose points, I gained some bad karma - 15 minutes later my dog jumped down a bank and I didn't release her leash in time, so I slid down the rocks on my hands after her. I had a filthy gash across the heel of one hand. Luckily, another hiker came along who had some alcohol wipes and large bandaids.

My kit only weighs 2 oz., as I don't carry anything I don't know how to use. It helps me and other people enjoy hiking, so it's worth it. The fact that you never use your first aid kit is not logic to stop carrying it. It's like the smoke alarm in your house - you don't stop changing the batteries just because you've never had a fire.

Yeah! helping others is a good general expression of love. And everyone should be more like that. Especially me.

Ditch the snakebite kit, as others have said they don't work. Add in some antidiarrhea and antacid tabs.

I find myself pulling out the kit to help others all the time - bandaids are popular items. So is duct tape. I have been day hiking every weekend and as the hikes get longer I am more thankful for the kit.

I ran across a scout laid out on a rock on a switchback going up a draw near Nevada Falls this weekend. He had nothing but one of those hydration packs just big enough for the bladder, and was out of water, having severe stomach cramps, and looking generally bad. Turned out he had had diarrhea for two days and decided to hike a NINE MILE LOOP anyway with the troop. Someone else gave him water (very busy trail), I gave him half a power bar and offered salty trail mix as his electrolytes were clearly out of whack, and gave him a tums from my kit.

The tums apparently has a secondary function - he hucked up a bellyful of whatever. Okay, well, sometimes that makes you feel better, resetting the ol' digestive tract. By that time the scout master came along so I went on up the next switchback. I saw the troop several more times along the trail; he seemed to be getting on fine once he got some water and food and got a bit of a rest. I would have given him Imodium if he hadn't already taken some earlier in the day. Of course, his biggest problem was not listening to his body and just staying back at the lodge or wherever the troop was camped, but the bottom line is, I was prepared and the scout seemed largely clueless. (I don't think they were actual Boy Scouts. Some other group, with some sort of semi-uniform, but they were an organized outfit of boys 10-16. The other problem with them was they weren't staying together; I saw some of the smaller boys scaling granite off the sides of the trail, and the rangers don't like that....)