For me, and likely all other experienced outdoorspeople, the ten essential items for a given trip vary depending on the trip. That said, I think the myth of the ten essentials has morphed into almost categories instead of items. Food? Shelter? really? We need to list food and shelter on a list of ten essentials. By listing these things it makes the list worthless. Perhaps it always was. If I was to categorize a packing list, I would use my house as the categories: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, closet, garage. In fact, that is how I arrange my gear list in my mind.