INVENTORY
Practical preparation.
personal area
butane torch
Can be used to start fire in high wind. Refillable.
knife
Cut things, pry things open, poke holes in things.
Useful for self defense in a pinch.
I prefer a knife with spring assist, though some localities disfavor them.
paracord bracelet
Combines well with knife.
Can be used to make a tourniquet.
Attach items to one another or anchor.
Can be used for climbing.
carabiner(s)
Quickly attach things to other things.
I like to wear a few on belt loops.
We braided a paracord leash for ORTHROS and permanently fixed one carabiner to each end.
keys
Gatekeeper for all of the things in our #vehicle.
vehicle
fresh water with gravity valve
Water pumpts are great, but gravity relief is essential if power fails.
bear spray
Useful against bears and other troublemakers.
hammer or mallet
Useful against nails/spikes and other troublemakers.
hatchet
Useful against large pieces of wood and other troublemakers.
head lamp
We chose wide angle, 1,000 lumen, USB-C rechargeable headlamps.
emergency radio
Recommend one with hand crank and solar panel.
Listen to local music riding the air waves!
Receive weather and other emergency broadcasts.
These often also have USB-A ports, which can be used to charge small electronics.
lock pick kit
In an emergency, the social norm of a lock may not be relevant.
Learning to pick at least a basic Masterlock will grant you entry to many places.
Commercial Master are the next most common but slightly more challenging.
ABEX tend to be used by federal agencies and require a deft hand.
binoculars
Look before you leap. Nice for observing wildlife.
full sized spare tire
A donut can get you to a tire shop.
A full sized spare can keep you on your travel route.
hydraulic jack
These are essential for swapping tires on a fully loaded vehicle. They are extremely compact.
air compressor
Air down for washboard roads, deep sand or snow, and other times when more traction is needed.
Air back up before getting back on the road.
non-perishable food
You eat these, especially when refrigeration and other systems fail.
Nuts, dried fruit, pickled items, etc.
Seeds for sprouting.
modern life
- wallet
- earbuds
phone
- OSMAnd~ (cartography power tool and offline maps)
- Trail Sense (multitool, see #trailsense)
- Survival Manual (variety of survival knowledge)
- Morse (morse code encode/decode)
- solXpect (calculate solar acquisition)
- wX (NOAA weather feeds)
trailsense
A fully local/offline tool with the following functions:
- navigation tools (compass, beacons, backtracking, photo maps, triangulation)
- weather prediction using barometer
- bubble level
- solar panel aligner
- tide tables
- sun and moon cycles
- unit conversions
- clinometer
- ruler
- pedometer