Things you need

[backpacker]

Hiking can be anything from a stream walk to your favorite spot or falls, to walking on maintained trails with various distances, to wandering around in the woods to find that sweet spot. When ever your hiking you need a few things with you for the "just in case problem". Now this isn’t everything including the kitchen sink, but just a few things to make life better in case of an emergency. Most people call it the “TEN ESSENTIALS”. The problem is depending on where your at and what you do depends on what you need. (Make sense?) So you may need more then ten or less than ten.

So for those of us that hike or walk all have some things we carry with us. So lets use this topic to let everybody know what we bring and for those that would like to start hiking an idea of what they need.

These things never leave my DAY PACK:
A 13 gallon plastic bag, A head lamp (or small flashlight), A compass, 12 hour hand warmers, A small tripod, A medium temp, duofold long sleeve shirt, A pair of dry socks.

These are in a gallon size Ziploc bag: Benadryl pills, A few band-aids, A plastic dental pick, magnesium fire starter, A $2.00 space blanket, Aspirin, single serving instant coffee, a book of matches, TP paper, Dehydrated mincemeat bar, small amount of duck tape wrapped around a copper tubing, a water filter.

Things I add depending on the hike: Snack food, 2 liters of water, drinking tube, extra shirt, sun glasses, camera lenses, hat, gloves, map, GPS, trail directions if needed, rain coat, snowshoes, crampons.

Please feel free to post the things you carry and share your ideas with us.

[Brenda]

small amount of duck tape wrapped around a copper tubing

Mike just pointed out a tip in Field & Stream the other day that suggested wrapping duct tape around a disposable lighter. It kind of kills two birds with one stone, though you should have a more reliable fire starter too.

It's funny, as I was reading through your list it occurred to me that it pretty much summarizes the contents of my Jeep!

[backpacker]

I do the magnesium fire starter.
You can start a fire with wet kindling with this

I've proved it twice to the scouts and parents while on a hike.
I have 1 in my Backpack too

[Matt]

I carry a firesteel, knife, water, fruit bars, poncho, benadryl, gauze
On long hikes, which I take rarely, I bring an MRE or two.

I should buy a portable waterpurifier, emergency blanket, and some more stuff backpacker mentioned... but I'll wait until I actually hike a bit more.

[Brenda]

I do the magnesium fire starter.
You can start a fire with wet kindling with this

I've proved it twice to the scouts and parents while on a hike.
I have 1 in my Backpack too

Absolutely! It's never a good idea to rely solely on a disposable lighter, but I thought that it was a cool way to carry the duct tape.

[ShanaD]

2 words

BUG SPRAY!

[hobkyl]

I have a mix of that stuff. Some things I do some I dont...and probably some others that you dont. All I know is I tend to always overpack for mountain hikes which becomes cumbersome. Last winter on Algonquin, I ended up leaving my pack near the Wright trail spur because it was too tiring with all the weight.

For dayhikes on the other hand, I underpack. A drink and my camera gear and thats it...occasionally if I know I need it I will include some rope.

[Matt]

On all day hikes for photography, I have been brining a pocket knife (I seem to always have to fix something or cut a branch that's in the way of a clean shot), and pepper spray (in the event of a rabid animal, uncontrolled dog, bears).

For hikes that get me into undeveloped gorges, I have a light pack that takes about 40 ft of rope and a half-roll of duct tape.
When climbing up and down, or hiking off trail, I use snippets of duct tape to mark trees/rocks on the path I took.

My iphone has become a nice hiking tool lately. I have MotionX for trail tracking, topo maps and waypoints. A weather app... an app for tracking sunsets and "golden hour."
And of course if I fall, hurt myself and can't walk, I can always use the iphone to play games until i die.