A good survival kit should be a top priority if you’re going on a hike or planning to go on any kind of trip into the wilderness. No. 1 piece of survival gear is a knife, specifically something large like a machete, from chopping branches and trees for a shelter, to making of a bow drill for fire.
Top 10 Essential Survival Kit Items
To trim a survival kit down to its top 10 essentials is to reveal the utmost necessary items for ad hoc shelter, warmth, communication, navigation, and sustenance in the deep backwoods.
Todd Smith, a former editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life magazine, stresses rescue in emergency wilderness situations via quick communication with the outside world.
But in addition to a cell phone, Smith recommends personal locator beacons (PLBs), which are essentially emergency radio signal devices that communicate with satellites (and thus rescue personnel) from anywhere on the globe.
Here is a list from Todd Smith, Outdoor Life Magazine
1. Personal locator beacon (PLB) or cell phone
2. Map of area
3. Compass
4. Small first-aid kit
5. Water bottle
6. Flashlight/headlamp
7. Lighter and fire starters
8. Space blanket/bivy sack
9. Whistle
10. Signal mirror
