Recreating outdoors comes with its own set of skills that we develop through trial and error, learning from others, and educating ourselves before, during, and after our adventures. Along with understanding the Leave No Trace Principles, which can help us minimize our impact on the wilderness, it is extremely important that we carry the right gear whether on a day hike or a long-distance excursion. While every hiker will ultimately develop their own unique gear list, the ten essentials are considered to be the bare minimum that every hiker or backpacker should carry regardless of how long they intend on being outside.
Who Developed the Ten Essentials?
The origins of the ten essentials date all the way back to the 1930s, to a list designed by mountaineers for the essential items climbers should be carrying. In 1974, the list was formalized and published in Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, which is now in its ninth edition. This book is written by volunteers and seeks to answer two essential questions: “Can you prevent emergencies and respond positively should one occur” and “can you safely spend a night (or more) outside.” More information can be found on the Mountaineers’ website, which is found here.
Why are the Ten Essentials Important?
The ultimate reason for carrying the ten essentials is to keep you safe in the backcountry. Whether you’re on a short day hike, or a multiday backpacking trip, it’s important that you go into the woods prepared for the unexpected. Despite the fact that it may seem silly to carry so much stuff on a short hike, the short hikes are sometimes the ones when we get into the most trouble. There have been a number of times when calls for rescue happen on some of the smallest and most accessible peaks in New Hampshire, because these mountains are where a lot of new hikers are learning about hiking. The statistics speak for themselves, and all you have to do is google rescues on Mt. Major, New Hampshire, to see how many times individuals have had to be rescued off this small peak. Carrying the ten essentials doesn’t necessarily mean the number of rescues will be lower, but carrying these items could mean the difference between life or death, especially in harsh winter conditions.
Beyond keeping yourself safe, carrying the ten essentials could mean helping someone else in the event that you come across a lost or injured hiker. Maybe you’re not the one who is in need of help, but being prepared with the right gear means you will be ready in the event that someone else is hurt or lost. In 2019, a 70-year-old became disoriented on a popular loop in the Whites in New Hampshire. Rescuers spent four days searching for him, but it ended up being a group of day hikers who came across him sitting on a log in the Pemigewasset Wilderness, ending a days-long search. This is the perfect example of how important it is to be prepared in the backcountry, as these individuals were the reason this man was found and very likely saved his life.
What are the Ten Essentials?
As noted, the ten essentials were developed by mountaineers back in the 1930s, and volunteers continue to update and reflect on the list as new editions of Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills come out. The list was designed to be easy to remember and each item was picked to serve a very explicit purpose. The ten essentials, pulled from the Mountaineers site, are as follows:
- Navigation: map, altimeter, compass, GPS device, satellite communicator, or satellite phone, extra batteries or battery pack.
- Headlamp: plus extra batteries
- Sun protection: sunglasses, sunscreen, umbrella, sun-protective clothes
- First aid: including foot care and insect repellent (if required)
- Knife: plus repair kit
- Fire: matches, lighter and tinder, or stove as appropriate
- Shelter: carried at all times (can be a lightweight emergency bivy)
- Extra food: beyond minimum expectation
- Extra water: beyond minimum expectation, or the means to purify
- Extra clothes: sufficient to survive an emergency overnight. A lightweight puffy works well.
Perhaps the most controversial item on this list is navigation, seen typically as a map and compass. It’s not enough to carry a map and compass; you must know how to use these items. Taking a wilderness navigation course and then practicing these skills on a regular basis so that they come natural is something that we as a community of hikers may be beginning to lack, as apps like FarOut and Gaia make navigation much easier. Technology fails, phones die or fall into water, and we encourage every person who chooses to go on a day hike or more importantly an extended backpacking trip, to take a wilderness navigation course.
Despite the fact that this list appears long and some may feel that it is overkill on a 1-mile hike to carry all this gear, think of it as training. The concept of going ultralight, especially on short hikes when one may not even carry a pack, leads to a less-prepared backpacker, both in terms of having proper gear and in physical strength. As much as limiting excess weight is important, especially for saving your joints and making backpacking more enjoyable, there is such a thing as carrying too little, and skimping on the essentials is not a wise decision. For that matter, there are states where you could be fined or charged in the event that you need rescuing and are found to be unprepared.
We encourage all our readers to learn about Leave No Trace and to carry the ten essentials. It’s our responsibility to set good examples for new backpackers, to take care of our precious natural resources, and to be able to take care of ourselves in the event that an accident happens in the wilderness.
