Front Pack (essential survival equipment)

Survival Equipment should cover these 3 basic needs to survive, 3 basic items to help get you back to where you need to be, and 3 other niceties that can help save your life.

1. chap stick
2. Bug Spray
3. Space Blanket
4. communication
5. navigation
6. artificial light
7. some food
8. warmth (fire starter supplies or artificial heat)
9. knife

You can expand on this if you like but start here. These items should be kept together in an easily tote able container. I use a fanny/front pack to accomplish this and can wear it with my backpack which I consider my ultimate survival set.


There are many reasons you might consider having this survival kit with you. Day hikes, or a backpacking trip where you might separate from your camping gear, either intentionally or unintentionally like, day excursions, fishing, Mt climbing, berry picking or whatever. Your front pack should contain not just things that you will need for an unexpected overnight er, but things you need on a daily basis.

1st aid kit (medications)
toilet paper(from an MRE)
match container with water/wind proof matches & magic candles
.38 cal with ammo (pinwheel hollow points & snake shot)
two way radio (hot roded ham setup){we'll chat about this later}
Extra AA battery pack for above radio
solar blanket
whistle/compass/thermometer combo
map of the area
Hand warmer (disposable)
couple of candy bars
head lamp
bug spray
folding knife
duct tape
Water Bottle in hand
Purification tablets
Please let me know if I for got something.

Weapon goes in the fanny pack
Weapon; now I know it's not big enough to kill a bear and you can carry whatever you like, but it might scare the hell out of them & maybe even smart a little if I had no choice but to pop one off in its direction. And the Snake shot is great for Grouse(emergency food) or what ever else walks in front of the barrel that might taste good to a starving hiker. I used to carry a 44mag but it was heavy and overkill for Idaho. I would take it to Alaska though.

Radio; This is a Ham Radio, so you must have a license to possess and operate it.
ths radio is 5 watts and can talk to and receive many Freq's. AM & FM for emergency broadcasts, weather, and local repeaters (if any) but also all the family radio and GMRS radio freq's that are so popular with hikers. Also police, medivac, and so on (search and rescue) Now you need to know these Freq's and enter them into the radio prior to your hike and you should have a little frequency cheat sheet to help out. But the Great thing about it is, it will operate on AA batteries (at less power) if need be. It might not be as good as a Satellite phone but it is still pretty darn Versatile.

So this Pack is small enough to wear in front while I wear my backpack. So There is no excuse not to wear it when more than a stones throw from base camp.