The RN’s First Aid Kit

Well folks, the gear list is now public! After many, many months of buying, returning, and researching, I have finally decided and bought my final pieces of gear. I just barely kept my pack under 20 pounds for the winter months, but with an early March start date, I’m anticipating a good amount of cold weather. I’m also a cold sleeper and the last thing I want is to be lying wide awake in my tent all night waiting for morning instead of actually sleeping.

The Gear

In my gear list, I just put the total weight for my first aid supplies and toiletries instead of breaking it all down, but I’ll do that here. Being an RN, I immediately knew it would be hard to control myself with the contents of the first aid kit. “Oh my god, but what about this med?” “And what if this happens?” I love first aid kits because I love taking care of people and being prepared. (Seriously, I have a giant bin of supplies in my Jeep at all times; I’m never not prepared.) So I let myself start out with a first aid kit that I already knew had more than I needed, and over the past couple weeks began taking items out. Here is what I ended up with.

(Enjoy the tiny cat paw as well)

• Ibuprofen
• Imodium
• Small packet of triple antibiotic
• One alcohol prep pad
• One antiseptic towelette
• Two Band-Aids
• Leukotape
• Small Bic lighter
• Backup water treatment in case my Sawyer Squeeze would freeze (hehe that rhymes)

And that’s all! This honestly became easier for me when I looked at my kit and thought, “Will I survive if I have to wait a few days before getting this in town?” And that’s when I decided to take out the suture kit, IV supplies, and bottles of normal saline (kidding!).

Toiletries

This was another difficult area for me, because even though I love the outdoors, I also love being clean and smelling good. Don’t worry, I’ve already come to terms that I will most definitely be neither! These were some deal breakers for me, though:

• Small hairbrush and extra scrunchy (with hair down to my butt I might as well just chop it off if I’m not going to take this). I’m also going to be experimenting with a comb, as it’s lighter, but I’ve never been able to get one through the massive tangle that is my hair.
• Dried baby wipes
• Small container of face lotion (my face is always so dry in winter months, hoping to send this home after).
• Sunscreen
• Toothbrush and paste
• Tampons (I have pretty much entirely gotten rid of my period with the use of birth control and will hopefully keep it that way on the trail, but figured I should have backup).
• nail clippers

The rest of my gear list is pretty self-explanatory but if anyone has any questions, leave me a comment, And if you have any constructive criticism I’m all ears!