Layering Your Survival Gear
© 2009 Clint Hollingsworth

Author's Note: This article originally ran in the Nov. - Dec. 2008 BackWoodsman Magazine.

Imagine if you will, that you have taken a two week trip into the North Cascades of Washington State. You have all your gear with you for your safety and comfort lovingly stowed in the large backpack on your back, and after two days of hiking, you're within striking distance of the high lake that you've been aiming for. Since it's early July, the mountains are still getting rid of their snows the only way they can, by sending the streams and rivers of the area into high water overload. And of course, you have to cross them.

Late in the afternoon, you come to such a stream, now a fair sized river and you have no choice but to either find a way across, camp and wait, or go back the way you came. Surveying the scene, you see a large logjam downriver which, while bridging the entire flow, is such a tangled, half-submerged mess that you doubt your ability to make it across in one piece. The water is at least up to your chest, and moving pretty fast, so finding another way across is a necessity. Fortunately, just upstream is a large log, with the bark still in place, large enough that crossing looks to be a slam dunk. However, as you start over it, it turns out to be a dunk of another kind.

Halfway across, you realize that the bark of the log is not actually attached, and you and it wind up, you guessed it, in the river. As you hit the snow-melt water, you find that your estimate of the "stream's" depth wasn't exactly accurate, it's over your head and then some. Your pack helps you to realize this faster by pulling you under as the air spaces in it quickly fill with water, but no worries, you're a an experienced woodsperson, right? You would never cross such a river with your waist belt attached, and you slip out of your shoulder straps and try to tow your gear behind you. Unfortunately, that's not working out. The pack is holding you back and you're both heading towards the mess downstream. Hit that, and you'll likely be swept under the logs and drowned, so you make the hard call. You let your pack go and swim like crazy.

Crawling out, on the far bank, you turn to see your pack go under the logjam, and it doesn't come out the other side. So, you're in the high country, toward evening, soaking wet with your major gear buried under a submerged mass of downed wood. Your position could be better.

One of the things that I've seen discussed so many times are personal survival kits that try hard to be everything that one could need. Many of these I've seen look like backpacks unto themselves and they're fine, if you're out dayhiking. The problem with these rigs is that quite often they get left behind because of bulk or weight, particularly if you already have a backpack with everything needed. I've been using a different idea lately, and when Grizzly Dave and Muddyboots, veterans on the Hoods Woods Hoodlum Message Board mentioned they use a similar schemes, I decided that it was a good subject to put out to you readers. As we layer our clothes to regulate temperature and sweating, perhaps we should layer our survival supplies also. Rather than having all your gear in one container, it might be prudent to "diversify your portfolio".

The first layer, is under the skin. It's the most important layer of all, being the knowledge and skills you have developed and learned over the course of the years. One of the most important things you can do for yourself survival wise is to spend a certain amount of time each month learning to "own your skills". If you did a bow drill once ten years ago and haven't tried to do anything with it since, you'll find it's not really a skill to rely on (found this out the hard way). Devoting at least one day a month to your skills is probably one of the most useful survival kits you can carry with you. (It's fun, too!) Still, in a survival situation, you want to make thing as easy on yourself as you can, and stacking the odds in your favor is only smart.

The next layer is the clothes that you're wearing. Hopefully, you've been around long enough to not be wearing only cotton (AKA death cloth in SAR circles). If you've been hiking very far in sunny weather, cotton may seem like the thing to wear, but it's ability to retain water/sweat and chill you through evaporation might be ok on a bright sunny day, but out in the woods, especially if things get wet, it can be very dangerous. I would definitely look at some kind of blend that dries fast. I try to use the military BDU pants which are 65% polyester and 35% cotton, and I like a light weight polypro or nylon shirt for most hikes. (In the interest of full disclosure, during the hot months of the summer I will wear a cotton shirt, but have a poly pro top in my fanny pack) Fast drying, wind resistant clothes are a first line of survival defense. I love my wool clothes, but by July, most of those is in my closet til Fall.

If like me, you like the old time campcraft books, you'll note that each of the old timers mentions what they have in their pockets. In the pockets of my shirt and pants, I carry my pocket knife (Swiss Army Knife Rucksack model with locking blade and saw), a lighter, a pill bottle with matches, fish hooks, line and a few other small knick knacks. the other important thing that never leaves my person is my car key. If I have to make my way out 10-20 miles with little gear, I don't want to get back to the truck and have to walk another ten to hitchhike home. (A magnetic Key carrier at the truck is a good idea though...) I might put a lightweight mylar space blanket in one of the leg pockets and my small belt kit fits in the other one. (Hard to wear things on your belt with a pack's waist belt on.) My friend Howard Schwartz reminds me if you Wrap the space blanket around you and (carefully so as not to catch the mylar on fire) put a candle inside, down around your feet, you can warm up quick for very little bulk. (He likes the 9 hour candles sold at Wal-Mart)

My belt kit is smallish, though not as small as the excellent mini-kit that Dr. Ron Hood teaches in his Woodsmaster 3 video. My whole kit is about the size of a baseball (though flatter). It's small enough that it's not an annoyance, or so heavy that it might get left behind. Hooked to a belt it's hardly noticeable. Yet, now, crawling out of the snow-fresh water, you would have something to cut and saw with, the ability to easily start a fire, some fishing materials (hey, the river's right there). Also inside the belt kit are water purification tabs, more fire starting materials, (Matches, Light My Fire firestriker, and lighter) tinder (I really love petroleum jelly coated cotton balls - Tear one of these open, and I can usually get a fire with one strike of the firestriker), a small repair kit, some bullion cubes, some heavy weight tinfoil to boil water in, safety pins, some cordage and a small compass/whistle. At this point, with a little knowledge, you could probably get your clothes dry and spend a half way comfortable night in front of a fire, with the space blanket reflecting the fire's heat to your body, as long as the weather wasn't too nasty.

Now, at this point, some of the really skilled are saying "Why, I'd just make a debris shelter from natural materials, and be cozy as a clam in mud!" Ok. If you've spent a lot of time owning that skill, more power to you. The last decent natural shelter I made, that kept the rain off, was insulated inside with leaves and debris and had enough flotsam on the outside to trap my own bodyheat to keep me halfway warm (in early May) took me about 3 hours to build. Keep in mind you've just crawled out of an icy river and it's evening. Some of you, I know can pull off such a shelter, but you're going to pay for it in calories spent, if you don't go hypothermic first. Fire would be the priority here.

Now, if you had another layer, you'd be a lot farther along if the weather turned bad. One more possible layer, is a multi-pocket vest. I'm not talking about the military Load Bearing vests, since these are pretty darn hard to wear with a full backpack. I'm talking the safari or fishing type vest with a ton of pockets. These will fit with a back pack, and can offer the chance to carry several items independent of that back pack, but vests do have their problems. The worst one, they can be HOT. If you wear a shirt, a vest and a back pack weighing 40 lbs., you are soon going to be soaked with sweat, unless it's a chilly day. One way I get around this is to choose a vest with a mesh back and then, go shirtless. Just hike in the vest (probably not in the height of mosquito season though). The other problem is that you will be VERY likely to overload the pockets, making it overly heavy and hard to get the backpack on over it. Putting things in a vest pocket should be considered VERY carefully for both weight and bulk. One of the most important things I put in a vest is a Sportsmans Thermal Blanket (the heavy-duty space blanket) in the large rear pocket, along with a couple of contractor trash bags. This gives me more warmth at night, and the means to collect debris and keep the elements off. I keep one of the thermal blankets in every pack/rucksack I own. Other things you could keep in the vest are your compass, a few energy bars, a VERY light first aid kit and some cordage, and of course, more firestarting gear (I A magnesium firestarter would be good here). if possible, have more weight in the back pocket of the vest, to keep it off your neck. (Note: I STRONGLY recommend trying the vest out with a daypack before trying it on a long backpacking trip. The heat issue might be a deal breaker for some)

I also use a shoulder sling (cross-slung) to keep my survival knife under the vest so that the knife rides right at the side of the small of my back. It's out of the way of the pack under the vest and after a while I forget it's there. The knife is an old Buck Model 185, and 90% of the time it simply acts as a security blanket out in bear country, but now, stuck in the woods, it can come in rather handy if you have to split small wood for your fire, need to limb a tree for insulation materials or need something to harvest grass for bedding. I also keep extra cordage and wire wrapped around the sheath.

With everything you have at this point, you're almost ready to spend a comfortable night (assuming you know what you're doing). But how about 1 more layer? My solution, is an older medium small hunter's fanny pack that I've had for many years. I situate it forward, over my stomach, with the backpack's waistbelt underneath it. It's not just as a survival layer, but also as a convenience while I'm hiking with a larger backpack. It has two water bottle pockets, and I can easily get to the lightweight soda bottles I use as canteens (never seemed to get into the water bladder thing). I keep about half my food in it, a medium weight polypro shirt, a polypro cap and the ever faithful 1 lb. coffee can with bail. (If you could fit the Thermal blanket in there and other items in pockets, you could easily forgo the vest.)

How about musset/shoulder bags? I use them sometimes when I'm day hiking, but for any distance hiking with a backpack I find them annoying as they swing around every time you shift your weight. The newer body hugging shoulder sling bags don't appear to work so well with the pack waistbelt, but I admit my experience with them is limited (as in none). With the layers outlined, you could be pretty well set. Even though you've lost your pack, you have food, warmth, the possibility of a waterproof shelter, a way to cook, fish and more. Some of the more experienced readers out there might consider this a full kit for the woods. With the gear mentioned, when morning comes, you may decide, instead of heading immediately for the car to get out of your "predicament" you might just take a day or so to see if you can rescue that expensive pack full of gear.

(Addendum: You may not hike with a gigantic backpack like many hikers do, but still, the modular idea might come in handy if you're a scout, ultralighter or traditional gear person. I hope you found this article interesting. More notes on trips I've taken can be found on the Wander Extras page)