An EDC Kit for Ultralight Backpacking and Day Hikes.

Gear selection and 'hunting' for just the right thing is great entertainment in its own right. Searching for that one thing to last a lifetime will keep the outdoors with us even when we are not in it.

Gear items that form regular use 'staples' and 'modular' items that work coherently into an integral system provide for many many hours of safe and enjoyable time in the outdoors.  In this post we look at the 'EDC Kit', a list of basic items that covers basic first aid, fire lighting, a cutting tool and few extra items which will cover a multitude of events ranging from a blister to an unexpected night in the hills. In this post I run through my own EDC kit of items that I always take for trail or hill-walking here in the UK.  I have tried to focus on what has worked for myself and my family free from marketing hype.

A little background. I was lucky enough to be raised on the outskirts of the Peak District National Park.  It seems hard for me to comprehend now when I look back, but I and my companions once roamed the edges of the moors and scrambled and climbed the crags in the sort of clothes that every young person would go out to scuff around in. We are talking here of patched jeans, woolly jumpers, and trainers or wellies, and a parka or anorak if it was really cold or snowing. No map, no compass, no backpack, no boots, not really anything that would nowadays be considered bare minimum essentials for a day in the hills. Our gear pretty much consisted of a tin assembled by myself and a good friend which we referred to as a 'survival tin' and pretty much this plus a few items in our pockets was our gear to cover all eventualities.

Now I am not suggesting for a moment that we set off along the Pennine Way with only such a tin, but it is probably a good starting point for putting together our EDC kit list. So what was in that tin?

Well in that tin, which had formerly housed mints of some kind were matches dipped in wax, kindling ( cotton wool), safety pins, sewing needles and thread, string, plasters, oxo cubes, a whistle, a pencil and paper ( for writing and more kindling) and a few coins for the phone box. In our pockets would be a penknife or two a handkerchief, maybe sandwiches wrapped in tin foil and a couple of plastic bags for sitting on for lunch stops. We guessed time by the sun, and direction by which way the clouds were blowing that day We could cover 20 or more miles in a day and still be home for dinner. Our knowledge of the terrain and features of the woods, the moors and crags built over a decade into encyclopedic knowledge of that area for 10 or 15 miles in any direction. The tin we had was fairly sizeable, and could easily hold 500ml or so for boiling water.

Most regular backpackers I know put together a small bag of  'items', which forms a basic first aid kit with survival elements. Some now refer to it as an EDC ( everyday carry) so the tin now has the dignity of a technical name. The backpackers EDC can be anything you want it to be. To my  mind it should cover basic first aid, fire making equipment, cordage, and some means of purifying water, items to raise an alarm, and a decent cutting tool and perhaps a basic survival blanket to make a tarp shelter ideally. Once you are satisfied that you can make a sustainable small fire from the contents of the EDC, boil water to disinfect it and ride out a night with primitive shelter, consider items to mend basic cuts, sprains and scrapes. Items that will patch up broken footwear plus items to alert passers by that help is required. The options for what you put in your EDC are limitless, but from my own observations most of the considered ones finish up pretty much like mine.

I have had lots of fun putting together these items and reviewing what others put in theirs. I have added things and taken things out over the years, and I expect its always going to evolve and change. Here's a list of the items in my current 'pouch' or items I always stick in my pockets and are  taken out on every day hike in the hills as well as on the trail.

A first aid pouch, a survival blanket, a drawing pin, selection of needles and polyester thread one needle magnetised, 5 to 10  Metre hank of paracord, 1 metre repair tape, selection of plasters, vaseline, compeed, mini torch, whistle, lighter and matches in a waterproof container, crepe bandage, Chlorine Diox tablets, anti-histamine, knife sharpening stone, tick remover, pencil, paper, elastic band. I usually carry also a titanium cup, which nests around my water bottle and a handkerchief or bandana or two separately. I also have my Victorinox Swiss Army knife in a small pouch which is attached to my belt or in a zipped pocket, this pouch also contains a BIC type lighter.


As mentioned an EDC is a very personal thing and one which is always evolving. In my case the first aid kit has shrunk hugely, but the means to sanitise water has increased and I can now effect a simple shelter also. Set a weight limit to ensure your EDC doesn't finish up including unnecessary items.  If I could change one thing, it is probably the 'pouch' itself. I am sort of reminiscing for the tin again as I write. On a practical note, a tin can be used for signalling, boiling water or for use as a tinder tin which the pouch cannot, so, time for a bit of fun looking for that perfect tin?

Anyone for a mint?

Thank you for reading,

Way of the Backpacker