Building Your EDC-GO Kit
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Time to read 4 min
Today we're talking about what to pack in the mini, packable version of your EDC kit. In my opinion, these kits - whether your full-featured gear box or portable version are the most important part of outdoor gear you own. They can get you out of a bind - help you repair a broken piece of equipment, deal with injuries, help with communications, or provide food and hydration if you run low. It's all about helping you adapt to what you can't plan for.
This is part 3 in a series about building out your Everyday Carry (EDC) adventure kit. If you want to learn more about building out your system, check out the posts on the principles of building out your EDC adventure kitand what's in my EDC adventure kit, those are good primers that give this post a bit more context.
What's in my kit
What I am trying to do with a portable version of my EDC kit, is to create something full featured enough to solve the most common problems, but small enough that it can always go with me. This kit spends most of it's life in my EDC Gear Box, which is always in the truck. The one time you forget it at home, will inevitably be the one time you'll need it. Don't do that.
When we're getting on a plane, or a friend is driving, or the gear box would otherwise be overkill, this is what I grab. This kit is small enough to fit into pretty much any backpack and weighs only a couple pounds.
Your kit will be specific to your activities, where you recreate, and who you get outside with. And, it will evolve over time. Mine is based around my primary activities: backcountry skiing, mountain biking, climbing, and camping, with friends and my family but is general enough for most outdoor activities.
The fundamental purpose of this kit is to provide:
- Basic first aid supplies.
- Basic tools and repair supplies.
- Extra food and hydration.
- Emergency communications.
Always Good to Go.
So, heres what's in the my portable kit right now:
- Full-featured multi tool. I'm currently carrying the SOG PowerAccess Deluxe. It's fairly inexpensive, and also has some different drivers and hex wrenches included.
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Comms devices:
- 2 Rocky Talkie Mountain Radios, These are a game-changer - small, rugged, powerful, and amazing battery life. They are always with us for climbing, skiing, paddling, or exploring with the kids. Having good 2-way radios makes these activities so much more enjoyable, and safer.
- Garmin InReach Mini. Anytime we're far enough from emergency services, or if I'm solo in the backcountry, it's always with me. I've never had to call in the cavalry, but it's always with me if the worst happens.
- Headlamp. Charged. I prefer headlamps that use replaceable batteries, so I don't have to think about keeping this one charged. If you like rechargeable, make sure it can also run on batteries and you keep a reminder in your phone to charge it and your other battery-powered devices. I've always had good luck with Black Diamond and Petzl products.
- Extra batteries: AAA & AA and CR2032.
- Small tube of sunblock and lip balm.
- Small first aid kit: just hacked together from various parts - athletic tape, bandages, cleaning wipes, ace bandage, gauze, extra pain meds and Benadryl.
- A couple pairs of handwarmers.
- Waterproof field notes and space pen. Leave a note for a friend at a trailhead, make notes of things you need to replenish in your kit, or capture that brilliant idea.
- A handful of napkins, a few poop bags, and a couple ziplock bags as makeshift dry bags.
- Collapsible .5L HydraPak water bottle and filter. This packs down to nothing and is an easy add to your kit if you're going into the backcountry and have any concern about the amount of water you're carrying.
- Extra energy food: a couple bars and chews. Someone is always running out of food at the trailhead.
- Electrolyte tabs (Nuun) and something with Caffeine (Nuun or ZipFizz). When the day has gone a bit longer than expected, these are really nice to have.
- 30’ of paracord. Repair things, rig up a shelter, create a makeshift dog leash, you name it.
- 2 15" or 20” Voile straps. I can't begin to tell you how many uses we've found for these things.
- About 6 8” zip ties, small rolls of duct tape and athletic tape (~8’ of each). Fix a broken ski pole or zipper, deal with blisters, etc.
- A few patches of tenacious tape for patching tears in clothing or gear. Duct tape is fine in a pinch, but Tenacious tape is pretty permanent and durable.
- Basic emergency supplies: emergency blanket, whistle, lighter, water purification tablets.
My EDC-GO kit lives in a Kitworks Gear Cube (size medium works for my kit).
That's it for now, but we're always finding new things that make life a little bit easier. We'd love to hear from you in the comments below. What's in your kit?
Greg Mills
Greg is the founder of Kitworks. A lifelong skier, mountain biker and climber with an active family, he founded Kitworks to bring better solutions for managing outdoor gear - in an effort to help people get outside faster, start organized and stay organized during trips, and have thier best adventures. Greg lives in Beaverton OR, with his wife Erin, his sons Ryan and Ian, and dog Riley.
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A couple of things about this blog:
Our Mission
Our mission at Kitworks is build the highest quality, most useful gear management solutions that enable your best adventures. Part of delivering on this mission is to provide information related to gear management and the outdoor pursuits that capture our imagination. We hope this is helpful and are always interested in your feedback about what you'd like to see more of in the future.
Product inclusion
Throughout our posts, we will include links to products from Kitworks. The intent is to help you understand how our system can be used to solve certain gear management challenges and make life a little bit easier more organized when you're getting outside. We promise to remain in the "helpful" space and never venture in the the "annoying" space.
From time to time, we will also link to products or services from other brands. There is no financial relationship with these companies. These are simply relevant products that we've personally had extensive experience with and can easily recommend to our community. If you have other recommendations for gear, we'd love to hear from you!
