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The Camping First Aid Kit I Pack Every Trip After Too Many Trail Injuries
30
items Scraped knees on rocky trails, blisters that turned a 5-mile hike into torture, and that one time my buddy sliced his palm opening a can of beans. If you camp more than twice a year and your first aid kit is still a ziplock bag with three old Band-Ai...
Sections
5
Wound Care That Actually Holds Up Outdoors
Blister and Foot Care for Long Hikes
Pain Relief and Medication I Always Carry
Bug Bites, Burns, and Skin Protection
Emergency Tools and Supplies That Saved Me
Wound Care That Actually Holds Up Outdoors
Regular bandages peel off the second you sweat or cross a stream. I ruined a whole day once because a cut on my thumb kept reopening. These stay put through mud, water, and questionable campfire cooking.
Grab these before your next trip. Regular plastic ones slid right off my sweaty hands mid-hike, but these stayed stuck through a full day of scrambling over rocks in July heat.
Band-Aid Flexible Fabric Adhesive Bandages, Assorted
Use this over deeper scrapes when you know you'll be near water. My daughter wiped out on a wet trail and this kept her knee clean through two river crossings the next day.
Tegaderm Waterproof Transparent Dressing
Keep a tube in every kit you own. A tiny cut from a fishing hook got red and angry on day two of a trip because I forgot to pack any. Never again.
Neosporin Original Ointment, Triple Antibiotic, 1 oz
Toss a handful in your bag for anything bigger than a scrape. When my friend burned his forearm on a camp stove, this was the only thing that didn't stick to the raw skin when we changed it.
Curad, Non-Stick Pads with Adhesive, 3x4 Inch, 10 Pack
Wrap a twisted ankle or hold gauze in place without tape. For anyone who's ever tried wrapping an injury with duct tape because that's all they had, this weighs almost nothing and works ten times better.
3M Coban Self-Adherent Wrap: White, 3" x 5 yds, 1 Count
Pack more than you think you need. I went through six of these in one trip when a buddy caught a fishhook through his finger and we had to keep pressure on it during the drive to urgent care.
Medline Sterile Nonwoven Gauze Drain Sponges 4"x4"
Blister and Foot Care for Long Hikes
Nothing ruins a camping trip faster than foot pain at mile three of a seven-mile loop. I used to just tough it out, which is how I ended up limping for a week after Shenandoah.
Cut a piece and slap it on the second you feel a hot spot forming. Waited too long once on a trail in Colorado and spent the rest of the trip hobbling around camp like I was 90.
Customer reviews for Dr. Scholl's Moleskin Plus Padding Roll
Stick one of these on an existing blister and it's like a tiny miracle. For anyone breaking in new boots on the trail, which, yes, I've been that person. Put these on and I finished the hike.
Band-Aid Brand Hydro Seal Bandages Blister Cushion
Shake some in your socks every morning. Kept my feet dry through a three-day backpacking trip in the Smokies when everything else I owned was damp.
Maximum Strength Medicated Foot Powder
Swipe this on your heels and toes before you lace up. Stopped a recurring blister problem I'd had for literally years. Wish someone had told me about this a decade ago.
Body Glide For Her Anti-chafe Balm ingredients (Explained)
Ditch cotton socks for camping immediately. I got a blood blister from wet cotton socks on a rainy hike and couldn't wear closed shoes for a week after. These dry fast and prevent that nightmare.
Hanes, Men's X-Temp Cushioned Crew Socks
Soak your feet at camp after a long day. Pour some in a collapsible bucket with warm water. My hiking partner thought I was being dramatic until she tried it and wouldn't shut up about it all weekend.
Equate Epsom Salt, Magnesium Sulfate, 128 oz (8lb)
Pain Relief and Medication I Always Carry
Headaches at altitude, sore muscles from sleeping on the ground, allergic reactions to things buzzing around your face. I learned the hard way that ‘I’ll be fine' is not a medication.
Bring a small bottle, not just two pills in a baggie. Altitude headaches hit me every time above 8,000 feet and I blew through my tiny stash by day one in Rocky Mountain.
Advil Ibuprofen Coated Tablets, 200mg 300 ea
Keep these accessible, not buried in your pack. A bee sting swelled my buddy's hand to twice its size at a campsite in Virginia and we spent 20 minutes digging through gear to find these.
Benadryl Ultratabs Antihistamine Cold & Allergy Relief
For the friend who insists on eating gas station sushi on the drive up. Also genuinely saved a trip when campfire-cooked chicken was slightly undercooked and my stomach declared war at 2 AM.
How long does it take for Pepto Bismol to work?
Slather this on mosquito bites before you scratch them raw. Spent one night in the Boundary Waters without it and woke up with my ankles looking like I'd lost a fight with a cactus.
Equate Hydrocortisone Cream, 1 oz, Compare to Cortaid®
Pack these if you're the type who gets tension headaches from dehydration or sun. Caught me slipping on a hot day in Zion when I forgot to drink enough water.
Excedrin, Extra Strength Caplets, Headache Relief
For anyone who gets carsick on winding mountain roads. The drive into Big Bend nearly ended our trip before it started until my wife popped one of these and finally stopped turning green.
Dramamine
Bug Bites, Burns, and Skin Protection
Got eaten alive by mosquitoes at dusk so many times I started dreading sunset. And sunburn at elevation is sneaky. You don't feel it until you're already lobster-red.
Spray this on before dusk and actually enjoy sitting by the fire. Switched from DEET sprays that made everything sticky and smelly. This one doesn't dissolve plastic gear either, which is a real concern.
Sawyer Products Premium 4oz Picaridin Insect Repellent
Dab this on a bite the second it happens. Way better than scratching until you bleed, which is exactly what I did on a canoe trip before I started carrying this.
After Bite The Itch Eraser Kids 0.7oz (Pack of 2)
Put this on even when it's cloudy. Got the worst sunburn of my life on an overcast day at 10,000 feet. My nose peeled for two weeks and my friends still bring it up.
Sun Bum Original SPF 50 Sunscreen Lotion
Bring a travel size for when you inevitably forget to reapply sunscreen. Cooled down a brutal shoulder burn I got kayaking and kept it from peeling as badly as it should have.
Banana Boat, Soothing After Sun Aloe Gel, 16 fl oz
Set one of these at your picnic table during dinner. Mosquitoes were carrying me away at a campground in Michigan until we lit two of these and finally ate in peace.
Repel Insect Repellent Triple Wick Citronella Candle
Use this on chapped lips, dry knuckles, minor burns, basically everything. Wind-chapped my entire face on a fall camping trip and this was the only thing that stopped the stinging overnight.
Aquaphor Healing Ointment- 1.75oz
Emergency Tools and Supplies That Saved Me
Hopefully you never need a tourniquet or an emergency whistle, but when your headlamp dies at midnight and you need to find the first aid kit, you'll be glad you thought ahead.
Toss this pre-packed kit in as your backup. Found mine at the bottom of my pack when I ran out of gauze on a group trip. It had just enough to get us through the last day.
Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight/Watertight .7 First Aid Kit
Use this as your main organized pouch. Everything has a labeled spot so you're not dumping out a bag in a panic. Pulled out butterfly closures in under ten seconds when my kid split his chin.
Surviveware Small First Aid Kit Review
Stuff a couple in every pack you own. Weighs nothing, takes up no space. Wrapped one around a shivering hiker we found on a trail in New Hampshire who had totally underestimated the temperature drop.
Swiss Safe Emergency Mylar Thermal Blankets Premium
Keep one specifically in your first aid kit. Tried treating a cut in the dark using my phone flashlight and it was a disaster. This clips right on and frees both hands.
Energizer Vision HD+ Focus LED Headlamp
Carry this if you hike anywhere east of the Mississippi. Pulled a deer tick off my leg with tweezers once and left the head in. This kit gets the whole thing out clean every time.
Tickcheck Tick Remover Kit, Stainless Steel ...
Wrap a rolled ankle tight enough to hobble back to the trailhead. Sprained mine two miles from the car last spring and this compression wrap was the only reason I made it back without being carried.
ACE Elastic Bandage with Clips, 4 Inches, 1-Count