Whenever we leave for a hike, we bring our daypack with us. It has standard items in it, and we add to it depending on how long we anticipate being gone, and the weather.
We have two day packs from Eddie Bauer. An Adventure 30L and a Stowaway Packable 20L. If we only need one daypack, we grab the 30L one and it's packed with all of our standard must haves. If we're going to be gone longer, or it looks like it could rain, then we grab both.
In our standard daypack:
Waterproof first aid kit
Sunscreen
Water
Snacks
Hand sanitizer
Small zip lock bag for trash
Hand wipes (with kids this are so handy!)
Lightweight rain coats
Compass
Maps (I bring topographic maps for longer hikes in addition to the park maps)
Flashlight
Small knife
Lighter
Whistle
Bear spray (when in bear country)
Hats
Facial tissues
Sunglasses
In our additional daypack:
Warmer clothes and/or the space to put warmer clothes as we worm up
Additional water
Comments