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Create A Lightweight Hiking Survival Kit With A Grayl Water Filter
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Feb 3, 2024
Get your summer hiking survival gear ready for adventure. I go over the Grayl filter and why its a great option for hiking survival kits. Plus I go through everything I carry in my Maxpedition Jumbo Sling Pack. Fenix Headlamp: https://bit.ly/3K9wJzY Maxpedition Jumbo: https://bit.ly/3XWrIQO Grayl Water Filter: https://bit.ly/3DjY6TX Victorinox Rangergrip 78: https://bit.ly/3DjeVOP 5col Survival Supply Products Here: http://www.5col.com/?rfsn=504688.49256 Prepared Wanderer Patches and Stickers: https://thepreparedwanderer.bigcartel.com
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0:00
Today I want to show you a lightweight hiking kit that I put together that will get you
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through any situation on the trail, so stick around
0:24
I'm out hiking around today. It is a super hot, sticky evening, and I wanted to take you through a lightweight survival
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kit that I put together specifically for hiking, and it's all centered around the Grail water
0:42
bottle filter. These things are excellent, and I want to show you why exactly I love the Grail and
0:49
why it is becoming a staple in my hiking backwoods bags and kits
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And I'm going to show you everything that I carry in this bag right here
1:01
There's enough stuff in this bag that will get you through any kind of emergency situation
1:06
when you're out on the trail, and even if you have to spend the night on the trail
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especially for the summer months in the eastern woodlands, this kit is geared for it
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It will work perfectly, but maybe there's some things that you can apply to your area
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and your time frame, and hopefully that'll help you decide what you need to take when
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you're out and about. So the kit I've put together today is all based in this Maxpedition Jumbo
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The Jumbo has been around for a very, very long time. This is one of the versions that they came out with
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I'm not sure if they make this particular version, but they are still producing the
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Maxpedition Jumbo. They're still selling them. You can still find them on eBay. A good friend of mine gave me this one
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Fantastic, lightweight hiking bag for sure. It's even great for urban EDC, carrying it around town
2:00
But what I like about it is in the summer months, and I've talked about this in other
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videos, haversacks and shoulder bags for me work really well in the summer because they're
2:10
not overheating my back. They're easy to take on and off, and it also kind of limits me to the amount of stuff I
2:19
can carry, so I'm not over-carrying a bunch of gear. And that really was the point of putting this video together, is to show you that you can
2:26
put together a very lightweight, capable survival kit for hiking in the summer
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This is the UltraPress, which I think is the smaller one that they make
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I think it's like 16-something ounces. I'll have specs below. But if you haven't used Grails before, they are really well-suited towards hiking and
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day trips and travel. Not so much for extended backpacking trips because they are heavy and they don't filter
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a lot of water at once, but for emergency survival situations like this, when you're
3:07
out hiking and you may have to spend the night and you don't want to be hauling a
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ton of water with you, and you know there's water sources in the area, the Grail does
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perfect for that. Now, I'm going to show this in the video of how this thing works, how to fill it, and
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how quickly it filters water. So I have this disgusting frog pond for my water source, and getting to clean water
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it's going to be a little bit of a chore. There's not a lot close by without me getting in it
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There's this little puddle here, but you can see it's very, very muddy
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So ideally, it would be good to do some pre-filtering with this. Of course, there is all kinds of ooby-goobies floating around and mosquitoes
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I'm going to press that through. Nice and slow. I don't know if you're going to be able to see this, but look at the clear water that's
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coming out of this. That muddy mess that I got this water out of is completely filtered through, and now
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it's safe to drink. See there? There's all that silt and that mud
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So what I need to do is, I need to take this off. I need to rinse this in clean water when I get back home and make sure that this is all
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good and clean. Let that air dry, and I should be ready to go again
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Let's go through some of the survival items that I've got packed in here
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A couple of things that go in every kit, no matter where I'm at, I'm always going to have
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a Bic lighter and some Blistex or maybe some Burt's Bees, some kind of lip balm
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Chapped lips suck, and starting a fire is essential, so having ready-to-go items like
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this that I can get to quickly are really important. Up here, I have a new headlamp that I just got and I've started testing, and I've been
5:45
really impressed with this thing. Headlamps are so important and so much better than flashlights when you're out in the woods
5:55
hiking around. I think I've found my ultimate headlamp. This is the Fenix HW50R
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It's a very lightweight headlamp. You're able to charge it via USB, but the thing is, it's very bright
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It has just the settings that I need, not too many. What it has, what I consider probably one of the best features on a headlamp, is a red
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light mode. I talk about this all the time in all my videos
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There is just something fantastic about red light that it doesn't kill your night vision
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especially when you're trying to do any kind of land navigation, map reading
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It just helps with that, and of course, if you're in any kind of stealth situation, red
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light is the way to go. This has that in it, and it also has blinking capabilities, so there is some signaling capabilities
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What I like about this is, take this off the headband, and now I have a small, mini flashlight
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that I can use as a task light. And if I don't want to use the rechargeable battery, if I'm not mistaken, this will take
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a standard CR123 battery, which is a fantastic choice for headlamps and flashlights
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Way better than a AAA or a AA. A couple of items that I like to have with me, of course, is some type of first aid kit
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and it doesn't have to be extensive. You need something that's going to stop minor cuts and bleeds, scratches, punctures, things
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like that. So, having a variety of band-aids, alcohol prep pads, some iodine pads to clean the wound
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and sterilize it, a little bit of tape. Of course, I think it's really important to have some gauze pads
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Gauze pads with good tape is going to be able to cover up and protect large scrapes
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So if you fall and scrape up a knee or an elbow, you've got something that you can cover
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that with and keep it clean and control the bleeding. Also, if you have blisters, that helps with that
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You can tape that over a blister. Along with the items in my first aid kit, I have this little tick identification card
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Not sure where I've got this at, but I think it looks like I got this at Ohio State University
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But this is pretty handy just to tell kind of what's on you, what you've maybe been bitten by
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And then, of course, in the summer months, you really want a decent pair of tweezers
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And the little Leatherman tool here has a really nice set of metal tweezers and a pair
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of scissors so I can cut gauze or tape. So this goes in
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Another great multipurpose item is some type of duct tape. This can be utilized for making bandages, for treating blisters
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You can cover the heels of your foot with a little bit of gauze pad and create a nice
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cushion to protect your feet if you are experiencing blistering when you're hiking
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I love this duct tape now because it's blaze orange, so it's definitely something that
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can be used even in a signaling application. But for the life of me, I cannot remember where I got this thing, and I've had it for
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a while. But I think if you look around, you should be able to find something similar to this
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If I find something, I'll put a link down for you. But one item that I have shown and talked about in other videos, other kits, is a really
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great multipurpose piece of gear that is very inexpensive, super easy to find, and that
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is the Walmart Emergency Blue Tarp. It is a nylon cloth, so it's not the noisy, heavy, traditional nylon tarps that you find
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at Walmart. I think it's around 5 by 7, which is just right for hanging it as a lean-to or even
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creating an A-frame shelter. So it's enough to get you out of the weather, the rain
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And what I like to use it for primarily is I use it as a ground cloth all the time, lay
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it down if I want to sit on the grass somewhere, if I want to lay out stuff to look at, I
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can do that. So that's what I'm going to use it today for. I'm going to put this on the ground so I can start laying out contents of this kit and
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show you in a little bit more detail. But these things are super cheap
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I mean, I think they're like 9 something maybe, or 10, I can't remember exactly, but they're
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not expensive. And I've been able to find these at pretty much all the Walmarts that I go to in my area
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And if you can't find them at the store, just go to walmart.com, order them online
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They are available. But you know, this size of tarp folds down to nothing
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I mean, it fits in this bag. And what's nice about it is it does have grommets
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Now is this the most tough waterproof tarp out there? No, it's not
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But if you get one, spray it down with some silicone spray, treat the seams, you can reinforce
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the eyelets if you want to. But then you have a very nice lightweight option
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Bandana is always a helpful item to have. Multiple uses, we all know that
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Helps with water filtration, helps with blood control if you're bleeding, wipes sweat off
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your brow. And of course, orange is a great choice because then you can use this as a signaling flag
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if you do get stranded in the woods. So we've got that. Food
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Now in most situations, food is not really that important. And it's a little overemphasized by some people
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But if you're hiking, you're going to need calories because you're going to be expending
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a lot of sweat and energy and you're going to need food
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And food does not have to be very complex. Just some beef jerky, some meat sticks, and some energy protein bars is all you need
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And you don't need a lot of it, but this is enough trail snacks for a day out. And then if I do get stuck overnight, there's probably enough in here that's going to at
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least help. Of course, with this blue tarp, I need a way of securing it to a tree, setting it up
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So I have 550 cord, but I also carry Bankline. This little card here, I believe I got this from Tough Possum Gear
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These are great for winding up your Bankline and keeping it all secure and in one location
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So now I've got a way of setting up my tarp and making a nice shelter if I have to spend
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the night. Land navigation, super important. This is just a very basic base plate compass
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I have a pencil. I have a notebook. But I also have some grid readers that go with this notebook
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This is from Essie Knives. I always like to carry a spork no matter where I go, no matter what the situation is
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You just never know when you're going to have the ability to steal somebody's food or snacks
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But you'll see why I have a spork with this kit because it is going to come in handy
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And then just a ballpoint pen. But probably one of the most talked about items in a lot of kits, of course, is tools
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and knives. As outdoors people, we love our knives. I love knives
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I have hundreds of knives. But for a lightweight summer hiking kit, you don't really need a super big blade
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This Victorinox Ranger Grip is plenty big enough to do most tasks that I would need
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it to do for an overnight in the woods. And what's great about it is it has a couple tools that a lot of the other smaller Swiss
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Army Knives don't have. It has a really nice, decent sized saw, as well as, of course, the complement of can
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and bottle openers and screwdrivers, tools. Another item that's super important is having some way of thermoregulating your temperature
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keeping your body heat contained, keeping you warm in case you do get caught in a storm
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a rain storm. There's always these tragic cases of people out hiking in the summertime
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They're in flip flops and shorts and t-shirts. And then a cold front moves through, torrential downpour
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Now they are wet. They can't get back to where they needed to go
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They end up spending the night in the woods. And sometimes they pass away because they cannot regulate their heat
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They're losing heat rapidly. Their skin is cold and wet. And even in the summertime, this can happen
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There was a case in Missouri that was very tragic that happened. So it does happen
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And one of the items that we can have in our kits is a survival blanket. But this one from SOL is probably one of the better ones because it's a little bit larger
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it is in a resealable package, and it is windproof and waterproof
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So it's a fantastic item. There's no reason not to have this in your hiking kit
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Now this item, I'm pretty excited to show you guys because I think this is really the
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heart of the survival kit besides that grail. You know, having a metal container is super important
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You know, we're all familiar with the 5Cs, the 10Cs, and how the metal container is an
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item that does many things for us. It gives us the cook to purify water and to even create char material
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And I found this tin on Amazon. I've been super happy with it because it really fit a need that I've been looking for something
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that is lightweight, big enough to hold a variety of small items, survival type items
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but something that I could actually cook on. And I'm going to cut in some video of actually me using this with an S-bit stove
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It worked fantastic. This kit is very easy to find, inexpensive
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It is an anodized aluminum. So for an emergency situation, it's fine
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Doesn't weigh a lot, but it fits in this hiking bag perfectly. And what's nice about it is it does have a handle
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So now I can put that over a fire and get that off of the fire pretty easily
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It has a lid, which helps with boiling, but that lid can also be turned into a skillet
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But what's great about this kit is it holds a ton of stuff
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And when we're talking about survival gear and survival kits, this is what you want
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You don't want the little tiny Altoids tin kit that everybody used to put together back
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in the day. You want a mess tin and you want it full of good stuff that's going to help you
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And I've got all kinds of cool stuff in here. So first thing right off the bat, a nice quality ferro rod, an orange lanyard so I can find
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it if I drop it. And of course, with a ferro rod, you need a means of striking it
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So with this Swiss Army knife in particular, the saw blade is a great way to strike a ferro rod
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And let me show you real quick. So there's the saw. Now you got to be careful because if you put too much pressure on it, that saw is going
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to come back and close on you. But if you don't, you don't have to really put a ton of pressure to get it going
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And if you do it more towards the back of the mechanism, it should do fine
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But look at the sparks that come off of that, the back of that saw
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And I'm not putting a lot of pressure on it. So those two items together, you can get a fire going
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And of course, with a ferro rod, you should have some means of getting a fire going with
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some manmade materials. Now in here is a variety of stuff that I've tested and used over the years
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I've got these little tabs from Black and White Firestarter, a good company, and they
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are kind of petroleum-based, resin-based cotton. I also have some of these quick tenders that you find in a lot of different survival kits
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I think these might be from SOL. And then, of course, the fire tape, which is basically just a piece of paper material
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that has been impregnated with kind of a wax accelerant. So you take off a piece of this, you scrape it with your knife and hit it with a spark
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and it will start a fire. So I have several different ways of getting wood going to start a campfire
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Even though I'm carrying a grail, I am going to carry some whorl bags and water purification tablets
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I prefer the Katadyn tablets. I think they work the best and they tend to hold up really well in a kit
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They don't deteriorate very quickly. So fill up one of these with some water, drop in a tab, let it set for an hour or so, and
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you've got some purified water. Another thing you need to think about, of course, is signaling
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Now I've mentioned this before, signal mirrors are kind of an interesting thing to have in
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a survival kit, especially here in the eastern United States where there is just tons and
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tons of woodland. These are not very effective. You have to be out in an opening to signal to aircraft
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Helicopters and planes are not deployed very often in Ohio for search missions
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That just doesn't happen. It has to be a pretty big situation for something like that to occur
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But a signal mirror can be used to signal person to person
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So if I can see the sun and I can catch the sun with this, I could potentially signal
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to someone who is hiking towards me, who is looking for me
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So I can use it as a ground to ground signal. A little bit of emergency teepee, not a bad item to have
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Wire. Now, wire is an interesting item to carry. You have to know how to use it if you're going to do snares, and that's really not something
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I would worry about too much in most situations. But also it is a fantastic repair item
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You can hang things over fires. You can repair boots with the soles come loose
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I mean, there's just a lot of different things you can do with wire, so there's no reason not to have a little bit of wire with you
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Another item that I've put together and I like to carry is some of this Kevlar thread
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and then a couple good size needles and of course some safety pins
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That way if I have to repair my pants after I've torn them, you know, falling down or
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something, I can do that. Of course, if it was a really horrible, horrible emergency and I had to sew myself up, I guess
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I could do that. I certainly wouldn't want to, but that's a possibility, I guess
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I think sometimes we've watched a little too many Rambo movies in the 80s and we think
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we're going to sew up wounds and most people don't know how to do that and probably don't
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want to do that because the risk of infection is really high. A couple comfort items that I carry
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Since I have this kit to boil water and cook, I put some bouillon cubes
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These are calories, they are salt, they are good to have making a broth at night to keep
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you warm if you do get cold. And then, of course, a morale booster is some instant coffee
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Folger still makes these little singles, so throw these in my kit
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Of course, a whistle, super important. This is another SOL item. This is their Slim Rescue whistle
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These are great whistles. They don't take up a lot of room. They always work, so definitely have a whistle in your kit for signaling
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This is about the only wire saw that I have been using that actually, I think, does a
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good job. This is from 5 Call Survival Supply. These I think are found in some of the military aviation kits, but there's actual teeth on
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this thing. It's not just a piece of wire. And if they're used correctly, they do work in a pinch
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I wouldn't want to cut a lot of wood with them, but if you need to get something, a
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bigger piece of wood, you have that capability. Good old store matches, UCO store matches are fantastic
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You can find these all over the place, and they make these flat packs that you can buy
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that fit into kits perfectly. Here's an item that I just picked up recently, and I have not had a chance to experiment
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with this yet, but I've seen good results with these. This is from Grimm Survival Tools
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This little item actually has the ability to take found plastic water bottles and turn
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them into cordage. This is going to cut the water bottle as you pull it through and create long, thin
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pieces of plastic cordage. I need to do an experiment with these and actually show this in action, because I think
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a lot of people would be interested in this. But I think it's a cool little item to throw into a survival kit
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So further testing on this coming soon. A little signal panel, this is, I believe, another military issue type thing for aircraft survival
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And then a small magnifying glass, so I can actually use that to start a fire if I have
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to, but also it's great for map reading and looking at small cuts or ticks or things like
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that, getting stuff like that removed. It comes in pretty handy. And then I always like to have some ability to maintain a knife blade
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I think this is from EZ Lap or something like that. It's a sharpening card
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So it's a diamond card, and I think this is like the medium grit
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So I hope you found this video useful. Get out there, put together your kit, start hiking around with it, see what you like
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If you're a backpack kind of person, that's fine. Use a backpack if that's what you gravitate towards
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Of course, there's some really great hydration backpacks that have the ability to carry a
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lot of water, but make sure you have some type of way of filtering water with water
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that you've found in the area, because that's going to be key
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And make sure you have some type of way of covering yourself and doing that thermoregulation
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that we talk about, so you don't get caught in the rain and get yourself cold and then
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eventually expire. We don't want that to happen. There's no reason to
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You have the ability to make yourself safe. You are the only person who is responsible for yourself, so you need to take that responsibility
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seriously and get out there and enjoy yourself. So as always, thank you so much for watching my videos
26:25
Really appreciate it. Make sure you check out the affiliate links down below
26:29
A lot of good stuff down there. PreparedWanderer.com, lots of information. If you are interested in supporting the channel, one way you can do that is by purchasing a
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I ran out of those. They've been very popular. People really love these and have been asking for them
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I finally got new ones in stock. They are in the Big Cartel site, link down below for that
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It is growing leaps and bounds, lots of content, lots of people sharing, and I would love to
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So check that out, link's down below. As always, thanks for watching and we'll see you next time on the Prepared Wanderer
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