First Aid Essentials For Backpacking And Hiking

If you are taking any sort of backpacking or hiking adventure - regardless of whether it will be a short one or a long one - you should make sure you have some basic first aid supplies with you. After all, when you are out on the trail, you never know what might happen to you; and the last thing you want is to find yourself in the middle of nowhere without the supplies that you need!

It will not be unusual for you to end up needing some pain relief, so two of the most important things for you to bring with you will be asprin and ibuprofen. Additionally, some sort of ointment or cream for soothing bug bites and burns is extremely useful.

Of course, you are probably already aware of the fact that you will want to bring bandages with you, but you may not realize just how far you should go to prepare in this area. Not only should you have basic bandages, but you should also have other bandages - such as butterfly bandages and eye bandages - for anything you might encounter. Furthermore, you should also have some sort of disinfectant cream with you, as well as alcohol swabs, so that you can clean cuts and abrasions before applying bandages.

Any good first aid kit should also have things that are intended to protect you from the sun - and from sun damage. Not only is sunscreen a must, but you also ought to have some sort of lip balm and skin cream that can soothe any pain the sun has inflicted upon you.

You also never know when you will have to "put ice on something," so cooling packs are also good to bring with you. With a cooling pack, you will be able to put ice on something even when you have no ice around you.

There are a lot of less basic, more specialized materials that are useful to have - in addition to these basic materials - in your first aid kit. And a great thing to do instead of trying to pack an entire first aid kit yourself is to spend $20 on the first aid kit from First Aid Only, and to then have everything you could possibly need!