A hiking first aid kit for remote trails should cover six jobs: control bleeding, clean and cover wounds, treat blisters, support sprains and fractures, manage cold and heat, and call for help. Most kits stop there. If help is hours away, add a seventh: a way to move an injured partner who can't walk.
A kit is only as good as the person using it. Pack it, learn it, and take a wilderness first aid course before the trip that needs it.
The hiking first aid kit checklist
| Job | What to pack |
|---|---|
| Bleeding | Nitrile gloves, gauze pads, roller gauze, a pressure bandage. A tourniquet if you are trained to use one. |
| Wounds | Adhesive bandages in several sizes, wound closure strips, antiseptic wipes, an irrigation syringe, medical tape. |
| Blisters | Moleskin or blister dressings, athletic or zinc oxide tape. |
| Sprains and fractures | Elastic wrap, a moldable splint, triangular bandage for a sling. |
| Medication | Pain reliever, antihistamine, and any personal prescription medication, with enough for an unplanned night out. |
| Cold and heat | Emergency blanket or bivy, spare warm layer, electrolyte mix. |
| Tools | Trauma shears, tweezers, headlamp, whistle, pencil and paper for patient notes. |
| Communication | A satellite messenger or personal locator beacon where there is no cell service. Phone and battery. |
| Moving the patient | A lightweight litter, such as the Pocket Litter, for moving a partner who can't walk to a spot rescuers can reach. |
Adjust the kit to the trip
- Distance from help. The further out you are, the more you need to treat, shelter and move a patient yourself.
- Group size. Scale consumables like bandages and medication to the group. Groups can share one larger kit plus a small personal kit each.
- Season and terrain. Cold trips need more insulation. Scree, snow and river crossings raise the odds of falls and lower-leg injuries.
- Trip length. Overnight trips need enough for an unplanned extra night.
What most hiking kits leave out
A twisted knee, a broken ankle or a back injury can leave a partner unable to walk. Calling for help is step one. But the injury rarely happens in a good place: in a creek bed, on a talus slope, under a cliff or in dense trees where a helicopter can't land and a SAR team will take hours to reach.
Sometimes the right call is to stay put. Sometimes staying is the bigger risk: rising water, rockfall, falling temperatures, or a clearing a short distance away where a helicopter can pick up. For those cases you need a way to move the patient without making the injury worse.
Improvised options, like dragging by the arms or rigging a tarp, give the spine no protection. Full rescue litters built for team carries are too heavy and bulky for a daypack. That is the gap the Pocket Litter was built for: 2.5 lb, about the weight of a full 1-liter water bottle, with stiffeners that support the spine while one person drags a partner to safety.
How to evacuate an injured hiker
- Make the scene safe. Don't create a second patient.
- Call for help early. Use a satellite messenger, PLB or phone. Give your location and the injury.
- Treat and protect. Control bleeding, splint, and insulate the patient from the ground and weather.
- Decide: stay or move. Stay unless the location is dangerous or a nearby spot is much easier for rescuers to reach.
- If you move, protect the spine. Use a litter, keep movements slow and controlled, and move only as far as needed.
- Mark your location for the helicopter or SAR team and keep the patient warm while you wait.
Get trained before you need it
A kit without training is a bag of supplies. A weekend Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course covers assessment, bleeding control, splinting, and the stay-or-go decision. Guides and trip leaders often go further with the Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course. Practice with your gear, including the litter, before the trip that needs it.
Add the missing piece
A 2.5 lb litter that lets you move a partner who cannot walk to where help can reach you.
Pocket Litter for the backcountry →Frequently asked questions
What should be in a hiking first aid kit?
Gloves, gauze and a pressure bandage for bleeding, adhesive bandages and closure strips for wounds, blister care, an elastic wrap and splint, basic medications, an emergency blanket, trauma shears, a headlamp and whistle, a way to call for help, and for remote trips a lightweight litter to move a partner who cannot walk.
How big should a hiking first aid kit be?
Big enough for your distance from help, group size and trip length. A day hike near a trailhead needs less than a multi-day trip deep in the backcountry, where you may have to treat, shelter and move a patient for hours.
Should I carry a tourniquet hiking?
A tourniquet is the fastest way to stop life-threatening bleeding from a limb, but only if you know how to use it. Take a course, then carry one.
How do you carry an injured hiker out?
First call for help and decide whether moving is safer than staying. If you must move, use a litter that supports the spine, keep the move short and controlled, and head for a spot a helicopter or SAR team can reach. The Pocket Litter lets one person drag a partner to that spot.
Does the Pocket Litter replace calling for help?
No. It is how you get your partner to a safer, more reachable spot while help is on the way.
Sources
General information, not medical advice. Get hands-on training from a qualified instructor before you need these skills.