What are the top survival items your family needs for camping?
Photo by Brooks Rice on Unsplash
Camping is great, but being out in the wild means you have to think about some survival items to keep your family safe. The following are a few items you need to have.
Fire starters
Most folks that go camping take matches to help them start a fire. These are more than effective unless you get them wet. You never know what you’ll encounter when you’re camping, so the best idea is to get a fire starter. These spark devices work even if it’s raining. You want to know that you and your family can start a fire if they need to stay warm or to cook. Fire can even fend off animals should anyone need to do that.
Water filters
If there’s a spring near your campsite, then your family should be able to drink from it, but this is not always the case. The spring you find could be contaminated, which a testing kit can reveal to you. There may not even be a spring near you, but you might find other bodies of water. A person can survive without food for weeks but only a few days without water, so you need to make sure your family can filter water if they need to.
The good thing is you don’t need a huge machine to filter water. Your family just needs a straw water filter. Teach your family all about straw water filters so that they know how to use them. These work great with freshwater sources.
Hand ax or saw
You should bring along a hand saw or an ax. You also need to make sure everyone knows how to use these tools. These are relatively small but can be quite useful in a survival situation. An ax or a camping hatchet could make it easier to cut down branches to build a fire or shelter if the need arises.
The ax or saw could also prove helpful should a wild animal threaten your family’s lives. Most of the time, these types of tools are relatively inexpensive.
Headlamp
Darkness is going to fall, and it can get dark out in the woods or a forest. You don’t want your family to be without light. Sure, fire can help, but your family should also have a headlamp. The choice is yours regarding the type of headlamp you get.
Some run on batteries that last for a few days, while others have rechargeable batteries. Rechargeable batteries won’t do much good unless you bring a generator or a solar-powered generator with you on your trip.
Compass
Most people use their smartphones to get around, which is sort of reliable but not always. As you get further away from civilization, you may notice that your smartphone is not too useful because the signal gets lost. Sometimes, you have to use a compass, so be sure everyone in your family has one because your family could split up for some reason.
It should be waterproof and glow in the dark, just in case it has to be used at night. Now, just because your family has a compass, doesn’t mean they know how to use it. You want to teach everyone how to use this tool, and they should know where to go should something happen during the family trip.
First aid
As careful as your family might be while camping, accidents can happen, and you need to prepare for that possibility. Ideally, your family can already do things like give CPR, but if that is not the case, it would be wise to learn before you go camping.
Additionally, don’t forget to pack a first aid kit, and learn how to use everything in the kit. Go through various emergencies with your family so that they feel confident using this kit. You never know when you might have to treat a wound when you’re camping. If anyone slips or suffers an animal attack, you’ll need some emergency helpers.
You and your family have everything you might need while camping to keep yourselves as safe as possible. Hopefully, your family doesn’t have to use all of this, but it’s best to be safe.