Series

One of the most important aspects of outdoor adventures is selecting the right gear. When those adventures require you to trust your gear with your life, those choices become even more significant. Learning from your own personal experience is the most important factor in determining gear loadouts.

Which gear items didn’t you use? Why not? Did you choose a different way to accomplish the task for which the item was to be used? Was the function of the gear item not needed? Could it be in the future? Was the gear item a luxury that added needless weight? Of the gear items you used, which could be altered or improved upon?

Nevertheless, learning from the experience of others is also important in designing your loadouts, especially to help you from forgetting important items and to help you consider gear that is only necessary in a rare but dangerous emergency situation. To help the outdoor adventurer create proper loadouts, various mnemonic systems have been devised, including the Ten C’s.

The system was created by Dave Canterbury of the Pathfinders School. He is a survival expert who starred in the television show Dual Survival on the Discovery Channel and is well-known and respected in the bushcraft and prepper communities. For anyone interested in bushcraft and wilderness survival, I recommend checking out his YouTube channel or purchasing his book 420278276517265473:Bushcraft 101. I especially appreciate that his advice comes from experience in the field where he has actually tried and tested his techniques. His framework is most commonly applied by bushcrafters who are honing their survival skills, but it also helpful to others to ensure they have essential survival gear in case of an emergency. It was originally presented at the five categories, but was later expanded to ten.

The Ten C’s, in no particular order, are as follows: a cutting edge, a combustion device, cover, a container, cordage, a candling device, cargo tape, a canvas needle, a cotton bandana, and a compass. Despite some contrived naming to force a memorable mnemonic, the Ten C’s is a great framework for choosing survival items that are difficult to reproduce in the wild with natural materials. A loadout of gear items that satisfies the Ten C’s (along with some bushcraft knowledge) goes a long way in terms of prolonging one’s survival in the wilderness.

ESSENTIAL CATEGORIES

A CUTTING EDGE is one of the most vital tools one needs to survive in the wilderness. Although one could complete a week-long backpacking trip without ever using a knife if the entire trip proceeded as planned (perhaps using a small, folding scissors instead of a knife), a knife is important if anything should go wrong. I would recommend the cutting edge to be a knife that is standalone (not merely part of a multitool), full tang (the blade extends all the way through to the end of the handle), and made of high-carbon steel with a 90-degree spine (so the back of the knife can be used with a ferrocerium rod to start a fire). It should also be large enough to baton wood with it if necessary.

A COMBUSTION DEVICE is necessary to start a fire in the wilderness. Fires can provide warm and protection, can purify water, and can cook food. Many areas in the Western United States have fire restrictions for much of the year to prevent forest fires. Under such conditions, backpackers often use backpacking stoves (depending on where you are, a permit may be required) to boil water and to cook food. If your stove doesn’t have a built-in ignition, then you will need a flame to ignite your stove. Under this scenario, you might opt to choose a Bic lighter to be your combustion device; it would be a better choice than a ferro rod. Under normal conditions, the lighter could ignite your stove; under emergency conditions, it could light a fire much more quickly than a ferro rod. Nevertheless, since starting a fire is so important, you might opt to have a redundant combustion device – a lighter and a ferro rod with a striker.

COVER refers to something to protect yourself from the elements. For most hikers and backpackers, this means protection from rain in otherwise fair summer weather; think ponchos, rain jackets and pants, pack covers, tarps, etc. A good choice for a cover could be a military style poncho that you could wear over yourself and your pack while on the move or could be used with your cordage to create a tarp shelter while at rest.

A CONTAINER refers to a container with very specific properties: it ought to be able to carry water and to be heated on an open fire to boil water. Although an aluminum or titanium backpacking mug can do both tasks, they are poor choices since they cannot be closed and packed away for transport. Instead, select a canteen or a single-walled aluminum bottle (warning: never heat an insulated, i.e., double-walled, bottle on fire). If you plan to use chemical purification tablets as a primary or secondary means to purify water for drinking, you might consider selecting a bottle that is about 32 oz. or 1 liter in size, or in the very least a multiple of 16 oz. Chemical purification tablets are typically sized so that 1 tablet treats either 16 oz or 32 oz. An alternative might be a plastic container that cannot be heated on a fire but contains a built-in water filter, such a Grayl filter. In areas under fire restrictions, a water filter will likely be your primary way of making water safe to drink, with stove boiling or chemical tablets being redundancies.

CORDAGE refers to any type of cord – string, twine, rope, etc. The most popular cordage used is standard 550 parachute cord, aka. 550 cord or paracord. The 550 means it has a strength rating of 550 pounds. It is possible to find paracord with other strength ratings. Paracord is comprised of multiple strands that can be exposed and used separately once the outer sheath is removed. Specialized paracord might also contain other internal strands that could be useful, such fishing line. Paracord should not be used for climbing. Although 550 lbs could support human body weight, the outer sheath makes it impossible to know whether any of the internal strands are damaged. Nevertheless, it is often stronger than necessary for typical camp and bushcraft tasks. As such, #36 bank line (3 twisted strands of tarred twine with a total strength rating of about 320 lbs) is increasingly used by those in the bushcraft community. For the same weight, much more line can be had using bank line instead of paracord.

A CANDLING DEVICE refers to any device that will produce light, not merely a candle. In fact, I don’t recommend a candle as your candling device. There are uses for candles – as a flame extender, as a secondary light, as a source of warmth used inside a space blanket that is wrapped around you, etc.; but better options are available for lighting. In terms of a light source, the best gear choice is a headlamp. It provides a mobile light without constraining your hands like a lantern or flashlight does (please note that the retention clips of some small flashlights will have a double bend in them; the first bend allows them to be clipped in a pocket as is standard, and the second bend allows them to be clipped to the brim of a ball cap to function hands-free). Surprisingly, bushcrafters commonly use a quality contemporary headlamp despite the rest of their gear items appearing as if they were from the 1800s. If your headlamp is powered by traditional AAA batteries, be sure to bring extra batteries. Some newer headlamps are USB chargeable, and some on the market can be powered either way; a rechargeable headlamp might be preferable if you are already bringing a power bank for your other electronic devices.

CARGO TAPE – a contrived way of referring to duct tape while maintaining the C mnemonic, has a variety of uses in a survival situation, such as making bandages, patching rips in your cover, extending flames, substituting for cordage, etc. It is difficult to create a substitute for duct tape from the natural environment, so it ought to be part of your gear loadout.

A CANVAS NEEDLE is a large needle that can be used for making repairs and creating items out of natural materials. The functionality it provides compared to its negligible weight and size makes it an ideal loadout item. Be sure the eye of your needle is large enough that a single strand from your bank line or paracord can be threaded through it.

A COTTON BANDANA is a simple piece of cloth with many uses. It has a variety of first aid uses, such as in bandages, wraps, and slings. It can be used to strain water gathered from a natural source to keep out debris before boiling it. It can be worn to block the sun, to keep cool, or to filter out dust in the air. If it is a color that contrasts with the natural environment, such as a bright orange that contrasts against green foliage, it can be used for emergency signaling or for marking a trail anchor point. The cloth ought to be cotton (or some natural fiber) so that it could be used to make char cloth.

A COMPASS is the primary device needed to navigate in the wilderness. Even if you are lost and without a map, a compass can be used in a variety of ways; in an environment with limited view of the sky and horizon and without features that can be used as rails, e.g. no rivers or creeks, no mountain peaks, no fences, no roads, etc., relying on your own sense of direction will cause you to walk in circles (yes, you will). There are a few things you ought to consider when selecting your compass: it ought to be a handheld compass – a button compass is practically worthless due to its low quality (similar information could be gleaned from an analog watch); it ought to have a mirror – the mirror is helpful in taking bearings, and it can also be used for emergency signaling and for performing first aid on yourself (I’ve never seen a first aid kit come with a mirror, which is absolutely necessary for a proper first aid kit). Lastly, as with all essential gear items, consider spending more money than average to get a quality item. Essential items are used in all gear loadouts – from two-hour-long day hikes to weeks-long overlanding expeditions and everything in-between.

Comparing the Ten C’s to a more wildly adopted system – the Ten Essentials, you’ll see that there are both conceptual similarities and differences. For instance, similar to the Ten C’s, the tools system of the Ten Essentials will contain a cutting edge and its navigation system will include a compass. However, other aspects of the Ten C’s are markedly different from the Ten Essentials. The First Aid and Sun Protection systems of the Ten Essential are completely absent in the Ten C’s. To provide the functionality of a bandage, someone using the Ten C’s would likely use a knife, a cotton bandana, and cargo tape to create a makeshift bandage. The Ten Essentials has been devised to create a more complete gear loadout, while the Ten C’s are more minimalist – allowing for smaller and lighter loadouts that lack the comfort provided by a Ten Essentials-based loadout.

For my own trips, I design my loadouts to satisfy both systems. Starting with the Ten Essentials, I choose items that I think I will need if my trip proceeds in a fairly typical manner; then I assess the gear I have selected against the Ten C’s, and add any items still missing, focusing on what I might need in an emergency.

I am currently designing a new, modular system of loadouts for use with a variety of activities. I want to eliminate needless gear and any unintentional redundancies in order to save weight and money. Since I don’t limit myself to just one activity, e.g. I don’t just go on day hikes or just go on car camping trips, I need loadouts that satisfy many activities. My strategy has been to make all my loadouts to be proper subsets of other loadouts – or at least to the greatest degree I can. My smallest loadout is my Everyday Carry (EDC) Loadout – which is basically all the gear I normally have on my person. This loadout is highly based on the Ten C’s, but will also include more mundane items that are superfluous in the wild, such as a floss pick. One level up from EDC is my local hiking loadout designed for short hikes near my house; it’s comprised of items chosen solely to meet the needs of these hiking trips, as well as all items from my EDC loadout. Depending on the item, gear from my EDC loadout will either be a primary item in the hiking loadout (like a pair of sunglasses from my EDC) or a redundant backup (such as the cordage from my EDC). My local hiking loadout also serves as my get home bag, since in my case (this might not be true for you) the gear required in both loadouts is nearly identical (a get home bag is a gear loadout kept in your vehicle designed to help you get home if a situation prevents you from continuing home using your vehicle). Additionally, since I need to film videos during hikes, by adding a few more items to the loadout, it can also serve as my remote work loadout.

Since I own a lot of gear, I have a second hiking loadout, independent of the first, for hiking in remote locations that have different needs from my local area. A step up from my hiking loadouts is my backpacking loadout, which includes the entire remote hiking loadout plus additional items. Lastly, I also have a truck camping / overlanding loadout, which includes the backpacking loadout plus additional items. I have also created a few other specialty loadouts as well, such as those for backcountry fishing or hunting.

To see an example of how the Ten C’s can be used to create a gear loadout, please check out my loadout articles. To learn more about the Ten Essentials, please check out the learning series article.

Now that you’ve felt the call of the wild, its beckoning you to adventure, you need to select gear for your loadout. For those new to outdoors activities and for those whose adventures tend toward the extreme, choosing the right gear can be overwhelming. What do you need if your trip goes according to plan? What if there is a problem? What potential problems do you need gear to mitigate, and which risks do you simply accept?

Over the course of decades, countless hikers, backpackers, mountaineers, and others have been defining and redefining the necessary equipment through trial and error. In the 1930s, a non-profit community called the Mountaineers created an original list of ten essential gear items they recommended having in the wilderness; they formalized the list in 1974. Since its initial inception, the original list has evolved to become ten categories or systems of gear items. This framework is well regarded by outdoor adventure groups and experts today, and it is recommended by the US National Parks Service. The question What gear do I need? is asked before any outdoor adventure. The Ten Essentials can help you answer; it’s a starting point when thinking of the gear necessary to mitigate or eliminate the risks posed by the wild.

In alphabetical order (based on the system names used in this article; other authors may use other variants), the ten systems are as follows: clothing, fire, first aid, food, illumination, navigation, shelter, sun protection, tools, and water. I’ll provide a brief overview of each category, but won’t providing specific gear recommendations, as they are beyond the scope of this article (please check out my gear reviews, comparisons, and loadouts sections for articles with recommendations). Before I close, I’ll address some limitations you need to be mindful about when applying the Ten Essentials framework to your own loadout design.

ESSENTIAL CATEGORIES

The CLOTHING SYSTEM concerns anything that is worn to protect you from the environment. Of course, this will depend upon the expected conditions. Often, this aspect of the loadout is referred to as extra clothing or insulation, instead of simply clothing. The expectation is that you, independently from a Ten Essentials analysis, will have already selected clothes for your loadout. With this understanding, the system is “extra clothes,” meaning clothes you do not plan on wearing, but might have to wear should an emergency arise. This could be rain gear, a fleece jacket, a wool hat, etc. For my own hiking loadout for desert outings near my house in warm weather, this means an extra tee shirt and an extra pair of socks. If I end up resting for an extended period in the middle of my hike, I will change into these clothes; resting in sweaty clothes can get cold and restarting a hike in fresh clothes makes hiking more comfortable.

The FIRE SYSTEM contains items necessary for starting a fire. This could be a gear item that sparks, a flame, a flame extender, tinder that will accept a spark, etc. Since fire starting gear is generally small and lightweight, and since the ability to start a fire is so important, most people will add redundant fire-starting items to their loadouts. In all my loadouts, a Zippo lighter is my primary flame source, and I have a Bic lighter as a backup. Sometimes I tether the Bic to lip balm by paracord and attached with duct tape; inside the lip balm cap I’ll have placed a piece of cotton ball that is infused with petroleum jelly. In this “Ranger lighter” setup, I will have the lighter to create a flame, duct tape and lip balm to be used as flame extenders, and a petroleum jelly infused cotton ball to be used as tinder that will accept a spark – which can be lit from the Bic lighter’s flint even if the lighter is completely empty of butane. To allow for additional redundancy in my fire system, I often also include a ferrocerium rod (with its own striker), and a fire-starter that accepts a spark that is stored in a container that could be used with my cotton bandana or cotton shemagh to create char cloth.

The FIRST AID SYSTEM that you create for your loadout will be highly dependent on what activity you are doing and your skill level. For instance, a seasoned adventurer might design a minimalist first aid kit with the intention that he or she will create first aid items from nature or from other gear items, e.g., creating bandages from a cotton bandana and cargo tape. Beginners (and probably most others as well) will benefit from purchasing pre-assembled first aid kits in which all standard necessary gear is already provided. One should select these based on your activity and the number of people the kit is supposed to serve. Those with health issue might need to include additional items, such as prescription medications. As you gain more experience and increase your outdoor skills, you can modify these pre-assembled kits to serve your needs. For instance, I often remove most of the boo-boo first aid supplies, such as most of the Band-Aids. I will bring only a few, as I can create my own if needed. I mostly care about serious injuries and want to limit my gear to things I cannot create myself. I want to bring chemicals to disinfect, to clean wounds, to treat burns, and to treat illness. However, I will make sure to take moleskin and first aid items (including a nail clipper) that concern minor injuries or comfort if they concern my feet. Additionally, I also care about my face and eyes, so I will also pack a small bottle of saline solution for my eyes, a tweezers, and a mirror (pre-assembled first aid kits never seem to supply a mirror – this is necessary for survival; please consider adding a dedicated first aid mirror, a signaling mirror, or a mirrored compass so that you have a mirror for first aid purposes). For a detailed listing of my first aid system contents, please check out any of my loadout articles.

The FOOD SYSTEM is also going to depend upon the activity you are doing and for how long. Like the clothing system, the food system is often thought of in terms of extra food. Typically, you will already have decided what you will eat during your activity. For a day hike, you might plan on eating nothing; or perhaps you plan to bring trail mix or even leftover pizza from the previous night. For short hikes, weight is almost irrelevant, and there is little worry of food going bad. As such, there are a range of food options. For long backpacking trips, your food systems choices narrow significantly. Weight, spoilage, and food prep options (such as stoves and fuels, etc.) become significant factors. Nevertheless, extra food is simply that – food you plan to bring with you that is more than you plan to eat. This is emergency food. Typically, I will pack an additional half-day or full day of calories in the form of energy bars and energy drink mixes that do not need to be cooked or combined with boiled water. One can survive for several weeks without food, so please note that extra food is primarily for morale purposes (if you have special health issues related to the food system, such as diabetes, those issues ought to be taken seriously – those are not a morale issue, they are a first aid issue). Overtime you can hone how much food you ought to take with you.

The ILLUMINATION SYSTEM is what you will depend upon to see after the sun has gone down. In remote areas without light pollution from nearby cities, it will get very dark at night. The primary gear item for illumination is the headlamp. They are preferable to flashlights because they allow for hands-free movements. In all my hiking and backpacking loadouts, I carry a rechargeable headlamp. I will already be bringing a power bank and charging cables to charge my other electronics, so I the rechargeable headlamp allows me to forego bringing spare batteries. Additionally, I also often pack a rechargeable flashlight. If you aren’t planning to go to bed at sunset, you might also want some sort of lantern. For backpacking trips, I also bring a lantern – either a solar powered inflatable lantern or a gas lantern that can attach to my stove’s fuel canisters. For overlanding, I also have other battery powered lanterns and candles.

The NAVIGATION SYSTEM is everything you need to orient yourself during your adventure. For most people, the primary means of navigation is a compass and map. A more advanced (and expensive) way to navigate is with a GPS device. Additional items could include a notebook and pen, a watch, pace beads, and potential flagging material – a colored bandana that contrasts with the environment, flagging tape, etc. In all my backpacking and overlanding loadouts (sometimes in a hiking loadout), I include a GPS device that has satellite messaging capabilities. Of all my gear, the satellite messenger is the most important since it allows me to send an SOS message to rescuers even if I’m totally off grid. That means in any emergency short of an apocalyptic scenario, I should be able to be rescued (although I will also need gear that will sustain me until rescuers arrive). Since the satellite messenger is also a GPS device, I ought to use my GPS device as my primary means of navigation. However, I enjoy traditional navigation and typically choose to use it instead of GPS. My traditional navigation setup contains a mirrored compass, maps (in Ziplock bags), pace beads, a watch, a write-in-the-rain notebook, a write-in-the-rain pen, a mechanical pencil, an orange bandana, and a hank of #36 bank line.

The SHELTER SYSTEM is important for all loadouts, including loadouts for short hikes that could turn into an overnight experience in an emergency. Typically, shelter systems for adventures with intentional overnight camping contain gear such as tents, rainflies, tent stakes or poles, hammocks, quilts, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, ground cloths, etc. For any loadout, a shelter system ought to feature something to sleep on, something to sleep in, and something to sleep under. For my lightest hiking loadouts, I include a plastic contractor/lawn bag to contain insulation gathered from nature to sleep on, an emergency bivy bag to sleep in, and an emergency space blanket with bank line to create a tarp shelter to sleep under. I also include an emergency poncho in case of inclement weather. In my loadout for hiking in a non-local area, i.e. not the desert, I add a military poncho and a pre-configured paracord ridgeline with toggles that can be used to quickly create a tarp shelter. If my day hike is in an especially remote area – such as hiking from a base camp during an overlanding trip, I convert the military poncho and ridgeline into a more substantial ranger roll-like setup that contains a waterproof ground sheet, an inflatable sleeping pad, and a poncho liner/sleeping bag.

The SUN PROTECTION SYSTEM is the gear you take with you to protect from the sun. This is important year-round, not merely in the summer. High on mountain slopes, one can get sunburn or suffer from snow blindness due to the bright sunlight reflecting off the snow. For sun protection, consider clothing that covers your skin, sunscreen and SPF-rated lip balm that can protect your skin, hats with brims, shemaghs or scarves that can be wrapped around your head or neck, and sunglasses. Also consider any potential trip specific needs. For instance, if you are camping in the desert in the summer, you might consider a tarp or umbrella for shade (note: you might need to use trekking poles to prop up your tarp if there are no trees in the area). Additionally, although shemaghs are not traditionally part of western fashion, they are a multi-function piece of gear that you might seriously consider adding to your loadout.

The TOOLS SYSTEM contains all the gear that facilitates the functioning of your other gear or can repair your other gear. For instance, if your loadout contains a survival knife or a multitool, it would be part of your tools system. If you have a small patch kit to repair a hole in your inflatable sleeping pad, it too would be part of your tools system. Common items in tools systems include survival knifes, multitools, scissors, paracord, duct tape, etc. For me, I would prefer to bring more tools and fewer function specific items – and plan that I will use my engineering ingenuity to create what I need if necessary. For a complete list of the tools I use, check out the articles on my specific loadouts.

The WATER SYSTEM, much like the clothing system and the food system, is often thought of as extra water. For long term trips, you will be unable to carry with you all the water you will need unless you are in a vehicle. Therefore, you ought to bring with you some way to make water from the natural environment safe for drinking. This often entails utilizing gear that allows specialized filtering, chemical purifying, or boiling. This gear can be used on shorter adventures, though it might be easier to simply bring the water you expect to consume, plus some extra water in case of an emergency. This is especially true if there will be no readily available water sources. In all my loadouts, I prioritize making my water potable through filtration as my primary method, followed by either boiling (if I have a stove with me) or chemical treatment (if I don’t have a stove). When planning your water system, please consider any fire restrictions or toxic algae blooms that may be present at your destination.

LIMITATIONS

The Ten Essentials framework does not address all relevant factors, nor could it. There are factors to consider that are particular to you and your trip that cannot be addressed by a general framework, such as the type of trip and its planned activities; the destination and its topography, climate, and weather; local laws and restrictions; and your skill level and physical limitations, as well as those of others in your group. I also recommend visualizing your entire trip from beginning to end to see whether there is some gear item you might have forgotten. Nowhere in the Ten Essentials is any mention of hygiene items like hand sanitizer, toilet paper, or tampons. Neither does it mention any communication device, such as a satellite messenger, which I consider the single most essential item. A whistle and signaling mirror would also be good additions.

Whether you are using the Ten Essential Systems or another paradigm to facilitate your loadout planning, please remember they are only aids to help you. They are not a substitute for your own thinking. If you are new to outdoor adventures, please consider immersing yourself slowly, such as by getting comfortable going on day hikes in your local area before attempting a weekend backpacking trip, and consider joining a group with experienced members who can help you develop the knowledge and skills you need. Of course, you will find our other Hobb App content helpful as well.

To see an example of how the Ten Essential Systems can be used to create a loadout, please check out a hiking or backpacking article in the loadouts section.