Have you ever been caught searching for the perfect gift for the outdoor enthusiast? Or maybe you're the adventurer seeking new, affordable gear for your next exploit. Craig Natural Medic and I have your back with a list of last-minute gifts that are practical and highly affordable. We're talking about everything from the nifty Gerber Dime multi-tool to a flexible headlamp and a collapsible fire blower. Plus, because we care about your well-being, we've included health and safety essentials like sunscreen, a first aid kit, electrolyte tablets, and a water bottle. And the best part? We've linked each of these items in the description for your convenience.
We get close and personal with these items, discussing their features and sharing our first-hand experiences using them. We don't just stop at the tools and gear, though. We also delve into the art of gifting and how you can thoughtfully match these gifts to the recipient's specific interests and needs. We wrapped up our conversation by discussing a few bonus items, including a portable charger and a waterproof phone case. So, why wait? Join us on this enlightening journey of gift-giving, and remember to hit that subscribe button for more content like this. Happy shopping and even more joyful gift-giving!
Hello there! My name is Craig thenaturalmedic. On this podcast, I help you build skills, understand gear choices, and review trip destinations in a budget-friendly manner to help you enjoy the outdoors safely. I primarily focus on hiking and backpacking, but I am certainly not limited to those topics. Instead, I try to give you the best possible information based on my experiences and opinions from my decades of outdoor adventure travel. Thanks for being here!
I try to keep active on social media in addition to my podcast. Plus, you can find my support links here: https://campsite.to/thenaturalmedicadventures
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Hey, what's up everybody. This is Craig Natural Medic, with a last minute gift guide for that outdoor person in your life. Maybe you're that outdoor person and you're trying to find some stuff that you'd like to get for yourself for this gift giving season. Let's get started on some items that are useful and not too expensive. This list is set up so that the items are around $25. Some will be quite a bit less, some will be a little bit above $25. But everything is going to be linked in the description below so you can check those out and you still got time to order. Without further ado, let's get started.
Speaker 1:
The first item I want to talk about is the Gerber Dime. The Gerber Dime is a very small, compact, little multi-tool. It's got pliers on there, scissors, knife, etc. I've been carrying this around in my pack for a couple of years now and they're very handy. They're not very heavy it weighs just a couple of ounces and you don't need a full-size knife or a full-sized Leatherman or Gerber tool. You can just use this and it will get most of your repair jobs done or be hanging out in your pack in case you need to repair your job.
Speaker 1:
The next thing is a Write in the Rain Universal Notebook. I've been carrying this one around for a little bit. As you can see, I haven't written in it yet. I think it's good to have paper with you. When you're out in the outdoors you might have some kind of inspirational thoughts come to you that you want to write down and journal those. You may have something that comes to your mind that you need to write down just in general, and you may get yourself an emergency. You might want to have some paper so you can leave it for somebody in an emergency. The best thing to write with which I don't have, I just have a regular pen here. It's going to be a pencil or some of those all-weather pens like the Space pens, for example. I am considering one for my future addition to my supplies that I carry. Anyway, write in the Rain Notebook. That's going to run you about five bucks for this one, but you can get them in different configurations.
Speaker 1:
The next thing on the list is a headlamp. I've owned a lot of headlamps in my life. This one I thought was pretty cool. It doesn't really have a name brand. I have a similar one that I got at Walmart back when I was living in Wyoming. I'm in South Dakota now for the winter time, burr. The nice thing about it is it's pretty flexible. This is all silicone or some similar type of material. You got two spotlights here and you got a light right there. I'm going to flip it on. There we go. That's full brightness there. You can turn the brightness down. You can also put on the spotlights Handing a lot of ways.
Speaker 1:
Having a hands-free light, I think, is pretty essential to being outside if you need to use a light. It's USB rechargeable, not too expensive I think it's about $10 for this particular one. I thought this would be a good addition to my gear and supplies, so that's what I picked up. Probably a good choice. It has the nice area light and it has the two spotlights on the side as well.
Speaker 1:
I hope you have matches or you have a big lighter or something so you can start your fires. It's nice because it reminds me of a CB antenna. What it does is it goes in that little case there. It's very lightweight. If you're starting a fire and the fire is needing a little boost, you can just blow on that right on the fire. You can put the big end of the fire. The little end goes in your mouth when you're done with it. It just collapses into this little case here Very lightweight. I don't have the weight on that offhand, but it can help you start a fire in an emergency. Give your fire a little boost.
Speaker 1:
The next thing is sunscreen. I cannot find sunscreen on Amazon that was in a single like this. This is a Neutrogena Sensitive Scan 60 plus mineral. It's mineral based sunscreen, so it's supposed to be a little healthier for you. Sunscreen is used throughout the year. It's not just for summertime. When you're out there especially like your face, your ears, things like that, and you're in higher mountain areas, they're more susceptible to sunburn. So it's good to have some sunscreen out there. So this is the one that I carry and the one I recommend.
Speaker 1:
The next thing is going to be a first aid kit. If you go on Amazon type in first aid kit, they come in a wide variety and this is the one that I picked. Is it the best kit out there? No, is it a kit that's going to do you some good in the wilderness or on your adventures? Absolutely. This is the.5 from Adventure Medical Kits. It's got your basic needs for one person in there, so that would work for just about anybody. You can, of course, add to it, take away, just like any kit. It's a good practical kit for most uses, I think, and it runs for about 22 bucks and pretty lightweight. Most of your basic needs met in this kit. Alright, the next item is going to be none. This is the sport version. It's got some schmutz on the outside part, sorry about that.
Speaker 1:
I've been carrying this one around for a little bit. It's electrolyte tablets, the way these nuns work. This has a little tablet you drop in your water bottle, give it about 15 minutes or so and it's dissolved. You can drink it and it gives you electrolytes. Because when you're out there sweating, you're going to need something to replace your electrolytes that go out with your sweat, and that's one way you can do it is to use the nun.
Speaker 1:
The next thing I would recommend is hopefully, when you're going out into your adventures, you have at least some sort of water purification. There could be tablets, there could be a filter, there could be a boiling the water, whatever, but I'm going to recommend to you at the very least, something like a live straw. Is it ideal in all situations? No, but will it work pretty much in all situations? Yes, and they're pretty cheap. Right now they have a sale going on on Amazon. I think they're around 10 bucks.
Speaker 1:
This thing is nice because it eliminates most of your baddies in the water and it treats quite a bit. It says 4,000 liters or a thousand gallons. You just take it out, put it in the water, drink out of it like a big malt straw. I usually carry some of these as backups in my main pack. My main filters doesn't work and, like I said, cheap, easy, plentiful and I recommend you pick one up.
Speaker 1:
Now for my main filter. We're going to look at this one. I switched from the Sawyer Mini. It was my main filter. I switched from that to the Platypus Quick Draw. I like because it has a nice little easy cap there with lots of water can come out of that and the other end you can attach to a smart water bottle. You can attach it to something I'll show you in just a minute. They are a little bit more expensive. They're a little bit more than $25. If you buy it by itself on Amazon right now they're running about $39. But you can buy it with a water bladder thing from Platypus for about $37. And I'll list both of those in the description below so you can check out those. It works pretty fast. It works faster than the Sawyer Mini, maybe not as fast as the Sawyer Squeeze, but I like it because it's easy to use and it's very handy to have and it's been my go-to for a while now.
Speaker 1:
Now something I've been using for a while as well is the C-Knot bag. This is a water bag, a water bladder, if you will. What you do is you take the top off, like that. It just slides off. It has a little hole in there. You can scoop your water out with your end close there. When you get finished filling that up, you just put this on there and look at that. You have a nice bag of water. You turn it upside down and you can put Once the tap, once the end cap is off, of course, screw that right on there and you can drain that. Just do it for you real quick. You take this off and it screws right onto the end there and you can drain that directly into your cooking pot, your water bottle, your mouth if you want, and it works really easy and simple. It's my preferred way to collect water if I'm out there. Again, you can collect water with a water bottle and just put this on the top, I just this a whole lot better. It works a lot better, in my opinion. All right Now. Eventually, if you're out there, you're gonna have to go to the bathroom or your person's gonna have to go to the bathroom. Most places don't have bathrooms.
Speaker 1:
In the back country they want to have a good tool to dig you a hole to put your, put your waist in. This is the Vargo dig. Somebody's not still have the tag on it. I have used it several times, but this does a great job. It's comfortable in the hand, you can dig through roots with these little serrated edges and it goes pretty good through rocks and stuff like that. I've used it several times. That's my preferred the trowel of choice, but there are other ones out there, of course, but I'll put it the link below so you can check that one out and it runs about 25 bucks.
Speaker 1:
All right, my next to last item here is this poncho. I have rain jackets and I have ponchos this particular poncho, those by frog togs so the same type of material, and they're running for between 13 and 19 dollars, depending on what you want to do. What I like about a poncho is that you can put it on your head and it's so baggy and bulky that it covers your gear. A Rain jacket a lot of times you can put it on. It doesn't cover over your backpack or whatever you have for your gear in. Even with the rain cover on a backpack, water's still gonna get in. But you can put this over the top of your backpack, on the back and and it will protect that from additional water getting in. So I like that. Do I still use a rain jacket sometimes? Yeah, but generally I'm gonna carry that poncho with me most of the time. It fits up easily over bulky clothing. I don't have to worry about Anything like that.
Speaker 1:
Now the last one is attached to my C knot bag. This is a A little little beanie thing from night eyes. Night eyes Makes a variety of different products, but they're beaners in particular. You can usually buy them in a group of Three or four. I'm not sure which of this one came in, but it'll be linked in the description below. I like that. The fact I can just put my finger in there and carry that, I can hang it on a tree branch and let my water drain that way, so I have to hold. It Just makes a lot, a lot easier. These things, of course, are good for a lot of different things In camp, or to attach gear to your pack, or attach things together or whatever you need them to use, be used for Anyway.
Speaker 1:
So that's 13 items, real quick that are last-minute gift items. I hope that helps you get an idea of what you might want to pick up for your outdoor family member, friend or even yourself, and If it helped give me that thumbs up. Let me know you appreciated this video. Think about subscribing to the channel if you want to see more content like this. And Until next time I will see you out on the trail, take care, bye, bye, bye, bye.