Thenaturalmedic Adventures
Hello there, and thanks so much for joining us here! You are probably wondering what this podcast is all about? In this podcast, we will talk about all sorts of outdoor adventures, but primarily, for now, we will focus on hiking and backpacking. No other outdoor adventure is so accessible to so many people! So please join us as we talk about how to hike/backpack and learn how to hike any length trail from your local neighborhood parks to those long trails such as the Appalachian and others worldwide! Remember... "in every walk with nature; one receives far more than he seeks... - John Muir " See you on the trail!
Thenaturalmedic Adventures
Backpack Essentials: Day Hiking Gear Guide for 2025
Note: Audio Version only, see YouTube for Video Version
Craig the Natural Medic shares his comprehensive day hiking gear setup for 2025, highlighting essential items that ensure safety and comfort on southwestern trails. His experience as a paramedic and a former park ranger provides these practical recommendations for hikers of all experience levels.
• Sun protection strategy includes the Outdoor Vitals sun hoodie with thumb holes and hood coverage
• Convertible pants offer versatility for changing weather conditions
• North Face Rincon backpack purchased from a thrift store for only $10
• Two-liter Platypus water bladder with drinking tube for convenient hydration
• Various snacks including freeze-dried strawberries, nuts, and harvest snap peas
• Compact but warm Outdoor Vitals Ventus hoodie for insulation
• Comprehensive emergency kit with fire starters, signaling mirror, and emergency blanket
• Dedicated "poop kit" with trowel, bags, and sanitizer for proper waste disposal
• First aid supplies, including a blister treatment kit
• Platypus water filter system for accessing natural water sources
• Element raspberry salt electrolyte powder for maintaining proper hydration
Please send us a message with your comments or questions!
Hello, this is Craig the Natural Medic, and this is the 2025 edition of what's in my Backpack Day hiking edition. I'm going on a lot of day hikes. If you've been following my channel, I want to show you what I take with me and what I wear. This is from Outdoor Vitals Sun hoodie. I really love hiking in these.
Speaker 1:Living here in the southwestern United States, it's sunny most of the year, so this is a way for me to cover up myself. They're very breathable and it even has a hood so I can put the hood on my head. It looks kind of dorky, but that way I can cover up my neck and majority of my face and protect it from sun. Some of the ones that I have actually have thumb holes so I can put a little bit longer reach on my sleeves. For pants today these are convertible pants. I don't have the legs on them, as you can see my lovely legs here. These convert into a long pant or vice versa. In this particular configuration, they are shorts and they are a cargo style, so they have some pockets. I like having pockets. That's just me, sock-wise. I have, and they are a cargo style, so they have some pockets. I like having pockets. That's just me. Sock wise, I have some merrell short ankle socks with some ultra. I don't know which model of ultras these are. I'm not a real strong fan of them, currently looking for some better hiking shoes. Okay, anyway, that pretty much covers that and, of course, clipped to my belt here, I do have a Garmin inReach the very first version for hiking out in the woods and being able to talk to people. When I am not in cell phone reach. You can hear thunder in the distance, probably, so it is good always to bring rain gear, even though in this part of the world it doesn't rain a lot. It's good to be prepared for that.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about what's in my pack here. Clothing items I do have a little strap on the back. Sunglasses don't have to be really expensive, but I do like to have them. 100% ultraviolet protection and polarized, just for protection and being able to see better. I have a buff I usually wear, which I can wet to keep myself cooler. I can pull it up over my face and protect from dust and other things. I wear usually some kind of hat, sometimes it's a ball cap, sometimes it's a wide brimmed hat. Let's talk about what's in the pack.
Speaker 1:The pack itself. I recently got this here in Durango, which I'm in right now here at Judy's Rest on the Colorado Trail. It's a North Face Rincon, I'm not sure how old it is. I got it from a thrift store for about 10 bucks. You don't need a fancy, brand new backpack. You can easily pick one up. It's pretty decent at your local thrift store.
Speaker 1:I like this one because it's got lots of pockets. It's got some good padding, the straps are nice and padded. It has the sternum strap in addition to the waist strap or the hip belt, and it has a port, as you can see, for water this particular case. Today I'm just carrying a water bladder. This is a platypus water bladder with a drinking tube attached to it Two liters. This trail in particular has access to water at the bottom by the creek when you're walking down below, so you can get water out of there if you run out of water, but not a big deal.
Speaker 1:Today Inside of my pack I probably have way too many snacks. Sometimes you'd be getting hungry on the trail, so you gotta have some food. And examples of snacks I'll do another video some other time about trail food. We got some freeze dried strawberries, goldfish, peanuts, tuna, fish, granola bars, etc. It's good to have some snack food while you're on the trail. I also started eating these. These are pretty good, these harvest snaps, which are these little green peas that are cheddar flavored.
Speaker 1:Additionally inside my pack, other than my bladder, I have a jacket. This is the Outdoor Vitals dentist hoodie which I have had on other videos. I love it because it's very light and compact. It can be balled up to about the size of a softball, maybe a little bit bigger. Very compact, very lightweight and very insulated for its size. Inside the pack I have more room for things, but we're not going to get into that right now because there's nothing else in there for today. Inside the other pouch I have some gators in case I got into areas with a lot of scree and rock dirt. I put them on my shoes here and it keeps them relatively dirt free. I haven't used those very often, but I do carry them just in case.
Speaker 1:I have a mostly 10 essentials bag here. Majority of my 10 essential items right here Sunscreen, compass, water purification tablets, multi-tool, a couple of ways to start a fire, including a fire little buffer thing and an emergency blanket in addition to a signaling mirror. Got some emergency stuff in there, just in case. All right, I think that's all that's in that pouch On the outside for easy access on the outside here. I do have my handy dandy poop kit. In the poop kit I'm currently experimenting with a couple different trowels. I have a couple different trowels. I have a couple plastic bags. I've got some napkins in there they seem to work pretty good and some toilet paper to wipe with and generally, depending on what area you're in and what the regulations are, you want to bury your waste, pack out your used toilet paper or, in my case, napkins. I also have some hand sanding in there just to clean my hands after I go. Number two, if needed, to clean the weldings. Just bear in mind the rules and regulations behind that. Additionally, I have an energizer headlamp to protect myself in case it gets dark. I can see I've got my poles over here which hold up and I have a back up light which is just for night eyes. It's a little lantern slash emergency signal light.
Speaker 1:Lastly, in this outside pouch I have my first aid stuff which I'm working on in the future in first aid video where I make my own first aid kit. I just recently took the wilderness first aid class from Knowles and even though I'm already a paramedic, I'm going to rethink some of that stuff. But here I have the adventure medical 0.5 kit which is good for just one person for one or two days, and I have a little blister kit from Every Kit Cares the Be Smart, get Prepared. I think I got that at Walmart so I can take care of my basic first aid needs and blisters with that setup. In the outside pockets I have a little foam pad here, sit pad, so I can sit on dirt or rocks and be cushy if needed. And to finish up, we have a platypus water filter which connects to a C-Knot platter. It slides off the top. You scoop the water up, attach the water filter and you can drain it right into your water bottle of choice. I'll probably do an independent video about the platypus later on.
Speaker 1:A lot of people use Sawyers and Sawyers are good. People use Freeze. We kind of have something else here's and Sawyer's are good. People use Freeze From Canada. I have something else here I'll show you I just started using, which is from Element. It is raspberry salt electrolyte powder which you can put into a 16 to 32 ounce bottle of water and it gives you a lot of electrolytes that you might need Additionally. On the front here from NightEyes I have a little clip here which holds my cell phone. So what do you think about this kit? Welcome to hear your compliments. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up. If you have any questions, comments, etc. Let me know in the video or below the video and I'll be sure to get back to you. Hope you enjoyed the video. We'll see you out there on the trail. Bye.
