When you’re going on the trail, first aid kits for camping are an essential part of your gear – of that there is little doubt. That’s something you’ll find out the hard way if you don’t take one and something happens when you’re out in the wilderness.
Picture a scenario. You get to the campsite, you park up and the kids head away to play by the water as you put the tent together. Whilst off playing, one of your kids slips over and gashes his knee open on a rock and heads back to you to get help.
With a good first aid kit to hand, it’s still a bit upsetting, but it’s taken care of, as you’re able to disinfect and dress the wound. However, if you’ve just taken a pack of band aids with you, it’s not going to be sufficient and you could end up having to cancel your trip to seek medical help.
Without wanting to labor the point – you need one because you never know what might happen.
First Aid Kits For Camping – What You Should Include
Here we offer up something of a first aid checklist to ensure that you’re not left wishing you’d given it some more thought. Of course, the easy way to go is to buy a pre-made kit that automatically includes everything you could possibly need. However, you can put your own together if you wish – although it might end up being more expensive buying everything separately.
First aid kits for camping worth their salt should include:
- A selection of various-sized bandages
- Gauze roll or some gauze pads
- Rinse solution or sterile wipes
- Some hydrocortisone cream
- Anti-inflammatory medication
- Some kind of antiseptic cream
- A knife, some scissors and a pair of tweezer
- Some safety pins
- Spray for relieving sunburn
- Medication to help with diarrhea
- Eye drops in case of obstructions
- Hand sanitizer
- Antihistamine pills
Any additional items may depend on any medical conditions you or any of your family might have, such as an epipen for allergic reactions – something that can be a literal lifesaver when anaphylaxis is involved.
All Kinds of Things Can Happen On the Trail
The above list might seem a little on the cautious side, but the more you go out into the great outdoors, the more realise that you are at the mercy of the elements. You’re likely to be a hundred miles away from the nearest drug store and in this kind of setting, the likelihood of cuts, scrapes and grazes are that much more likely.
Without antiseptic cream, harmless cuts can turn nasty, so the wisdom is obvious, but sometimes it takes a bit of suffering to fully understand it. Burns are quite common on camping trips too, as most people aren’t used to being so close to open fires. Then there’s the bugs….oh the bugs. They can cause misery when you haven’t got anything to protect you.
Tweezers in your first aid kits for camping can also be a godsend when on a camping trip, as they can mean the difference between leaving an irritating splinter in place until you get home and dealing with it there and then – again things that can make a real difference to your trip.
Make Sure Your First Aid Kit Is Fully Equipped
First aid kits for camping are only as good as the equipment they have in them, so you need to have everything included in yours. Your location can also dictate what you should have too, as the presence of animals like snakes and bears might necessitate the inclusion of items to keep them away or deal with issues like snake bites.
As a concluding point, it’s important to give your kit a once-over at least once a year to replace items that are past their expiration date. That way, when you go out on your next trip, you’ll be certain that everything’s as it should be.
We can’t impress on you enough how important it is to have a suitable first aid kit for any camping trip you go on. Sure, you may never use it, but if you need to and it’s not there, you know you’ll wish you had paid it more heed.