Backpack Essentials: Day Hiking Gear Guide for 2025

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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

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, this is Craig the Natural Medic, and this is
the 2025 edition of what's in myBackpack Day hiking edition.
I'm going on a lot of day hikes.
If you've been following mychannel, I want to show you what
I take with me and what I wear.
This is from Outdoor Vitals Sunhoodie.
I really love hiking in these.
Living here in the southwesternUnited States, it's sunny most

(00:21):
of the year, so this is a wayfor me to cover up myself.
They're very breathable and iteven has a hood so I can put the
hood on my head.
It looks kind of dorky, butthat way I can cover up my neck
and majority of my face andprotect it from sun.
Some of the ones that I haveactually have thumb holes so I

(00:42):
can put a little bit longerreach on my sleeves.
For pants today these areconvertible pants.
I don't have the legs on them,as you can see my lovely legs
here.
These convert into a long pantor vice versa.
In this particularconfiguration, they are shorts
and they are a cargo style, sothey have some pockets.

(01:03):
I like having pockets.
That's just me, sock-wise.
I have, and they are a cargostyle, so they have some pockets
.
I like having pockets.
That's just me.
Sock wise, I have some merrellshort ankle socks with some
ultra.
I don't know which model ofultras these are.
I'm not a real strong fan ofthem, currently looking for some
better hiking shoes.
Okay, anyway, that pretty muchcovers that and, of course,
clipped to my belt here, I dohave a Garmin inReach the very

(01:25):
first version for hiking out inthe woods and being able to talk
to people.
When I am not in cell phonereach.
You can hear thunder in thedistance, 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 forthat.
Let's talk about what's in mypack here.
Clothing items I do have alittle strap on the back.

(01:50):
Sunglasses don't have to bereally expensive, but I do like
to have them.
100% ultraviolet protection andpolarized, 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 faceand protect from dust and other

(02:11):
things.
I wear usually some kind of hat, sometimes it's a ball cap,
sometimes it's a wide brimmedhat.
Let's talk about what's in thepack.
The pack itself.
I recently got this here inDurango, which I'm in right now
here at Judy's Rest on theColorado Trail.
It's a North Face Rincon, I'mnot sure how old it is.
I got it from a thrift storefor about 10 bucks.
You don't need a fancy, brandnew backpack.

(02:35):
You can easily pick one up.
It's pretty decent at yourlocal thrift store.
I like this one because it's gotlots of pockets.
It's got some good padding, thestraps are nice and padded.
It has the sternum strap inaddition 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 waterbladder.

(02:56):
This is a platypus waterbladder with a drinking tube
attached to it Two liters.
This trail in particular hasaccess to water at the bottom by
the creek when you're walkingdown below, so you can get water
out of there if you run out ofwater, but not a big deal.
Today Inside of my pack Iprobably have way too many

(03:16):
snacks.
Sometimes you'd be gettinghungry on the trail, so you
gotta have some food.
And examples of snacks I'll doanother video some other time
about trail food.
We got some freeze driedstrawberries, goldfish, peanuts,
tuna, fish, granola bars, etc.

(03:37):
It's good to have some snackfood while you're on the trail.
I also started eating these.
These are pretty good, theseharvest snaps, which are these
little green peas that arecheddar flavored.
Additionally inside my pack,other than my bladder, I have a
jacket.
This is the Outdoor Vitalsdentist hoodie which I have had

(03:57):
on other videos.
I love it because it's verylight and compact.
It can be balled up to aboutthe size of a softball, maybe a
little bit bigger.
Very compact, very lightweightand very insulated for its size.
Inside the pack I have moreroom for things, but we're not
going to get into that right nowbecause there's nothing else in
there for today.

(04:17):
Inside the other pouch I havesome gators in case I got into
areas with a lot of scree androck dirt.
I put them on my shoes here andit keeps them relatively dirt
free.
I haven't used those very often, but I do carry them just in
case.
I have a mostly 10 essentialsbag here.
Majority of my 10 essentialitems right here Sunscreen,

(04:41):
compass, water purificationtablets, multi-tool, a couple of
ways to start a fire, includinga fire little buffer thing and
an emergency blanket in additionto a signaling mirror.
Got some emergency stuff inthere, just in case.
All right, I think that's allthat's in that pouch On the

(05:01):
outside for easy access on theoutside here.
I do have my handy dandy poopkit.
In the poop kit I'm currentlyexperimenting with a couple
different trowels.
I have a couple differenttrowels.
I have a couple plastic bags.
I've got some napkins in therethey seem to work pretty good

(05:22):
and some toilet paper to wipewith and generally, depending on
what area you're in and whatthe regulations are, you want to
bury your waste, pack out yourused toilet paper or, in my case
, napkins.
I also have some hand sandingin there just to clean my hands
after I go.
Number two, if needed, to cleanthe weldings.
Just bear in mind the rules andregulations behind that.

(05:45):
Additionally, I have anenergizer headlamp to protect
myself in case it gets dark.
I can see I've got my polesover here which hold up and I
have a back up light which isjust for night eyes.
It's a little lantern slashemergency signal light.

(06:06):
Lastly, in this outside pouch Ihave my first aid stuff which
I'm working on in the future infirst aid video where I make my
own first aid kit.
I just recently took thewilderness first aid class from
Knowles and even though I'malready a paramedic, I'm going
to rethink some of that stuff.
But here I have the adventuremedical 0.5 kit which is good

(06:26):
for just one person for one ortwo days, and I have a little
blister kit from Every Kit Caresthe Be Smart, get Prepared.
I think I got that at Walmartso I can take care of my basic
first aid needs and blisterswith that setup.
In the outside pockets I have alittle foam pad here, sit pad,

(06:49):
so I can sit on dirt or rocksand be cushy if needed.
And to finish up, we have aplatypus water filter which
connects to a C-Knot platter.
It slides off the top.
You scoop the water up, attachthe water filter and you can
drain it right into your waterbottle of choice.

(07:09):
I'll probably do an independentvideo about the platypus later
on.
A lot of people use Sawyers andSawyers are good.
People use Freeze.
We kind of have something elsehere's and Sawyer's are good.
People use Freeze From Canada.
I have something else here I'llshow you I just started using,
which is from Element.
It is raspberry saltelectrolyte powder which you can
put into a 16 to 32 ouncebottle of water and it gives you

(07:30):
a lot of electrolytes that youmight need Additionally.
On the front here fromNightEyes I have a little clip
here which holds my cell phone.
So what do you think about thiskit?
Welcome to hear yourcompliments.
If you like this video, give ita thumbs up.
If you have any questions,comments, etc.
Let me know in the video orbelow the video and I'll be sure

(07:52):
to get back to you.
Hope you enjoyed the video.
We'll see you out there on thetrail.
Bye.