I have a day pack I take. It has some first aid supplies double wrapped in zip lock bags:
-Mole skin
-Band aids
-4×4 gauze, 6
-4 NSN vacuum packed roll gauze
-Medical tape
-Small finger nail clippers
-Chapstick
Other items:
-Blast Match and I keep a tin of tinder and charcoal, also double wrapped in zip lock bags. Trying to find dry tinder after a sudden down pour is not easy. It can be done, but with your own tinder it makes it that much easier and increases your chance of a 1<sup>st</sup> time success.
-Wire saw that can double as a snare.
-Quality compass with mirror. More accurate in shooting an azimuth, and back azimuth. One thing a lot of people fail to do is mark a tree, make a rock formation, or similar marking. If you are in unfamiliar territory, one tree can look a lot like another. Mark the tree you are stand next to on the side you will be walking away from with your knife. Shoot an azimuth at a tree a 50/100yards away. Walk to that tree, and mark that one. If you have to back track/shoot a back azimuth you have marked trees as reference points. The mirror can be used as a signaling device too.
-Headlamp. I have two old Petzl head lamps. Three different brightness settings and a strobe setting as a signal light. Some of the newer flashlights have duel fuel energy sources, Ion-lithium or a common AA or AAA battery. Makes them more flexable. Some not only have a strobe function but a actual SOS strobe function to be better seen from the air.
-550 cord
-Ka-Bar fixed blade. It is a Becker MachAx. Kinda like a heavy duty small ax. For me it is more a farm tool as I use it all the time out in the fields. And the sheath is really nice. Comfortable, does not chafe. Unfortunately they discontinued it. A lot of knife manufactures skimp on the sheath.
-Water bladder, with a gravity filter. I use the Platypus brand, but I hear Sawyer is good too. We had a drought here a few years ago. If I had to hump it from town to home, a lot of the water sources had dried up. So, I could fill it in a few minutes 3L of water hanging from a small tree. I did not like the idea of trying to use a Life Straw to suck and spit a 3L water bladder full, call me crazy.
-GORP, or Good-Ol-Raisins and Peanuts. Some grocery stores sell stuff in bulk. Load up on raisins, peanuts, sunflower seeds, pretzel sticks, and of course some kind of chocolate!
-Jerky! I prefer to make my own, but if it is a hike on the fly, I will spend the $$ for the over-priced store bought stuff.
-Bug juice, aka insect repellent.
-Seasonal appropriate clothing, rain gear, hat, gloves etc.