What To Pack In A Go-Bag: A Quick Guide To Being Prepared

The Stratos 50 (or any large Osprey bag) is an ideal backpack to use as a Go-Bag or extended travelling. This bag packs a lot but it sits high and close to the back which prevents any weight from pulling you backwards, keeping you balanced. The harness is a mesh material and also has a space between it and the bag itself allowing for a substantial amount of airflow!

A lot of people out there have children which may be a concern if you’re preparing to always be ready to move. Carrying a child that isn’t able to walk yet, or can’t walk for extended periods of time can be a challenge. Fortunately, there are carriers made specifically for travelling.

When travelling on foot, especially in the wilderness with no point of reference, it’s easy to end up walking in the wrong direction. People who have been lost in the desert would end up walking in circles without realizing it! That’s because one foot would step slightly further than the other. Having a compass will allow you to stay steady in the direction you need to go.

A knife is crucial to have if you want to survive while on the run or in the wilderness, and serves many purposes. You can use it to shave wood for a fire, sharpen sticks for building a shelter or cooking meat, hunting animals or cutting out the stuff you don’t want to eat, or used to protect yourself and others.

The Gerber Gear Ultimate Knife (which I own) is the best bang for your buck in terms of a survival knife. It comes with a durable sheath with an integrated sharpener, whistle, fire starter, and pocket guide.

Having a flashlight in low light conditions is very important for situational awareness and safety. Visibility depends on how much moon light there is, if there’s overcast, or if you’re in the open or not. These factors and more will affect how much you can see at night. A flashlight is very good to have so you can keep trekking at night, or so you can see around your camp area when you decide to stop.

The Nitecore P30i is an all around great flashlight to have. It has 5 different lighting outputs depending on the intensity of light you need, and the reach you need it at. If you’re just using it to walk around camp or find something in your bag then the lowest output is fine. But if you need to get the attention of someone or just need to see something at up to a kilometer away (yes, 1000 meters) then the highest output will do that for out. Another neat feature with the P30i is that it has an SOS function, and a Strobe Light function. So you can use it to request help, or have a disco dance.

Another great compact Nitecore flashlight is the MH12S. Compact with good enough reach at over 300 yards, and a battery life of 1500 hours on ultra-low! *grabs a calculator* That’s 62.5 days, or 2 months! Insane.

Any basic flashlight will work fine, but Nitecore is known for making some tough, durable, and strong flashlights.

Having access to drinkable water may very well be the difference between life and death! Regardless of your current surroundings, you never know when you’ll have access to this resource. Whether you live in an urban environment or wooded terrain, water resources can always be tampered with, so having the ability to purify water is important.

You have a lot of options when it comes to being able to purify drinking water, but I’ll share a couple that I think are great.

First are water purification tablets. These are easy to use and take up nearly zero room in your kit. Definitely worth having on you. Second is a water purifying bottle. Seems like science fiction, but it’s legit.

Check out this video for a review done on the LARQ Water Bottle by Well Rigged!

Having drinkable water as soon as you’re on the move is important because you don’t know when you’ll first have access to drinkable water. You could be going for days at a time, so having some of these Emergency Drinking Water pouches on hand is great! You can purchase these in many different quantities on Amazon.

Once you stop for rest or the night, the first thing you’re going to want to do is get a fire going. This will keep you warm, increase morale, and allow you to cook something soon. If it’s raining out then of course set up a shelter, then once you do you can begin to make a small fire nearby. Keep the covering relatively high above the fire if possible. Also, make a wall around the fire where the wind is coming from to prevent it from blowing out.

I have a couple fire starters that will definitely work for you. One in particular, the bayite, has over 8300 reviews on Amazon with a rating of 4.7 out of 5.

This is something that could easily get overlooked but is always good to have on you. Paracord can be used for many different reasons. Anything you need to tie down, this will do the trick. 550 Paracord is extremely durable and strong, so if you have your tarp or even some branches tied down, it’ll stand up to high winds.

Unless you were using it as a walking stick, carrying a 6’ shovel with you is a bit much. Spare yourself and get a foldable spade! A lot of them nowadays are light and very durable. These small shovels pack easily, or can even be attached externally to your backpack. Having a shovel is great for when you’re about to stop and set up camp for the night. If you need to dig for a fire pit, or if it’s in the fall or winter and you need to make a wall to block the wind, a shovel will be necessary!

Having a tarp with you will keep you dry when it decides to downpour! This isn’t absolutely necessary to have, and it can take up some space, but if you can have one on you, it could be the difference between a good time and a bad time.

This is another item that isn’t 100% necessary, but if you can bring one, do it. Hammocks aren’t only great for just hanging out and enjoying the nice breeze between the trees, but getting off the ground will help a lot with back discomfort. Hammocks now come in these tiny compact bags that can easily fit inside your backpack, or you could attach it on the outside of a pack.

The type of sleeping bag to get will depend on the climate you’re living in, but you shouldn’t need to have a large bag that takes up too much room. I really emphasize the amount of space something takes up, as there’s a lot of stuff and it all adds up! The biggest priority when it comes to a sleeping bag is that it’ll keep you out of the elements. Especially if there’s the slightest breeze, a sleeping bag will prevent loss of body heat. Nothing worse than waking up because you’re shivering in the middle of night, in the middle of nowhere, and now you can’t get back to sleep. I highly recommend investing in a quality sleeping bag that takes up minimal space.

In order to make the most out of space you have to carry supplies, it’s best to bring small food items that pack a lot of calories for energy. In the military we would be given recce packs of food, which was really a bag of junk food and high protein snacks like beef jerky.

You can purchase these high calorie food products that are sealed air tight in order to pack as much as possible. You can also use a resealable plastic bag and just put in some high calorie food that wont spoil quickly. If you do this, be sure to put in oxygen absorbers!