Hey, Whats in that Bag?

Too often, safety is taken for granted. Last week I shared an on-trail experience where carrying a first aid kit came in handy. Check it out here. Not many people are prepared for the worse and that’s totally understandable. I will admit, I carry way more than the average person. I promise I’m not a hoarder. For a few years, my life was spent on the road, in the mountains, and even, by choice, homeless. While living like a wanderer I learn to let go of unnecessary items. I also learned to hold on to the important stuff.

I’ve got a thing for Osprey and if you own one of their packs, I’m sure you understand my love for well designed and durable packs. I own the Porter 46, check it out here. I also own the Daylite Plus. I love that these packs are compatible with each other. I can buckle the Daylite Plus to the Porter 46 to increase my carrying capacity. This comes in handy, especially when I’m backpacking. Both have been highly abused and still have a lot of life in them.

At 20 liters, the main pouch has plenty of room for day to day use. I keep my first aid kit, a small pack of supplies and my medical supplies here. There’s still plenty of room for a change of clothes or extra layers.

Since safety is the subject on hand let’s take a look at my first aid kit.

• First aid blanket/space blanket

• Waterproof bandaids

• Tegaderm Films

• Triangular bandages

• Q-tips

• Examination gloves

• Shower care bandaids

• Moth to mouth mask

• Stretchy dressings

• Gauze pads

• Alcohol-free cleansing wipe

• Alcohol prep pad

• Plastic bags

• Pain Killer-Tylenol

• Gauze rolls

• Dressing tape

• Allergy meds

• Safety pins

I also keep a few Cliff bars in my first aid kit. You’d be surprised by the amount of people who don’t properly fuel their body. I learned this the hard way when I started road biking. When you’re putting out a lot of effort you should be refueling every 30-60 minutes. You don’t have to eat much but you need to eat something.

You never know when you’ll need a first aid kit. We don’t plan accidents. My kit weighs less than 400 grams so it’s a no brainer for me to carry daily. For me, safety isn’t only gauze pads and medical gloves. I’m a wheelchair user so getting a flat tire in the wrong place can be dangerous. Having the right gear on hand can be life saving. I also carry a few items that align with my life that help me stay safe.

• C02 inflator system

• Allen wrench set

• Tire levers

• Flashlight

• Sunscreen

• Eyeglass cleaner & rag

• Tire sealer

• Lighter

• Eye drops

My spinal cord injury has affected the way I use the bathroom. To pee, I use intermittent catheters. I drain my bladder 6-8 times a day. This means I need to carry these supplies with me. Luckily, they aren’t very heavy and also fit in the pack’s main pouch.

The last few items I carry in the main pouch are tools to help me hike. These straps are used with an able-bodied hiker companion to either pull me while ascending or use as a parachute to slow me during a descend. One end of the strap is tied to the frame of my wheelchair and the other can hook to a body harness or wrapped around the persons waist. This is an essential tool for hiking off the ADA wheelchair accessible paved paths. I like to get dirty just like everyone else but must adapt to make it happen. My Handup gloves are perfect for long hikes, rad bikes or keeping my hands warm when wrapped around a cold beer.

Let’s take a look at the gear in the smaller pouch. Whats stored here are the things I use multiple times a day or what I may need to pull out with ease.

• Inhaler

• Meds

• Chapstick

• Hand sanitizer

• Pocket Knife

• USB plug

• Rechargeable battery

• Phone charger

• Watch charger

As you can see, I carry a lot of gear. It’s really not that heavy of a pack. When I’m tired or lazy I can strap the pack to the back of my wheelchairs backrest. When it’s there, it’s weightless. I also want to mention, I don’t carry this with me 100% of the time. Sometimes when traveling, going to a fancy show or dinner the pack stays home or in my truck. I know from being part of the wheelchair community some of my peers absolutely hate carrying so much gear. I understand this but for my lifestyle, I've learned its better to be prepared.

What’s in your pack? Am I missing anything? Let me know in the comments below.

First Aid, I'm Always Prepared

Spending time outdoors is known to increase your overall health. In my youth, I preferred mother nature over video games. I couldn’t sit still. I need to move at all times. My parents encouraged outside time. I often had dirt under my fingernails, dried mud stuck to my skin and stained clothing. Strangers probably thought I was homeless and not taken care of. This wasn’t the case. I grew up more fortunate than a most of my peers. I was just a wild kid who loved getting dirty while pushing the limits. Safety was discussed but not in detail. My mom was a nurse and saw injuries and illnesses at work every day. She knew when it was time to tell me to suck it up or when she needed to fix me up. 

One of my favorite activities was snowboarding with my brother and sister. We loved it so much it affected our education. We were the kids who missed so much school that we needed mandatory doctors note to return to school. Luckily, we had a family doctor who had no problem writing these notes a few times a week. He would always remind us how important our education was while also wanting to hear about our crazy adventures in the wild. If a storm was rolling in we knew we were ditching class the next day. While most kids were laying out their outfits and packing lunch we were prepping our gear. 

One of the most exciting feelings ever is when you exit the groomed path and enter the powdery backcountry. We had a secret spot that not many knew about. It was where we would set up basecamp for the day. We would also build a jump to practice aerials. This was our classroom and we learned everything school was teaching us but from a hands-on approach. We learned how to communicate in sketchy situations. We learned geometry and physics from building and launching off the jumps we built. We learned biology and nutrition from how our bodies performed on the slopes. We learned many skills that just can’t be taught in a classroom.

Safety wasn’t an issue until my mom saw a video of me doing a backflip. I was an adrenaline junky and the risks I was taking started to hit a level that could be life-changing. My mom isn’t the outdoorsy type and until she saw the video she had no clue what type of risks I was taking. She learned pretty damn quick. The next day she took me to buy a helmet. She knew she couldn’t stop me from taking these risks so she compromised. She made me research other safety gear I would need. Once I had a list she took me to the store to purchase it all. I’m forever grateful to have parents who supported my passions no questions asked. 

I recently found some of my old snowboarding safety gear during my move to Utah. Whistle/compass/thermometer/magnifying glass combo, flashlight, Multi-tool, swiss army knife, and extra binding hardware.

I also carried a space blanket, waterproof matches, shovel, hydration pack, dried food, sunscreen, and extra layers. 

My parents built a sturdy safety foundation so I was able to handle difficult situations while playing outdoors. I’ve built on that foundation over the past 20 years. Most people are trying to shave grams on the trail to move faster but I’m not concerned about weight. I’m already a slow hiker so moving quickly isn’t my concern. I’d rather be over-prepared so I can save me or possibly another life. 

I want to cycle to work but my handbike has very little clearance. Yesterday, I was out scouting by wheelchair, a 5-mile section of the Jordan River Parkway Trail. I came to a sharp narrow turn on the trail to find a man who went down on his bike. He had yard saled all his gear blocking the trail. He was sitting in the middle of the trail with blood coming down his face while holding his arm to his side. Safety instincts sank in quickly. 

I have a spinal cord injury so my first question was if he can feel all his extremities. He muttered yes. Then I asked if he has any back or neck pain. His voice was stronger with this next reply, “No, the only pain I have is in my shoulder.” Then I asked if he remembered the crash. He said yes and also mentioned he had been laid out for roughly 10 minutes before I found him. While asking these initial questions I took my backpack off and pulled out my first aid kit. I then reminded him that we were in a dangerous situation because of the blind turn in the trail. At any second another cyclist could come around the corner and crash into us. I moved most of his gear off-trail while asking him if he thinks he can scoot off-trail too. This is something I wouldn’t have done if he had pain in his neck or back. 

I pulled out some gauze and asked the man if he can apply pressure to his head wound. He was unaware of the blood trickling from a cut on his head. Not knowing he had a head wound was my sign he might have gone unconscious at some point during or after his crash. I was still assessing his injuries when a county worker arrived on a 4x4 golf cart. Help in numbers is a good thing as long as there’s a leader and everyone keeps their composer. I let the county worker know what I knew and then continued to pull out first aid supplies.

As we were tending to his obvious injuries we asked him the basics. What is your name? What month and year are we in? He gave the right answers. Then we started to look for broken bones. The man then mentioned his hands starting to feel tingly. I instantly asked the county worker to call 911. Any time injuries are increasing it’s best to have the professional on their way. I continued to speak with the man about hiking and biking just to keep his mind off the injuries. This is when things started to get interesting. 

He stopped me mid-sentence by asking if a bathroom was close by. I let him know we were about a mile from a bathroom. He wasn’t thrilled about it. He said he was going to shit his pants and he was super embarrassed. I let him know he didn’t have to be embarrassed because I was with the king of shitting their pants. I have never been more excited to share my “shit happens” stories. I let him know about how a spinal cord injury affects bowel and bladder function. Then I started in with the stories and boy do I have a lot of them. While telling him the time I shit my pants right before what was supposed to be a romantic kayaking trip on a bioluminescent bay in Puerto Rico with my girlfriend, I pulled out a trash bag and some wipes. He laughed at my story. I replied I’m happy you’re laughing because my girlfriend wasn’t. 

The man then let me know he couldn’t hold it any longer. For everyone’s safety, The county worker and I agreed to hike a bit down the trail in the opposite directions to make sure children on the trail didn’t come to a naked bloodied man shitting in a trash bag. Luckily paramedics showed up at the same time and helped the man do his business before taken him to the hospital. It sucks not knowing how the man is doing or what his recovery will entail. I take my hat off to all first responders, nurses, and doctors who don’t get to see the full results after patching people up. 

Stick around for my next blog. I’m going to show you what I carry with me in my backpack at all times.