The Hiking First Aid Kit: What to Carry and How to Use It
Most walkers carry a first aid kit they have never opened, full of things they will never need, and missing the two or three items they actually will. This is the kit we would put in your pack, based on what really goes wrong on a walk — plus how to call for help in the UK, which is the part almost every guide leaves out.
The short version
Why it matters more than you think
Nobody plans to use a first aid kit. The point of carrying one is that the small stuff — a hot spot on your heel at mile three, a stumble on wet rock, a wasp sting in someone with an allergy — stops being a small thing very quickly when you are two hours from the nearest road.
A good kit does two jobs. It fixes minor problems so the day carries on, and it buys time and comfort for a serious one until help arrives. Everything below is chosen for one of those two jobs. Nothing is there to make the kit look impressive.
What actually goes wrong on a walk
Blisters
By a distance the most common injury, and the most preventable. The moment you feel a hot spot, stop and tape it. Waiting until the next break is how a hot spot becomes a blister.
Rolled and sprained ankles
Wet rock, tree roots, tired legs late in the day. An elastic bandage and a walking pole will usually get someone back to the road.
Cuts, grazes and thorns
Brambles, gritstone and barbed wire. Clean it properly on the spot rather than at home — that is what stops it becoming an infection.
Tick bites
Real and rising across the UK, especially in long grass, bracken and deer country. Getting the tick out correctly and quickly is what matters.
Stings and allergic reactions
Usually just uncomfortable. Occasionally not. Anyone who carries an adrenaline auto-injector should tell their guide before setting off.
Getting cold
The one that turns a minor injury into a serious situation. Somebody who has stopped moving in wet British weather cools down remarkably fast.
What to pack
Feet — the section most kits get wrong
- Hydrocolloid blister plasters, several, in more than one size. These are the gel-type ones that stay on and cushion the blister. Ordinary plasters slide off inside a boot.
- Zinc oxide tape or kinesiology tape, for taping a hot spot before it blisters. A roll weighs almost nothing.
- A spare pair of socks in a bag. Dry feet are half the battle.
Wounds and dressings
- Adhesive plasters in assorted sizes, ideally waterproof
- Sterile gauze pads and a couple of larger sterile dressings for a deeper wound
- Micropore or medical tape
- A crepe or elastic bandage for supporting a sprain or holding a dressing in place
- Antiseptic wipes and a small bottle of saline or clean water for irrigating a wound
- Antiseptic cream. Note that antibiotic creams are prescription-only in the UK, so antiseptic is what belongs in a walking kit
Medicines
- Paracetamol and ibuprofen, in the original packaging with the dosage information
- Antihistamine tablets for stings and mild reactions
- Rehydration sachets, which weigh nothing and are worth their space on a hot day
- Your own regular medication, in your pack rather than left in your luggage
Carry medication for yourself. Guides do not administer medication to participants, so if you need something, it needs to be in your own pack and you need to be able to reach it.
Tools
- Fine-tipped tweezers or a tick-removal tool. Blunt tweezers are no use for ticks or splinters
- Small scissors with rounded tips, or a pair of trauma shears
- Nitrile gloves, two pairs
- Safety pins and a few cable ties. Between them they fix bandages, straps, poles and boots
Emergency and shelter
- A foil survival bag, not a flat blanket. A bag holds heat far better and costs about the same
- An emergency whistle. Six blasts, then a minute's pause, is the international distress signal
- A head torch, even on a day walk. Three blasts or flashes repeated is the same signal at night
- A power bank and cable. A dead phone means no map, no rescue call and no location
- An emergency contact card in your pack, with any allergies or conditions written on it
On group walks the guide carries a large group shelter, which is a different and much better thing than an individual survival bag.
What to leave at home
- A digital thermometer. Weight you will never use on a UK day walk
- Tourniquets and advanced trauma kit unless you are trained to use them
- Anything you do not know how to use. Kit you cannot use is just cargo
- A giant pre-made kit box. Repack it into a zip-lock bag and halve the weight
Ticks: get this one right
Tick bites are the health risk most walkers underestimate in the UK. Ticks live in long grass, bracken and woodland edges, and a small proportion carry Lyme disease. Removing one properly, and soon, is what reduces the risk.
- Use fine-tipped tweezers or a tick-removal tool. Fingers and blunt tweezers crush the tick, which is exactly what you are trying to avoid.
- Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible, gripping its head rather than its body.
- Pull slowly and steadily upwards. Do not twist, jerk, squeeze or crush it.
- Clean the bite with antiseptic or soap and water, and note the date.
Never try to burn a tick off, smother it in petroleum jelly, or use any other folk remedy. All of them make the tick more likely to regurgitate into the bite, which is the opposite of what you want.
Afterwards, watch the bite. A circular or oval rash that looks like a bullseye on a dartboard is the classic sign of Lyme disease. It usually appears within one to four weeks but can take up to three months. Contact your GP or NHS 111 if you develop that rash or flu-like symptoms within three months of a tick bite, and tell them you have been walking in grassland or woodland.
If it is serious: calling for help in the UK
999 or 112Ask for Police, then ask for Mountain Rescue. Mountain rescue in the UK is called out through the police, not directly, and this catches people out every year.
- Work out where you are before you call: a grid reference, a what3words address, or your phone's location. Emergency services in the UK accept all three.
- Have your details ready: the casualty's name, age and sex, what has happened and what the injuries are, how many people are in your party, and the phone number you are calling from.
- Make the call, give everything clearly, and write down anything they tell you.
- Stay exactly where you are until the team contacts you. Moving after a call is one of the most common reasons rescues take longer than they should.
If you have only enough signal to text, you can send an emergency text to 999 — but only if your phone is registered in advance. Text the word register to 999 now and follow the instructions. It takes a minute and costs nothing, and it is useless to sign up once you are already in trouble.
Keeping your kit ready
- Check it twice a year. Set a reminder. Look for expiry dates, and for anything that has gone damp or lost its seal.
- Restock the day you use something. The plaster you used last month is the one you will want next month.
- Learn to use it. A half-day outdoor first aid course is the single best upgrade to any kit, and far more useful than another gadget in the bag.
- Adapt it to the walk. A summer day in the Chilterns and a winter weekend in Snowdonia need different kits. Longer, more remote and colder all mean carry more.
- Keep it dry and keep it accessible. A kit at the bottom of your pack under everything else is a kit you will not reach for a hot spot.
What our guides carry
Every Hiking in London walk goes out with a guide trained in first aid who carries a full group kit: dressings for larger wounds, a group shelter, a survival bag, and the means to get help and keep people warm while it arrives. On multi-day and mountain trips that kit is bigger again.
That does not replace your own small kit, and it is not meant to. Yours handles your own blisters and your own headache so the day keeps moving. Ours handles the things you should not have to.
Please read
This page is a kit list and general guidance for walkers, not medical advice and not a substitute for training. If you want to be genuinely useful when something goes wrong, take an outdoor or wilderness first aid course — it is a day or two well spent.
Tell your guide at the start of any walk about allergies, conditions or medication that could matter in an emergency. It stays confidential, and it is the single most helpful thing you can do for whoever might have to look after you.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need my own kit if the guide carries one?
How much should a hiking first aid kit weigh?
Should I buy a ready-made kit or build my own?
Can the guide give me painkillers?
What do I do if there is no phone signal?
How do I know if a tick bite needs a doctor?
Walk with people who carry the kit
Every one of our walks goes out with a first-aid-trained guide and a full group kit. You bring the blister plasters; we will handle the rest.
Tick removal guidance follows NHS advice; emergency call-out procedure follows Mountain Rescue England and Wales. Questions about our walks and safety: events@hikinginlondon.co.uk
This article is proudly sponsored by AllTrails.
