When I packed my first solo backpacking kit seven years ago, I grabbed a $9 drugstore first aid tin and thought I was prepared. I learned the hard way on day three in the Sierras when a blister the size of a quarter turned my hike into a crawl. That was the trip that made […]

When I started outfitting my own bay boat three years ago, I made the mistake of grabbing a $14 first aid kit from a chain store. By the second offshore run, I realized that kit had nothing for a real marine emergency, no tourniquet, no waterproof seal, no burn gel for engine room accidents, and […]