There’s something primal and exciting about exploring the great outdoors but don’t be too convinced that you can do it without an outdoor adventure guide. With so much nature to explore in your lifetime, making regular weekend trips into the great unknown and exploring wildernesses around the world is a pleasure and the hobby of many thousands of people.
The thing is though, you need to pack well in order to enjoy your time in some of the more ruthless and uncompromising parts of the world.
That’s why we’ve drawn together an outdoor adventure guide to give you a quick checklist of the essential items you should take with you on your explorations of the natural world – comprising a complete survival kit to keep you safe and happy on your adventures. 
Also, be sure to check out my awesome camping gear guide filled with all sorts of great items for just about any style of camping.
Your Outdoor Adventure Guide
Health and Medicine
Firstly, in order to properly bring you an outdoor adventure guide, we must discuss outdoor health and medicine.
Generally, the great outdoors is a more dangerous place than the urban environments and the safe, enclosed lives that we lead at home. That’s part of the fun: being at the will of nature.
However, it’s simply irresponsible and dangerous to travel in nature without some form of first-aid kit, and some medicine to help you if you get ill. The most essential items include:
- Plasters and bandages for cuts, grazes, and bruises
- Painkillers, should you hurt yourself on the road
- Medicine for bowel trouble – an important thing to prepare for
- Cold and flu medicine, to stop the development of illness before it begins
With these packed in the pocket of your bag, you’re all set to protect your health on your trip.
Survival Essentials
Now, let’s come onto the more adventurous part of this outdoor adventure guide, your survival kit. If you’re planning on camping in the great outdoors, or making for yourself a fire and enjoying the feeling of being wrapped in the natural world, you’re going to need some key items.
Bring a knife – endlessly useful – and if you’re feeling incredibly adventurous, purchase a Knife Making Kit online.
Take a flint, or a lighter or matches, to help start fires – responsibly, of course. Take light cooking instruments to help you cook and eat, and the basics for sleep – like a mat to protect you from the cold floor – should you choose to spend your night under the stars.
Food and Drink
If you’re looking to get a little lost in nature, you need to be responsible for your provisions. In this portion of this outdoor adventure guide, we’ll discuss proper food and drink.
Here, you should consider the fact that being outside is quite a bit more tiring than spending your day in the office, and you’re going to need more energy to walk, keep warm, and stay in a place of excitement and joy for the duration of your trip.
As such, you should consider packing the following supplies:
- Plenty of water, and water purifying equipment, like iodine, to drink from natural sources
- Fruit, like bananas and oranges, which contain natural sugars to help boost energy
- Sweets and nuts – again, to help you snack while you’re on your walk
- Easy-to-cook options for your fireside food – things that won’t expire in your bags
- Starchy foods, like pasta, rice and bread, will help boost your energy reserves
- Mild flavoring – like salt, pepper and some herbs – to make your meals zing
With all of these provisions packed, you’ll be sure not to suffer a rumbling belly or a dry mouth for the duration of your time in nature.
Emergency Provisions
Whether you’re going for a slow jaunt up a hill or an ambitious mountain ascent, it’s important that this outdoor adventure guide observes just a few of the more important safety protocols when in nature.
Let some people know where you’re going, and when you expect to be back.
Take with you a phone with a charge, and a portable charger. On your phone save the details of park wardens or mountain rescue and be ready with survival fishing skills to help you last until help comes, should worse come to worst.
And most of all, take maps and navigation equipment – getting lost in nature is exhausting and embarrassing, and worth avoiding if you can.
Camping Things
Setting up camp in nature has to be one of the most exciting parts of your whole trip into the great outdoors. You can select where you camp – be it by a bubbling brook or in a clearing in a wood – and you can make it cozy, warm, and homely in only half an hour of tent-erecting and firewood fetching.
To make it a truly comfortable trip, you should also pack:
- A camping bed that raises off the cold floor
- An adequate sleeping bag to protect you from the elements- a down backpacking sleeping bag is recommended as extra warm and durable.
- A compact pillow to ensure you have a good night’s sleep
- A tent liner, to ensure that the interior of your tent does not get wet with dew, condensation, or rain
- Products to help you go to the toilet in the wilderness, and to keep clean and tidy
These camping essentials are the final addition to your trip – and can help to ensure that your camping adventure goes off without a hitch. In this outdoor adventure guide, you’ll find your total survival kit for enjoying the great outdoors on all your adventures to come.
