Micro Adventure Kit List

I'm sure everyone who loves the outdoors has heard of the Micro Adventure? If not here is a brief summary of what a Micro Adventure is: The Micro Adventure was born from an idea by adventurer Alastair Humphreys. The idea is simple, a challenge to live more adventurously amongst our busy lives. The Micro Adventure gives you a chance to explore the country and even county where you live! Each month you should spend one night out in the wild and each month go on a different adventure, which you can tie in with the time of year! There is only one main rule, you must leave from your place of work and you have to cycle, walk, run, paddle or swim out of town to get to your destination. Spend the night out under the stars and go back to work the next day. Like the sound of a Micro Adventure? Ready to start planning one? But do you know what you will need? Depending on what you are doing the kit list might differ but we have come up with a “core” list that everyone should have no matter what the adventure is that you are undertaking:  

• Clothing – Even in the middle of summer you never know what the weather will hold (specially in the UK!) so pack your waterproofs, warm layers and most importantly a woolly hat or beanie.
• Equipment – It goes without saying that you must always take with you a basic first aid kit, safety whistle and thermal blanket. Other things to consider bringing are a note pad or diary, matches or a lighter for a campfire and a head torch as well as a hand held torch. Lastly for those all important ‘selfie shots’ don’t forget to take a camera.
• Food And Water – In our eyes warm food is better than cold food to eat on an adventure but I guess it depends on the adventure you are undertaking and if you have a space to pack a stove. If you can afford it look into getting a water filter kit, they tend to weigh a lot less than say a 2 or 3 litre hydration bladder and also they tend to pack away nice and small (just make sure you camp near a water source).
• Sleeping – Depending on the time of year, you will need to decide which season sleeping bag you should get. You also need to think about how your body reacts to the sleeping bag itself, if you are what they call “warm bodied” or not. A lot of us here at Simply Hike use a 3 season down sleeping bag and that ticks all the boxes for an all-year sleeping bag. And don’t forget you will need a sleeping mat as well.
• Rucksack – The size of the rucksack is a very important one. If you're lucky enough to have the lightest and smallest equipment then you can probably get away with a 35 litre rucksack. If (like most of us) you have a mixture of equipment then you will need to look at a pack size between 45-65 litre, try not to go over 65 litres because that means you are more than likely to take more equipment than what you need.
• Keep It Lightweight – As we mentioned above, if you can afford it then keep things simple and lightweight, rather than a tent or sleeping bag you could get a Bivvy bag, rather than taking a 3 litre hydration bladder get yourself a water filter and of course look at wearing lightweight ‘pac-able’ waterproofing equipment which packs away smaller and tends to be a lot more light weight.
• Luxuries – Want to take more with you on your micro adventure? We all need a little treat now and again, but in the great outdoors, luxuries in your pack are a little different. It's all about the toothpaste, toilet paper, pillows and clean clothing. Oh and don’t forget the whisky!

  What do you take on your Micro Adventures? We would love to hear your kit list so just leave us a comment below! Also get social with us and use the hashtag #microadventure to share what you've been up to on Twitter and Instagram.