The All Weather Backpack

You are probably familiar with the concept of a Bug Out Bag, which is filled with things you will need for survival if you need to leave in a hurry. Some Bug Out Bags are more specialized for specific scenarios. eg. A nuclear fallout bug out bag would have iodine tablets in it to reduce and hopefully protect from the effects of radiation sickness.

A cold weather comfort backpack is rather more mundane.

So I was outside recently and as is typical in Canada during March, we often get bouts of warm weather and then sudden bouts of cold weather - and I had forgotten to bring gloves or a neck warmer with me. Many people have a tendency to forget to bring gloves and other important things to help them keep warm, especially when the temperature outside looks warmer or later turns colder unexpectedly.

And it occurred to me "Hey, I should just have a small backpack with all those things in it that I can just grab whenever I might need those items."

Items like:

• Gloves
• Hat
• Scarf or Neck Warmer
• Thermal Blanket 
• Thermos or a water bottle
• Snacks, eg. granola
• Umbrella in case there is rain or freezing rain - I have a small umbrella I received for xmas that would be perfect for this.
• Hand Warmers (one use items that use a chemical reaction to produce heat)

Some people might even go a bit further with their All Weather Backpack and add other survival items like:

• A pocket knife
• A multi-tool
• A lighter or something else for creating a fire

Myself I am always carrying a Swiss Army Knife on me, along with a spare pocket knife, so having more isn't a necessity for me.

Benefits of having Both a Bug Out Bag and an All Weather Backpack

If you only need the backpack for suspicious weather, it will get the job done.

But in a more dire situation you could simply grab both the bag and the backpack, and you are ready for both survival situations and for bad weather.

Imagine for a moment surviving a nuclear fallout, but dying days later by freezing to death? Clearly you need to be planning for what the weather might be doing.

Hot Tip - If being "rained on" by radioactive ash it would be handy to have that umbrella to keep the ash away from your skin, face, etc. Not an ideal solution. Clearly a hazmat suit would be better, but sometimes you use what you have handy.