That Golite poncho is a good deal. I'm tempted to buy it myself. Many uses for it.
Many are covering good material, and I find myself repeating stuff I've posted over the past few years. But I'll break my thoughts into two long posts and add them here.
Like somebody else posted, I don�t carry as much stuff as a good many here, and a lot of it is used routinely most days, not just carried for emergency use only. A big leaf size garbage bag is one of my basics. It will make a poncho as some have said, or cut open will make a ground sheet or small tarp. I�ve used them as ground sheets a lot, as improvised rain shelters several times also, hunkering out a rain storm under a tree or bush. Good trees are hard to find in sub alpine and of course non-existent higher.
I have two systems, one in my pockets that always are with me, and the other in a small daypack I have nearly always. My goals are to stay dry, stay warm, be able to start a fire if viable and to stay warm enough and dry enough to survive without a fire. My first line of survival gear is the clothes and layers that I wear to hike or hunt. With no cotton, a good insulation layer and weatherproof outer shell you are off to a good start in surviving a wet night.
The shirt & pants pocket gear has at minimum a butane lighter and a troxane tablet, compass and pocket knife which are part of my usual hunting gear. In a Gore-Tex parka pocket a garbage bag, 1/3 cup stainless steel measuring cup with an envelope of soup or oatmeal wadded up in it, and usually that is in a Ziploc with another envelope or two, a candle stub, troxane, waterproof matches, some Band-aids, Tylenol II and a space blanket. A couple of tear open chemical hand warmers and my usual cover for head, hands and neck go in the parka pockets if I�m not wearing them.
Toque (stocking cap), gloves or mittens, etc. are part of my constant use items. I hunted in falling snow yesterday and put on and took off my toque, neck gaiter and gloves four or five times as I walked and got hot or sat and got cold. My Taiga rain pants fold to the size of a bar of soap and sometimes I have those in my parka pocket.
Stepping up to daypack basics I always carry some way to insulate myself from the ground, usually a thin closed cell foam pad against my back. Some of mine are larger than needed to sit on, and others are folded double and open to almost a � length pad. As others have indicated, insulating yourself from the cold ground is more important than having a blanket or sleeping bag over you. In addition I usually carry an ultra light tarp as mentioned elsewhere, of spinnaker/kite cloth. Sometimes carry stove, Titanium pot, water filter, GPS, etc. but not always for any of these. Ditto for a bigger first aid kit, Moleskin, more food, etc.
From reading a survival situation in a plane crash, I got an idea that I partially used myself one night and now have improved, but it requires a fire. Heat rocks, then roll them under you as you sit or hunker with a poncho type shell around you that reaches to the ground. The heat from the rocks will rise, warming you, and be trapped inside the shell. Could be a long night, with little dozes at best between changing hot rocks, but would get heat from the fire to you more efficiently and keep a person alive. A pad on a small stump etc. would help to sit on.
I carry usually at least three ways to start a fire. My waterproof matches are in a plastic prescription bottle, separated from a strip of wet or dry emery cloth/sandpaper.
I only carry a saw when I�m planning on cutting antlers off, or sometimes when predator hunting and want to improve on nature a bit by trimming limbs. Ditto for pruning shears, excellent for improving impromptu stands, but wouldn�t carry them normally for survival. Each of us has different priorities.
Like Kutenay said, it�s best not to count on having to start a fire, though I sure hope to. In the whole NW WA and SE BC for the past few weeks, I�d defy 98% of humans to get a fire going in the bush using items carried in a daypack, and my real opinion is that 99.9% couldn�t do it tonight. In most locations near here tonight, I wouldn�t waste time trying to start or sustain a fire, but would put the effort on something else, like rain/wind protection and insulation.
