High Sierra Topix

Just wondering...
When out backpacking, self-contained, we all carry a few dollars, credit card, drivers license, car keys, etc... (stash?) - somewhere. Some may go out for a few days, others for months, but all have their own secret spot for safe-keeping such items. Where? How is best? Do you leave them in your backpack when at camp?
Thoughts?

The drivers license, credit card, NPS senior pass, Kaiser card, and a $20 bill go under the bottom flap divider of my camera case under the camera. The car keys go on the key clip in the front zippered pocket of the camera case. I'm always carrying the camera (except maybe when I "visit the woods" so to speak).

So Mark, you looking to supplement your social security?

My key ring has spilled over into two rings now. Each is too large to carry in a pack. I only bring my truck key and leave the rest in my truck at the trailhead. I no longer carry a wallet, cash, or credit cards in my pack. Can't use them on the trail anyway.
They are left in my truck in a hidden locked compartment. On my person I carry a Road ID (roadid.com) which has all the important info any rescuer would need if I was found incapacitated or dead.

Unlike most backpackers, I usually wear Levi 501 jeans. Am rather brutal offtrail rambling through brush, sitting on abrasive granite, so like its tough jean material. And the thing about those classics is they do an excellent job of keeping one's billfold in the back pocket despite not having a button, zipper, or Velcro. Thus whether in the backcountry or elsewhere, I don't think a wallet has ever popped out of my pants for no reason. So most of the cash and card stuff stays in there. At trailheads I will prune the cards, pocket stuff, and keys I don't need, like my library card and mailbox key haha. And keys either go into the jean front pocket or into my camera fanny pack that I never leave when rambling off from camp.

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com/2015_Trip_C ... les-0.html

I take nothing but 1 truck key and my fishing license. Everything else stashed in the truck. Even the wedding ring comes off, but that has more to do with swelling and granite abuse than not wanting to wear it. My trips are mostly in/out, so i don't need cash/credit to get the ride.

Levi's? damn. I buy old Marine surplus pants. much lighter and work just as well. Totally agree with the long pants philosophy. I'm not a fashion statement when backpacking.

I always carry car key (clipped in my pack), ID, Licenses, med list and dosage, card identifying I have a stent, cash, credit card(in plastic waterproof wallet left in inner pocket of pack). Since my long trips often have several emergency exit points I want to have means to set up shuttle or pay for lodging and in a medical emergency the staff will have access to vital information. I know I've related this before but once after a search I was flown out of the backcountry in a helicopter for a debriefing of the search team. The pilot did not want to fly any more that day. So I was able to get to town and pick up emergency supplies (case of beer, two cube containers of last weeks vintage wine, and a case of pop for my kids) to return to my ranger station the following day. I was also able to pay my way into a minor league baseball game in Visalia. So I was able to have a good time with no stress and for the next 25 plus years I have always carried these resources, now in my waterproof wallet and with my regular wallet stashed.

Mike

Car key goes in the belt of my pack in a tiny pocket there. I do carry a wallet with driver's license, credit card, Kaiser card, and $60 in case. It's a habit from my bike rides, where I sometimes have found myself far from home and needing a ride, something to eat....you can just never tell. And it weighs almost nothing. It goes in the zipped up back pocket of my pants.

DL, fishing license and car key only, carried in a plastic sleeve used for displaying a fishing license back in the days when you had to do that. (Remember those days? Like someone was going to go up and ask me about that at some unnamed lake in SEKI ) Anyway, then I stow the sleeve in a front zippered pocket that I never use for anything else. One of many, in my collection of paranoia thoughts, about the car left at the trailhead for days and days, is not being able to find the key to the car.

Car keys, credit card, CDL, and some cash is way to heavy to carry.