When I go out on trips in the wilderness for anything from a week long backpacking trip to a one day epic bike ride I always carry a few key items.

Some of these things I've always carried and others I've learned through the experience of not having them when I really could have used them. They are listed in no particular order because they are all equally important to me.

The first item is a pocketknife.

I’ve always carried one on hiking and backpacking trips. It’s pretty stupid to go on trips where you will be out away from immediate help without one. Look at it this way. Its one of the first tools the caveman invented. We still use them in every imaginable way from a bulldozer to carve the land to cutting our food. We've been using them for getting and eating food for thousands of years and we still use them for that and other things that are of necessity for daily survival be it in the woods or in a restaurant in the city. We need them. Bring one.

The second item is an emergency blanket.

The main purpose is to keep you warm and help prevent hypothermia.  If it starts raining you can also use it for a makeshift raincoat or building a shelter. If its sunny out the things are also like a giant mirror to a plane flying around looking for you if you're lost of injured and can't move. They only cost a couple dollars and they are lifesavers.

The third item is a whistle.

Whistles are emergency tools and very important ones for two reasons. The sound of a whistle will carry much further than your voice. They also make noise very easily and require less energy. You may find yourself in a position where you can't yell for help because you are to tired or injured but just blowing lightly into a whistle can make a fair amount of noise so the people looking for you can find you before its too late. What types of situations would you find yourself in where you couldn't yell? I can think of one immediately from personal experience. Bruised or broken ribs. Its a very common injury and when it happens just talking at a normal volume is difficult and painful.. All you have to do is fall down a hill or trip landing hard on some rocks and it can happen. Whistles can be purchased at nearly every outdoor gear store. The reason they sell them is for this purpose. They aren't just for keeping the kids in line on the playground or starting a football game. They are survival tools and they only cost a couple dollars.

The fourth item is a compass.

Nobody should be going into the wilderness without one. A GPS unit is NOT a replacement for a compass. GPS units use batteries and batteries die. When that happens the GPS unit is completely useless. GPS units also fail under tree cover, clouds and rain. Then they are useless as well. If the GPS unit gets wet it will be useless. If you drop it and the display gets damaged it will be useless. Lets also recognize that if you're carrying one for the purpose of keeping track of position and don't have a regular compass then you've already made a huge mistake because you are counting on something with too many failure points. If it’s an emergency there’s already been some sort of misstep, accident or failure.  You need something a bit more bomb proof for emergencies.  This is where the physical map and compass come in.

Compasses purchased at outdoor stores are pretty tough. You can drop them, step on them and knock them around quite a bit and they'll still work. Even if it breaks and the liquid leaks out you can still take the needle out, put it in a container of water and use it. The needle is magnetized so all you need to do is get something it can float on so it can pivot. (Use the knife and whittle up something from a dead tree branch.) Even if you’re a tech head and like the technology you should still carry old faithful.

You should also have a map of the area you're in and examine it taking note of other trails in the area, lakes you will be near, swamps, streams, roads and other notable points in case something happens to you and/or the map. We've been making these things for a very long time for a very good reason. Its so we know where we are and where we're going. Things do happen to maps but if you still have the compass you can make sure you aren't walking around in circles and getting lost or more lost. If you studied the map before hand you'll have a bit of helpful information to get you back to a trail or road.

If you do get lost or experience some disorientation here are a few tips.

1. First, don't panic! Chances are you know exactly where you are but you suddenly saw something that made you think you don't. It could be that you just noticed something in an area you've been to many times but this was the first time you saw it. This happened to me when I was 16 years old living in northern Minnesota and I was only a few hundred yards from our front door. I was walking in an area with the family dog like a hundred times before and I suddenly noticed an old broken barbwire fence lying on the ground. Suddenly I felt like I was miles from home and lost. I started to panic and ran through the woods for about 20 yards. This is something that can develop into a worse case scenario. This will actually get you lost.

After a bit of a run I realized a few things. I can't be lost. I know everything about this area. Maybe I've never seen that fence before but I know the lay of the land. I was in a tract of land that was about 4 square miles. No matter which way I walked I would hit a road and there were two major fields. One field was on a hill and the other was a giant low flat area. Both of these were very large and had a road running alongside them. I wasn't lost at all. I just felt that way.

I also experienced this in the boundary waters about a year ago. I was gathering firewood at night and my headlamp died. I could still see a bit because it was a full moon but due to walking around in circles looking for dead wood I was a bit disoriented. I did feel that panic for about a second. Then I remembered the day I panicked when I was 16 years old. I calmed down and immediately remembered exactly where I was. I didn't know which direction I was facing but I knew there was a lake in one direction, a trail that ran for seven miles going east in another direction and in another direction there was the trail I had hiked in which ran south to the Gunflint Trail and north to the top of Eagle Mountain. The other direction would get me lost but if I hiked in a straight line for more than 200 yards and didn't hit the lake or one of the trails I knew I needed to turn around and go the opposite direction because I should have hit the lake or one of the trails by then. I just counted my steps and started walking. The first thing I hit was the lake and I was no more than 30 yards from it. Consider how far a panic could have taken me from my campsite.

2. This goes along with what’s above. There’s a technique in orienteering and navigation called “hand railing”. Hand railing is where you follow man made objects such as a fence or power lines or natural objects such a stream or a lake shore. Even if you're lost you'll still be able to get back to a point where you were before. It’s also likely that rescue people will look in these areas first before walking into thick woods looking for you. On a lake shore you can also signal someone from across the lake and sound travels much better in open area than in thick woods. Your visibility will be much greater in an open area.

3. Listen for sounds. If you can hear traffic from automobiles in the distance it’s a good sign. Go in that direction.

4. Walk in a straight line don’t ramble this and that way. If you’re not using the hand railing method because you can’t or it won’t help you need to know you’re going in the same direction and not in circles.

 There have been studies on people getting lost in the woods and why people seem to go in circles. The reason is because they actually do. People are usually right-handed or left-handed. Somehow subconsciously because I’m a right-handed person its more likely I’ll veer to the left. The reason is that I’m very familiar with the right side of me. I write with my right hand, my strongest arm is on the right side and it’s the most used side of my body because of it. I’m very sure about that direction. If I’m lost subconsciously I’ll veer left because if I’m lost where I need to be must be to the left. It can’t be to the right because I’m very sure about that side. After going left for a long enough period of time I will make a circle just the same as if I were in a car and kept taking a left at the next corner.

To make sure you’re not going in circles stand with a tree (or other notable object) directly behind you. (See diagram below) Make it a tree that you will be able to see from the greatest distance possible given the thickness of the area and visibility range. Now find a tree in the direction you want to travel and walk to that tree while looking back often to keep track of the tree you just left. When you get to the tree you planned to walk to look back at the one you came from and the one you are standing at and then find another tree in the distance that will make the three trees a straight line and walk to that next tree. Then when you get to the next tree look back at the one you just came from and repeat that process.

It’s not always possible to walk in a straight line in the wilderness or anywhere for that matter. You'll be walking around rocks, holes, other trees or maybe finding a good place to cross a stream but if you keep track of where you came from and where you’re going you'll be able to walk in a relatively straight line and keep track of direction you came from. If you’re rambling this and that way after a while you won’t have a clue where you came from or what direction you’re really going.

5. If you're totally lost? Remember you have the whistle, compass and emergency blanket?  Don't panic. Keep your head on right. You can’t live without it.

The fifth thing I always, always carry is a small bottle of water purification tablets.

Its about half the size of my thumb and if my water pump were to break or I had to separate from the group I could still be sure I wasn't drinking water that was going to make me sick. I had to use them two years ago while riding with a group on the Maah Daah Hey trail in North Dakota. The temperature hit about 105 degrees and we ran short of water between the water pumps. I had to take water out of cow troth full of algae and other things, strain it through my shirt first and then I dropped in the water purification tablets. We were very thirsty and very glad we had the water tablets. I always have them on long bike rides and camping trips.

The final thing I carry is a fire starter.

It’s a tiny paper container filled with a mixture of wax and wood chips and it has a wick. It’s like a candle for starting a fire. As the wick burns off and melts the wax the wood chips become exposed and also act as wicks. If you find yourself with a bunch of wet wood or no small items that are dry to get the fire going the wax fire starter will be a lifesaver. Even if the wax fire starter falls into a lake it will still work because the entire thing is soaked in wax so it can't soak up water. You can also use it for a short period of time if your headlamp fails when you get lost while looking for firewood. (Hint) They usually only cost a dollar or less and they are definitely worth it.

There are many other things one should have in the wilderness. Proper clothing, a sleeping bag that fits for the time of year and weather and food and first aid are just a few of them. The list above is simply a small collection of things that I carry in addition to those items in case something bad happens. Bad things happen and we don't go out in the wilderness with those things being part of the plan so we need to be prepared for them.

In a pinch?  Be  prepared.