Day hikes and backpacking trips don’t always go to plan – but do you actually have the things in your backpack that you need to survive? You might be surprised what can happen, here’s some of the real things I have encountered over the years:

• Your hike may take much longer than you expect and the sun may go down.
• You can get lost or have to re-route completely from your original trail due to washouts or dangerous conditions.
• You can run out of water/food/snacks miles before you expect it. Sometimes bottles or water bladders leak. Sometimes squirrels/rodents eat your food or they fall out of an unzipped pocket.
• The weather can unexpected change for the worse in a life-threatening way. Especially in higher altitudes where 1000′ of elevation can make a dramatic difference.
• You or a member of your party can have a health emergency like a heart attack or a sprained ankle and be unable to walk out on your own power.
• You might come across someone else who needs help.
• Your car breaks down going or returning from a hike in the middle of nowhere. The road could become impassible on the way out – or you might even have your car vandalized or stolen from the trailhead.

Philip Werner has conducted CPR on hikers who’ve collapsed on trails, rehydrated hikers who were dehydrated, patched countless cuts, scrapes, bruises, and blisters, jump-started cars, changed flat tires, been overtaken by violent thunderstorms, and had water filters break days from civilization. I have encountered at least half of these things – and a few even more serious not on his list.

His list includes some very good recommendations/links for all the absolute necessities but I’d add a few more notes:

Bear Spray – useful even outside bear country. Sadly, here in Oregon, it is not unheard of to encounter dangerous people in the woods, homeless are living on public lands and can react in unexpected ways, armed cartels grow weed and performing other illegal activities. Sure this isn’t common for your day trip to Multnomah Falls with 2,000 other people per day. But anyone going on a hike alone or on very sparsely traversed trails would be wise to bring some minimal physical protection. Help is HOURS away – even after you call them (if you even have cell coverage).

Physical paper map and compass – Rescue teams in Oregon wish they had a dollar for each time they were told ‘I had the map on my phone’ when rescuing lost hikers. Phone batteries die way faster than people expect – especially when it gets cold or they are using the GPS constantly. Once that phone goes off, you’re completely without help. Bring a physically printed map in a ziplock bag in case it rains and a compass. And go learn how to use a compass. If you don’t know how to set a bearing on a compass and stay on target across rough terrain in a fog/storm – you don’t actually know how to navigate with a map and compass. Learn and practice!

Extra layered clothes – NO COTTON – If you get stuck overnight, t emps can and will drop almost 40 degrees in some cases. If you don’t have extra wicking layers to put on (not layers like cotton that will kill you when they get wet), then you might find yourself with serious hypothermia or death.

Emergency gear in your car – I have gotten back to my car and found that the battery was dead. I got back from a hike to find I had picked up a thorn and my tire was now flat. I had misjudged the hike, run out of water on the trail, and immediately GUZZLED all the drinks I left in the car. I was on a trail where the temps had dropped dramatically overnight and I ran across a guy who’s serpentine belt jumped off due to his half-frozen water pump. He was trying to get it back on in the snow, in freezing wind, with no tools and no gloves. And no cell service for either of us. My group once got back to the car to find the driver dropped the keys in the woods (fortunately we had 2 cars and a friend we called to bring a spare set – after an hour and half drive we waited out at a nearby pub). All of these could have become life threatening

Long story short: the adventure may not be done when you get to the car.

You should have a charged portable jump starter (that you checked before you left), a spare tire that you have checked the air pressure on and/or a portable air compressor with patch kit. Having a minimal tool set is a near essential too. Besides fixing the car, you should also have a jug of drinkable water, food, and extra clothing. You could get back and find your car won’t start. You could be facing an overnight in the car and a full day walk out to civilization – AFTER you’ve done a huge hike with soaking clothes. Have everything you need in the car to survive at least 2 more days.

Bic lighter and tinder – ignore those stupid flint and steel things. Fire will save your life – not having it could mean death. Unless you have trained on how to flint/steel in windy conditions with frozen hands in the rain/snow on wet material – use a lighter and pre-made tinder designed to light right up. Heck, leave a blow torch and a pile of wood in your car. You don’t want to die because you were screwing around with some hipster camping kit you got off Etsy.

Zip lock bags – you can spent hundreds on waterproof gear that inevitably fails/waterproofing wears off – or you can just get some Costco ziplock bags and make 100% sure your phone stays dry. And you can use it through the bag without opening it. You can keep your socks, the map, and anything else in them too. Get some one gallon ones and quart ones. You can even put the phone charger in the bag with the phone and charge it while using it – in the driving rain.