If you're thinking about heading off the beaten path and into the wilderness, here are some tips.

This article is part of a wiki anyone can edit. If you have advice to add for planning a safe excursion into the wilderness, log in and contribute.

Look at a map

As convenient as handheld GPS devices are (and we'll get to those later) there's no substitute for being familiar with the terrain yourself, whether it's knowing the altitude change or the location of key landmarks.

While you're at it, consult some other staggeringly old-fashioned sources of information. Friends and park rangers often know things about trails that you'll have a hard time finding on the web, like the fact that logging road to a particular trail hasn't had any maintenance this year, or that the river is running high, making certain sections impassable. At the very least, you can save yourself the inconvenience of possibly having to turn around because a fallen log was blocking the path.

Know your limitations

A five-mile hike can seem like a bear to even the most fit hiker if the grade is steeper than 20%, or if you're carrying a 50-pound pack. Fatigue increases the chance that you'll get injured, and you stand a greater chance of getting lost if you're blundering around in the dark. So be generous with your time constraints while plotting your routes. If you plan on camping overnight, give yourself enough time to arrive at your campsite before dusk. There's nothing worse than being cold and hungry after a hard day's hike and not having a place to sit back and relax.

Pack the appropriate gear

This step, of course, depends on where you're hiking and what season it is. In the mountains, 90-degree weather during the day can drop below freezing at night, while a beach that's sunny and warm at three in the afternoon can become uncomfortably chilly and foggy in the morning.

Comfortable shoes and a rain jacket are nice to have, but most hikers agree that no one should be out in the woods without, at this stuff, at the very least:

• Extra food
• Extra water
• Pocket knife
• Compass
• Matches in a waterproof case

Keep these emergency supplies on your person instead of your pack. If, for example, you accidentally kick your pack off an embankment at a rest stop, you'll still have enough supplies to make it out alive.

Leave no trace

What's the point of heading all the way out here if you're just going to trash the place? Besides empty food wrappers and used tissues, picking up your refuse also includes apple cores and plum pits, both of which may be invasive species in the country that you're hiking in. That also includes your (ahem) human waste. Stay on the trail and don't bother wildlife. If you're going to build a fire, use established fire rings to avoid setting the forest ablaze. For more detail, visit the Leave No Trace website.

And now, with the gizmos

Handheld GPS devices like those manufactured by Garmin and other companies have been, if not precisely lifesavers, hugely convenient to many a backcountry hiker. You can upload maps, check altitude changes and place virtual markers on the trail to find your way back.

If you're not willing to shell out a couple hundred bucks on a dedicated GPS unit, the iPhone has several GPS apps and several very good compass applications. William McRea's GPS app ($1) can display things like heading, altitude and distance traveled, and you can view topographic maps from OpenStreetMap.

Many hikers swear by the Spot Messenger for emergencies, which allows you to dial 911 or contact a select list of contacts for help with the push of a button.

You can pick up a good headlamp for under $20, it would improve your comfort and convenience immensely to shell out for one with higher wattage, like the Petzl Tikka XP 2 LED, which shines a bright white beam up to 100 feet out. So if that bear standing in the bushes startles you, you have no one to blame but yourself.

And you may want to download the American Heart Association's Pocket First Aid and CPR app ($4) for your iPhone, which has instructions, illustrations and video on how to deal with any number of emergencies that may befall you in the woods, like burns, bites, stings and fractures. It can also save your insurance information and medical information on yourself and your companions, such as doctor contact info and medications.

Authors: How-To Wiki

to know more click here