On October 4th, 2008 my son and I went on a day hiking trip. Before we left the truck I got out the Garmin GPS and the topo maps and saved the truck as a waypoint. We also brought along a rifle for protection against wild hogs, snakes and coyotes. Bears have been reported in the area, so we had to keep those in mind as well.

We then hiked to a local creek and had lunch with eversafe meals - which are kinda like MREs. On the way back to the truck, the batteries started going out in the GPS. So the batteries were swapped out and we got back on track.

When using a GPS its important to have spare batteries. That is one reason why I try to pick devices that use AA batteries. Whether its a flashlight, or a digital camera, keep in mind ways that these items can be used to help each other out. If the batteries in the GPS go dead, take the batteries out of the camera. But its difficult to do that when the camera uses a Lithium Ion battery, instead of AA.

While on the hiking trip, several deer scraps were spotted. This let my son and I know that the bucks were getting ready to go into rut. Hopefully we will have a good deer season.

If you have any comments about this article, or video - please post them in the forum. Visit this link to go to the Wilderness survival, hiking and camping forum.