Regarding Local Reality...

Mountain path up in Mount Voras

As many of you around the world may have seen many videos and read many things about equipment and "survival kits" and various suggestions, you should always reflect upon your locale and what kind of equipment should be carried with you...

Now, let's be honest. Unless you work as a park ranger up in the rockies or you undertake a gigantic task of walking 2000 miles through jungle and desolate forests, you will need only some relatively simple equipment. Let me give an example. In Greece even if you plan on camping for a few days, most paths will take you to an average of 30 - 40 miles away from any form of civilisation. And should you get lost in the woods where most Mobile Phone Companies manage to get a decent amount of signal, you can contact someone to come and get you...Plus, if you think that spending 150$ or more for a huge machete that can cleave a cow in half, then you might as well buy a sat phone with built in gps and be done with it. After all, should the unfortunate incident happens, you propably have to wait at most 1-3 days before you are found. So if you are even basically prepared you should tough it out until help arrives...

Consider your local reality before going off to buy some fancy and/or expensive bit of gear that will most likely burden you with extra weight and more anxiety of not damaging it or using it improperly...So, first of all, gather information about the locale and country you're going hiking and learn about possible dangers and secure pathways from any source, be that a local climbing association, or just local folk that often go up the mountains for hunting or sheperding (these two last categories of people will give you infinitely more wisdom regarding the forest than most books). It's worth having a cup of coffee at a local shop and just talk about the area you're visiting...

Next we will see some basic set up for those that decide to go hiking in the forests, even if that is for a day trip or you decide to camp for the night there...