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By Harriette Halepis

Camping was never meant to be a dangerous pastime. Camping trips are supposed to be filled with fun, barbeque, friends, midnight swims, and marshmallows over a toasty fire. Camping trips are not supposed to be filled with danger, abandonment, and fear. The truth behind camping is that this type of outing can turn into a nightmare without proper preparation.

You probably learned how to ward off bears in Boy Scouts, and you may have learned how to create a smoke signal in Girl Scouts, but did you learn how to find your way home if you become lost? Every year, hundreds of campers wind up getting lost on hiking trails – most of these campers leave markers behind them during a hike in order to find their way home. So, what happens? Often, those markers that are left behind become useless. If these markers are not placed in a precise manner, then they lead campers on a quick trail to nowhere. This results in numerous hikers becoming lost inside of thick forests every single year.

While rescue workers will search for lost hikers for a period of time, this search will be abandoned after a week or so. If no sign of campers can be found, most states simply cannot afford to keep looking for lost hikers. The way around becoming lost in the woods is not to remember those smoke signals (these are hardly ever seen by search and rescue crews). Instead, carry a simple GPS phone tracking with you on every camping trip. These trackers are lightweight, easy to carry, and weather-proof, but the most important thing is that rescue workers will be able to find you no matter where you are with this device.

Even if you think that you will never become lost on a camping trip, does it hurt to be a bit preventative? You probably carry some kind of safety kit with you while you are camping, right? You may even carry items that will help to scare away wild animals. So, why not carry an item that will ensure your safety? While we never intend for camping trips to turn out badly, sometimes it’s possible to simply lose your way along a trail. For these times, nothing works better than mobile phone tracking. Go ahead and rely upon those camping survival skills that you learned as a child…but just in case, bring a bit of backup protection too.