Steps before you leave your home.

1.) Make sure if you’re out hiking file a proper route plan with someone who you can check in with.  Your route plan should take into account possible mobile dead spots & make sure you tell the person who you’re dealing with when they should start to make emergency calls on your behalf.

2.) Consider your gear carefully.  Never use untried gear unless you’re going places you know well and you’ve got an easy escape route (ie go home in your car…)

3.) Check your gear carefully.

4.) Learn everything you can before you go.  Knowledge is light (but often expensive) but worth the person teaching you’s weight in gold.

Surviving:

S.T.O.P (Sit, Think, Observe, Plan) or “Don’t panic – Have a cup of tea”.

As per my article on Survival tins, carry a teabag or stick of instant coffee with you.  If you get lost take the time to stop and think.  Just the routine of making a cup of tea will make you think about your situation, perhaps take in additional clues on how to get back on the trail you lost, realise it’s getting too dark and infact building a shelter or just getting out of the wind and rain is a good idea and wait it out till morning.

Learn your local trees – or at least identify a pine tree, so if you’re without a teabag you can make refreshing pine needle tea!

More info can be found in many places on the net, but the first place I googled came up with this: http://www.adventuresportsonline.com/survival.htm