10 Must-Have Trail Items

Leatherman Tool
I realize we included this one on our “Top 10 Tools” story a while back, but it’s just a great multipurpose tool and it takes up so little space, I can’t help but recommend you take it with you on the trail.  It has an assortment of tools as well as pliers, and it even has a small saw blade in it in the event you needed to cut a small piece of wood to build a shelter, make a splint or anything of that nature.

Twine/Light Rope
You’d be surprised how useful 15 to 20 feet of light rope or twine can come in handy in the event you are forced to spend the night outside.  Not that you would go all “Bear Grylls” and build some sort of Taj Mahal, but if it was snowing, for example, and you wanted to tie some log poles together and build a small shelter, the rope would come in handy.

Master Link
This is not a one-size-fits-all kind of item, however chains do come off from time to time and if the master link fails, the likelihood of finding it is slim to none. Carrying an extra master link and retaining clip will take up next to no room and save you a long walk in the event your chain breaks and you lose the master link.

What else would you bring along on the trail? Feel free to leave your must-have trail items in the comment section below.