Disagree with the "always" items listed in this thread, especially always take a buddy. Gear gets you only so far, and just the paralyzing fear knowing you may not have some item along or if you do and it doesn't perform or isn't what works, can be a blow to keeping your brain working effectively in a situation. If I have buddies along that are worthless in certain situations, they are only going to make it worse. I have to become someone that can accept a situation, and excel in decision making during the situation. Only I can do that. Maybe if other like-minded individuals are along, they can do that too and we work in happy harmony, but I have to make myself good at effective decision-making regardless of who else is around. Likewise, I have to have the ability to filter and block out noise from people that have no clue about how to safely and effectively resolve a situation.
(on solo travel)
There is nothing more enjoyable than traveling alone in the back country. I am always prepared for a multiday hike out of a situation, and I am ok with a slow death if situations come so far as to reach that point (and so are my friends and family). Have been in a situation where that was a possible path (although many steps away from it becoming a reality), but I was able to extract the truck without resorting to half a dozen other measures that could have been needed (which I was ready for). It isn't going overboard preparing for each and every fear-based possibility you can imagine, it is about being aware and in a state of mind that leaves you ready for those situations, and also having an approach to travel that minimizes the chances of reaching the point of having to escape a situation in the first place. I travel much more conservatively when solo, and that kind of travel is probably the most rewarding over any kind of group travel, every single time. It probably comprises 75% of my trips.
(tools)
So the best tool? I agree with common sense. I would say travel gently, and I would say the Land Cruiser has been one of the most important tools I bring along. In 25 years of back country travel, mostly alone, I have yet to have one fail me... be it my '64 FJ40 with it's coarse splined this&that, single master cylinder, single bbl carb, funky solid throttle links, open diffs, drum brakes, and whatever else could be judged inferior to the beasts that get built up today (my HZJ62 included), or in the rock crawler '79 FJ40, or the oil burning wagon that sees 20-30,000 miles a year now... by far my best tool has been a Land Cruiser. In group travel I see truck after truck fail in one way or another and am always surprised at why people put up with it. It boggles me that for some, breaking an axle is just another usual thing to do on an outing.
(approach)
I have learned from my mistakes, primarily to get out and probe the ground in sketchy terrain or conditions. But I have also been in a handful of situations that have got me thinking creatively for the future- primarily creative extraction methods, whether it be winching yourself backwards or using an ice scraper to dig yourself out, or using a hi-lift as a winch. I am more than happy to turn around in a situation than push on, no skin off my back.. will be back another day, healthy and ready. I was out once this winter on a snow run where I was doing some mapping, and a guy we had along spent an HOUR on one section of a steep trail. I think he attempted it 50 times and as long as he made an inch of progress he just KNEW he would make it. That is insanity to me.
(I was off mapping spur roads and eventually came back and drove down the trail, on the CB saying "if you do not back out, I am pushing you backward")
(example)
here is the '64 on a trail, stuck going downhill, with friends around but trucks that were no help for extraction. I ended up using a log to allow the winch cable to run under the truck and pull it backwards to reset on a better line and get off the trail. Granted lack of experience and youth
had something to do with getting there in the first place, but this situation was also experience BUILDING. (and I would have never attempted this trail alone in the conditions we had)
