SUMMER'S HERE AND PEOPLE have started hitting the hiking trails -- both for the day and overnight. Unless a hiker knows he or she will be within feet of a water fountain or snack bar, it's best to be prepared, advises Kevin Reeve, school director for Bethelem Township, N.J.-based Tracker Inc., which offers courses in wilderness survival for everyone from CEOs to grandmothers.

"In California more than 60 people die every year from exposure in temperatures over 40 degrees," he points out. These are the novice hikers who lose their way and are caught in a sudden rainstorm or by a sudden drop in temperature.

Inexperienced hikers, Reeve advises, should pack necessities including:

* Cigarette lighter or wooden matches.
* First-aid kit.
* Flashlight.
* Foul-weather gear.
* Knife.
* Map and compass.
* Quart water bottle and purification tablets, or water filter.
* Trail snacks.