I always have at least 1 compass, or more. I also like having a gps .
I set a waypoint when I leave the truck and disconnect the power / charger cord.
Leave it running for the duration of my hike, bike, ramble.
When it is time to head back the gps will aid my dead reckoning guess which way back to the road, offset by x meters from the vehicle.
When I intersect with the road I know which way to turn and there is the truck, Waiting faithfully !
The gps bolsters my confidence in the compass dead reckoning.
My worst missteps have come when assuming I was maintaining SA, but really something had changed without notice. Atmospherics , fog, or even just overcast interfering with a mental dead reckoning of direction + distance.
