Planning my first overnight hiking/backpacking trip
forcexquit
Posts: 8 Member
Actually this will be my first hike thats been more than like 8 miles. A couple friends and I are going on a 20ish mile hike down some remote railroad tracks sometime in the next month. We are camping out because we like to camp, we are going to be taking a lot of pictures, and none of us hike very much so we will probably have a pretty slow pace. Does anyone have any tips on packing or photography or anything else besides don't do it its trespassing?
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My and my fiance have been on many backpacking trips. I have a few tips, but if you have any questions in particular, message me and I will be happy to answer them
1- Always have a map, compass, and a way to track your mileage. Nothing is worse than getting lost in the woods with a bunch of people who dont know what they are doing.
2- dont trespass. I dont know where you are from, but I am sure you can find a hiking trail or a map of sometime of trail in your area.
3- don't underestimate the bugs. You can buy 99 cent bug net from Wally World, it can really be a life saver.
4- make sure you have plenty of matches or a way to start a fire.
As far as the pictures are concerned, we take about 500 pics per trip, we love taking pictures of everything. We don't try for a perfect picture, but for something to remember the event.
We use a Gorilla-pod to take pics of ourselves. You can wrap it around a small tree or branch and use the self timer. Works great!
Last but not least! HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!
AND TAKE PLENTY OF WATERActually this will be my first hike thats been more than like 8 miles. A couple friends and I are going on a 20ish mile hike down some remote railroad tracks sometime in the next month. We are camping out because we like to camp, we are going to be taking a lot of pictures, and none of us hike very much so we will probably have a pretty slow pace. Does anyone have any tips on packing or photography or anything else besides don't do it its trespassing?0 -
I agree with the other post. Railroad grades are great for hiking, many areas have a rails to trails program, where they removed the abandoned tracks and you are hiking at no more than a 6% grade. If you are already familiar with camping, you should already have most of the gear you will need. You will want to minimilize your packed weight, so go through your gear and choose the lightest items. Water is heavy, you do not want to carry much more than half a gallon with you. If you have a filtration device, make sure you have a clean water source. If not, Since you are going with several buddies, it might be a good idea to cache some of your food and water along or near the route and also stage your vehicles. Also, if you have other friends who want to car camp at a location, that can be your basecamp, so you can enjoy a good night's rest without having to carry the heavier bedding.
To prepare yourself physically, start doing your walks/hikes while wearing a daypack, once your are accustomed to it, start wearing the pack you plan to take on the trip. Hope this helps. btw I have been a scout leader for seven years. You can do this.0 -
Found a link,
http://www.railstotrails.org/index.html0 -
You will always bring too much stuff for your first overnight. Go as lightweight as possible, and considering it will only be one (or two?) nights, keep it under thirty pounds. If you have significant height differences in your group and are going on any terrain that can be thought of as difficult, trekking poles are a must. A fallen tree that one person can step over might involve considerable effort for a much smaller person; same with elevation changes that sometimes require big steps. Trekking poles alleviate the problem considerably, so you don't have to stop and assist or risk injury. Also, the leaps and bounds you can take for fun on a normal height will cause risk of injury with the addition of 30+ pounds on your back. Don't do anything stupid if you don't have to.
If you have expensive photography gear, make sure you can protect it in a way that will minimize the weight you carry. Unless you're willing to go really expensive for outdoor/waterproof/high-impact gear, protecting your camera and lenses can cost you an extra twenty pounds. Not fun!! You may have to take extra risks with your camera's safety if you want to take quality photos along the way. Figure out what you're comfortable with here.
Train in advance with at least five pounds greater than you plan on actually carrying. Get used to working with the weight and adjusting your pack on the go so that is the least stressful on your body. I don't agree that taking less rather than more water is a good idea, unless you are absolutely sure of your water sources along the trail. Dehydration can be dangerous if you're in the wilderness, and you don't want to be dragging one of your buddies out of a swamp when they pass out (true story!!).
Lastly, try to get some first aid training or at least a good first aid kit. I just finished hiking the Berg Lake Trail in the Rockies and finished the trip with a concussion. Acknowledge that if you are in the backcountry, you are facing some risks and be smart about it. I don't know exactly how accessible your trail is going to be, but it's always a good idea to bring a map and compass.
Good luck and have fun!!0 -
A lot of good advice, watch for blisters as well. You can get wilderness first aid training through the Red Cross, I would highly recommend it. You may also want to check the cell phone coverage in your area. If there is no service, you need to have a plan if someone does get hurt.
If it's not too cool at night, you can take a flat bedsheet instead of a sleeping bag, or go ahead and invest in a silk liner. Mine was some of the best money I spent. It saves me a lot of weight and room during warm weather hiking.
Sounds like it should be fun, can't wait to hear all about it later! What kind of camera are you planning on taking? I usually pack mine in a Sea to Summit waterproof bag and then cushion it in the middle of the pack with clothes. BTW I usually take a Nikon D70 with an 18-200 vr lens. I take two batteries and two 4 gig cards.0 -
Thanks for all the advice. I am seeing an orthopedic doctor tomorrow because I've messed up my knee and have been limping around for a couple days, so I hope I don't have to push back the trip too far. I have a first aid kit and I think I will pack a lot of dehydrated food probably a couple pounds or how much I can get with about 3,000 calories. I plan on taking a gallon of water because there really aren't any water sources until the end of hike. I am taking my Canon t2i and my Rebel G film camera, a couple rolls of film, and maybe a 14 in tripod. I'm only taking my 50mm 1.4f and a 18-55mm kit lens since one of my friends going with me is taking his 7D and a couple lenses. The bedsheet idea sounds great if this happens before it gets cooler. My friend is packing the tent so I don't have to worry about that haha. Our phones should have coverage for most of the hike, but we will let a lot of people know where we are going.0
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To celebrate reaching a sixty-pound weight loss (meaning I still have 100 lbs. to lose), I took my first overnight backpacking trip just a few weeks ago. I spent months researching and collecting the gear I needed, and I'd been doing progressively longer day hikes. I have to say that the overnight trip taught me some real lessons, though. Research your trail thoroughly. Know whether or not there are reliable water sources. I had read that there were plenty of creeks that crossed the trail I hiked, but I forgot to take into account that the area was under drought conditions. I got lucky and discovered a trickle of a stream near where we camped for the night. Had that stream not been there, we would have had a painfully difficult second day. I also took a bunch of stuff I didn't need. My pack weighed 33 pounds, and that was really hard on my legs (especially since they are already carrying 100 extra pounds). Next time, I will scale back the gear I take in a big way. Hiking poles were lifesavers. The trail we hiked had blowdowns across the trail every few yards, and I'm short. Climbing over them was hard, especially with the added weight of the pack. There were also lots of hidden rocks and obstacles on the trail. I slipped a couple of times, and if it hadn't been for those poles, I would have been in trouble. Pay attention to your blisters. Don't ignore them. I did, and on the second day, I really regretted it. I even had a blister kit, but when I was tired, I was afraid to stop and sit down. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get back up and continue. And psychologically, it's much harder to keep going when you are in pain, even when it's pain from a relatively harmless source like a blister. Oh, and if you get lost, BACKTRACK. If you have a GPS, mark where you leave the trail or take a turn. We were on a trail where the blazes were being allowed to fade and weren't being replaced and managed to get lost once. Fortunately, we didn't wander TOO far off the trail before we decided to backtrack. Backtracking feels like such a waste of time and effort. Still, it's better to go back to familiar territory than it is to strike off into the unknown because you think you _might_ be able to find your way.0
