A Beginners Guide To Backpacking How To Plan Your First Trip

I spent hours lying in my warm-weather sleeping bag seeing the gradual formation of frost on the exterior of my tent before realizing that I wouldn`t be able to get any sleep that night. I struggled against the urge to grind my teeth and recalled the few hours earlier when my brother and I had reached the summit of Algonquin Peak, a mountain located just outside of Lake Placid, New York, amid sunshine and temperatures of 70 degrees. It was our first time backpacking, which involves carrying your stuff along with you while travelling for many days, so it was clear we had a lot to learn.

And I would learn: Over the ensuing years, I developed a love for backpacking while filling in as a weekend guide for Destination Backcountry Adventures, a New York City-based company. I travelled via backpack through American national parks, became a wilderness-therapy guide in Maine before moving on to a little village in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Over the years, I learned things that I didn`t know the first time I slept at the foot of Algonquin Peak, such how important it is to use a sleeping pad for insulation rather than just that sleeping bag, how to dress appropriately, and what to bring and leave behind. But I could have avoided having to learn the hard way if I had done a little more study beforehand. 

Here are a few tips for making your first night in the wilderness more successful than mine, from a beginner-turned-pro.

Bring the Necessary Equipment:

There are several modern devices available that are intended to make your time outdoors as comfortable as possible. But you`ll probably realize you`d have been more comfortable if you had left some at home.

 As you`re halfway up the side of a mountain with a 65-liter rucksack full of stuff. Basic things you’ll need are a lightweight camping tent and sleeping bag, which come rated for certain temperatures pick one that’s meant for 15 to 20 degrees lower than the weather you expect to encounter, a camp stove with fuel and something to cook with. A sleeping pad to protect you from the ground, a headlamp with extra batteries, storm-proof matches, a water treatment filter, iodine tablets or a small dropper of bleach, and a backpack to carry your belongings are also necessary.

Dress Appropriately:

Showing up to the trail in jeans and a cotton T-shirt might not be enormous a problem for a three-mile day hike, but it can rapidly become problematic for overnight backpacking when you spend the day sweating and evening temps drop considerably. Cotton is heavy, absorbs water, and doesn’t dry easily, which can lead to hypothermia in extreme cases. In general, avoid cotton for backpacking: Companies like Arc’teryx and Patagonia make synthetic, lightweight, and packable clothing better designed for the task at hand.

Consider Every Action in Advance:

The first of the seven Leave No Trace guidelines that every traveler should adhere to is "Plan ahead and prepare." These standards, which include recommendations for treating wildlife with respect, traveling and camping on sturdy surfaces, and appropriately disposing of waste, to name a few, are intended to keep users of natural places safe while also minimizing human impact in the outdoors.

If your phone`s GPS will function during the trip, the app also allows you to download maps for offline use. However, it`s important to plan your route on a paper topographic map in case your service is interrupted.

Employ a Guide:

Even though study is useful, nothing can replace genuine experience. It`s not necessary to backpack with a guide, but it can help you avoid some of the discomfort that will unavoidably happen on your first few journeys. An expert backpacker is aware of how to properly dispose of garbage, where to set up camp (and where not to), how to determine a backpacking route depending on the availability of water sources and level of fitness, and other abilities that can only be developed by spending time in the outdoors.

Regardless of when you begin backpacking, keep in mind that there is always more to learn, and that`s all part of the trip. I always learn a new skill or trick to make my trips into the bush more enjoyable and comfortable. For instance, I recently switched from using iodine pills and a water filter pump to a bleach dropper, which is simpler to use than a pump and yields better-tasting results. With experience, you learn those things. But to hit the trail, you don`t need to be an expert with refined techniques and procedures; all you need to do is be ready, so you can safely gain that important firsthand experience.