The most important factor for travelers is packing their bags. Hence beginners must be looking for some backpacking tips. The most essential backpacking tips ought to be for hiking. Hiking is a very tough job, but young enthusiastic travelers love to hike these days. Even if you are young and you think that you will be able to walk miles, that is not the case.
Hiking is just a rare or a smaller version of trekking, and for this difficult job, you must be lightweight. Your backpack must be so light that you are easily able to walk without feeling the weight.
What is Hiking?
Hiking is an outdoor activity of walking or a minimum version of trekking. It is suggested if you are thinking of completing your trip just by hiking, then the best thing is to avoid hiking more than 5-7 km in a day.
Important Backpacking Tips for Hiking
You might be a novice in hiking or a beginner, and you are going out for your first hiking trip, so there is no need to be afraid or tense about how to pack your bags. As we all know that in hiking, we need to carry our own bag and complete the trip; hence here we will guide you thoroughly with 10 essential backpacking tips. One of the general tips for hiking is you must know when to move for hiking, and the best season is during March or April. This time of the year has sufficient weather for hiking properly, with fewer items in your backpack.
Top 10 Important Backpacking Tips
There are some important tips that have to be followed while packing your bags for hiking. Here we have listed them below; click on the pointers to know backpacking in a better manner.
- Awareness of Geographical Condition
- Climatology
- Edible Limitations
- Pack Appropriate Footwear
- Make Sure Your Backpack is Dry
- Store Food Safely
- Pack a Torch of Light
- Know the Rules of Hiking
- Enjoy the Trip
- Essentials You Must Carry
Awareness of Geographical Condition
Before you start with your hiking, you must know about the place where you are going. Awareness about the location is very important, do as much research as possible before you reach your destination. Before starting your trip, you must know about the place you will be hiking, whether there are any water bodies nearby, or if the place is at height. Make some plans for capturing the maximum ventures available while hiking the place, and try to cover most of the areas. Also, try to find out what facilities that are available in that place to reduce some items from your backpack.
Climatology
Hiking is a tough job; as we have already mentioned earlier, you must know when to go out hiking and which place. Hiking during chill winters would be much more difficult, so you must try to hike for a month which makes hiking comfortable; also, if you hike during winter, you will have to carry a lot of clothes for protection from the temperature. It is best to hike during the season when you will have to carry fewer clothes.
Edible Limitation
Hiking takes a lot of energy and food from your body, so you must know what kind of food you must carry in your backpack. You must avoid consuming rich food during hiking, but carry plenty of food. Carrying enough food is very essential because you might get a natural source of water at your destination but might not get food. So keep yourself full of the apt amount of food that you can use during hiking days. Refill your storage; if you know where you might reach while hiking for 5 km in a day then you can start looking for food if it is available.
Pack Appropriate Footwear
While you wear your hiking shoes, you must know that you will not be able to wear them for too long. You must have another pair of slip-ons or sandals that you can wear for free movement when you are not navigating. Wearing sneakers for a longer period of time can make blisters on your feet, which can spoil your trip mood, so at times to give some rest to your feet, you can wear a slip-on.
Make Sure Your Backpack is Dry
While you pack your backpack, make sure that you avoid packing something which can lick or make liquid flow inside your bag. If you are carrying anything liquid inside your backpack, make sure you pack them well so that there is no leakage. Not only will it make your bag dirty, but also it will make a mess, and your lightweight bag might become heavy. Youll will be carrying your sleeping bag, so make sure that the sleeping bag does not get wet.
Store Food Safely
It is advisable to carry enough food, preferably dry food or quick-cook food, so you do not have to waste too much time taking care of the food. Keep all the food products and non-food products separately inside your bag. The food products should get mixed with soap or antiseptic fluids, which could spoil your food and ruin your trip. Do not make many containers for food, try to accommodate all in one container.
Pack a Torch Light
You must have a torchlight in your backpack, never forget to carry a torchlight to a campsite. It is very important for you to have an availability of light sources with you so that at night you find no difficulty to stay. It would be better if your whole hiking team has one torchlight each, in case you fail to light a campfire then the torches will help you keep away from unwanted species.
Know the Rules of Hiking
If you have a ‘Guide’ then well and good; if you do not have any guide, then you must know the rules of hiking, such as:
- You must know the campaigning rules
- You must know that your tent must be placed on some comparatively flat land and not on undulating land.
- You must know the restrictions of the location
- You must also know how to light up fire out of the natural resources available outside.
- You must be mentally aware of facing danger and wilderness.
Enjoy Your Trip
Out of everything, it is very important for you to know how to enjoy your trips, you might have a lot of things to keep in mind but never forget the motive. The entire motive is to see more and know more, capture all the small and big moments. Take full fun of the trip, and live each moment because you would be able to hike very often. Utilize the time that you have found out.
Essentials You Must Carry
While you go hiking or trekking or camping, you must carry some essentials with you. These items would make your trip easier.
- Navigation Aids
- Sun Protection
- Insulation
- First Aid
- Fire Starters
- Extra Nutrition
- Hydration
Backpacking is very essential for hiking because you need to walk for miles with a weight on you. In the pointers above we have mentioned the techniques of backpacking which one must follow to keep the bag lightweight.
Don’t forget to actually have a backpack for your backpacking trip, and here are some of the top ones depending on your style of choice: Roll Top Backpacks.
