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Hiking Guide
What To Pack On A Hike
Hiking is a great sport for all the family and provides a simple and easy way to get out in the fresh air and improve or maintain your health and fitness. However, you will need to take a few things with you on a hike and when it comes to deciding what to pack the first question you will need to ask yourself is just what sort of hike you are planning. Are you for example just going out for the day or will you be staying out overnight. For our purposes here we will assume that you are going on a day hike and will look at the essential items you will need. For a longer hike you can simply build on this list to fir your needs.
The first thing you will need is a backpack which should be large enough to hold everything you need but no bigger. One problem with backpacks is that it is human nature to fill them and so if your backpack is too big you will simply be tempted to take (and carry) far more than you really need. The last thing you need is to carry an unnecessarily heavy pack around with you all day, so keep the weight down to the minimum.
Having selected a suitable backpack the first essential item to put in it is water. It is very easy to become dehydrated especially of you are hiking in hot weather and you should take plenty of water. A quart is probably the bare minimum for a full day of hiking. Put water in three or four plastic bottles and wear one on your belt so that you can get at it easily and distribute the others evenly in your backpack to balance the weight.
You will then need to think about food. Hiking can burn up calories quickly and you need to ensure that you get enough nutrition for hiking and pack light food which has a high energy value. You can of course buy such things as energy bars, but these tend to be expensive and there are perfectly acceptable and cheaper alternatives. Nuts, fruit and candy are ideal for a hike as well as a sandwich for a lunch break. Avoid taking foods which are likely to spoil quickly in warm weather, such as milk or milk-based foods.
Once you have your food and water packed the next essential is a good first aid kit. This does not need to be a full medical kit but should contain such things as sterile pads, bandages and tape, together will antiseptic and painkillers such as aspirin or Tylenol. If appropriate, you should also include an insect repellant and a sunscreen.
In addition to a first aid kit it is also a good idea to carry a small emergency kit which would include a pocket knife (or a small pair of scissors), a flashlight and some matches.
Next comes a map and compass. No matter how well you might think you know an area you should always carry a map and compass just in case you wander off the track and end up getting lost. Remember too that a map can quickly become useless in wet weather, so make sure that your map is protected with a waterproof sticky-backed clear plastic covering which is available from most stationers, or that you carry you map in a plastic bag to keep it dry.
On the subject of wet weather, it is also essential to pack a lightweight waterproof jacket in your backpack and this can often to folded and put into the back of the pack to provide a nice cushion for your pack against your back.
This of course is just a very basic list of thing to pack for a hike and you can add to this list to suit your own particular needs. The items indicated here however should be considered as the basics for any hike and you should not leave home without them.
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