Hiking Terminology 101

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Anyone who has taken up a hobby on more than a semi-regular basis knows that with each hobby or endeavor, there are typically certain words that develop known only to the community devoted to that hobby. Hiking is no different, and if you want to become a truly avid hiker, you’re going to have to speak the language. Don’t worry; this isn’t like learning Spanish. It simply means picking up some basic hiking terms, some of which are listed here.

• Day Packs: Day packs are like smaller versions of backpacks that you’ll use for a common hiking jaunt, packing only what you need for a day’s worth. Backpacks are more suitable for more long-distance hikes and for the different activity of backpacking.
• “From the Skin Out” or FSO Weight: As the title suggests, “from the skin out” refers to everything you’re carrying with you that you weren’t born with. In other words, FSO weight includes everything you’re carrying, from your sunglasses and clothes to your backpack and hiking stick.
• Packweight: Different from “From the skin out” weight, the packweight refers to the actual backpack you’re carrying itself. Don’t include food and water in this weight: simply refer to the actual weight of your backpack.
• Pronation/supination: Both of these refer to the angle at which your foot hits the ground. Pronation refers to rotating your foot inward; supination refers to rotating your foot outward. These are also popular terms with runners, who need to make sure that their form is ideal for the pounding that their feet will take. As you can imagine, this is also important for hikers.
• Guiding stars: Guiding starts are ways that help you find your direction at night; they’re different in the northern and southern hemispheres. If you’re in the northern hemisphere, you’ll look for the North Star; if you’re in the southern hemisphere, try to find the Southern Cross.
• Cairn: A formation of rocks or simply a pile of rocks that helps indicate the direction of the trail. Needless to say, keeping on your trail is of vital importance to a hiker that doesn’t want to get lost.

These terms simply work as some “basic” hiking terminology: if you want to learn more, simply remain exposed to the hiking community and you’ll pick up more advanced terms. Don’t be embarrassed to ask another hiker what a term might refer to; after all, we all had to learn them at some point or another.

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The Pros and Cons of Family Hiking

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

You’re out there on the trails, enjoying the feeling of an early-morning breeze and wondering why you don’t get out more often. When you look back to see the companion(s) you’ve brought with you, what do you see?

If you pictured a friend or a spouse, you may not have thought about how fun it could be to take your entire family hiking. And if you imagined your entire family – spouse, kids, and all – with you, you might have what it takes to be a great family hiker. But should you always bring your family with you on a hike? Here are some pro’s and con’s to help you consider the possibility.

Pros

• Exercise for the entire family – If you can get your kids hooked to physical activity at an early enough age, you won’t have to worry as much about their health and fitness. NOt only is exercising good for you, it’s good for the entire family, and promotes a sense of bonding that you can’t get at home watching television on two separate TV sets. Exercising is good, clean, honest fun – and it’s good for you, too.
• Teaching basic skills – the more hardcore family hikers will be able to relate certain skills to their children – survival skills and principles, the right mental attitude for tackling obstacles, and when they get older, even medical skills. Of course, in order to teach these skills, you have to know them yourself – why not making your childrens’ education a great excuse?

Cons

• Loss of solidarity – If you have a busy job that takes a lot out of you, sometimes a jaunt through the woods is exactly what the doctor ordered. As long as it’s alone. Some people simply need to get away, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing: if you arrive back home re-energized and in a better mood, it will have been worth it. Sometimes you deserve to treat yourself to a good exercise session.
• Whining! Let’s face it: kids aren’t always angels. And when you’re trying to enjoy a camping trip, having two teenagers whine at you isn’t exactly what you envisioned. That’s why you’ll want to make sure you don’t force anyone into doing something they’re violently opposed to.

For many people, the positives of family hiking will far outweigh the negatives. For others, the negatives will outweigh the positives. Ask yourself what kind of experience seems most appealing to you.

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Three Reasons to Pack Light When Hiking

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

One thing that might separate any experienced hiker from a complete beginner is seeing how the hiker is packed. An experienced hiker will have a good backpack, one that is steel-rod enforced that helps to distribute the weight of their towage across their body, instead of dragging down on their shoulders and neck. The experienced hiker might look under-prepared on first glance, traveling light, but carrying only the essentials.

The novice hiker might look like a walking hike-cyborg, a person with too many machines, too much to carry, and no respect for what carrying weight over long distances will do to their energy. While it’s true that some hikers can handle more weight than others, there’s no doubt that someone carrying too much for their own strength and energy levels is in for a pretty tough lesson about hiking.

#1. You’re preparing for the second half of the hike, not the first.

A rule of thumb for preparation is that you’re not preparing for everything that’s expected – although that’s part of it, as well – but preparing for the unexpected. By carrying too much equipment with you, you might be prepared for every situation, but you’re really only preparing for the first part of the hike – the time when you aren’t exhausted from carrying so much equipment. If you need some technology to navigate your way home, carry it with you – but only if you need it.

#2. Reducing your resource needs.

As you expend less energy by carrying less weight, you’ll also create less of a need to consume energy. Consider it the hiker’s paradox: the more food you carry, the more food you’ll need to eat to maintain your energy levels. This might not be as true during shorter hikes because you won’t need as much endurance, but on longer hikes, your endurance is a key factor, and reducing your resource needs is one of the reasons to pack light.

#3. Hiking is tough enough.

If you’re a serious hiker who’s tackling the terrain, it’s no fun to be held back by the weight you’re carrying. Hiking is tough enough, so pack light in order to give yourself the license to move with agility and relative speed, chasing high points and tackling long distances. For you beginners, you’ll understand this once you get out there. Some people increase their exercise intensity by adding weights to a run or jog, but unless you’re a serious hiker, there’s no reason to do this the first time out.

Photo Credits: The Sunshine Rabbit

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Hiking with GPS

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Many people want to make hiking a permanent hobby for them, but are usually thrown back by a few excuses. What if it’s too cold or too hot today? Won’t it be uncomfortable? What happens if I get lost? What will I do?

There are answers to these questions, and if you’re serious about being a habitual hiker, you might even just ignore them. But here’s one question that has a definite answer you can find right away: “will I get lost?” No, you don’t have to. If you want to do some deep-words exploring, you can go hiking with a GPS to help you find your way, and leave “bread crumbs” through the forrest to not only get you where you’re going, but to get yourself back to where you came from.

Of course, there’s another mental hurdle. “Isn’t GPS hard to use?” Well, of course, the answer is no. GPS devices including GPS watches can be like mobile computers, but that doesn’t mean you have to be computer literate to handle one. Instead, you can either ask someone who knows, consult the sales team where you buy your GPS, try it out yourself, or some combinatino of all three. It’s not like you haven’t learned anything before and, believe me, it will actually end up being much simpler than you’re making it out to be.

For many people, hiking is about the freedom of the open woods, about climbing obstacles and conquering hills. The best way to do this is to keep things simple, and by keeping close watch on your path and your navigation, you lose some of the intense foccus that gives many hikers such an intense natural high. You want to be full y present when you’re out there, and having GPS on your wrist can often give you the peace of mind to do just that.

Keep one thing in mind, however: GPS does strip some of the mystique away. You might even want to keep your GPS covered or in your backpack during the trip yourself to add to the reality of being in the wilderness with only yourself and your wits with you. You’ll always know that you’re leaving that metaphorical trail of bread crumbs to get back, but you’ll also experience the reality of living totally natural, if only for a while. It makes for a great escape from civilization, and once you’re ready to come home, fire up the GPS and find your car. It’s that simple.

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Should You Have a Walking Rhythm When You Hike?

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Have you ever gone on a hiking trip as a beginner, and even though you enjoyed it, noticed that some other hikers seemed to pass you at unreasonably fast paces? Did you wonder how they were able to achieve that pace without seeming to lose a step or even really exert themselves? The secret to achieving this kind of effort when you go hiking is in your walking rhythm, and you can learn to do it too.

What is a walking rhythm?

Quite simply, it is the effort you make to hold your pace steady, no matter what kind of terrain you’re on. Even if you have to adjust your pace to go faster or slower over different types of Earth, you’ll still have a basic idea of the pace and tempo that you should be traveling at.

The hiking rhythm is about noticing this tempo and making your body use its full range of movement to achieve it. Your arms should coincide with the movements of your legs, and your legs should moving to a steady “1,2″ beat. It’s not hard to find this beat when you’re already out there walking, so feel free to give it a try on your next trip.

A walking/hiking rhythm is easy to begin, but it can be difficult to maintain. It becomes mostly a mental battle – it’s all too easy to let your mind wander to other things when you’re trying to focus on something as simple as your walking rhythm. That’s why some people use mantras to keep them going. Your mantra can be simple and easy to remember, such as repeating “left, right,” or you can remember the beat to a song you enjoy and try playing it out in your head.

What will embracing a walking rhythm do for you? First, you’ll have a greater degree of control over your total exertion throughout a hike. Second, you’ll be able to incrementally increase your pace once you have control over it, allowing you to get to the level of the “fast” hikers mentioned at the beginning of this article. Third, it will help promote mental discipline and create clarity of mind when the rest of your world is busy, busy, busy.

Photo Credits: JonF119

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How to Hike in the Winter

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Many of you outdoorsy types have two essential modes of being: winter sport adventurer, and summer trailblazer. If you’re in a northern state especially, the difference between the seasons is so stark that you can’t help but have these two different modes of being. You have swim trunks and running shoes in addition to skiing poles and ski boots. But what if it doesn’t have to be this way, and you can instead enjoy many of the same sports during all of the seasons?

You can do that with hiking, which is traditionally associated with sunny days on the trail. To those truly dedicated hikers, however, hiking is a year-round sport in which the changing seasons simply represent different challenges to embrace.

Here are a few quick tips for hiking in the winter.

1. Know your equipment.

If you’ve never hiked in the winter, but are serious about hunkering down and tackling the snowy slopes, you’ve got to know your equipment first. Don’t tackle any challenges that put you too far out of your element – work your way up to that level first.

Understanding the basic equipment will get your foot on the trail, so take a few minutes to ask yourself what you might need. You’ll want to look at snowshoes, especially – even if you don’t want to wear them on your entire hike, you’ll want to at least have them with you. Likewise, snow poles will help you dig in on some slippery terrain and avoid any falls.

2. Dress for the occasion.

Another aspect of hiking in the winter that’s not entire predictable is the amount of moisture that’s really out there. After a snow fall, there will probably be hills full of snow that’s just waiting to melt once it touches your warm skin. You’re going to want to keep two principles of winter dressing in mind: warm, and dry. Warm isn’t enough – you don’t want to be wet. And dry isn’t enough – it isn’t fun to be dry and freezing. Together, they make for a much more comfortable experience.

Build an “under-layer” of long underwear that blocks out any leaks in the typical areas – think your neck, wrists, and ankles. It will take a little more effort up front, but it will be worth it when you reach the top of that snow hill and say to yourself “wow, that was great!”

Treat hiking in the winter as an entirely different entity, and you’ll be well-prepared for some enjoyable exercise and a fun time with friends and family.

Photo Credits: TimWilson“>1

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Hiking Speed vs Walking Speed

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

When many aspiring hikers are interested in learning how to get into “hiking shape” for the summer, a frequent question that comes up is the issue of pace, or speed. While many people don’t care to measure their hiking speed, so long as they work up a sweat, others like to know their speed for navigational and even physical purposes – it helps them measure their progress and calories burnt. If you want to understand your hiking speed, however, you’ll also want to know how it measures against your normal walking speed.

That’s why many people are so interested in the speed at which they hike. To them, their speed reflects their results – if they can make it up a hill in an hour when they used to take an hour and a half, they know that they’ve made tangible progress in their development. So let’s take a look at how hiking speed and walking speed can tell you about the kind of shape you’re in.

A Rule of Thumb

Generally, for every hundred pounds you weigh, you’ll burn about 45 calories per hour going at a speed of two miles per hour – but that’s just on a smooth level surface. The energy output required will approximately double for every mile per hour you increase, meaning you’ll burn about 90 calories per hundred pounds at three miles an hour, and so on.

The reason so many people enjoy hiking is that the incline adds a significantly greater energy requirement to your workout routine, increasing the amount of calories you’ll need to burn in order to go the same distance or the same speed as you would on a level surface. Because an increase in speed requires a similar increase in energy on a smooth level surface, you can expect the same to happen when you’re hiking up an incline.

Don’t Measure Against Walking Speeds

A mile hike is quite different than a mile walk, so don’t try to compare your speed going up a hill with the kind of speed you can expect to see when you walk on an incline. Anyone who’s used the incline feature on a treadmill knows what kind of power requirement gravity can add to any exercise. If you find that you were hiking at two miles an hour but you still feel like you had a decent workout, it’s safe to say that you should judge the quality of your workout by how challenging it felt, not by what the numbers always say.

A good hiking speed will rival a pretty calm walk. Avoid the beginner’s mistake of hiking too fast so that you can build endurance – intermittently include periods of greater intensity.

Photo Credits: justinjohnsen

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A Thousand Mile Journey: The History of Hiking

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Have you ever relished the primeval nature of hiking, returning to the elements in the woods, the plains, and along rivers, and wondered how many people like you have done the same throughout history? As it turns out, hiking is one of the most fundamental forms of exercise mankind has developed, which has afforded it a long and extensive history – from the stone age to the information age. Here’s a brief history of hiking.

If you want to be technical about it, the history of hiking began around 1.5 million years ago when early man learned how to walk upright. Since early man was also nomadic, this meant that walking and hiking was a part of daily life in the stone age, before the development of agriculture meant that man could settle and begin walking for recreation’s sake.

However, it hasn’t been until modern history that hiking – and especially the most extreme form of hiking, mountaineering – became as popular as it is and saw other milestones really be conquered. More modern technology and the further exploration and charting of mountains helped hikers conquer new heights, one at a time.

As technology progressed and these accomplishments encouraged further trekking up mountains, hiking up to even greater heights became possible. In 1953, Mount Everest was conquered. In 1985, it was conquered once again – this time by Dick Bass, the first person to reach the highest peaks in all seven continents.

Nowadays, hiking doesn’t just include mountaineering and adventurous sojourns into the heart of the world’s most extreme environments. Hiking can simply be a brief walk through the woods or an all-day adventure that takes you through peaks and valleys and back again.

Like other sports, what you accomplish from hiking will depend on what you put into it: if you want to be the next person to climb Mount McKinley, it will take tremendous energy and dedication. But the intrinsic rewards of hiking are obvious once you return from that first hike, feeling satisfied from the fresh air.

Do you have what it takes to take the next steps in hiking history? Even though people might have already conquered a peak before you had the chance, you can still conquer it for yourself.

And who knows what’s possible? Perhaps you’ll be the first to take on Olympus Mons, the highest known mountain in the solar system.

Photo Credits: Matthew_Dutile

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Habits for the Serious Hiker

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

If you’ve been a serious hiker for some time, or if you’ve been hiking but want to step your game up, this article is for you. It will help explain the ins and outs of hiking on a habitual basis and will set you in the right direction to make hiking a long-term hobby and great form of exercise that doesn’t only treat the body, but the mind. Here’s not only how to hike seriously, but how to take yourself seriously.

First, time management is the key principle here. You’ll never be a habitual hiker unless you’ve got the time for it. Many people often use the excuse of “I’m too busy for one more habit or hobby,” but that simply isn’t true. We’re as busy as we make ourselves, and besides, you’re really just admitting that you’re bad at time management. Instead, make hiking a priority and making it an important one.

This means saying no to friends on occasion, and maybe even saying no to family. Hikers sometimes live a dual life – they have the ability to stop and smell the roses by getting out and enjoying nature, but they don’t have time for anything else. If you’re going to be a serious hiker, give time management your earnest attention.

Second, you’ll want to have the right – and the best – gear. This doesn’t mean you have to be a walking cyborg of GPS systems and hydration technology. In fact, you can be a minimalist if you want. If you’re a cyborg or a minimalist, though, be prepared for both – do your research up front for the kind of equipment you might want to bring along, and once your purchasing decisions have been made, live with them and get out there, and leave it at that.

A key theme here is how you spend your time, and if you’re a serious hiker, you want to take the strategy of “hike first, ask questions later.” After all, you don’t know what gadgets or equipment you need unless you’ve been out there and experienced a few discomforts that could easily be eradicated. You also might learn what you enjoy doing out there, such as walking without a hiking stick or backpack, and this will help you make some informed decisions, as well.

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Should You Bring a Walking Stick on your Hike?

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

We all have the images of walking sticks from classic movies: one movie that comes to mind is Charlton Heston in “The Ten Commandments,” in which during the iconic parting of the Red Sea, he holds his shepherd’s staff high over the water and the seas part. Because of these images, we often have a cultural reinforcement of the walking staff as something for old men, or even for corny hikers who have too much money to blow on hiking products.

But is that the right attitude to take?

If you’re someone who’s looking to become a serious hiker, you might not realize that the walking stick, though utilitarian and not necessarily pretty, can actually bring you a lot of support and comfort when you’re out there on the hiking trail. Let’s take a look at some possible reasons you might carry one.

Support –

First, the most obvious reason to carry a walking stick is for the extra support it might grant you. To some, having a walking stick is like having a third leg – it gives an extra boost and grounding that you wouldn’t have if you let your arms wave around freely – and you can still use on arm for balance and for grabbing onto things if need be. This is why walking sticks or canes are typically associated with the older crowd – they enjoy and sometimes need the extra support. But you don’t have to need a walking stick in order to try one out.

For looks –

Let’s be honest, sometimes it’s just cool to have a need for a walking stick. While some of us might indulge our nerd fantasies on the hiking trail (think Gandalf from “Lord of the Rings,”) it feels good to carry something we don’t necessarily need, but we know looks interesting. This might be referred to as “novelty,” but you only need to try out a walking stick a few times to know if this novelty will last.

As you ascend the hills with a staff in your hand, you might just feel like Charlton Heston in the Ten Commandments. For some people, just “feeling good” is one more reason to get out of the house and onto the hiking trail, and this has tangible benefits.

For fun –

A walking stick isn’t always necessary on a hike – though it does bring the added support mentioned above – but it can be fun. You can tease people with it, tap their opposite shoulders, and even scare off some woodland critters without putting your arms out there. Mainly, having a walking stick is about fun, which gets to the heart of what hiking is all about in the first place.

Is it a little goofy? Sure. Might you enjoy it? Why not? Try out a walking stick to see how it feels.

Photo Credits: schmich

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