Hiking: Should You Bring a Light Backpack or a Heavy Backpack?

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

When someone is going for a hike, they inevitably run into a decision to make: should they pack heavy and be sure they have plenty of supplies, or should they strip down to the minimum and carry a lighter load? It doesn’t take much thought to imagine that the heavier your bag is, the more supplies you’ll want to keep (such as food and water to remain hydrated and fueled). Is either strategy better than the other one? Let’s take a closer look.

Bringing a heavier bag will sometimes be necessary. If you’re going on a long hike, there are certain supplies you’ll need that you wouldn’t carry on a short hike. If you’re going on a weekend backpacking trip through the hills, you’ll want to carry supplies for camping at night, as well. If you’re just going for a quick jaunt up the hiking trail, you’ll only need a first aid kit, and some food and water.

General wisdom amongst minimalists who like light backpacks suggests that the lighter your load is, the less you’ll need to carry. To consider the alternative of wearing a heavy backpack, we’ll have to consider the benefits that adding extra supplies might carry with it.

Ultimately, the things you bring in your backpack should either be necessary for your survival - first-aid, food, water, etc. - or should make your life easier in some way. This brings us to the idea of technology.

Some gadgets, such as GPS navigation devices, can really make your life easier. However, they aren’t always totally necessary. The decision ultimately comes down to enjoying the convenience of a heavier load against depending on yourself with a smaller amount of supplies.

It’s recommended that you bring everything you need to keep safe, and work to keep it as simple and light as possible. For example, a GPS watch is easy to carry. Make a list of all of the things you’ll want to bring hiking, and then narrow it down to the bare necessities, or the excellent conveniences that don’t add too much weight to your load.

Ultimately, experience and skill will help determine how little you’ll be able to carry. Even if you want a very light load to carry, try going on a brief hike to see what kind of supplies are and aren’t necessary. Good hiking starts with you.

Photo Credits: rebonnett

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.

How to Conduct a Camping “Trial-Run”

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

If it’s been a while since your last jaunt in the woods, it’s fair to say that your camping skills are, shall we say, a bit rusty. You won’t necessarily be able to start the fires and set up the tents with the same speed you did years ago – unless you practice. You never know what kind of challenges you’ll face until you actually go camping, which is exactly why you’ll want to conduct a camping trial-run to make sure you’ve got everything planned for. Here’s how to do it.

First, set aside one day and one night before you go camping, preferably not too far in advance of the actual camping trip. You’ll be using this day and night to conduct what is essentially a camping simulation. Set up your tent, bring out your own water, and even so far as to avoid using the indoor bathroom – unless you’re in a highly urban area. (Note: If you live in a city apartment, find the closest camping spot and simply use it for a night.)

What skills do you want to work on? Try to gather wood and start your own fire, hopefully bringing a tripod grill along with you so that you can cook any meat you packed in a cooler. You’ll also want to make sure you know how to build your tent – some tents are more complicated than others and require a little more effort. Also, keep note of how you clean yourself – if you’re feeling stinky and dirty by the following morning, there’s a good chance you may want to invest in a device like an outdoor shower.

The key is to treat your trial-run as finding your blind spots. You probably wouldn’t be able to plan for everything while sitting at home on your computer, but if you actually go out and experience what it’s like to camp, you’ll finally see where your blind sports are and what you need to do in order to make sure they don’t detract from your camping experience.

Photo Credits: jaygooby

Five Boating Safety Tips for the Novice Fisherman

Monday, September 14th, 2009

In case you haven’t noticed, driving a boat along the water isn’t exactly like driving a car. When you’re out on a boat, things like weight and balance become more sensitive. If you want to make sure that you have a safe and happy boating experience on your next fishing jaunt on the lake, it’s important to keep in mind some basic rules of safety and caution. Here are five tips for boating safety.

Tip #1: Follow the local laws and ordinances.

Some laws – like having enough life preserver jackets in the boat for everyone on board – are actually common sense ideas that you should enforce upon yourself anyway. Make sure you keep enough life jackets on board for everyone, and in general, be sure to follow the laws of the lake, including the wake hours.

Tip #2: When steering a boat, make small corrections when you can.

Steering a boat can feel like steering a car in slow motion – once you steer the engine, there is a delay before the turn really seems to take effect. It will be important to make small corrections when you’re steering a boat, unless of course there’s immediate danger and you need to turn right away. Try to keep your motions smooth so that they don’t upset the balance of the boat.

Tip #3: Make sure everything is secure before you accelerate.

On faster boats, this is especially a consideration. Make sure everyone is sitting down and prepared for an acceleration before you hit that throttle. You don’t want equipment – or worse, people – to go flying overboard because you suddenly turned up the engines. Unless there’s immediate danger, try not to accelerate or break all at once.

Tip #4: Make sure everything is off when you start fishing.

Having your engine off when you start fishing will help prevent a loose child on the boat from pushing the wrong button and catching everyone off-guard. Make sure everything is off and secure once you start fishing so that you can concentrate on the fishing itself.

Tip #5: Be mindful of other boats.

Sometimes when you’ve been out on the lake long enough, it can feel like you have the lake all to yourself. But it will still be important to be mindful of other boats so that you don’t find yourself getting too close to them.

Photo Credits: DeusXFlorida

Five Important Things to Remember When You’re Camping With Your Kids

Friday, August 14th, 2009

If you’re the parent of kids you might consider to be city-slickers, a jaunt into the woods for a good amount of time spent camping might exactly be what the doctor ordered. Not only does it help them realize the relative comforts of civilization, but you should be able to teach them some basic skills they can use all of their life. It’s also important to make sure that they stay safe and don’t take unnecessary risks. Here are five things to remember when you bring your kids on a camping trip.

1: Don’t try to drag them along.

Any input your children can give you into the camping trip itself should help them feel like they’re part of the caravan; try to avoid dragging along to somewhere only you want to go. Try to pick out three camping spots and ask them which one looks the most exciting to them, and get their input while purchasing some camping supplies. It could also help to put them in charge of on area of the camping trip, especially something small like s’mores.

2: Bring plenty of food, and avoid sugar.

If you have smaller children, it should probably go without saying that sugary foods come with an up-and-down effect: your children will be running wild and expending energy so much that they’ll practically collapse of exhaustion later. Feel free to bring a treat or two – if you must get something unhealthy, a salty snack might work better. If they need sugar, let them get that from fruit, which has a much more stable effect on mood.

3: Bring a first aid kit.

Kids are going to be more prone to bruises and scrapes around the camp, not to mention more serious things like burns. Be sure to be prepared with a first-aid kit in tow, and be ready to call in help if there’s an emergency. Clean out your kid’s scrapes and cuts to prevent infection, particularly if you’re on an extended camping trip.

4: Dole out fun duties to keep them occupied.

I don’t have to tell you that kids bore easily, so make sure that every kid who’s capable has a small task when it’s time to prepare a campfire dinner or get to bed. For example, if one child has been in charge of the s’mores, tell them to bring them out, and then help them find sticks for roasting marshmallows.

5: Have fun.

Remember that not everything has to be a mission when you’re having fun with your kids in the outdoors. Enjoy these times, particularly before your children grow up, because time will continue to fly by.

Photo Credits: gussifer | thecolorawesome.com