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Three Reasons to Pack Light When Hiking
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.
Here are three reasons to pack light when 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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5 Backpacking “Tricks” to Use
Backpacking and hiking can be difficult – not only on your body and your feet, but also on your mind when you’re sick and tired of moving. Thankfully, being in the outdoors doesn’t have to always be so uncomfortable – or so tricky. Here are five backpacking “tricks” you can use to enhance and improve your experience.
1. Bring rain gear.
Rain gear is simple and lightweight – all you need is something water-resistant just in case it rains. For many people, this might be packing a poncho, but anything that is water-resistant and lightweight should work well. You don’t want to get caught in the rain and have all of your stuff soak through – remember to cover your backpack or fanny pack as well. Keep a close eye on the weather forecasts to help you prepare for rain, but always be ready in case the weather unexpectedly goes from sunny to rainy quickly.
2. Bring Gold Bond Medicated Powder.
This can do wonders for the feet and will help you lift your spirits after a tough time out on the trail. If you’ve been hiking or backpacking a while, you’ll know the need to treat your feet well – they’ll be doing much of the work on your journey. The better you treat them, the better you’ll feel overall.
3. Don’t over-pack when you put food in your bag.
Many people want to cover themselves for emergencies, but they also add weight when they do this. A rule of thumb is to keep your backpack under 40 pounds. If you’ve been a backpacker for quite a while and notice how you always bring home extra food, it might be wiser to take other emergency supplies like first aid or water instead.
4. Go on trial backpacking trips to make adjustments.
You may think it’s great to bring a miniature coffee grinder with you on a backpacking trip, but you also might find that the device simply doesn’t work as well when you’re using it in the wild. These are the sort of things that only experience can teach you, so build that experience by going on short hikes and seeing how you fare. Cut out what you don’t need and emphasize what works out there. Keep track of what you’ll need to improve before you head out the next time.
5. Bring a compass.
You may think your sense of direction is keen, but if you get a good compass and know how to use it, you’ll want to make sure that you’re actually being accurate. A compass will tell you where you can head; bring a map along with you as well so that you know which directions will take you where.
Photo Credits: pfly
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Hiking Speed vs Walking Speed
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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Four First Aid Tips for the Hiking Trail
Although people usually take up hiking for the exercise, the natural sights, or the companionship, it’s important to remember that there’s more to hiking than walking up a trail. This is even more true the more seriously you take your hiking: any time you’re out in the wild by yourself or with a limited group of people, it helps to know some basic first aid tips. Safety is the name of the game, and with the right mindset and knowledge, you can do a lot to help someone in need.
Tip #1: Remain calm.
It doesn’t take long to do, and if you’re mindful of being calm, you can spread that to other people. If you have the most first aid knowledge of your group, many people will probably be looking to you for a clue about how to behave. If you panic, they will believe that it’s time for everyone to panic. Don’t. Remain calm – you can still administer first aid, but do it with a sense of purpose and not panic.
Tip #2: Ask the injured person what’s wrong.
If something is seriously wrong, the person might not be able to answer you, but if someone was bitten or tripped, they should be able to tell you what they felt and where on their body the injury occurred. Note: It is important that you make sure that the threat of danger has passed. For example, if someone was bitten by a snake, it’s not wise to go administer first aid before the danger is gone and get bitten yourself.
Tip #3: Check for vital signs.
You’ll want to see that the person is breathing and has a pulse. You can tell they’re breathing simply by looking at them and watching for exhalation. Even if there’s not much you can do about these vital signs, you should be able to give medical personnel some answers when they arrive on the scene.
Tip #4: Send for help as soon as possible.
If the victim is in danger, use your own cell phone or ask someone nearby if they have one, and call the nearest medical response team. Oftentimes, the best thing to do for first aid is simply to gather the details and wait until medical help arrives. The less you know about medical emergencies, the more you’ll want to leave to the professionals.
First aid is a very important thing, and it pays to know the basics. It’s not always guaranteed that you’ll be able to help someone in medical need, but the knowledge that you can help someone helps build confidence. If you really want to learn about first aid, try taking a certification course.
Photo Credits: Yai&JR
