140 Tips Every Hiker and Backpacker Should Know

Hey y'all Dixie here today I want to talk to you about some things that I feel like everybody should know before they start backpacking or even out day hiking tip number one is store your shelter on the outside of your pack it allows you if you're breaking camp in the rain in the morning to pack everything else up all secure and waterproofed in your pack and then to have your clothes protected with your Rain gear and then exit your shelter pack it up and attach it to the outside of your pack that way you don't

have a pack open in the rain trying to tear down your shelter quickly and then put a soaked shelter inside to just continue to drain water inside the pack when you get to Camp if it's raining you'll already have your shelter on the outside of the pack you'll be waterproofed your pack will be waterproofed so you just take the shelter off the outside of your Pack set it up and then put your body in with your pack and from there you can take off your rain here and open up your pack where it's going to

allow the contents to stay dry the next tip is limit your wardrobe pretty much in three season weather so spring summer and fall depending on where you're at the only thing you're really going to need is an outfit to hack in during the day an outfit to sleep in at night and then some sort of insulating layer like a Puffy or a fleece a couple pair of underwear and maybe a few pairs of socks and that is it but to be honest if your sleep system is r properly you probably don't even need an outfit

to sleep in at night but it's still a good idea to have a warm dry change of clothing just in case tip number three is always have an insulating layer no matter how warm the weather is supposed to be people seem to think that you can only get hypothermia when the temperatures are around Freezing but that's not true there have been people who have gotten hypothermia in the middle of the summertime so having that insulating layer May save your life when you least expect it freshen up before you rest I feel like in so many

videos I have recommended having something warm and dry to sleep in when you get to camp and I'm not going to stop recommending that because one it's safer to do so so you don't have the sweat from your hiking outfit Staying damp and potentially causing hypothermia but it also feels nice to put on something that's a little bit clean cleaner than what you've been hiking in all day also if you're camping near a water source taking some time to go splash around in it maybe before you change into your warm dry clothing and wash off

your arms your face I mean take a swim if you care to rub your feet down in some cool water just doing some of those self-care things I think helps Kind of relax you makes you feel better and probably leads to a better night of sleep I don't love submerging myself in cold water so typically in my tent at night I do like a mini bath with baby wipes I wipe down all the essential areas powder up the nether regions with some talc free baby powder kind of Hit the armpits with that maybe even the

feet and even just that little bit of freshening up helps me feel a whole lot better bring a myar emergency blanket I Recommend having these regardless of what temperature it is outside so having something that you can wrap up in to warm your body is a good idea also it could help a helicopter H you if you have to push the SOS button or if you go missing and they're trying to hunt you but also it can add a little bit of warmth to your sleep setup if you just need a little bit extra one

not you can put it between your sleeping bag and your sleeping pad so it helps reflect Some of that heat up having that option to kind of kick up your heat a little bit is nice if you need it next up wear long sleeves and pants remember that your clothing choices are the best way to protect you from the Sun consider something like a PFG fish and shirt that's well ventilated or a sun hoodie that's not tight fitted that's got some room for breathing and air to flow wearing long sleeves and long pants can keep

dirt from caking up on you you Might be surprised how much dust and dirt we collect as we're trotting down the trail hack with an umbrella I know the idea of wearing long sleeve shirts and long sleeve pants in the excruciating heat can be unbearable so hiking with an umbrella allows you to have more shade over you so it's not like the hot sun is beating right onto your long sleeve shirt and long sleeve pants not to mention that umbrellas can have a dual purpose for you know hiking In the rain if you keep your

umbrella in what I call one of the cup holders on the side of your pack then you have easy access to it so if a storm suddenly rolls in even just a quick shower something unexpected you can reach that easily without taking your pack off as long as you have the flexibility to reach your cup holders rather than having to stop take your pack off put on your rain gear and now you're already soaked because the bottom fell out with A quickness and if it seems like whatever is rolled up is probably going to pass

through pretty quickly and it's a lighter rain you might only need the umbrella and then that way you stay more ventilated and you don't ever start sweating if not and you do have to stop and take off your pack and get your rain gear out because it seems like it's going to stick around for a while then at least you have the umbrella to hold over you while you're doing that so that Whatever you've got on isn't getting completely soaked while you dig out your rain gear umbrellas also help keep you warm at least your

upper body because it prevents rain from falling on you so even if you do have your rain jacket on you're not having that constant downpour of water on that material that's touching your skin so so your skin is constantly trying to warm up that surface that's just being drenched with cold rain so having that umbrella and Keeping your upper body more dry will help you keep warmer just because of that also when doing stuff with your hands like checking a GPS or trying to eat a snack even digging out the snack out of your pack

just having that umbrella offers a little bit of Sanity that also prevents water from just funneling down your sleeve and soaking your upper body and last but not least some hikers who wear glasses have said that umbrellas help their glasses not Get quite so foggy in the rain tip number seven is don't leave camp with too many layers or leave a little bit cooler than what you typically think is comfortable I am absolutely guilty of this whether it's raining or not I will leave Camp all bundled up if it's not raining maybe with my puffy

coat and then I'm hiking along and almost immediately I start getting warmed up and potentially even sweating if I'm too lazy or stubborn to stop 5 minutes after I've left camp and start shedding layers because most of the time when you finally like okay I'm hot enough that I need to stop it's too late and you've already begun sweating and then if I'm hiking in colder temperatures because my clothes are now damp if I do stop for a break later chances are I'm going to get cold more quickly because I'm wet than if I had

just prevented the sweat in the first place and started off without my puffy Coat on a cooler morning but even when it is raining this tip applies because if you leave Camp bundled up under your rain gear then if you stop to shed a layer because you're starting to get wet from sweat you're likely going to get wet from the rain pouring down because you got to take off your ring gear then take off a layer and by then whatever you've got on underneath is going to be wet from the rain unless you hike with

an umbrella another tip you'll hear Pretty frequently in the backpacking world is cotton kills now obviously cotton is not poisonous or it doesn't just choke you in your sleep at night but cotton is known to absorb moisture and then hold on to it and it doesn't dry out very quickly so if you end up getting sweaty while you're hacking during the day and then you go to sleep in those clothes and they happen to be cotton it's going to hold on to that moisture and again can lead to Hypothermia but it's not a good idea

to go to bed in damp clothes regardless of what they're made out of but even if you sleep in Cotton on a cold night and you end up sweating because your sleeping bag's really warm you might wake up freezing cold then and again this can lead to dangerous things like hypothermia so it's better to use things like wool or synthetics because they do a better job of wicking moisture away from your body or especially wool Insulating your body keeping you warm even if it does happen to get damp now with that said if you choose

on a hot summer night to sleep in a pair of cotton shorts or a cotton t-shirt because it feels light and Airy and comfortable well that's probably going to be okay and some people prefer in a dry warm situation like hacking in a desert to have a cotton t-shirt because it gives them some more moisture to kind of hold on to and help cool them down so There are applications for everything but in general it's good to avoid cotton while backpacking preventing issues with your feet on trail is key if you feel any sort of

friction or a place on your foot that's getting hot also known as a hot spot stop immediately and address the issue this could simply be a fold in your sock something that's kind of bunched up a little piece of twig or just friction where the shoe is rubbing your foot and a lot of people think H You know I'll just handle it when I get to my next break or when I get to camp and they get there and see that a blister is already starting to form and then it just goes downhill from there

I have actually seen people who ended up getting off Trail because they had the gnarliest looking blisters that ended up with infection so again just stopping as soon as you feel any sort of issue going on and handling it immediately is key one method of prevention that helps Dissipate friction is sock liners and especially toe sock liners if you're prone to blisters on or between your toes and some people even double up and wear just two regular pairs of socks but you want to make sure you have enough space in your Footwear so you're not

cramping your toes up there are also socks that come with a built-in liner like the r socks that I tried out on the Appalachian Trail so it really just comes down to personal preference and What works best for your feet tip number 11 carry multiple pairs of socks and rotate them out I normally carry at least two pair of socks to hike in and then one pair to sleeping my feet get cold at night so I like having a pair to sleep in this may not be necessary for everybody but I kind of keep those

as the clean socks only for sleeping and then like I said I've got two to hik in that I rotate out so I'll wear one pair for a day or two and then rinse them out In a creek let them air dry on my pack and start wearing the second pair and then by the time I wear those for a day or two typically the other pair is dry and at least a little bit cleaner as far as building up of salt goes and mud and everything else tip number 12 is keep your feet as

dry as possible yes while you're hacking your feet are going to get warm and sweat but every chance you get like breaks at night when you get to Camp take your shoes off take your socks Off maybe sit those in the Sun and then let your feet breathe if you are not a cold sleeper like I am and you can stomach the idea of sleeping without any socks that's really going to give them a good bit of time to dry out before you put your socks back on in the morning and start getting them sweaty

again treat your feet not only should you do the necessary stuff that I've mentioned but maybe give your feet a little bit of extra care because they are carrying you From point A to point B so doing a cold soak in a creek that you're sitting by and allowing your feet to cool down maybe reduce some inflammation is always a good idea massaging your feet at night or even rolling them with your trekken Pole or a tennis ball or some sort of roller ball is extra TLC that they will appreciate stretch if you keep your

calves and your feet stretched out that can help prevent issu isues like planer fasciitis and Just keep them from being so overall stiff and sore you can stretch in the morning before you leave Camp again when you take any sort of breaks and then when you get to your next camp for the next night stretch before you go to bed one of the stretches I like to do is hold on to a tree and then step back with one of my legs keeping my front leg bent and then really press into the heel of that

back leg so I'm getting a stretch along my calf if you want a Deeper stretch then you can just bend that back knee another stretch I like to do is to step forward and put my toe on the base of a tree with my heel on the ground and then Lean Forward into that with my front leg bent and then again if you want to work up to a deeper stretch you can just bend that back knee and another one that I've done while lying on my back in my tent is to put my foot

up in the air and write the alphabet in in the air with my big toe and you'll See that this actually does work your foot pretty well finally if you really want to get crazy with the cheese whz you can do foot yoga that is actually a thing and I'm going to link to a video in the video description with a video on foot yoga from the channel yoga with Adrien I know that trail Runners and hacking boots are not the cheapest Footwear out there but it's really important to replace them once they've lived their

promised life and by their Promised life I mean there may not be holes or your foot's not hanging out the side of the shoe but at some point the support in the shoe starts to fail and so your arch can end up hyperextended therefore causing pler fasciitis or other foot problems so whatever the manufacturer guarantees as the lifetime of the shoe I wouldn't push it much past that with Trail Runners it seems that manufacturers prom prise maybe up to 300 miles or so I've pushed Mine closer to 500 but I started having big issues when

I went to 6 or 700 miles in my trail Runners with booths I assume because they're so rigid that you can probably push these a little bit longer but again I wouldn't go much longer past what's recommended work on strengthening before you go again prevention is everything so strengthening your foot and the muscle groups connected to that are are going to help prevent injury when you get out on trail there are Three different exercises that you can do you can do these exercises with machines but you don't have to have that you can do them

right now with your body weight at home the exercises are as follows press your toe into the ground while walking backwards do calf raises and these can be done sitting and or standing and finally work the tibialis interior which gives you stopping power as you're going downhill or if you stumble and you're trying to catch Yourself my next tip is weigh everything and record it in something like ladder pack.com or on an Excel spreadsheet because this gives a number to each item in your pack instead of just randomly throwing items in there you know exactly

how much weight cost each thing has and then you can determine is item X worth y Oz do not bring backups I know the saying two is one and one is none but that just isn't really the best mindset to have when you're packing a pack to go Backpacking the only things that I bring doubles of typically are one a ladder I like to have my main lighter to cook with and start fires with and a backup and also it's recommended to have two forms of navigation so I have an app on my phone for

whatever Trail I'm doing and then I'll carry along typically my inreach mini but this could even be a map or whatever else for you next ditch the stuff sags it seems like every little piece of backpacking gear you buy You end up getting some little cute sack that it comes in and if you actually put all of those things on the scale you can see where it can be a quick way to shed some ounces so what I do for organization in my pack all of my toiletries I keep in a large Ziploc bag and

then all of my electronics in another large Ziploc bag and I use the freezer bags so they're a little bit more durable but they just tend to be more lightweight especially just having Those two Ziplocs instead of having every little thing in some sort of stuff sack for my sleeping bag and other things that I want to keep dry that are larger I have a nof fume pack liner it weighs less than an ounce costs less than $5 and it'll line the whole pack you can cram everything down in there it'll also help save space

by doing this because it's all in one shebang and then you just roll that pack liner down and it keeps everything waterproofed and dry Even if you're hiking in a rainstorm the only thing that I really put in a stuff sack is my clothes because that doubles as my pillow at night I can put my puffy or the clothes that I hiked in during the day in that and roll it down and use it as my pillow I also tend to carry a dyema which is very lightweight material stuff back just in case it rains

and I want to waterproof any of my camera equipment but those are really the only two stuff sacks I have in my pack Repackage food and toiletries this is something I do whether I'm on a through hack or out for a weekend trip on a thik I will sit right there in the foyer area of a grocery store right outside the grocery store and repackage things and Ziploc bag so it will save space and also weight in my pack for weekend trips you can do the same thing at home also if you're going to be

eating things like mountainhouse meals you can empty those into Ziploc bags and I've heard of People taking just one of those myar packages and rehydrating their meal in that each night from the Ziploc bag just to help save some weight and space and then you just wash it out and reuse it again the next evening another great way to shave off significant weight in your pack is to upgrade your big three or start off with the most lightweight stuff you can afford when you're first buying your backpacking gear this is definitely the most expensive tip

Because your big three which is your shelter your pack and your sleeping bag are typically the most expensive and the heaviest items in your pack but by upgrading your big three you can literally shave off pounds especially if you didn't spend a whole lot to start with and got more of the budget items that tend to be heavier although there are some budget items that can be lightweight also it makes sense to upgrade your shelter and your sleeping Bag first because before you get a lightweight pack you really want to have lat weight gear because

the latter packs themselves tend to have less of a carrying capacity than the bulkier more padded type packs would have don't go with a bigger pack than what you need for the Necessities if you're selecting a new pack because you're upgrading or even if you're going out for your first time purchase of a pack you want to make sure that your Necessities fit and That's pretty much it so I mean the stuff that you need to survive on trail maybe all of your stuff will fit inside of a 50 L pack but you're like well

I could go with a 65 so I have extra space if I want it don't if you go with that 50 L pack then chances are you're not going to carry a bunch of unnecessary weight because you won't be tempted to fill extra space when upgrading your shelter or again making that first time purchase opt for a tent that uses Trekking poles to set up even if you're not going with a super expensive Ultra lightweight tent typically the ones that set up using trekking poles are still going to save you some weight because the additional

weight of dedicated tent poles does add up and if you're going to be walking with treking poles anyway and carrying those in your hand that's just less weight on your back next tip is do a pack Shakedown sometimes just having somebody sitting there judging you on What you've decided to carry and your luxury items in your pack is enough to go you know what maybe I'm not thinking this through or it really can just offer a different perspective and by all means you may have those things that you're just not willing to part with but

again explaining to somebody and trying to convince yourself as to why you really need this thing might help I had a big change in my mindset on the way I did my water filtration when I did a pack Shakedown during my through hike of the Pacific Crush Trail and that one change alone probably saved me at least 8 O I've done two different pack shakedowns at two different Outfitters one on the Appalachian Trail one on the Pacific Crush Trail but you can even do this sitting down and talking with another friend that likes to go

backpacking or even a friend that doesn't backpack but they can ask well what's this for what are you going to use this for again just Having somebody have that conversation with you and having to be be honest will help you to leave some things out of your pack next make a log of what you did not use when you return home from a backpacking trip chances are if you didn't use those items on that backpacking trip you probably wouldn't in the future either avoid packing your fears this is something that I've always heard you pack

your fears and it's so true if you're afraid of being hungry You're going to carry too much weight in food if you're afraid of being cold or stinky you're going to carry a lot of clothing or unnecessary personal items like deodorant and body wash Etc so yes you want to make sure you have enough of what you actually need but sit down kind of think within yourself is this stuff that I'm carrying just because I'm afraid of a certain situation and if so then do I actually really need it and to Be honest this is

something that gets better with time and experience next keep cooking simple to start with some people before they get out there they think they're really going to want to play Chef on trail and then they get out there and they're exhausted from backpacking and they realize you know I'm I just want to make something to fuel my body and then pass out so if you keep things simple to start with and you don't over complicate them then you'll Probably enjoy it starting out if you decide that you really enjoy the cooking process at Camp then

next time you go out you can always add more ingredients or spices Etc but a lot of folks end up just carrying way more weight than necessary trying to be fancy with it and then they're too exhausted to even full with it not only should you keep the cooking part and the food simple but your actual setup too all you really need on trail is a food Pot and a utensil and maybe a cup if you're like me and you want to drink coffee while you're eating your oatmeal in the morning if you're going to

have a cup then make sure you get one that's got the little increments the measurements on it so when you're making your backpacking meals or cooking stuff in your food pot you've got some way to measure water there are other ways to do this too like in your food pot you can make some little marks that denote one Cup two cups or a popsicle stick with the different water levels if you put it down in your food pot you know where you should fill to you can get all sorts of creative with this when you

bust out your kitchen setup you want to know that you've got everything leveled and balanced most of the ground outside is not perfectly flat but of course you can try to locate as flat of a little piece as you can but if I notice that the water in my food pot doesn't look quite Level and it's kind of tilted then I'll dig down into the ground with my fuel canister a little bit to try to make things more even and then put my pot back up on top also if you have a food pot that's

really smooth on the bottom they can kind of just skate across the top of a stove especially one like the BRS again that covers such a small surface area so if you have to rough up your pot a little bit on the bottom to help it have more friction then that Might be something to consider you can purchase a plastic base type thing it's got three little legs to just kind of spread things out and make everything more stable it'll fit to the bottom of a fuel canister so if that's something you're interested in for

training wheels then definitely go for it they're not very expensive nor very heavy the next tip is more about safety something that y'all have pointed out to me multiple times is that I'm bad about not moving Dead Leaves away from my stove when I'm cooking the backpack and stove although I have knocked over my pot before and spilled my food on the ground I don't believe that I have ever knocked over the fuel canister and the stove itself therefore putting the flame on the ground now that's not to say that it could not happen because

it certainly can so I am grateful that y'all have pointed that out because in the instance that I did knock over the canister and The stove itself and then had this hot flame on Dead Leaves it could light up and really create a big problem when you're backpacking and you find something like a picnic table it can be very inviting to be able to sit down on the bench and put your food set up your cookware on top of the table and I am guilty of doing this before but I've heard a lot of instances

where hikers end up knocking over their food pot and boil and water goes all over themselves And it's even happened where it's gone on other people that are sitting at the table with them so it's actually a really bad idea if you're at a picnic table it's a much better idea to sit up on the bench and then have your food set up down below you while you're cooking and this is even true in the woods where you don't have a picnic table you could sit up on a log or a rock and have your

cookwar below you but even being level with everything and sitting on the Ground with your food pot you know a safe distance back so it doesn't topple right onto you is much better than having it elevated above you next long handled spoons are great for not having to put your grubby hands down in these backpacking meal pouches or if you decide to cook in a myar bag and if you're going to get a long handled spoon mat I recommend that you go on and get one made from titanium so you spend about $10 in one

hit and then you don't Have to continue to purchase plastic spoons because they will continue to leave you hanging and break on you at some point I've been using the same toes L handle titanium spoon for years and I'll probably have it for the rest of my days don't make cleaning your food pot harder than it has to be I've got folks that ask me how do you wash your food pot should I bring a sponge and soap and I've seen people bring like a little piece of uh one of those half green half Yellow

sponges and it's got little scrubbers on one side and you can do that you can bring some sort of Camp soap or something but honestly again keeping it simple is my main theme on trail when it comes to cooking and so I just use filtered water and my finger and if you just continue to rinse and kind of rub with your finger you'll eventually get it clean up if you've got some stubborn stuff sticking on there maybe you burned something then you can Get just Nature's scrubber a dead leaf and scrub around the sides of

your pot with that and then rinse it out one good final time dry it and it's ready to be used again now folks will ask well what should I do with this you know washing gravy this liquid that's in my pot after I've scrubbed it and people will tell you the most leave no Trace method is to drink that water but I can promise you that yaking on the ground after drinking that water which is what I would do is Not leave no Trace so I'm not going to do that what I do is I

dig a little hole and as I'm washing it out I pour all of my pot gravy in that hole and then I cover it up eat a snack right before you go to bed your body needs calories to keep itself warm and of course you're going to eat some sort of dinner but a lot of people eat as soon as they get to camp and then they're up for a couple of hours before they decide to turn in and go to sleep so eating something fatty Like nuts right before you lie down at night because

oils and fats tend to take a while to digest that's something that your body can use all night to help keep you warm the nalene heater trick if you boil water right before you go to bed and pour it in something sturdy that can handle boil and water like an Al bottle you don't want to do this in a reg old smart water bottle because it's going to melt and be a mess but then you have that bow and water in your na jeene you Want to screw the top on super tight then you slide

your Nile Jee or whatever bottle into a sock so you don't have that direct heat on your skin but you're still getting some of the warmth and then put it in the bottom of your sleeping bag from what I have read and heard this will actually stay warm for several hours some people say that they make it through the night I've never liked the idea of carrying a heavier water bottle when I could just carry Something lightweight like the smart water bottle but maybe in the colder months when I am miserable at night it's worth

those few extra ounces during the day while I'm backpacking change out of your hicking clothes as soon as you get to Camp my recommendation is as quickly as you can like maybe set up your tent and then immediately change get out of those damp pcking clothes because it seems like once you get that first chill it's hard to kind of warm warm up from There but getting those damp clothes off of you that are going to cause you to cool down and putting on something warm and dry should help keep your body temperature more comfortable

and also you definitely don't want to sleep in the clothes that you hack in at least in the cooler months and I really don't think ever it's a great idea to allow things to dry out especially the swampy areas and your feet so getting out of that damp stuff and allowing your body To be dry for several hours is always a POS positive while backpacking especially in the colder months as sweaty clothes can cause you to be really cold all night use properly rated gear this is specifically for your sleeping bag or quilt and sleeping

pad for your sleeping bag or quilt I recommend if you're a cold sleeper having a rating of 10° colder than what you're actually going to experience while you're backpacking and that's if It's a comfort rating on the sleeping bag or quilt I've talked about this in videos before that you have to pay attention to what degree rating your bag is like what that actually means does that mean you're going to be comfortable at that temperature or does that mean you're going to survive at that temperature so if you find out that it's a survival rating

that your bag is rated for then I'd even go down 20° from what you're actually going to experience but That's just my advice coming from somebody who freezes at night for a sleeping pad it is recommended in three season weather that you have an R value of two and that r value is just the sleeping pad's ability to keep you insulated from the ground the higher the R value the warmer the sleeping pad will be as you continue heading to those colder temperatures approaching freezing than having something like a three or a four makes sense

these are obviously my Recommendations as somebody who sleeps cold at night but you'll have to fine-tune what works for you and you will figure it out over time use down booties or maybe even some sort of battery operated sock having something like down booties helps trap the heat that your feet are producing right there at your feet and it will help keep them warm on top of having them inside of your foot box area of your quilt or your sleeping bag Studies have even shown That keeping your feet warm can help you sleep better hand

warmers like I mentioned before I don't typically carry analgen so I've brought along hand warmers to throw down in the bottom of my quilt or even to put in my pockets so I can put my hands in the pocket of my puffy coat but they actually make tow warmers and body warmers that have adhesive on it so you can just peel off the sticker and stick them to wherever you want to I would not put them Directly on your skin that is definitely not recommended um but sticking it to your sock or your shirt on

the inside of your coat something like that um helps keep you warm at night and they do tend to last 8 to 12 hours or so the only downside is they're not super lightweight if you bring a bunch of them they're only one time use so they never get lighter after you use them so this has me thinking maybe I should look at how much those weigh versus a Nal Jee And then see how the nalene works versus the hand warmers because maybe that's my answer opt for a hooded puffy coat having your head poking

out of your sleeve bag is going to release some heat and cause that area to be cold so if you have a hooded puffy coat it tends to offer a little bit more warmth because it also insulates your neck and your head kind of all together instead of having a separate coat and then wearing some kind of Beanie at night if you Don't like wearing a puffy coat to bed another option is getting a sleeping bag that comes with a hood built in or you can purchase one separately pile up the leaves this is something

that I really never thought of until I read the book about Grandma Gatewood where she would bed up on leaves and it helped insulate her from the ground and then when I went out to do my little Grandma Gatewood experience I did the same thing and found out that leaves really do help Insulate you from the ground so kind of creating a pile of leaves and then setting your tent up on it makes sense that it would then help insulate you from the ground still through your tent and your sleeping pad but also kind of

piling up the leaves around your tongue heat you up some rocks now this one is only really if you find yourself in an emergency situation and you need some warmth but this was something that I read that Grandma Gatewood had done During her through hike of the Appalachian Trail she puts some rocks in or near the fire and then basically cuddled with them or dug them down and put leaves on top of them and laid on them if you want to do something like this in your tent I guess you could but you'd want to

have something to wrap the rock up in to protect it from melting your gear or burning your skin so again this one's only kind of if you find yourself an emergency and you need Something to hold on to while you sleep it's an idea do be careful with your rock selection if you decide to do this putting a rock in the fire can cause it to explode especially if it's porous and has water down in it so be careful for that it's safer to go with rocks that are not porous but I assume if they

got hot enough they could still explode so maybe closer to the fire rather than right in it be choosy with your camp set you don't want to camp too high or too Low I know the typical mindset is well the higher I go in elevation the colder it gets yes that is true but cold air tends to settle in the bottom of a valley too so really finding somewhere in that sweet spot of not to the tippy top where it's going to be so much colder but also not on the center of the valley floor

I like to camp where I know that I'm going to get the early morning sun to try to help me get out of my warm cocoon in the morning because I'm really Bad at being an early riser especially when I'm cold so knowing that sun will hit my tent in the morning helps me kind of get going I use the lumos app to help me figure out what times and in what direction the sun and moon will rise and set so that's just a tip for you if you're interested on the flip side of that

if you're into too much of an open area and the wind starts whipping in the middle of the night you could be colder from having the Wind Breeze through your Tent all night so having some sort of wind break like a bush nearby in case the wind does pick up is a good idea don't Camp too close to water while it is convenient for being able to drink as much as you want to at Camp the air near a water source is going to have more moisture and therefore things will feel damp and you'll be

colder look up for Widow makers if you're not fam familar with the term Widow makers are dead limbs that are still hanging up there in A tree waiting to fall and knock in the head also look for any leaning trees and really any Hazard that could be lurking above and it's always smart to do this before you set up camp unfortunately I have had to move my tent before because I didn't notice something hazardous until after I set up my tent but once you get it ingrained in your brain you'll learn to walk up look

around and then make your place for the night never camp in a wash if you don't know what I'm talking about I would see these specifically in New Mexico on the CDT it would be these channels that looked like there should be water flowing through them but it was dry as a bone and looked like water had never seen that spot and it can be real tempting if you're looking for flat ground and struggling otherwise to set up in that bed of that channel especially with that loose comfortable sand but I've heard of instances where

people do that and then It rains miles away like there might not be any rain forecasted for your particular location but suddenly this flood comes washing over you and you end up drowning in the middle of the night I know this happened to a group of Boy Scouts in the past and there have been other instances so as tempting as it was at times it's really best to just not take that risk next tip for enters check the slope before you commit to the spot you can do this if you've got a foam pad By

just throwing it out on the ground you're thinking about putting your tent lay on it and just see is the slope going to cause you to tent surf all night or is it level enough that you can deal with it it's just surprising sometimes how deceivingly flat the ground can look until you're lying in there all set up and realize it's going to be a long night now a word of caution of course you want the perfectly flat SAT but if you think that there is any Chance of storming or rains that night you do

want to be sure you're not setting up in any sort of depression that's going to hold water and cause it to pull up in your tent so having something at that point that is ever so slightly sloped so that water will run off and not join you for the night is always a good idea if you have a choice it's obviously best to set up in a campsite that's already established so you're not disturbing other Vegetation and creating new campsites and that is part of the leave no Trace principles look for signs of wildlife things

like Critter paths holes in the ground and even food sources like bushes with berries on them these things are best to avoid unless you like having midnight visitors next checking the comments in navigational apps like far out or even on Al Trails there might be information about campsites but people like to talk about their experiences and Typically will share information with other hikers to hopefully help out the next guy coming along so those are some resources that can probably help you out avoid setting up on grass it can look Lush and inviting but because it

tends to collect condensation in the early morning and plants transpire during the day and not this can lead to more condensation in your shelter select a shelter felter that has adequate ventilation in a hammock you're Obviously going to have a whole lot of ventilation if you've got just a rainfly over your hammock set up and you've got a decent amount of space there's just a lot of air flow that's able to go through there but in a tent or a bivvy this becomes a little bit more important to pay attention to the design and be

sure that you've got some way to ventilate your space double wall tint definitely help because typically you've got a mesh inner wall and then the solid Outer rainfly so any moisture tends to collect on that outer wall on the inside of the rainfly and then fall down to the ground from there but even with single wall ttin picking something that has vent flaps or one that has vestibules on either side of the tent that you can open up and allow a cross Breeze to come through would be helpful with bivvies this one's a tough one

because you're going to be in a tight enclosure with all of your heat and breath radiating From you I don't have a whole lot of experience with bivvies but I would still say if there is a design that focuses on ventilation I'd go with that one over the one that does not also in the realm of ventilation make sure you understand how your shelter setup is meant to handle condensation if you've got a double wall tent you want to make sure that that outer rainfly is taut and pulled away from the inner mesh wall so

they're not touching and then that Moisture dripping inside your tent with a single wall tent many of these have bathtub floors that have a little mesh lining around them so condensation can run down the inside of the tent walls and through that mesh so you want to make sure you don't have your bathtub floor pushed out past the wall of that tent so then the condensation just runs down into the floor of your tent make sure your tent or bivvy or whatever you use is big enough not only will more Space help reduce condensation but

making sure that your shelter is especially long enough to where if condensation does build up your feet aren't bumping it through the knot and soaking your foot box on your sleeping bag or quilt I would especially pay attention to this if you have a super thick sleeping pad because that's going to give you less horizontal space hang your wet gear out to dry during your daily breaks if you wake up and it's Rained throughout the night or you just have a bunch of moisture in your tent because of where you camped or the conditions of

the air then when you stop for your lunch break if it's sunny out lay your stuff out to dry sure you could stuff it away and just not worry about it and let it keep being wet until you get to camp and deal with it then but you're setting yourself up for more condensation that night than if you just take the little bit of extra time to lay It all out during your lunch break and that way you're starting with a dry clean sleep keep wet gear outside of your tent if it's currently raining then

this tip may not make much of a difference but especially if you got rained on in the late after noon and once you got to Camp you're soaked and your stuff is wet but the sky has cleared up and it's probably not going to rain through the night then getting that wet gear outside of your tent and Hanging it up on a branch or something and allowing it to dry out and evaporate into the great nothingness is a lot better than it being inside of your tent and then that moisture trying to rise up out

of your wet stuff into the ceiling of your tent pick the proper rain gear for you it's easy to think that staying dry is just simply making sure you keep the rain off of you but if you're sweating so much that all of the layers under your rain gear are completely Soaked then that almost completely nullifies any efforts to stay dry from the rain for folks like me who are very cold natured and freeze then having a rain jacket with some pit Zips that can give you some basic ventilation might be all that you need

paired with a set of rain pants but if you know you're somebody who is hot natured and you're no stranger to sweating then having something like a rain jacket paired with a rain Kilt or rain skirt or even a Poncho might serve you better because you'll be more ventilated than your standard rain jacket rain pants combo the next tip is make sure your rain jacket stays cons consistently above whatever bottoms you're wearing so your rain pants rain skirt rain Kilt and this may seem like common sense but with the motion of hacking your rain jacket

can ride up exposing your back and then you're going to get some nice cold water funnel down into your crack the next tip Is pack a piece of ShamWow if your tent has condensation or things have gotten damp because you got in with your wet ring gear and pack or even if you end up springing a leak in your shelter in the middle of the night specifically a tent it's nice to have some sort of cloth to just dry things up that sham wow material and it doesn't have to be that specific brand absorbs so

much water and then you can ring it out and use it again if you want a biodegradable Version of this you can look into to Swedish dishcloth I've used a bandana before in the past and it seems to do decent for the first swap but once it gets pretty good and wet it just doesn't function as well anymore and seems to more or less just smear water everywhere my next tip for sun protection don't forget a wide brimmed hat to help protect your face your ears and your neck you can get a hat that's got

the Added flap down the back or even put a bandan back there you know under your hat to help drape something over your neck and protect it also something like Sun Sleeves are a great addition if you like a short sleeve shirt or you just want more ventilation going up and down your arm also sung gloves because especially us Treck and pole users who have our hands up just frying in the Sun that sun exposure can really add up another tip for sun protection is beware The sideways Sun it seems that everybody thinks ahead about

protecting themselves from the Sun beating down from overhead but as the sun sinks lower in the sky you've got it coming at ship from the side and so having an umbrella can definitely not protect your legs any longer uh your upper body maybe if you kind of hold it at an angle but this is where having a long sleeve shirt and long pants really makes sense so if you're somebody who insists on hicking In shorts maybe even if you have something like the convertible britches where you can put your pants legs back on Just for

this part of the day or again reapply that sunscreen otherwise you might find that your legs or party of your face and neck are getting smoked another tip for you that I think a lot of people don't necessarily automatically think about when it comes to sun protection is protect yourself from the Sun even if it's cold outside I Made the mistake of starting the Appalachian Trail with no sunscreen and I paid for it because it was so early in the spring that the leaves had not grown back in yet and therefore I didn't have that

green tunnel protection the next tip is kind of in the same vein take extra precaution when hiking in the snow now this could be in the middle of the summer in the Sierra or when it's really cold outside but the snow tends to reflect somewhere around 80% or more of The sunlight that hits it so this can burn the crap out of your face your nostrils your lips the underside of your neck so if it's really cold outside covering everything up with a buff might be useful or even just using extra sunscreen or something to

try to block that and in the Sierra I even put sunscreen in my nostrils so I didn't suffer from a sunburn up in my nose holes snow blindness is also something that can happen it's basically when your Eyes have been exposed to Too Much UV light and they get sunburned be careful when you're doing it for the gram I can tell you don't take a selfie you know when you're standing on the edge of a cliff but people are going to do it so I guess the best best practice is to pay attention to your

feet instead of your phone when you are setting up to take a picture and really assess the risk is it worth whatever you're doing for the picture That you're wanting to get you want to make sure that that is not the last picture that your family has of you be familiar with your water situation wherever you're hacking make sure you do the research ahead of time and know that you're going to have reliable water sources or some sort of report that shows that they were flowing you know right before you're about to head out there

uh different apps like all Trails might have some of that information but Especially far out if you're hiking one of the more long Trails whether you're through hiking or section hiking you can see that information on the way points but whatever you have to do get that knowledge you got to call Park Rangers whatever and if you're not sure that a source is going to be flowing don't count on it and plan to bring enough water to cover you in case it's not flowing making sure that you are drinking plenty of fluids especially When you're

up at higher elevations is very important when you're in the back country carry an extra meal I would say that the most cautious thing that you could do is carry a whole extra day of food but I understand some of us are you know pension grams when it comes to our pack weight so even having an extra meal if you have to stay another night for some reason because the conditions were worse than you thought they would be or the terrain or you've you know twisted Your ankle and you're going a little slower having that

little bit of extra food might prevent you from pushing on when really you shouldn't and having that extra time and extra assurance that you're not going to be hungry might be just the thing you need to keep you safe or worst case scenario you get lost and it takes a day to kind of get your bearing ings or for search and rescue to find you having that extra meal can be a source of comfort and prevent you from Panicking in that situation check the weather before you go and avoid Peaks after noon weather can certainly

change very quickly in the mountains but it does not hurt to check before you go just to know the situation if there are going to be thunderstorms in your hiking in an exposed area all weekend it's probably just not the best mixture but it is said to avoid Peaks at noon and later because right around noon is when storms and lightning tend to roll up Around these higher elevations and it may not even be forecasted it's just kind of a thing that Peak Baggers know to be up and down from the summit by noon so

that's just a best practice share your plans with friends and family make sure that you have at least one point of contact that knows where you're going they know your plan where you're going to park your uh planned itinerary the route that you're aiming to take a lot of times I'll send my family a Screenshot of the route in all Trails or whatever I tell them where I'm parking exactly drop a pen if I can you know all of the things so that if they were to not hear from me you know I didn't check

in on the greed upon time that I was supposed to check in with my inreach then then they can call for help or you know if you don't call by a certain time because you're off the trail you know let this person know that this is the number they need to call to get you some Help even if there ends up being a false alarm that is much better than you being off in the wilderness and nobody having a clue where you even went know the wild laugh that is going to be in the area

you are backpacking and learn how to deal with them if you were to encounter one for example if you are dealing with the predatory type Mountain line and bear knowing the rule don't run is a good one to know so just kind of reading up and learning how to deal with a Situation if you were to encounter an aggressive bear or Mountain line you know some steps to take but also know that those things are not necessarily true for all animals you can look on the opposite end of the spectrum at some of the herbivores

like Bassin and moose and those animals can be very aggressive and they attack just probably as many or potentially even more Backpackers and hackers and visitors to the national parks than some of these predatory Species do and in that instance if one of those guys is coming for you you probably should take off so again just knowing where you're going to be what lives there and kind of how to coexist with those animals also very important is food storage for when you're camping do you need to have a bear bag and hang it do you

need a bear canister or are there going to be food lockers just having all of that information and what is recommended and Keep in mind that that is for your safety if you listen to music only hack with one earbud in this is so you can be aware of your surroundings you can hear humans coming up on you or a rattlesnake rattling or a rock slide or whatever is around you that you need to be aware of it's just much safer to be aware of your surroundings and I do understand that people are going to

listen to music I do it myself so just be cautious bring a Personal Locator Beacon or a satellite Communication device I mean this could be the one single thing that can save your life no matter the situation you're in and I understand that an inreach device uh is expensive and then you have to pay for the subscription to keep it up or whatever but even having just a one time use Personal Locator Beacon and having the ability to let search and rescue know that you need emergency help could save your life or somebody that you

come across on the trail that's in Dire need of help and you get to save their life instead of just sitting there with them as they die I can't express how grateful I was to be able to call for help when I needed it on trail so just get one if you are even thinking of calling for help stop contemplating and just do it already I know that it can be embarrassing to need help in the back country or it can feel embarrassing um but it's better to be embarrassed and still have a heartbeat so

um but I would Say make sure that you do have an insurance plan for evacuation whatever that is there are multiple options out there but that way you're not not sitting there making a financial decision and instead you are making a decision completely based on your health have what you need in case of an accidental overnight like the 10 Essentials now I know that this video is aimed towards Backpackers so you might be like well of course I'm going to have Everything that I need I'm backpacking and I'm planning to stay overnight but this is

just in case any day hackers are watching this or just in case there are Backpackers who go day hiking and think I'm fine I don't need the 10 Essentials I promise you having that stuff can make a huge difference and just being able to even at the most basic level provide the essentials that you need to stay alive until you can get out of the situation you're in it will offer you Some reassurance and some mental Clarity when you go to the bathroom carry with you your navigation device whatever that is and also Your Personal

Locator Beacon or satellite communication device since we mentioned in the other tip that you're going to have that there was a lady named inchworm who was through hike in Appalachian Trail back in 2013 and she was up in Maine she got off the trail to use the bathroom she got lost she did have all of her Gear with her But I assume she didn't have any sort of actual navigational device I mean to be fair the Appalachian Trail is very well marked it's not super easy to you know get real turned around out there but

she ended up not ever finding her way back and ended up being found two years later deceased in her tent now there may have been more that played into this you know anxiety this and that whatever but the fact is if you have something like your cell phone that has an app on it because There are apps for almost all of the trails out there nowadays with all trails and far out you can get and even some others uh you can get tracks and you through satellite service you can link to your phone even when

it's in airplane mode and you don't have cell service to see where you are located in reference to where the trail is located so there's no reason that you shouldn't be able to navigate your way back if you have your Cell phone but at a minimum if you have your Personal Locator be or you're in reach if you're lost then you can call for help and saying all of this kind of leads me to my next tip don't let Summit fever drive you there are a lot of these Peak Baggers that get Summit fever they

know good and well that they should turn back whether it's the conditions their physical health their mental health Etc but they have come so far and it's just right there and so they push on when They know good and will they shouldn't and some sort of catastrophe can happen in those instances so this is not only applicable to bag and Peaks but also to completing a trip as a Backpacker you might think well I took off you know and this is the only vacation I'm going to have this year I paid several hundred dollars in

plane tickets and now I'm out here on this trip and you know something doesn't feel right but I want to press on because I'm not giving up you know This trip over something silly and these are very similar thoughts to what I had when I was in the Sawtooth mountains um you know I just had not had a whole lot of luck last year with backpacking trips in general and I knew that the Sawtooth was just going to finally be a successful trip and you know I didn't feel so great starting out um but even

while I was sitting there about to push the button you know I'm thinking man I have put a lot of money and time and Effort into this just to pull the plug on it but there's a difference you know yeah that might be your one trip of the year or you know you've put all these resources into it but it doesn't matter if you end up dead so you got to live to be able to go on another trip or enjoy another thing or make another dollar so you can spend it doing something you love

so always prioritize your health rather than the goal that you got in your sights keep a check on your health It's important to do the work and treat your body right not only when you're out on the trail but especially when you're off the trail because if you take care of your body if you're eating well if you're exercising between trips then you're making sure you're keeping yourself relatively healthy when you don't feel well or something's going on go get checked on by the doctor there's no shame in that and it's much better to find

out something's going on when You're in the safety of the concrete jungles that we live in rather than out in the middle of the back country and you know now this thing that seemed little is suddenly really big if you get bad vibes from somebody don't be afraid to move along most people that you're going to meet on the trail or in the surrounding communities are amazing folks with that said there are bad apples in every bunch of Life out there so if you're camping and there's Somebody there and you're just not feeling it pack

up your stuff and move along don't put yourself In Harm's Way just to be nice to people because at the end of the day your life matters and hurt feelings will be okay Carry and use a set of trekking poles now I'm not just saying this to protect your knees and keep them alive but there are some things that trekking poles can be useful for like stability on steep slopes sketchy areas where there are drop offs And even water Crossings you can use them to tap the ground to make sure you're not squatting and peeing

on something you don't want to bat your butt like a rattlesnake or whatever else might be in the brush they can check the depth of snow mud and water they can be a sharp weapon if you are under attack you can use them to intimidate bears by holding them up and many other uses but I do feel like I have to make a side note here because I kind of partially Impaled myself with a set of treking poles in the past because I was carrying them improperly tucked under my arm and I was using my

phone I tripped my hands went out in front of me and uh the handle part of the treking pole hit the ground and the tip part hit my chest thankfully it didn't like go all the way through me or anything but it did break the skin and go in a little bit uh so also don't let your trekking poles kill you come here you Okay yeah you want to eat my trekking poles don't you don't know on that now wait next protect your Trek and poles specifically the grips from deer and mass because the handle

Les of your Trek and poles can absorb the sweat especially the cork ones which I do prefer Critters can find them tasty to chew on I've actually heard of deer like running off with trekking poles and then I've seen where Mass have chewed on the Trek and pole handles so it might not be A bad idea to kind of rinse your grips off ever so often but if your trekk and poles are not part of your shelter setup then I'd say break those suckers down and pull them in with you at night so you don't

have to worry about getting the grips chewed on or the whole Treck and pull going missing if I stayed here I wouldn't have no cork candles left my next tip is Court grips are not as slimy as other grip options for Trek and poles basically you've got three options cork Foam and rubber and I would say that they get slimy in that order You could argue that fo home is a little softer and it's kind of in the middle ground as far as feeling gross and sweaty but court grips seem to work best with sweaty

hands and it's natural when you're backpacking and exerting yourself that your hands are going to get just sweaty and kind of gross so I'd rather have something that absorbs it instead of feeling like my hands are slipping on The grips this is definitely a personal preference thing but I think most people do prefer Court grips so start with that and then see where you end up from there and next up trekking poles will help prevent your hands from swelling while you hack I've heard of the few people that I have seen not use Trek and

poles on trail complain about their hands getting swollen while they hack just because they're hanging down by their side all day and not really doing Anything so using those trekk and poles will help keep your arms active and stop the blood from just flowing down into your hands and blood and fluid and whatever else collecting and making your hands feel swollen on top of they obviously help save your knees on the downhills etc etc next tip a little rule of thumb for the Hat of your Trek and poles when you use them your arms should

be at a 90° angle that's not a 90° angle but this is you just can't tell okay There we go this does mean that when you end or descend then you might need to shorten or extend your poles respectively I typically don't take the time to stop and do that but that would be best practice my next tip is to acclimate to heat while you're off Trail there are several ways you can do this first maybe look into using a sauna there are public ones at like gyms and sports plexes but you can also get

a portable one for your house house Another way to do this is to take long hot baths obviously don't scald yourself with basically boiling water but get the temperature warm enough that it's not burning you but that you're sweating and it takes some getting used to you can spend time Outdoors as much as possible even if that means sitting out on your porch or doing some yard work if you're used to being in the AC a lot then I'd start with a smaller amount of time and work your way up and finally you can Turn

your AC off and close your windows I mean even adjusting your thermostat to be higher than what you're used to but basically not being so dependent upon your AC and being used to those colder temperatures but anyway just in whatever way you can try to acclimate some before you ever get out on trail I think that that could help a lot next keep a wet bandan or something similar around your neck there are different products like cooling towels and I'm sure a lot of you Have your favorites so if you don't mind sharing those in

the comments for people who are in the market and maybe share what you like about it that could definitely be useful but even if you've got a bandana which most of us hikers carry with us while we're backpacking just keep it wet and put it around your neck and just having that cool wet rag around your neck can really be a morale booster in the heat my next tip is stay hydrated and plan to take your breaks at Water sources you have have to be able to sweat to keep your body cooled off so planning

to take breaks at water sources and actually drink water while you're sitting there will help keep you hydrated and to me it makes sense to drink a good bit while you're sitting by the source instead of collecting a bunch of water toting it and exerting that energy toting all of that water a mile down the way and then stopping and taking a break plus while you're sitting There by a cool water source the temperatures are going to probably feel a little bit ni or Near That Water you can put your feet in to cool off

a little bit and maybe even go for a swim if the water is deep enough my first water tip is make sure you pick the safest Source possible if you can pick a flowing Source over a stagnant source that is always a plus and sometimes even if you're limited to One Source you might see for example a dead animal near The water and it makes more sense to go up Upstream of that dead animal than Downstream smaller trickles are preferred over big sources so like if you find a little trickle coming off of a mountain

that's less likely to have contaminants in it than say like a big river that has a lot of runoff and a lot of opportunity for things to doo in it and in that same vein water sources that come directly from the ground like Natural Springs are going to be less Risky than something that's been flowing openly and finally water from higher elevations tends to be safer than water that's had a chance to run through cow pastures and other areas that might contaminate it another water tip for you if you have a water bottle that you've

got dirty water and water that you've collected from a source that has not been treated you don't then want to use it to mix up like a drink mix even if you're filling it with treated water Because you can contaminate your drink and then you know end up with diarrhea on trail and nobody likes diarrhea especially not on trail you want to make sure you have designated bottles and it's more helpful if they're a different size or a different color or you know something different color caps something that stands out so you don't accidentally take

a swig of the dirty water now typically I use a 7 L water bottle like this with a flip cap and I Know that the one with the flip cap is the one that's safe to just chug from whether it's plain water or whether I decide to mix up some kind of drink packet in it and then typically when I'm backpacking I'll have one lit smart water bottles that are my dirty bottles I've also used things like gatorade bottle before for my clean bottle but again anything that you'll be able to tell the difference next

water that is easily accessible will help you stay Better hydrated you are going to find out what works specifically for you it's different for everybody but having something like a bladder or even a uh bottle and Tube system that leads to a bite valve might work well for you and I've actually got a little tube hydration system that hooks to a bottle that I'm going to try for the first time today in just a little bit and basically that tube system and bite valve is just right there on your shoulder so that you Can access

it anytime you really think about it and you don't even have to you know pull out a bottle and unscrew it and all that another option is if you don't have a bunch of junk you carry in shoulder pockets on your shoulder straps then they make these bungees specifically for hooking something like a .7 L water bottle to your shoulder strap so your water bottle is right there in your face and I would argue that it's a little bit more involved to Take that off and drink out of it than just you know grabbing a

hose and a bite valve but it really just boils down to again personal preference for me having my water bottles in my side stash pocket like that one right there works out better just because I do carry so much junk up here in my face in my shoulder strap Pockets but anyway it really boils down to like I said personal preference my next tip is make water collection SL treatment as simple as possible most of The time my hiking SLB backpacking style has been through hiking so I don't typically stop and take a break at

every single water source just because time is of the essence so I like the option of scoop and go and for that reason the sawer squeeze has worked out well for me uh it cost about $45 weighs approximately 2 to 3 o and the system that I have which is just the screw onto a smart water bottle you just scoop your dirty water into your smart water bottle Scw on the top and drink right through the filter and I know some people like to chug their water you don't want to be restricted by the flow

rate of the Sawyer but if you keep this thing good and back flushed then it's got a pretty good flow rate my next tip is when you are dealing with a shallow water source you got to get creative there are a couple of things that you can do first if you've got like a tricklin stream you can sometimes put a leaf in the flow and Then set a rock on the Upstream end of the leaf and it'll almost create like a little spout or waterfall mini waterfall and you can get your bottle up there and

collect what's shooting off of that little leaf if that doesn't work for you or if you don't want to fool with that then there is the option of carrying a scoop and for me I like having a cup to drink coffee out of in the morning anyways so I've got a C to Summit cup so I've used that as a scoop before another Instance where you might need a scoop is if you are using the all your squeeze method but you're actually going to use the bladders that it comes with if you are collecting from

a stagnant Source like the lake that I'm out here by today it's not super easy to plunge that bladder into the water source and have it fill up with water because the pressure of that water will collapse the bag now if you blow into it and kind of poof it up that seems to help but I've Found that having a scoop to collect the water and then pour into the bladder is a lot better now you might be thinking well wait a second you told me not to mix up my dirty stuff and my clean

stuff and now you're fixing to put your coffee in this scoop that you've contaminated well you could use something else if you wanted to very lightweight like you could cut out the bottom of a smart water bottle for example you know even if it's a scoop that's that tall it's Enough to actually scoop the water or if you do use something like a SE to sumach cup or a food pot if you air dry especially in the sun it's probably going to kill whatever you might be worried about but then if you put a little

hand Sandy on it or if you carry some Camp soap and then rinse it with clean water yeah you should be safe and good to go next camel up with caution I know in previous videos I've mentioned that it's a good idea to camel up Especially when you are on longer water carries you've got a a long stretch before your next water source for those of y'all who are not familiar with cameling up essentially you get to a water source you stop take a break drink a liter of water and then fill up your bottles

and truck on and I still think that drinking a good bit of water while you're taking a break is a good idea for helping you stay hydrated especially if you are in drier climates or at higher Elevations it's very important to stay hydrated but I have certainly heard that the best way to stay hydrated is to drink consistently throughout the day not chug at certain points but with that said obviously chugging is better than not hydrating at all and I think some people do camel up with the intention to not carry as much water I

certainly don't think that cameling up is a replacement or at least a smart replacement for carrying water because You never know the predicament you're going to be in and in my opinion it's a good idea to always have water maybe you think you're going to make it to your next water source but something happens that day you get an injury or you decide not to push on as far and now you're stuck with no water but especially since drinking gradually is better than chugging I wouldn't replace carrying water with cameling up but apparently our kidneys

can only filter out or you Know handle like8 to 1 liter of water per hour and I also saw this study that was horribly sad about child abuse situation where a 9-year-old was forced to drink like 3 to four lers super quickly and it caused the child to be in serious state of confusion and drowsiness because their electrolytes became seriously imbalanced so anyway if you are planning to camel up and you're chugging water in one sitting just make sure you don't overdo It and also having something like electrolytes in a drink mixture will help to

kind of keep those balanced while you're making sure you drink enough water another tip for you creatine and glycerol can help you with hydration now both of these things are something that you'll want to load up on for a couple weeks before you start backpacking but if you're not familiar with glycerol or creatine glycerol is a sugar alcohol that is naturally found in The body and it is added to a lot of different sports drink mixtures but it's also something that you can take individually like separate from the sports drink creatine kind of helps your

body maintain like a continuous energy while working out you know pretty hard and it also carries water to the cells and apparently combining these two things can really improve their effectiveness but on a side note if you are somebody that knows I'm going to be Camelin then these can help you get more out of chamelin up next tip is always have a backup water treatment plan for example these are instances where I've been glad that I had a plan B on the Pacific Crush Trail I got to a sstn that collects rainwater and unfortunately there

was a dead carcass in it and I really didn't want to run that through my filter and think well it'll be just fine so for peace of mind I boiled my water first for 5 minutes pretty much Kill anything had to let it cool and then poured it into my dirty water bottle and filtered it now if you were in an instance where you're using boil and water to be your backup source and you don't have a working filter I had to do that one time because I camped near this cow Pond did not expect

it to get freezing temperatures at night but it did I did not have my saer squeeze in a Ziploc bag in my sleeping bag to keep it warm so it froze therefore I did not Trust its Effectiveness cuz freezing can burst the little tubular filtered thing bobes and so anyway I boiled my water that time uh until I could get to town in that instance when you've got sediment you can run the water through a bandana first so at least you don't have to drink sediment next tip this is one that was shared by somebody

on the book of faces melt snow if there's not water and you need some this might sound like a no-brainer but my go-to for doing this Would be to put snow in my food pot and heat it up well that is fuel intensive so they put the snow in these gallon Ziplocs and put them on the ground and within a couple hours they're melted now you'll still want to filter it to get any contaminants or particles out but you know it's a good way to not use a lot of fuel and to uh be able

to utilize the snow around you next test your filter before you go I learned this one the hard way actually when I was heading Out to do the trail that I had started in the Sawtooth Wilderness I just threw in my saw your squeeze thinking I wouldn't have any problems cuz I never had before but it was not flowing well and that was a problem for the whole trip it just had a super slow flow rate so it was painful to drink out of not literally but just because of how slow it was filtering now

I've heard if you discover that you're filter is going super slow and you back flush it and That doesn't seem to solve it that it may need to be soaked in water before you head out I've never personally tried this but there were multiple people who commented on Facebook and said that that in fact has worked for them limit your water consumption the last 2 hours before bed and make sure you empty your bladder right before going to sleep it's obviously important to hydrate well but if you can try to make sure you're doing that

in all of that hours of the day Except the last two hours before you go to bed then that will help minimize the trips that you're having to make in the middle of the night to get up you know wake up go to the bathroom get back in the tent and then have to try to fall back to sleep or Worse lay there and stress about how you have to pee but refuse to get up until you're about to pee on yourself and then you can have freshly filtered water waiting on you to chug in

the morning another suggestion For people who are for sure going to wake up in the middle of the night to have to go pee you can use a pee bottle if you're brave enough to pee inside your tent I've heard it's easier to do so with something like a gatorade bottle a wide mouth bottle and this doesn't have to be limited to just the fellas although you have the plumbing to make that a little bit more easy but they do make things like the shiwi the Pea style for women to use so if you think

you've Mastered the skill of using one of those well enough to go inside your tent then go for it I've never personally used one but I do know that it's possible dial in your pillow system and make sure you found the right one for you I've tried multiple pillows and I would say that my biggest pet peeve with the inflatable pillows is trying to keep it in one spot it seems like I end up chasing it around my sleeping pad or my tent all night I wake up I'm off of it so if you are

in The market for a pillow right now I would look into maybe like the echology that has the capability to attach to your sleeping pad that way it more or less stays in one spot what I have found Works personally best for me so far is a dyema stuff sack from zpac that also has a fleece liner on the inside so it doubles as my clothing bag I like things that have dual purpose and then when I get to Camp I just flip it inside out have that fleece on the outside to sleep On and

and stuff all the clothes that I'm not currently wearing in that stuff sack roll it up and that acts as my pillow now I'm not somebody who is a big pillow person in normal life anyway so if pillows are really important to you then this might not be enough floof for you don't overinflate your sleeping pad just because you can fill it up to Max Capacity doesn't mean that you should or it at least doesn't mean that you'll be the most comfortable with it filled all The way up when you have it completely inflated then

it's going to be more rigid and if you're a s sleeper or a stomach sleeper then that's more pressure on your hipbones and your joints and it can just be not so comfortable also if you're having trouble staying on your sleeping pad letting some of the air out can help keep you more stable just make sure it's inflated enough that your hip is still up off the ground so with your sleeping Pad and even your inflatable pillow it might help to let some of the air out after you fill it up kind of see where

that sweet spot is for you personally if you find in your backpacking experiences that you just can't get comfortable sleeping on the ground you feel like you've tried all of the sleeping pads sleeping bags pillows this and that and it's just not happening for you consider hammocking there are pros and cons to both tinting and hammocking but for the People who have gone to hammocking because they just couldn't get comfortable tinting I don't know many who have come back most hammockers will tell you that once they went to hammocking they started getting the best sleep

of their life at least in comparison to other backpacking situations and if you think about it it makes sense because you're not going to have those same pressures that you have on your body when you're sleeping on the Ground on your hips on your back your knees even getting up in the morning out of the tent might be super uncomfortable for some people so you might find that a hammock works best for you be aware of the fire limitations in the area that you're backpacking some areas don't allow campfires over certain elevations some places it

depends on the season the time of year some places don't allow them at all there can also be temporary fire bands put in place if Everything is dry and the risk of wildfire is higher so just know the situation before you go location matters you don't want to build a fire right up under some trees or too close to nearby brush and shrubs your campfire shouldn't be bonfire sized anyway so while it might seem that a small fire shouldn't cause you issues things can get out of hand quickly the fire may end up bigger than

you intended and so just to be on the safe safe side it's smart to be Aware of your surroundings when you're first building the fire you also don't want to set up too close to people's shelters or your own shelter tents or hammocks because straight Embers can pop off and end up burning a hole through your fancy tin or tarp for your hammock also in the mind of protecting your gear next to a fire puffy coats will have a hole in them with a quickness if you sit to close to the fire or sometimes again

if you end up being the recipient of one Of those popped off Embers when choosing your location because of leave no Trace principles minimizing your impact it's preferable if you can choose an area that already has an established fir ring instead of creating a new space to have a fire if there isn't an established fire ring but the area says that you are welcome to build a fire then doing so on a bare surface where there's dirt makes more sense than in an area where you're going to cause more of an impact having A good

fire starter can really get things going if you're having trouble starting a fire there are several items that you might actually already have on you so they can be Dual Purpose one of those is hand sanitizer and then any kind of corn chips so like Fritos or Doritos another great fire starter and this one you can find naturally in the woods is lad knot or fat wood whichever you prefer to call it if you are not familiar with this it's basically the Heartwood and you can find it in a stump but it's not going to

be rotted wood so just ask some Backpackers around you if you're not familiar with this to point it out sometime because that is something that can definitely be useful and you'll know you found it because one it'll help get your fire going but two it almost has like a fuel scent when you smell it and of course other things like pine cones or dead dry leaves will help give you a little burst of flame when You're getting your fire going but just realize that those things burn hot and fast so they're not going to last

any length of time it helps if you have your tender klin and fuel wood already set aside there at the place where you're building the fire before you ever start building it if you're not familiar with these terms tender is any wood that's really like the size of a lead pencil so really your fine little toothpick pieces of wood the kenlin is going to be Anything that's like thumb size or smaller and then your fuel wood will be things that are about the size of your wrist or if you've got a really scrawny wrist like

me then maybe the size of your arm but if you have it all right there with you ready to go it just makes things much more peaceful you're not scrambling around for little bits of wood and also you're not having to go and leave your fire unattended to get bigger pieces green wood does not do Well for making a fire and anyway you shouldn't be hacking off limbs of live trees so only go for downed wood when you're building a fire when you are getting your fire going don't graduate up to those big pieces too

soon because that can just kind of crush your fire before you ever get a good bed of coals going so you really want to focus on that little stuff for a while burning little pieces here and there slowly sizing up until you've got a good bed of Coals to start adding those bigger pieces if it is windy opt out of the campfire experience winds can cause your little campfire to get out of hand and turn into a full-blown forest fire and I don't know about you but I don't want to be responsible for that so

your best bet if it starts getting windy after you've already built a fire put it out if it's windy when you're even thinking about building a fire then change your mind always have a way to put out your fire Before you start it so this means collecting enough water from the Water Source before you ever Start the Fire or making sure you've got enough dirt that you could Round Up to throw onto the fire if you needed to put it out quickly but having that safety aspect in place makes sense but also when it's 900

p.m. and it's time to put out the fire nobody's going to feel like walking to the water source to get water to do so when it's time to extinguish your fire Make sure you put it out completely your best bet is to use water to drown the fire like completely drown it you can also use dirt to help mix in to put it out and smother it but if you're doing this at night you should be able to turn off your headlamp and see no red glowing whatsoever and also the ashes should be completely cool

to the touch for it to be considered completely out do your best to cause minimum impact and also in the best case Scenario leave no trace this means things like completely burning the wood that you have put into an established Fire Ring like I mentioned before putting your fire into an established fire ring if at all possible instead of creating a new space to have a fire don't burn trash in the fire or leave any Trash near the fire ring and if you aren't using an already established fire ring then whenever you get done with

the space that you had your fire you can Spread out the ashes like disperse them widely not just go put them in one big pile to be noticed and then cover the area that you had your fire with some dirt you can sprinkle it on just try to smooth everything out leave a firing area nicer than you found it and if at all possible make it look like nobody ever had a fire there if somebody were to walk up the next day my next tip for clothing is if you find yourself having chafing issues switch

up your Brites Because that might be a leading reason why you're having those chafing issues you might need to go from something that's loose to something more fitted like compression shorts or I like to hike in leggings or maybe you're in something Tighter and you need to go to something more loose that gives you more air ration down there and your underwear may also be an issue some people definitely love to have underwear and some say they can't wear it because they Get too much chafing so anyway if you're having those issues I would start

with switching up your clothing on your lower half if you find yourself nervous about clothing selection then just remember you could test it out on a day hack I was so stressed before the at about am I going to have enough clothing to stay warm am I really going to only have an outfit to hike in an outfit to sleep in and like Embrace that stink so take something with you on a Day Hack and see How it works out for you that layering plan make sure that you're staying warm during the day and comfortable

you're not dealing with chafing then for the clothing situation at night a way to have a no stress situation while you're testing it out is backyard camp and make sure that in your sleeping bag set up with your shelter that the clothing that you've chosen is going to keep you warm throughout the night because in that situation if it doesn't then you can go Back inside and try again another night or go back inside and switch out to a different option and then you know go back to the tent and try it out but that's

always an option having the ability to test things out in a less stressful type situation where you can always go to your car or go home next select Fabrics that are antimicrobial Marino wool is known to actually help with Odor Control the wool itself inhibits bacterial growth it's said to Retain odors 66% less than polyester I would have hated to have been a judge in that study bamboo is actually also an antimicrobial and an anti- fungal type Fabric and I've noticed bamboo being used more and more in Outdoor Clothing I actually had a hoodie that

I wore on Mount Karo that was bamboo but from everything I've read it seems like alpaca fleece might actually be better than Marino wool for the application of clothing for Backpacking in many ways at least like it's claimed to be warmer it is more water resistant and apparently it is naturally softer than Marino wool which has to be like ultr processed to be as soft as it is and therefore the alpaca is actually more eco-friendly because it's not having to go through all of that process synthetics seem to be the stinkiest of the backpacking clothing

but they do have different lines of clothing and I'm sure different Fabrics That are often coated with an antimicrobial treatment one example of this is polygene which is a treatment that uses low concentrations of silver salt or silver chloride which is said to kind of keep some of that bacterial growth and stink at Bay do some trail laundry at a bare minimum rinsing and rotating out socks and underwear will do a lot for your stinkiness and hygiene I like to carry I don't know maybe two to three pair to Hik in and then I keep

one pair to sleep in if it's cool at night with my designated clean pajamas then I usually bring two pair of underwear so I'll wear a pair for a couple of days then when I do some trail laundry hang that pair on my pack to dry along with socks and then you know after a couple of days those socks and underwear will be dry and I can rotate out out to that pair and do Trail laundry again this will help you so much like I said not only with the Stinkiness but with preventing cha and

blisters just having those clean undergarments to put on if you're hiking in hotter weather and you like I said could take the time to take a dip wash your hikin outfit off and then hang it up to dry then it's going to feel so much better when I talk about doing Trail laundry you don't specifically have to bring some sort of soap or laundry detergent or anything like that just doing a good rinsing out preferably Downstream from where people are collecting water at the water source so they don't have to drink your foot water uh

that's always considerate but if you do want to bring something like a little bit of Dr Bronner's there's no shame in that to get things extra scrubbed up and clean but you want to make sure you're at least 200 ft away from the water source so you're not just like sudsing up your clothes or your body for that matter if you're going to rinse off in The water source like in the creek or lake or something like that so you just carry your water move away and do all of your washing away from the Water

Source my next tip is to shake out your shelter whether that's a tent hammock bivvy whatever just to make sure you get all of anything that your feet have tracked in going in and out and knock that stuff out of there it's kind of like like waking up in the morning and making your bed it's just starting off the day right And helps get some of that dirt out of there to help keep you and your gear cleaner and more hygienic next consider using coconut oil this is also dual purpose for Hygiene as it's an

antimicrobial and can be used as a moisturizer so putting it on your body and generally keeping your skin moisturized while you're out on trail will feel good and is also good for your skin but it's going to help reduce some of that stink because of its Antimicrobial properties so just using it on your body in general in your armpits and then also it can help with treating you know abrasions or wounds um it's shown that it might actually help prevent infection but then if you've got any chafing then you know that can help treat some

of that too if you want to get real crazy with oral hygiene you could also use it for oil pooling while you're out on trail and then just having something to massage your feet after a Long day of hiking would feel really nice and on a sad note of course you could put it in your food or coffee to help up your calories I guess depending on the expected temperatures that you're going to be hiking in might change the way that you want to tote coconut oil so if you're going to be in warmer temperatures

having it in something like a squeeze bottle might be the best because you won't have any issues squeezing it out of there but if it's Going to be colder temperatures especially at night you might want to think about either sleeping with the baby oil if you've got it in a squeeze bottle or putting it in something that's got a screw top lid if it's just going to be pretty much cold the whole time but either way I would make sure to also have it in a Ziploc bag for redundancy because the last thing you want

is coconut oil to leak out and get all over everything consider using a bedet this Is something that I still have not tested out personally but in normal life even of a day is the best way to care for your booty hole as far as hygiene goes and getting it the cleanest with toilet paper you literally are just kind of smearing it around until you wipe most of it off and baby wipes are a little bit better because you do have some sort of like soap and water but a bedet is like a shower down

there if you're interested in this option they do Have some attachments for water bottles so it's super lightweight I would personally use a separate water bottle for this purpose just because of splashback or anything like that I don't know it just kind of gives me the heebie jeebies but using a little bit of water and some Dr bronners and cleaning things up down there and then washing your hands with some soap to me would be the most hygienic way to handle that while while on trail let's talk about some Things to help you save money

first buy things with a lifetime warranty if possible now I'm not saying that this should be your only deciding factor on what you buy but if you're looking into ospry packs for example and another brand and you're kind of torn that could be something that helps you decide to go with an osprey pack I have heard from multiple people say the big pocket on the outside of their pack rip ospry replaced it with no hassle also darn Tough is another company like this yeah their socks are expensive right out the gate but ultimately if that

pair of socks is going to last you for your whole life then it makes sense hike in warm weather I understand that some people like to hike in the cooler months so they're not sweating their butts off but when you're first getting into backpacking buying gear for the colder months can be more expensive because you need more things to keep warm and also Say something like your sleeping bag if you have more insulation in it likely it's going to cost more so if you start off in the warmer months then you won't have to have

as much gear and also ratings for lower temperatures another thing that you could bypass in the warmer months is expensive puffy coats if you have something like a pullover fleece from a thrift store then that should keep you warm enough in the evenings during the warmer months next Bu used gear there are a lot of different groups on Facebook where people buy or trade and sell used gear and if you don't get on Facebook then you can even check out something like REI they have used gear for sale on their website for member access only

there are some other resources for shopping used backpacking gear like the backpack and lat gear swap Forum you do have to be a member for $15 a year but if you score some sweet deals that would Definitely be worth it and it could be a good place to find used Cottage company Gear with REI you're probably not going to find any of that and don't forget eBay you never know what you might find there and for selling keep in mind that you will have to deal with the fees another option for saving money is to

rent gear REI and sometimes even local Outfitters will rent gear items to folks renting gear is a good idea because one you can test out different things to get A better idea of what you actually La before you make a big purchase and two maybe you won't need an item regularly like a bear canister for example you might be going on a trip far off somewhere and you really won't be hiking where be canisters are required in the near future well then it makes sense to rent over buy my next tip is wear what you

have at home I know that I just went into a whole spiel about Marino wool and alpaca but you don't have to go out and Buy these fancy clothing items and the best name brands to be a successful back Packer I mean remember Grandma Gatewood did it in like her Farm clothes and some kids so anything that you have at home that is some sort of athletic type synthetic wear will work just fine for backpacking and if you don't have anything like that then I highly recommend hitting up your local thrift store because you can

usually find some pretty good stuff there don't waste Money on non-essential gadgety items there are all sorts of things out there in the gear world that promise to solve whatever little problem you have on trail or inconvenience but if you buy every single one of those little things you're going to spend a ton of money that you don't have to to backpack and you're going to have a lot more weight on your back so get out there with the bare minimum and then you'll learn what your pet peeves are what you don't want To deal

with as far as convenience goes maybe you're somebody that wants a little mini pump to blow up your inflatable sleeping pad that's okay that's a luxury item but having a 100 luxury items when they're not necessary is going to put a hole in your wallet and hurt your back next dehydrate your own meals if you're somebody who likes to cook the prepackaged freeze-dried Backpacker meals that are marketed to Backpackers can be very convenient Because they come in an envelope everything is there that you need you just add bowl and water and you don't even have

to clean up afterwards but convenience often comes at a cost so they are pricey but if you get sick of the same things over and over or especially if you're on some sort of particular diet where you want to control your ingredients then dehydrating your food can certainly save you some money my next tip is buy once Cry once and I'm sure y'all have heard this before but sometimes it makes sense to go on and shell out a decent amount of money for a quality item rather than trying to skimp and then you get something

that you don't really like and because it's very much a budget item you're not really going to get much money back for it if you try to sell it and then you might try another couple of things before you realize hey I really just need to Shell out the big bucks for The thing that's truly going to be comfortable and worked for me on trail so while there is a fine line between trying to get something within your budget sometimes it makes sense to go on and put out top dollar for that item one time

and then you're done well until it wears out next Once you have your gear dialed in do not watch Gear videos now I know that this tip could make My Views go down but in the spirit of saving money this is the best idea because if You're the person that has a hard time resisting the new and greatest thing then watching all of these Gear videos and reviews about the newest shiniest thing might put a hurting on your wallet so use your gear until it wears out or at least sell the thing that you have

and don't want before upgrading next if you find out a piece of gear that you have just isn't working for you then try to sell it as quickly as possible before the next new shiny thing comes out and It's kind of irrelevant that way one you'll get more money for it than you would if you wait possibly two you'll have that money sooner to look at an upgrade or some sort of additional backpacking item and three which really doesn't have to do with money but you won't junk up your gear space at home as much

the best practice for making sure that any of your gear stays in good condition for years to come because it's not a cheap investment is to make sure That you clean it properly before you store it for trip to trip use I would especially make sure it's completely dried before you pack it up sometimes maybe your last stay on trail is rainy make sure you set it out to dry before putting it away to the next trip but especially at the end of the hockin season a good cleaning is a great idea sleeping bags and

or quilts should be washed in a front loing washer or in a washer that does not have an agitator Unless otherwise instructed by the manufacturer there are some that say you should hand wash and so you would do this in like a bathtub or again the kitty pool could come in handy for down there are down specific detergents if you will you don't want to use just a regular laundry detergent because it can strip the down of its ools and cause it to not be so poofy and fluffy and insulating to you if the idea

of putting your expensive quilt or sleeping bag in The dryer makes you nervous I don't blame you you can actually lay flat to dry and even blow a fan on the sleeping bag as it's drying and then you'll notice that the Loft will start lofting up but during that process ever so often go by and separate the down and just keep doing that until it's reached its full loftiness again it might take a little while but it'll get there when storing a sleeping bag or a quilt you 100% with this item do not want to

store It squished down in a stuffed Sack or a compression sack instead I would recommend getting a cotton cloth laundry bag just one of those really big bags and then place it in there where it can still be fluffed up to its Max and then I like to put that on a hanger and hang it up in the closet for storing your tents it's probably best not to stuff them away and instead to hang them up across a hanger in a closet but if you must stuff them away then for dma from What I seem

to have landed on finally they say that the best thing to do is to fold it roll it and then put it in the stuff sack I've been known to just stuff all of my shelters but I have been corrected so for nylon ents or tents made out of other materials stuffing is what you want to do so you're not continuing to fold and roll the tent the same way and therefore crease it and wear it out on that same line over and over but when in doubt Again contact the company that created your shelter

and they should be able to give you the best practice for either stuffing or folding and rolling rain gear your rain coat rain pants rain skirt whatever you have can be washed with Nick Wax TX direct and this is a product that will actually kind of give a little reboost to the dwr coating or waterproof coating on your rain gear and that's always a good idea to kind of boost that from season to season because Eventually that stuff can wear down it will give you instructions on how to do this in your washing machine so

you can check that out for all of the details but I've done this in the past and we'll continue to do it going forward make sure all of the batteries that are removable from any of your electronics are taken out and stored separately from the item that way you don't end up with any corrosion issues ruining electrical components inside your electrical device For anything that has a rechargeable battery from everything that I can tell and directly from anchor who makes these backup battery Banks they say to fully charge it before long-term storage one that's supposed

to help your battery last longer but two that'll save you time when you go for your next trip and even though it probably won't still be at 100% you won't have to charge quite as much as if it was starting at zero I recently put out a poll on the channel Community tab in my homemade wandless backpacking Forum group on Facebook and to my patreon community and it turns out over 50% of the people who participated in the poll said that they prefer hiking alone to hiking with other people so this is just to let

those of y'all know who have been wanting to go out hacking but you don't have anyone to go with there are people out there who are backpacking alone and getting out on trail without company so hopefully that And the tips I'm going to cover are your nudge to get out there and do it yourself carry extra battery power and what I mean by this is if you've already been backpacking and you know hey a 10,000 milliamp charger is always enough for me for a 3-day trip so I'm not worried about needing anymore well if that's

what you use when you're with other people you might find that when you're alone if you are leaning on your electronics a little bit more that You're actually needing more power maybe you're using your headlamp for longer at night cuz you're a little creeped out by the dark or listening to the music as you're going down the trail so I would suggest bringing a little bit more than you typically think that you would need next be aware of your surroundings personally when I am out on a trail if I know there is a road crossing

coming up or if I've just left the trail head I prefer to be at least three miles from The nearest trail head or road crossing I saw somebody on a Facebook post who said that she prefers to be at least five plus miles from the nearest trail head or road crossing so it's really personal preference but the idea behind this is if somebody's going to come down the trail looking for a camper to rob you want them to have to really work for it you know and typically going out on trail and trying to find

some hiker in the middle of the woods is not the easy Target it's not the lwh hanging fruit criminals want an easy job they want to get in there and get out so they're going to get you at the grocery store parking lot or you know somewhere that's easily accessible and they can quickly Escape so just having that buffer from the edges of society gives me Comfort when I'm sleeping alone at night also in the same vein of being aware of your surroundings when you meet people on the trail I'm not saying you should fear

Anybody that you meet I would say 99.8% of the folks that I've ever met on trail are absolutely amazing there have just been a few that I get some off vibes from if you will but whenever I first meet somebody and in the first couple moments they're like so where are you going tonight where are you staying they really might just be trying to socialize and just ask I'm sure that I have not thought about it asked somebody those same questions before but I tend To not give those answers you know if we end up

camping at the same place great but typically I just say h I haven't decided yet or I hadn't really thought about it I'm just going to walk until I feel tired so personally I just don't like to give that information out my next tip is set up camp before it gets dark when I first started backpacking alone I liked being able to set up my camp and look around at the area during the daylight and I got to watch as the Sun went down and how things changed from the way they looked during the day

to at night and this helped me not freak out and think that the stomp over in the distance was a bear you know I already knew it's a Stomp and it just helped give me a little peace of mind as I was laying there going to sleep at night now once I got comfortable with it I am absolutely fine now not hiking by myself then setting up camp and it just really does doesn't bother me anymore but it's One of those things that comes with time my next tip is be selfish it's pretty rare at

least in my life where I can do whatever I want to do when I want to do it and not take anyone else's opinions into consideration so when you go out on a solo backpacking trip that is your chance to do just those things you can eat what you want when you want you could zero in your tent all day or do as many miles as you could physically stay stand and that's all just up to you so I Think it's important to soak in that time that we have alone with our own thoughts and

having all that freedom and finally my last tip is leave no Trace I did say be selfish but that doesn't mean that you should not take responsibility for cleaning up after yourself or the effects that you have on the Wilderness because you're alone and you're the only one who is responsible for yourself then that means you have to make sure you're really cleaning up after yourself and Leaving it just as nice as you found it for the next hacker all right y'all that is all I have for you today on tips every Backpacker should know

if you haven't seen it yet a couple weeks ago I put out a documentary of my Trek in Iceland so if you enjoyed my Iceland videos you'll definitely want to see this because it's got 30 minutes of footage that wasn't previously shown and Iceland was by far the most visually stunning check I've ever been on so I Think y'all will really enjoy it I'll link to it in the video description but it's also here on in screen for your convenience