Backpacking and Hiking: Essential Gear

Don't let winter stop you from getting outdoors and hiking! From snow covered trails to frozen lakes carved between mountains, winter hiking has something for everyone. Throughout these blogs I will write about tips and about my experiences hiking during winter.

The book I will be using for this project is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Backpacking and Hiking by Jason Stevenson. This book gives tips from hiking basics to first aid along with helpful charts and definitions. I am very excited to learn more about hiking after hiking frequently over this past summer but never in the winter. Soon after starting this book I realized that throughout my past hikes I had never brought the essential supplies like the ones recommended in the book. In this blog post I will share my experience shopping for these supplies and highlight some of the most important items you need no matter how long your hike is.

Shopping for the essentials

According to author, Jason Stevenson, many people while hiking do not pack the essentials due to them not thinking about the possibility of getting stuck on the trail overnight (Stevenson 100). Soon after reading this I went out and purchased the essentials I did not already own in order to get ready for my hike.

The first item I would like to highlight is a knife. Bringing a knife with you while hiking can be very helpful especially when you need to cut or slice something. The ideal hiking knife should be small enough to carry and have around a 2-3 inch blade (Stevenson 103). The author also recommends to make sure you knife does not have a dull blade for safety reasons. The text says, "A dull blade is a dangerous blade because it can easily slip and cut you" (Stevenson 103). The knife I purchased has a three inch blade and is also stainless steal so it will hopefully last me a long time.

The next item I would like to highlight is the first aid kit. I purchased a smaller kit due to only going on day-hikes so the need for lots of supplies would not be necessary. The book also recommends only bringing a certain case size depending on the size of your hike. For day-hikes it is recommended to bring supplies for blisters, cuts, scrapes, sprains, muscle aches, and allergic reactions (Stevenson 104). Lucky for me, the case I purchased includes all of the supplies needed to treat these injuries. Having a first aid kit while hiking is very important due to you never knowing what will happen out on a trail.

The last item I would like to highlight is waterproof matches and waterproof fire sticks. No matter were you go in the wilderness, including trails, these supplies should be brought with you. Since both the matches and the fire sticks are waterproof they can be used in rain or snow which is especially helpful in the winter due to the high chance of it raining or snowing while you are on a trail. Unlike normal matches, waterproof matches need to have the waterproof coating scraped off before use (Stevenson 106). By bringing this items with you while hiking, if lost, the worry about not being able to find dry timber or if your matches will work will be eliminated.

Overall, this shopping experience was very helpful and I feel much more prepared for my hike now. Do you like to go hiking, if so do you bring the essential items when you go?

Thanks for reading! Make sure to read my next blog post to see how my first winter hike goes!

Stevenson, Jason. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Backpacking and Hiking. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha Books, 2010. Print.