Last week, we talked about the first four tips to help make your first backpacking trip a win. If you stumbled on this post first, you can go back and read that one here.
Carrying on…
1. Don’t skimp on your nutrition.
If you’ve never been backpacking before, you’ll be astonished by the number of calories you consume over your at-home baseline. The general rule of thumb is that pulling average miles over average terrain with a moderate pack weight, you’ll be burning 6,000-10,000 calories per day.
If you don’t adjust your calorie intake on the trail, you’ll suddenly find yourself standing in the middle of the woods, feeling exhausted and miserable, without the energy to take another step.
I learned this the hard way on one of my first solo trips as a teen many years ago. I tried to save weight and move faster by skimping on food, and it backfired miserably. I was literally so hungry and exhausted after two days of big miles that I had to cut my trip short. I proceeded to stop on the way home and eat $47 worth of food at Taco Bell – and this was 2000s pre-inflation Taco Bell prices. You need to be eating constantly. Every time you stop for a water break, take a bite of something. This is even more important in cold weather.
Focus on calorie-dense foods with a lot of fat, sugar, and carbs – basically, if you’d want to avoid it or consume it in moderation back home, it’s great trail food. Even if you’re eating like it’s your job, you’ll still lose weight. I lost 47lbs over the three-ish months of my attempted thru-hike, and I was eating everything I could get my hands on.
If you’re new, you can’t go wrong with ol’ reliable Mountain House, Backpacker’s Pantry, or REI dehydrated meals. All you gotta do is boil water. The much cheaper hiker trash route is instant potatoes or Knorr Pasta Sides with tuna or chicken. Further on in your backpacking journey, I highly recommend making your own meals. All you need is a used dehydrator, and you can make high-quality, high-calorie meals super cheap.
For snacks, I really love to bring a summer sausage and a block of cheese – yes, it’s heavier, but the calorie density is insane. Anything made by Little Debbie is also great lighweight, easy trail fuel. On the AT, you could always tell when a group of thru-hikers had hit the local Dollar General because all the Honey Buns were GONE.
One last note – if you come from a tactical background, there will be a great temptation to fill your bag full of MREs and call it good. Don’t do it. The only advantage MREs have is their self-contained heating element. Otherwise, they’re HEAVY for the amount of calories they actually provide. There are better options out there.
2. Do a shakedown day hike.
The best way to familiarize yourself with how your pack carries, your realistic pace, and what your limits are is to get out there and hike.
This is a proven practice – in Scouts, we always did a shakedown with full gear before a big backpacking trip, and in the Army, we did at least one or two ruck marches with our full loadout before a field op.
You’ll figure out how to adjust everything for comfort, cut items to save weight, pace yourself, and more before the big day.
3. Go with friends.
If this is your first time, you’ll have a far better experience if you go with people who have been before. Even if you’re all newbies, if you can get one or two others to take the plunge with you, you’ll have someone to share the joys and miseries with.
It’s also far safer to go as a group should a wilderness medical emergency present itself. If you don’t have friends, find some. One of the silver linings of the internet’s omnipresence in our lives is that it’s become way easier to connect with like-minded people.
There are hiking and backpacking groups of every flavor out there – veterans, women, LGBTQ+, Christians, single moms, you name it. Just find one and start going to their meetups, and you’re sure to find a posse of pals to hit the trail with.
4. Pick someplace cool.
First impressions matter. That’s true whether we’re talking about new people or new pursuits. Do some research, and pick someplace to go that you’re excited about. There are plenty of short beginner hikes that also pack some incredible sights.
Even if everything else goes wrong on the trip – the weather sucks, you overpacked/forgot a critical piece of gear, you misjudged your fitness level and the trail is kicking your ass, etc… you won’t remember any of those things.
You’ll remember the achingly beautiful 360-degree views from the summit, or the spectacular waterfall you camped beside. And you’ll be hooked, and want to do it again.
5. Be prepared for whatever.
The Boy Scout motto of “Be Prepared” has never let me down. Real-world wilderness survival scenarios and wilderness medical emergencies are rare, but they really do happen.
The ideal trifecta of training to get ready for a trip would be a basic wilderness survival class, a land navigation class, and a wilderness first aid class. Keep an eye on our upcoming courses, we offer these regularly.
Practice some skills like building a fire in the rain, so the first time you’re doing it isn’t when it matters. Carry the survival essentials – a fixed blade knife, multiple methods of firestarting, cordage, a medical kit, flashlight, etc.
Also practice the idea of redundancy on critical items – like the saying goes, two is one and one is none. If your headlight fails, do you have a backup flashlight? If you drop your lighter, do you have a spare, or a ferro rod? Self-defense is enough of a topic to get its own post, so we won’t be talking about trail guns vs. pepper spray just yet.
Your first backpacking trip is going to be a huge learning curve, and that’s okay. It’s all part of the fun. All the preparation in the world isn’t going to teach you as much as your first time out, but if you follow these tips from the last two weeks, you’ll be sure to make your first backpacking trip a win.
Also, if you have specific questions, shoot us a message on social media or email – we’re real people, and would love to help you get ready for your first trip. Talk soon!
Alex
