This weekend I went to a snowshoeing trip with our university outdoor club. However there was no snow for snowshoeing, I enjoyed the hiking part. There 9 men and a woman in group who amongst them 7 of them were professional hikers. Because of that moving with them was a little bit hard for me, especially with a 30 kilogram backpack. Beside their fitter body in comparison to mine, they have a lot of gears which make their life very easy. Before the trip I hadn’t enough time to search the internet for some information about cloth, gear, and food for trip. I belief if I’d tried I would find very good resources. In this post I am going to write down my experiences which may be useful for other beginners who will go for a trip like me. Before I start, I should mention MEC for Canadians. The easiest way to prepare for a trip is to go MEC, find a helpful seller (all of them are outdoor experts) and ask him/her to help you with the trip. In the following I am assuming that you’re going to stay out for at least one night. The most important thing about all gears and clothes is their weight, because you are going to carry them for a long time. First I am going to start with necessary gears:
- Backpack: You need a backpack to carry your stuff. Because you will carry every necessary thing for life during the whole trip (amazing, ha?!), so its size depends on the trip length. If you are going to go somewhere by car and stay for a while and then start hiking, then you can have an extra bag for that period. In the following by hiking I mean the period that you leave the car and you will come back to it, during this time the only thing you will have is your backpack.
- Tent: To be protected from wind, rain, and snow you need a tent. It will be very good to share it with one or two other persons, because its weight will be shared.
- Sleeping bag, sleeping mat (pad): Sleeping bags are made for different temperatures ranges from -30 to 0. Made for colder weather, thicker, and more heavier sleeping bag would be. So based on the time of the trip in the year and weather prediction, try to choose one which fits to your needs well.
- Wool shirt: When you are doing an exrecise like hiking, biking, or skiing you need something breathable. For this purpose cotton is the worst choice because gets wet easy by your sweat and does not get dry easily. The thing that professionals suggest is Merino Wool. I didn’t have one of those shirts, but I saw other ones with those shirts. They are really comfortable, believe me. Here you can read about its features.
- Hat: You’ll need one, even if you are going to hiking in the middle of summer. Hats are used to regulate your body temperature. According to those experts, 90% of body heats leaks from our head. So whenever you feel cold you should cover it with you hat, and when you feel warm you should remove it. piece of cake!
- Glove/Mitt: If the weather is going to be cold and windy, having a wind-proof and/or water-proof glove will be really handy. I personally don’t like mitt because I feel like unable to do anything with my fingers, but if you don’t feel like that try mitt. They are better because all finger’s heat will be gather together and make the warm. Even if it is not going to be cold, gloves will prevent scratches on your hand if you fall.
- Headlamp: If you are going to stay for night, and you don’t have a headlamp, then even don’t think about trip. It is the silliest thing to think about headlamp as a luxury, unnecessary thing. I’ve had that though, and then I found out that it was ridiculous.
- Wind-proof coat/pants: They are really pleasant when you will finish hiking and want to waer something to make you feel warm. Even in the short breaks through the way, when you body is wet by your sweat, they are helpful.
- Long John: Anything else like a pair of tight thin pants is useful to keep you warm.
- Water bottle: You need at least 1 liter of water for each hour of intense hiking. So if there is no crick on your way, or you don’t like to drink crick water you should have enough water with you. Water should be easy to access, so some people use water bags (hydration systems) which has a long pipe and a bag. Bag should be in the top of backpack, and pipe is used for drinking.
In another post I will talk about food. Here is the best shot I got during this trip, enjoy it
Littlehorn
