How to Free hike

Video Transcript

JOHN FLAHERTY: Hi, my name is John and we are going to talk about how to free hike in this segment. What is free hiking? Most people consider free hiking to be cross country hiking or hiking off of the trail. And this would be particularly appropriate for areas where there isn't dense vegetation. You can actually see what is going on. But let us backup a minute and talk about hiking off-trail. Many areas that are appropriate for hiking, it is not appropriate to go off the trails. Many areas are sensitive habitat, perhaps high up in the mountains. It is an alpine meadow, looks beautiful, very inviting to hike off-trail on that meadow but in reality it is a very fragile environment and just your footsteps can cause significant damage out in an area like that. So make absolutely certain before you engage in an off-trail hiking experience that where you want to go, it is appropriate to go off-trail. This can usually be found out from the park service or a state park or wherever you are going to be going, just get on to the website or call them and find out if it is appropriate to go hiking off-trail. Let us say you have found a great spot and you have got the okay, be prepared for a great adventure. Hiking off-trail is a lot of fun because you are not on the trail; you are marking your own territory. You are going where you want. Of course if you are going to be doing that, a map is absolutely essential to carry. A high quality topographic map is almost always the best type of map to carry. When you are out there off-trail, I like to hike off-trail and do what I call dead reckoning, which is just taking a look at your major landmark features and orienting yourself by those major landmarks. There is a big mountain over there that is on my right, I might be going in this direction and that is going to keep me oriented to where I am going and when I turn around that big mountain is going to be on my left and I get back to the trail. A compass is often a very handy thing to have as well in conjunction with a map when you go off-trail. When you do go off-trail, a lot of people like to bring a little bit heavier gear with them, a heavier duty hiking boots might be more appropriate than lightweight hiking boots depending on where you are going. And then a lot of people like to bring walking sticks as well, a one or two walking sticks together might be a real aid if you are on some particularly rough uneven terrain and need some additional balance for yourself. So those are the tips that I have for hiking off-trail. Number one again is to make sure that it is appropriate and you are not going to damage any sensitive areas before you have your off-trail hiking adventure.