Picking hiking gear is easy with these tips. Get advice on backpacking, hiking, and the great outdoors in this video.
Purchase a quality backpack with a good hip belt
Bring some sort of shelter
Bring plenty of food & water
Pack clothing for appropriate weather
John Flaherty has a great love for the outdoors. In 2003, John and his wife started Central Coast Outdoors in northern California. His company provides hiking, kayaking, and biking services for those wanting to be closer to nature. John has traveled all around the world through his love of hiking.
JOHN FLAHERTY: Hi, this is John and we are going to talk about backpacking the gear that you need to go backpacking today. If there is anything about backpacking is it is not rocket science. It is very easy. And the gear that you need is very, very basic. First thing that I would like to focus on is a good quality backpack. This is an example of a good quality backpack with nice padded shoulder straps and a good hip belt. This is very key for comfort in carrying the weight that you are going to be carrying. Next, let us look at some shelter. And for shelter, I usually have two different options. My smaller option is if I think it is going to be good weather out there, I carry what is called a bivy sack, which is just a waterproof Gore-Tex sack that goes over my sleeping bag and I slip into it like a cocoon. It is right here, very easy, very simple, very light. If you think that there might be rain and you are going for a longer trip, a backpacking style tent is usually more appropriate. This is my backpacking tent. It is good for two people and it weighs about four pounds and it sets up very easily and it does not need any ropes to guide it out so you can set it up even on rocky surface where you cannot put tent sticks in. Next, for keeping myself toasty warm and comfortable while I am sleeping, I have a sleeping pad here. And this is a nice sleeping pad. This is a Therm-a-Rest sleeping pad and it actually inflates. And so, a little bit like an air mattress. It is about that thick when you inflate it and provides a nice cushion underneath you. And then the ubiquitous and necessary sleeping bag. I have a lightweight down sleeping bag that works for most of the conditions that I backpack in, which tend to be warmer, not necessarily freezing cold or super hot. This is a nice backpacking stove and it operates with white gas. Here is the canister. The stove sets up and it provides a lot of nice heat and very compact. The case that it comes in are your pots for the cooking. Not pictured here, food and water of course and maps that you might want to bring as well as clothes. The same clothes that you might bring for hiking. Again, if you think it might rain, bring a rain jacket, Gore-Tex or other waterproof probably would be best. Last but not the least on your feetsies, shoes. These are the shoes that I usually wear for my backpacking trips. They are not full-length ankle support. I would only do that if I felt that I really needed the support. Most people can get by with below the ankle. These are Gore-Tex, really good solid boots.
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