Backpacking is easy with these tips. Get expert advice on backpacking, hiking, and the great outdoors in this video.
Keep weight off of shoulders
Bring plenty of snacks & water
Maintain healthy exercise
Consult a guidebook to determine appropriate trail
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, my name is John and we are going to talk about how to go backpacking today. And a lot of people ask, "Well what is backpacking?" For me it is very simple, if I am going to go somewhere or hike somewhere and carry everything I need to stay at least overnight for one night on my back then I am backpacking. You can see we have got some gear back here but right now we are going to talk about--a little bit more about the technique. How do you pick an area to go backpacking? Lots of areas are appropriate for backpacking. I usually pick an area where I can walk for at least about four or five miles away from the road and get to a beautiful spot. Many wilderness areas out in the west will fulfill this and there are many guide books available to wilderness areas that will have trail maps. Pick a good one and go for it. I do not like to do a too challenging of a trail when I go backpacking, I pick one that is moderate or relatively easy because I am going to be carrying a lot of weight and I want to enjoy myself. Also finding a spot where there is a really nice campsite, maybe near a creek or a stream or a lake is really important. A guide book or the trail guide will tell you that. When you are backpacking, on the trail, remember you are going to have a lot of weight on you and what I find is really helpful is to make sure that my backpack fits well and to make sure that my hip belt is really snug up there so most of my weight is on my hips. That is probably the most important thing. Try and keep that weight off your shoulders so that the shoulder harness is resting very lightly there. It is probably the most important thing on the trail. Make sure to bring plenty of snacks, plenty of water while you are on the trail and really enjoy yourself. Do not try and push it too hard. So that is what I would recommend for picking an area and how to set yourself up for backpacking. Getting into shape, hike. Just go hiking, not necessary to carry a heavy pack around on a trail to get yourself in shape. I would just go for a series of longish hikes maybe on back to back days so that would simulate the feeling that you'd get for hiking multiple days on a backpacking trip. Other than that, just relax and enjoy and go for it.
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