7 things NOBODY tells you about BACKPACKING

what's going on hikers in today's video i'm gonna be bringing you seven things that no one tells you when you first start backpacking if you're new to backpacking these are things that hopefully will help you keep from making mistakes and help you set your expectations in the right place as you head out into the back country and if you're a seasoned backpacker i'm sure you can relate to the seven things i'm about to tell you and make sure you comment below and share some more things that no one tells you when you first start if you're new to the channel my name is jeremiah stringer and here we talk about all things hiking and backpacking so if you're into that kind of thing consider subscribing to the channel that's what this entire channel is all about so starting off at number one one thing that somebody didn't tell me when i first started backpacking is this is not television this is not survivor man this is not let's go out into the woods and do some bushcraft this is let me take the proper pieces of gear with me so that i can have a good time and i don't have to bring a crapload of stuff whenever when you're first starting um your backpacking journey you'll probably be like you know i'm gonna need a giant a giant buoy knife you know one of those big rambo ones that's what i took when i first started i took uh you know multiple ways to make fire which is good i probably didn't need you know five fire starters for a four day trip whenever you're just walking on a trail don't get me wrong it's great to be prepared out there but you're not bear grylls i'm not bear grylls you're probably if you're watching this video not going out there to survive for two weeks you know until somebody rescues you number two backpacking can get expensive so be prepared to spend money but probably what's gonna happen is you'll start you'll get some budget gear you'll learn what you like and don't like about that gear and then you'll spend more and more money getting new pieces of gear figuring out what you like so the second thing that nobody tells you is be prepared to spend a lot of money trying to figure out what fits your needs there's so many things that you can do to customize and tailor your gear to what you want and what i want in the backcountry is probably not what you want so open up the wallet because here it comes number three it's not all sunshine and rainbows out there in the back country when i first started backpacking i'm watching these through hawking videos these people are going on these amazing journeys they're meeting so many great people they're having so much fun lots of laughter lots of those just kumbaya moments and i'm watching videos like this one where people are giving advice and they're sharing their trip videos but sometimes we fail to see all the tough times all the times that you know you're walking and it's raining all day you walk 10 or 20 miles and it's sleeting in your face you're soaking wet you're cold and you're like i can't stop because i got to stay warm i got to keep going or maybe you forget a piece of gear like on my last backpacking trip i was at land between the lakes with all these super cool people and you know what i did our first campsite not one perfect our second campsite not two i forgot my suspension for my hammock around the trees at campsite one so i ended up having to make my own ridgeline for my tarp otherwise i was sleeping under the stars so if it rained i was for sure getting wet so just keep in mind it's not always going to be sunshine and rainbows and it is important to be prepared out there both mentally physically and with your gear and that actually brings me to today's video sponsor which is ocupa they sent me this hand warmer battery pack and i was like i'll try it out and then i did and i liked it and they're like would you be interested in doing a sponsored video and i was like yeah sure you know i've been enjoying your product this entire winter season it's been going on every backpacking trip this whole winter so i'm going to tell you a little bit about it real quick and if you want you can go check it out in the link below i'll put it in the description and you can read more about it and see if it fits your budget and fits your needs in the back country so a couple of cool things this hand warmer is also a battery pack you can get different size battery packs this one is a ten thousand milliamp hour so it'll charge your phone your headlamp whatever device its inputs are a usbc excuse me and a micro usb and then its output is just a standard usb it has one button on it and it does a few different things it's going to turn on and warm up this hand warmer it's got three settings i only use the first setting that is going to conserve the most amount of power and it's very warm the second setting is over 100 degrees and i don't need that kind of heat next to my body so the first setting is fine for me and it has a third setting which is which is the highest heat setting i think it's about 130 degrees so i actually probably would never use that it's going to kill the battery the fastest and on top of that who needs 130 degrees next to their body right definitely don't want to get burned using this product so if you are going to use it just be cognizant of the needs for you another thing they come in a sort of assortment of different colors so if you want to click that link you can see that and if you're wondering about how long this lasts well the more you charge a device with it of course the less it's going to last because it's a battery bank so you're using the juice in it so if you're not charging anything i can get about 15 hours now the weight on this thing it is a luxury item it is 200 grams so if you're a gram weenie you're probably not bringing luxury items like this on the trail anyway so you know i'm not a grand weenie really so i'm perfectly fine with bringing this on trail with me it actually has replaced my hot hands you know throughout the night a lot of times i'll pop hot hands and i actually preferred this because if you look behind me you see that hole that hole was burned into my underquilt by hot hands i just stuck the underquilt in my backpack and then threw the hot hands after using them throughout the night just threw them in there didn't think anything about it so this is an alternative if you're somebody who is using hot hands so thanks again okupa for sponsoring today's video and again you all can check out the link in the description if you want to read research more about it or if you want to purchase one for yourself number four no one told me that zero drop shoes will absolutely destroy your legs if you're not breaking them in and getting your calves and your gait and everything adjusted for those zero drop shoes so i'm not going to go into deep explanation here but i will tell you a little bit about my experience ultra they're a super popular shoe company for backpacking they make these zero drop shoes which essentially mean that your heel and the balls of your feet they're at the same angle they're just flat on the ground most shoes they have a slight heel to them so your calves throughout just daily life have grown accustomed to having a slight incline on the heel well we did the foothills trail and my wife she we got three or four days in you know we're doing 10 to 15 mile days and they absolutely destroyed her legs i mean she hadn't broke her shoes in by wearing them a whole lot at work so there's nothing wrong with zero drop shoes but if you're gonna wear them i would probably wear them around town around wear them around work to get your legs and stuff adjusted to them because she actually had to quit the trail literally couldn't walk anymore you know she's kind of limping along and we're carrying all of her stuff me and two other friends carried her backpack and and everything that she brought so zero drop shoes i like them but make sure that you know you'll have to get your your legs accustomed to them number five you're gonna bring way too much stuff on your first trip actually not too long ago found a list of everything i brought on my first trip and i was like what was i thinking you know i i didn't bring the right gear and i brought way too much gear and way way way too much food i bet i left trail with extra two or three pounds of food for a four day trip what was i thinking so i'm telling you right now because nobody else has you're gonna bring way too much stuff on that first trip but you know what get out there enjoy it embrace that suck and you're gonna figure out what you need and that leads right into number six on our list it doesn't matter how much research you do you're there's no substitute for experience i've been on quite a few trips in my lifetime since i've started backpacking and i'm still learning something new on every single trip that i go on so i really love that you watch videos like this i really love that you help support channels like mine and others but it doesn't matter how many videos you watch until you get out into the backcountry and you start seeing you know what i do in this situation what do i need gear wise in this situation who do i like backpacking with all these different factors i'm telling you there is no there is no substitute for the experience that you're going to have in the back country number seven the most unfortunate point in today's list calories especially on like weekend backpacking trips are not unlimited in the backcountry and let me tell you what i mean by this you you hear about through hiking and you hear about hiker hunger and you know sometimes you'll take these weekend trips and on one hand some people are like you know i don't really get that hungry whenever i'm in the woods i eat this much at home but whenever i'm out there and i'm actually backpacking and getting exhausted from putting in these miles i don't get super hungry so i don't need a lot of food and then on the other hand you have people that are like i'm absolutely ravenous in the backcountry i'm always hungry i could always eat i'm burning through these calories my body's like a machine baby you gotta feed the machine well i'm more of the latter but whenever i come back home i have still input all those calories you know you are burning a lot of calories because essentially you're wearing a weighted vest you have walked around town at a certain weight and then you've added 10 20 maybe even 50 pounds i don't know how much your gear weighs so when you're out there you're burning more calories than you would normally burn probably at home but those calories i never expend all of them on a backpacking trip so keep in mind calories are not unlimited especially when you're out in the back country just doing two or three days if you enjoy videos like these make sure you give me a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel and comment below what are some things that no one told you when you first started and if you like this type of content i will make another video like this because i've had a lot of fun so we'll see in the next one

Channel: Jeremiah Stringer Hikes

Views: 73,573

Keywords: backpacking for beginners, backpacking gear, backpacking tips, backpacking, beginner backpacking, beginner backpacking tips, jeremiah stringer, tips for backpacking, tips for beginner backpackers, backpacking tips for beginners, backpacking hacks, backpacking trips for beginners, hiking tips, beginner hiking tips, tips for hiking, tips for beginner backpacker, tips for beginner backpacking

Id: XBRFoKqrF78

Length: 11min 8sec (668 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 01 2021