Backpacking Questions You Might Be Too Embarrassed to Ask

hey y'all Dixie here today I want to do a little something different I know some of y'all are members of the homemade wanderlust backpacking form group on Facebook and it's a pretty active community there we have over 20,000 members now and the other day I made a post in there and said you know let's hear some of your silly questions because I know when I started prepping for my 80 thru-hike which was also my first backpacking trip I had a lot of questions and I was a member of some of the groups on Facebook but I felt kind of embarrassed to ask some questions or like people would think I was stupid or you know like what are you doing going on a thru-hike if you don't even know the answer to this question and so I know that there have to be other people who feel like that that they want to start backpacking or maybe they have questions to why we do things a certain way and so I just kind of wanted to open the floor to allow people to ask some of those silly questions with you know no judgement and so anyway they asked those there and so today I'm going to share some of those with y'all because I assume that if they have those questions probably other people do too and I wanted the community around this channel and the forum and just you know everything homemade wanderlust to be welcoming of folks of all different backpacking experience or maybe even people who just are starting to get into or even just starting the interested in it so these questions today are gonna be kind of back to the base [Music] let's go ahead and get started does a gut hook app work even if you don't have cell service just very curious how you navigate thanks and congrats on your triple crown just to back up a little bit the gut hook app is an app that a lot of folks use on the atpc tcdt the Te Araroa in New Zealand it's just a very popular navigation app for some of these more popular long distance trails you can get them in section so say you're just hiking in Colorado you know you can get that piece of the app it helps you navigate it shows the profile elevation it has a track in there of the trail and you're able to comment on different way points like water sources etc so the question was does that app work even when you don't have cell service and yes the gut hook app does not run off of cell towers it operates through GPS so even when your phone is off in airplane mode and you don't have cell service you can use it just fine do people hook up on trail and the answer to this which I've had a lot of people ask this question is anything that happens in real life can also happen on trail I mean in real life you have a bunch of humans and on trail you have a bunch of humans so yeah it's drugs sex rock and roll all of those things again happen in real life can happen on the trail also like in real life you can choose to participate in or opt out of any of those things how do people who need daily medication get their prescriptions on trail has anyone successfully gotten their doctor to let them fill six months worth of prescriptions I did not have personal experience because I didn't have any prescriptions to worry about but other people helped out and said that yes they were able to get their prescription through like a Walmart or Walgreens one of the bigger chain pharmacies and they were able to at least once a month or so get to one of those bigger pharmacies and get their prescription filled some people did say they were able to talk to their doctor and let them know what was going on what their plans were why they needed the medication for six months and it sounded like they had a talk with their insurance and had them do an override to go ahead and approve six months of medication are you supposed to put the sit cap back on the fuel canister for your stove I feel the answer is yes but for some reason I feel the need to ask anyway so this person is referring to when you get a fuel canister for your stove if you are cooking with a stove and you are cooking with canister fuel instead of denatured alcohol or you know some other form of fuel so there's a little plastic cover that goes on top of that to cover the threads and you know down into the hole there where your stove connects and the question is do you have to keep that you know is it important and the answer is I guess it depends so I do not keep mine I mean that's something I throw away before I leave town it just hasn't been necessary I haven't needed it I think probably what happened is one time I lost one somewhere in the depths of my pack and decided you know I don't need this and so from then on it just kind of tossed it and you know I'm one of those folks that trims my toothbrush to save weight and throws that cap away to save weight and gets upset if I find like a starburst wrapper in my pocket from town or something as if it's gonna really weigh down my pack but then I'll carry an extra anchor charger so I have a lot of battery power you know it's all personal preference and I know it doesn't save that much weight but anyway I like to toss mine but I do keep my fuel cannon inside my food pot and my stove and all of that in there to kind of help protect it while I'm hiking but I think the main purpose of that cap probably is to protect the threads from getting messed up so that your stove won't stop threading on there properly and then also to kind of protect anything dust debris gravel from getting down in the little hole on the top of it because that could also mess it up or cause potentially fuel to spew out and whatnot so definitely not a bad idea to keep it but personally I do not and I won't say that it's absolutely necessary it's not like your fuel is just gonna magically leak out of there because you don't have that plastic cap what kind of footprint do I use under my tent do I just cut a tarp to size my suggestion for this one is see if your tent manufacturer has a pre-cut footprint made just for your tent so for example with the Big Agnes Fly Creek ul to that I carried on the 80 they did sell a footprint made for that tent what I ended up doing because it was a much cheaper route is I bought a piece of Tyvek that was big enough to fit under the body in my tent so you want to cut it so it does not hang out the sides because if you think about it when the rains fallen if ou lean in my eyeball Oh suicidal net if the rain falls on to the Tyvek or whatever you're using for a footprint and goes under your tent then you've got this big old pool of water in between the waterproof Tyvek and the bottom of your tent so I just cut it to wear it with a little bit smaller like a couple inches all the way around the perimeter of the body of the tent now where do you get Tyvek I bought mine at the outfitter where I got my tent now some Outfitters may not have it but you can probably find it at hardware stores and if you see a construction site you could probably even roll up there and say hey guys you have any extra pieces of Tyvek that way you don't have to buy a big ol bunch of it and it's probably also online in certain pieces and I know some people said that they have purchased it on Amazon so there are several places where you can get it but it's pretty lightweight and cheap and it does make some crinkly noises so I recommend washing it a couple of times before you use it but the more you use it the softer it will get and the quieter it will also get next question is new type of female Underpants for special days tried or tested a or nay thank you by the way did not want to create a post about that so this is in reference to period panties so when ladies are menstruating it's basically underwear that acts in place of its hand pond or a pad I do not have personal experience with this I had thought about trying it on the CD tee and even the PCT just never got around to it but other people chimed in in the forum and the consensus is basically if you have a heavy Flo it may not be the best line of defense not making a mess but it could potentially work for you as backup or if you have low to moderate flow it could be what you use in place of sanitary napkins etc basically what I gathered is for a day hike it might would be fine again if you have low to moderate flow but as far as on an overnight trip a weekend trip a thru-hike they tend to be a little bit heavy and it seems that you would need several pair because you've got to rinse them and then wash them out and then allow them to dry after you've used them to I guess their max capacity or whatever the recommended time frame is for using them I assume that would differ for each woman but anyway I think the idea of having to carry enough to wash and rinse out and then hang on your pack to dry and then just the weight of them in general may not be the most convenient thing for an overnight backpacking trip and then somebody else chimed in and said she loves them for day-to-day life but as far as any kind of exercising hiking working out she finds that when she sweats they get kind of soaked with sweat so she just didn't think that they were really that great for exercising in general let alone backpacking how do you find a place to camp for the night when backpacking and there isn't a designated camping spot do you just say this area looks good I know you need to be off the trail and in a flat clear spot for its hamp but is there a rule as to where you can camp so this is one of those questions that is not you know a one-size-fits-all answer it really depends on where you're going to be backpacking so if you're going out for a weekend somewhere local a national forest or whatever you can easily look that information up online or when you get there there's probably signage that tells you those requirements now if you're going on a thru-hike and you're gonna be going through different wilderness areas national parks national forests there are going to be a whole lot of different rules and the general rule of thumb is you want to be 200 feet from the trail and 200 feet from a water source now any area that has specific rules you're probably going to find a with all of that information at Shenandoah National Park they don't require you like at some other national parks to camp in a specific area at least while you're through hiking but they do have very specific rules for example you have to be ten yards away from streams and other water sources 20 yards from the trail and etc etc but when you walk in there if you're through hiking there's a little marquee that you fill out a little permit and throw it in the box and it has a list of all of those rules on the back so make sure you get to camp early and you can find a spot that meets all of those requirements is it difficult to use contacts on trails since your hands aren't always clean or do you just Purell and rinse beforehand I'm debating contacts or glasses now Erin carried contacts with him on the CDT and managed just fine didn't get pink on as I didn't rot out what a lot of people do is they switch to the dailies if they're not already using them some people will carry a little bit a solution with them just in case but yes I think definitely cleaning your hands off as much as you can whether it's with water or hand sanitizer or probably you can carry like a little bar of soap that you would get from a motel or something like that in a ziplock bag if you do decide to wear glasses one of the downfalls of that is when it rains apparently they fog up a lot there were some people who suggested products for people who dive and the anti-fog product to put on their goggles and then also folks who ride motorcycles for their glasses so there are some products out there that might can help with some of the fogging issues you might want to test that before you get out there just to see if it works out for you because the last thing you want to do is be on the edge of a cliff with it pouring down rain and your glasses are all fogged up but there are people who do successfully wear contacts and don't have any issues does anybody use earplugs I keep hearing about the insanely loud wind that keeps people awake all night with earplugs health I personally do not like to wear earplugs I carry them on the Appalachian Trail for a little while and didn't on any of the other trails I like to be able to hear what's going on at night I like to know what's outside my tent that's just a personal preference now there are folks who definitely do use earplugs when they sleep it helps them feel like they're in a little bubble and they you know are in their tent and safe and sound and it's quiet and they like it I will say I did wear earplugs a couple of times in hostels on the Appalachian Trail sometimes you end up in a bunk room with people who snore and my only saving grace was earplugs and sometimes that didn't even really help that much also if you're gonna be on the 80 in shelters with people I think earplugs help when I'm out in my tent and I hear somebody snoring in the distance that doesn't really bother me so much just when you're in that echo chamber of a bunk room or shelter that's when I've really found them to come in handy if I'm having my time of the month am I more likely to attract animals mainly worried about while sleeping the only thing I could really find as far as any research on this topic was bears and are they attracted to women more when they're menstruating bears can smell the menstruation well that's just great from what I read bears were not attracted to the scent of women menstruating any more than the scent of anything else as far as grizzly bears go the response to mineral odors has not been studied experimentally with black bears they did do some studies and apparently the black bears just ignored the scent of menstrual odors and then they also looked at some of the different bear attacks that have occurred and they looked into the ones that were women were they menstruating or not and they couldn't find any kind of link between women on their periods and being attacked by bears with that said there are some precautions that you can take you know just in case like wearing internal tampons instead of external pads use unscented feminine products and towelettes to clean yourself any of the use napkins or anything like that you want to store with your trash and at night hang it with your bare bag or however you store your food at night I'll put a link to all of this information the precautions and all of that in the video description if you'd like to read more are all hiker super brave about leapin alone in huts and in the woods at night are there more people out there like me who have severe anxiety about sleeping alone or around people you don't know / trust on-trail the first night I was on the Appalachian Trail in Springer Mountain shelter I slept on the top floor with a complete stranger there were other people in the shelter down below but I thought it was the strangest thing in the world to be in that place with all of those strange people but especially the one guy that I shared the top floor with I mean it was just like this is not normal this is very strange now fast forward to like New Jersey or New York I had been not hacking one night and I got to this shelter at like 1:00 a.m. and yes I know that that's not the greatest shelter etiquette but I was very quiet sneaking up and I remember seeing people asleep in there and there was one opening like one little sliver you know definitely enough space it wasn't like I was cuddling up to somebody but I laid my sleeping pad there and I kind of shimmied up in there and I said you know we all kind of slept in there like a litter of puppies and in the morning you wake up and it's like oh hey Waldo you know oh hey so-and-so and you end up knowing a lot of the folks has you've been hacking around them and you know I remember thinking to myself that night Who am I like who is this person they just shimmy it up in here with a bunch of strangers and really didn't think much of it but the truth is that's just kind of how the trail works and you do become more confident in yourself and you do get to know the people around you and you do realize that it's just kind of the way that the trail culture is now on the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail there aren't as many shelters and things like that so you know you're you're more or less like camping maybe near people in your tent which is is more private and Tamizh and as strange maybe for the first time but anyway no everyone is not brave when they start out I certainly was not brave I was freaking out laying there the first night and Springer Mountain shelter thinking what have I gotten myself into so it's totally normal to think it's strange to sleep around strangers but it's strange how that later becomes totally normal underwear question wearing them one day right-side out next day inside out doesn't it get your regular britches dirty I wonder if it's worth the ounces to carry extra thoughts I think this is in reference to me talking about how I wearing my underwear one way tournaments I doubt wearing another way and then the third day I put on a new pair and wash the second pair and hang it on my pack to dry so that system you know lasts me four days on two pair but could more with doing some on trail laundry anyway to be honest that it is kind of gross and yes I mean the dirty side being on your shorts could get your shorts more dirty but you're gonna have so much butt sweat that it's just really not gonna matter and for me I think it's more of a mental thing so you know if it's worth it to you this is something that's completely personal preference with almost everything in backpacking you really just have to decide is it worth it to you to be able to put on a clean pair of underwear every day for me it's not for you it definitely might be and that's okay ooh blood sweat questions what about preventing chafing and wearing breathable pants how do you keep the balance between but breathing and keeping your legs warm all right so my first thought on this is most athletic clothing is going to be designed to wick away sweat and be breathable but in the summertime I'm wearing shorts some people wear pants again most of it's designed to breathe now in the colder months I'm gonna be sweating a lot less so you know I kind of feel like as far as how you keep yourself warm and not sweat too much that kind of comes with the temperature if you are pouring sweat then take a layer off you know and you'll cool off as far as chafing goes it's kind of like getting blisters when you notice that there's a problem starting you need to go ahead and nip it in the bud basically make sure that your clothing fits properly you can try some breeches or you know wherever your chafing you can try clothing that doesn't have as many seams you want to try to keep the area as clean as possible and then you can do things to reduce friction like wear body glide or use cornstarch just something to wear that skin on skin or clothing on skin friction is reduced at night if it's warmer you can try to let everything air out while you sleep some people have even used diaper rash ointment and all in all when it comes down to it if it's continuing to get worse you know you may just have to try swapping up your clothes try going commando or different underwear or it may boil down to you just need to take a day or so off in town and just let it heal up I know we have a lot of varying degrees of backpacking experience all the way from hadn't done it yet - you know hiked thousands and thousands of miles so if you have something that might help out one of the people who asked these questions or if you have a silly question that you would like to ask yourself please feel free to leave that in the comments below and I hope that everybody feels welcome and we can all try to help each other out a little bit but thank y'all so much for watching and we will see y'all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 927,551

Rating: 4.889235 out of 5

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic

Id: wpCjJc7OMCM

Length: 20min 22sec (1222 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 14 2018