Gear I Carry on a Day Hike

hey guys it's Darwin so here on the channel we typically do videos about long-distance hiking and weekend backpacking but something that we never touch on and then I get a lot of questions about is day hiking what size pack do I need how many liters of water should I carry what types of snacks should I have and what type of extra gear do I need on a day hike so since I'm here in Joshua Tree National Park and doing a long hike today I figured I would take the opportunity to break my pack down and show you what gear that I carry on a day [Music] [Applause] all right so snuggles might have been doing a lot of day hiking lately in northern Arizona we just got back from the Grand Canyon and now we're in Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California been doing a ton of day hiking and it got me thinking we've never really did a video talking about that basic pack setup of what you need when you're going out for the day so I figured I would break down my pack set up for today and show you what I'm carrying so typically the pack that I like to carry on a day hike is gonna be anywhere from 15 liters to 30 liters now it all depends on where I'm hiking and what gear that I'm needing for the day now whether that means I need to carry extra water extra snacks if I think that I'm gonna go rock climbing and need to carry some climbing gear but I think that that's a really good range for a day pack just to make sure that you're not carrying too much gear but you do have enough gear just in case you get into a situation so the pack that I carry about 90% of the time is the Osprey Escapist 18 I absolutely love this pack now the reason I picked this pack up a long time ago was I wanted a bike packing pack and this seemed perfect it was 18 liters so I could still carry some of my gear it had an integrated rain cover I could use a hydration bladder in it if I wanted to it had this nice big stretch mesh pocket on the outside and it had a breathable back scape so to me this is like a perfect day hiking pack now Osprey makes a ton of Awesome day packs and a lot of other companies do this is just my favorite now when I did a really long day hike in the Grand Canyon last week I actually carried the Z packs Nero pack just because I was carrying more water more food I needed more gear because it was a 17 mile hike and I was out there for about eight hours pretty long hike going down into the Grand Canyon and coming back up but out here in Joshua Tree this is a perfect pack for this hiking alright so what do I typically carry in this pack well let's open up the top zipper and what I typically carry in my top zipper is going to be either a buff or bandana now you guys know that I'm a buff fan I love these things they're great for everything good for wiping your nose good for sun protection it's good as a sweat rag anything else that you need this for so this is always in my day pack and it's always up here so I can grab it real quick next up are going to be a pair of sunglasses now especially hiking in the desert I always carry a pair of sunglasses I'd say about 95 percent of the time I never use them but they're always in my pack just in case I get in a situation where I really need to protect my eyes like well out here in Joshua Tree where it's usually really bright and really open next up is going to be my phone I always keep my phone up here so I can access it really quickly to either take a picture make an emergency call or use an app for hiking so typically I use the gut hook apps or some sort of hiking app like that so I want that up there in case I need to grab it and find out where I'm going now in a national park I usually don't use an app I will grab the park map that they usually supply you with when you're coming through the main gate and do it old-school and stick to a paper map and then the last thing that I'm gonna keep up here in the top are some really important things which are snacks I always keep at least a handful of bars like a protein bar or some sort of a Clif Bar or if I think that I'm gonna be going out for a really long hike I'll keep some packs of tuna maybe a few bagels to make sure that I have calories that I can replenish myself with after a long day of hiking I want to make sure that I have enough food just in case something was to happen and I have to eat dinner on the trail all right and then that's it for the top pouch that's all I'm going to keep up here next up we have this big mesh pouch on the outside only really keep one thing in that mesh pouch and that's gonna be my ditty bag now this is the same ditty bag that I carry if I'm gonna be doing a long distance hike a weekend that packing trip or even car camping I always have this thing loaded up and in my gear box where I can just grab it and throw it in whatever pack that I'm gonna be carrying now at all times inside of my ditty bag I carry toiletries I carry a first-aid kit I carry a lighter I'm gonna carry a flashlight or a headlamp and a knife that's always gonna be in my ditty bag that I can grab really quick throw it in my pack just in case I need one of those items all right so I typically like any pack that's gonna have side pouches and just like every pack that I own this one also has two side pouches so typically in one pouch I'll carry at least one liter of water now if I think that I'm going to be going out for a really long time and I'm gonna be going out in some desert terrain or I can easily get dehydrated I'll definitely carry two liters of water or sometimes everyone's well and it's a rare occasion I will carry a hydration bladder now this pack is set up for a hydration bladder and I don't typically like them but again if I'm gonna be doing some sort of a bike packing trip are somewhere where I really need a lot of water and I know that I'm gonna be out for an extended amount of time without having any type of water source I'll put that in there but it's always good to stay hydrated on the trail especially when you're in the desert and then on the other side of the pack and the other pouch I always keep a water filter so in here right now I have my Sawyer squeeze water filter and then I have my noch dirty water bag so that's a two liter bag so in case I do run into a problem and I do find a water source I do have an emergency bag to carry more water to where I can up this guy to three liters of water at one time in the main compartment I typically carry a handful of articles of clothing now 90% of the time I only carry two things and that's going to be either a wind jacket or a rain jacket today we're in Joshua Tree I know it's not gonna rain out here so I will carry a really light wind jacket just in case it gets chilly it gets windy and I need a way to break the wind now if we were somewhere on the East Coast like on the Appalachian Trail I'd swap this out for a rain jacket just in case I got caught in a downpour I want to make sure that I can keep myself somewhat dry and then aside from the wind or rain jacket I always always always carry a thermal jacket now whether that is a down jacket or a synthetic thermal jacket I always carry one of my pack now it doesn't matter if I'm going out in the early morning if I'm going out at night if I'm going out in the desert or if I'm going up into high alpine always carry a thermal layer just in case the temperature was to drop and I needed to warm myself up I think that carrying some sort of a down jacket or a thermal insulating shell is always a good idea just in case that situation arises and I need to warm myself up now you guys know that I'm a trekking pole guy and about 90% of the time I carried some sort of pair of trekking poles now lately I've been carrying the Knox vertex carbon cork ones because they fold up really small so even if I'm not gonna use them these fit really small into one of my side pouches and I don't know I like hiking with trekking poles it's just something I always do whether I'm hiking up a mountain down a mountain or through a flat desert I like them because it helps me pace it just gives me a better stride and makes me feel better so trekking poles are something that I always have on a day hike and then the last thing that I carry on a day hike is a good camera so typically I'll carry a GoPro or my small point-and-shoot Canon gx7 camera but today I'm actually carrying my full-size camera with an extra lens because I'm out in a national park and I want to shoot really good photos and really good video so a camera is definitely something that's always in my pack it's not always going to be in everyone's pack and most people will just use a phone to grab their photos but for me capturing that experience of being in a national park or being out in nature for the day because typically if I'm gonna do a day hike I'm going out to find something in particular whether it's a waterfall some sort of a canyon some sort of destination our natural wonder that I want to capture on film so I always make sure that I have a good camera so that's it guys that's all that I carry on a typical day hike so what's some go-to geared that you always carry in your day pack setup leave me something in the comment section below and let me know your thoughts you ever had to change it go over and check me out on Instagram I'm posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that snows and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures from some past hikes plus a lot of pictures from day hikes if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Darwin onthetrail

Views: 918,261

Rating: 4.9032497 out of 5

Keywords: UL Hiking Gear, UL Backpacking, Gear Set Up, UL Gear, Hiking, Day Hiking, Hiker Trash, Osprey Escapist 18, Day Pack, Zpacks Nero, Enligtened Equipment, Torrid Apex Jacket, Copperfield Wind Shirt, Adventure, Backpacking, AT, AT Thru Hike, Appalachian Trail, PCT, Pacific Crest Trail, AZT, Arizona Trail, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree

Id: d8ZHo0d6yYA

Length: 9min 58sec (598 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 12 2017