How To Gradually Build Up Your Backpacking Gear And Skills To Go Backpacking And Feel Good

hey y'all dixie here today i'd like to address the folks who haven't gotten into the world of backpacking yet because maybe they're not quite sure how to do that and this could be for financial reasons so if you're somebody who's interested in backpacking as a hobby you've looked at the price tag of the gear and thought okay well i don't really want to take the risk of buying thousands of dollars of backpacking gear and then i go out on my first trip and hate it and decide i don't want to do it now i've wasted all this money and then also there are some folks who are interested in it and maybe they could go out and buy all of the gear tonight but they're not sure that they have the confidence to go out in the woods alone so there's actually a way to gradually do this where you're not just going from having zero experience to having everything you need on your back and setting out on a trip tomorrow all of the gear items i'm gonna mention in today's video i've got more detailed videos about each of those so i'm gonna put links in the video description if you want to learn more about those specific topics pretty much anybody who can walk outside of their house and go for a stroll around the block in their neighborhood can eventually transition into backpacking and it's really not a bad idea to start taking walks around your neighborhood or to the local place where everybody's jogging walking their dog etc because it allows you to build up your stamina and it also lets you see about how many miles per day you might want to do when you get out into nature and start going for day hikes once you're ready to level up a bit and go deeper into nature and start day hiking all you've got to do is hop on google look for some local trails in your area to hike you can also check out the homemade wanderlust backpacking form group on facebook because we've got over 40 000 members now so chances are there's somebody local to your area that can suggest some different spots and then all trails is also a good resource for locating trails near you even if you're out of town somewhere it's just wherever you're at it'll tell you some of the coolest rated trails in that area so by the time you set out on your first day hike you'll probably have an idea of how many miles you want to do since you've been doing local walks and you just search for a trail that's in that range that you feel comfortable walking now we'll say keep in mind that the terrain will certainly make a difference so if you're walking in an area that's got a lot of rocks and roots or steep uphills and downhills that's going to slow you down a bit more than just walking on a sidewalk in your neighborhood all you really need in the way of gear for a day hike is some sort of bag to put everything in and this could be just a backpack that you would carry to school if you were a kid they do have specific day packs that you can get from all sorts of different gear companies i have one from rei that i really like but those are on the higher end of things and are going to probably be a bit more expensive i'm just trying to say you don't have to have anything super fancy just something you can throw stuff in and go for a walk you do want to make sure that you carry with you the 10 essentials of hiking if you're not familiar with those i have a video outlining all of those it can be some very simple things that you throw in your bag just in case it ends up turning into an unplanned overnight trip to help make you prepared for that situation so while all you need is a simple pack and then the basic 10 essentials of hiking you can start during your day hike slowly building your gear list for things that you'll use while backpacking that will still be useful to you while day hiking the first piece of gear that i often recommend people get is a water filter and i prefer the sawyer squeeze just because it's simple there's not a whole lot to it there are other ways to do water treatment like drops or pumps but for forty dollars i think the sawyer squeeze is a very simple and lightweight source of water treatment you can just collect dirty water in that smart water bottle and then screw this filter on top and drink straight from the filter i think having a water filter is not only convenient because now you're not having to carry water for the whole day hike that you want to do but also it teaches you to pay a bit more attention to water sources because now you're collecting your water from the trail so you've got to know before you go out there that there are going to be running water sources and you have to prepare to carry from one water source to the other so you'll likely start paying attention to how much water you're drinking per mile i've had people ask me that a lot you know how much water should i have like how many liters per mile but it's different for every person because while i might only drink one liter per four miles a large man might need double that so it really depends on the individual and by doing this exercise you're going to start paying more attention to that the next gear items that i would add in is your kitchen setup so that's going to be your stove your fuel your pot eating utensil and a cup if you prefer one just because you're not camping overnight doesn't mean that you can't cook while you're out on trail and honestly i think it's a great thing to start for day hikes just cooking your lunch or cooking a snack while you're out there this allows you to see are you even going to want to mess with cooking if you go out on a backpacking trip or are you going to prefer things like mountain house meals where you just boil some water throw it in a little packet that already has freeze dried food in there that you're just rehydrating or are you going to be like a chef on trail you're going to carry different spices and different ingredients and mix them all together some people really make an art out of it while others like to keep it as simple as possible and in this you'll take your time selecting a stove because you're not going on your first backpacking trip tomorrow so as you're continuing your day hikes you can scout out all of these individual pieces of gear and the different types and take your time in choosing one maybe next you pick out a food bag to keep all of your snacks in and your pot and stove etc i also like to have a bandana because i use it as a hot pad for my stove when i'm pulling it off of the fire and also because once i clean my pot out i like to have a banana to dry it with and i'm kind of a messy eater so it also acts as a napkin another thing that i think you can really dial in best by taking day hikes and learning as you go is your clothing most backpackers prefer in the cold to hike with several different layers that they can add or take away to kind of help regulate their body temperature and then in the summer are you somebody who's going to prefer shorts and a tank top or longer clothing to help protect yourself from the sun so those are things that you can all dial in as you go in the different seasons i mean you can even get down into the nitty-gritty there might be certain sports bras that you prefer or different types of underwear and socks i mean that's like a whole science in itself do you prefer the short ankle socks or the longer socks because i know for me if i'm in snow or areas that are super dirty and gritty then i can end up wearing a hole in my ankle by wearing ankle socks because either the snow or the grit will get trapped in there and continue to rub so those are things that sometimes you learn the hard way but if you can learn these while day hiking then you don't have to suffer on a backpacking trip later obviously if you're on a tight budget you might not be spending money trying to dial things in as much and it'd honestly be best to put more of your funds into your big three your shelter your sleeping bag and your pack because they'll be the most expensive and spending more on them will probably give you more weight savings overall rain gear is also something that comes in handy on day hikes and on backpacking trips so you can go ahead and figure out what rain gear works best for you this could be something where you just start off with one of those emergency ponchos in case it rains because hopefully on your day hike she'll be planning for good weather but then maybe you get some better rain gear and you're excited when it rains during your day hike because you get to test it out rain gear also doubles as an extra layer when you're cold there have been days when i'm backpacking that it's not supposed to rain at all but it's a really chilly day and it also happens to be super windy and i'm in an exposed area so i just throw on my rain gear to kind of help protect myself from the wind that feels like it's cutting you and i've also even slept in my rain gear at night when i was a bit too chilly so rain gear doesn't only have to be used as rain gear and can certainly be useful whether day hiking or backpacking another gear item that i definitely think is wonderful for day hikes or trekking poles before i had started backpacking and i was only day hiking i didn't use trekking poles i didn't start using trekking poles until my through hike of the at because i saw that that's what through hikers did so i thought okay they probably know what they're talking about and i'll try them out and i thought they were really awkward to start with so i just used one as a walking stick and finally got the hang of that and then threw in the second one so they can be a bit awkward but they really do help a lot with your knees on the downhills and on the uphills they just kind of give me that extra boost they also help keep time you know just your rhythm while you're backpacking and they're also great to use for whacking the brush before you go off to go to the bathroom so you don't end up getting snake bit on your booty but again this is something that you can certainly get over time and you could always start out with a walking stick or you know maybe you decide trekking poles just aren't something you really need but this is one of the things that you can build as you go on your day hiking trips whenever you start day hiking you can pretty much just go in whatever athletic shoe you have at home and that will work just fine for you but as you spend more and more time out on the trail you'll probably find yourself wanting to get a shoe that's meant for the trail now some people prefer hiking boots me personally i prefer trail runners they are lightweight they dry easily they've got an aggressive tread but again this isn't something you need right away but you can continue to build upon now let's talk about electronics you certainly don't need electronics to go out and enjoy the wilderness but there are things that can certainly be useful like a navigational app on your smartphone i like to use the all trails app and then for the more popular trails like the appalachian trail pacific crest trail continental divide trail i like to use the gut hook app there are several different navigational apps that will allow you to see where you are through gps and then also where you're going to make sure that you're on the right path and then a headlamp is always useful if you've already looked up the 10 essentials of hyken that i mentioned earlier you'll know that a light source is on that list so while you could use the light source of your phone if you needed to i always think it's good to have a headlamp that way you're able to keep your phone for communication or navigation if you're using it for that so i like to take a headlamp with me whether i am going on a day hike or a backpacking trip and as you're building up your experience you could even maybe get in some night hiking if you're interested at some point just to get you a little more acclimated to being in the woods at dark but either way it never hurts to have a headlamp on hand and finally i think it's a good idea to always have a battery bank and this could be a little lipstick size battery bank that you get as an impulse buy while you're checking out at the grocery store but just something to give your devices some power while you're out there especially if you're using your phone a lot for pictures or as your main navigation source you can also get a rechargeable headlamp that you could power off of a battery bank and by having a battery bank with you out on trail it'll allow you to see just how much juice your electronics use because that's a question i've been asked a lot how many times will the 10 000 milliamp hour charger by anchor charger iphone 10. well i don't know because i don't just charge my iphone i also charge my inreach device and my cameras etc so it really just depends on the individual and what they need but by having one out there with you and by putting that into practice you'll really learn about fine-tuning what you need while you're out on trail so if you've made it to this point then you've transitioned from taking daily walks out in your neighborhood to spending more time in nature and now you've built your confidence and not only yourself and being out on trail but also in your gear because you've gotten familiar with it if you've got all of the pieces of gear i've mentioned up to this point and you might have acquired all of this over a period of one month or over five years you know that just really depends on you and how you're feeling about everything and you might even reach this point and realize i really enjoy going on treks during the day out in nature but i have no desire whatsoever and spending the night on trail and then you've saved yourself a lot of money and you've enjoyed getting out into nature and you've got tools now that you can enjoy being in nature even more but if you are interested in taking things to the next level then i think you're ready to go camping but transitioning to camping itself can even be a slow process so you can start first by just camping right in your backyard that way you can come inside if you need anything or if you get a little freaked out being outside in your tent in the dark and then maybe just drive to the local campground and then you camp there away from home but you're still right next to your car so you've got that comfort knowing hey i could hop in my car and drive home any time i wanted so all of these transitions don't have to be super abrupt unless you're ready for that at this point all you would need to actually start camping would be some sort of shelter now most people in backpacking use tents but there are a lot of folks who prefer hammocks or tarps etc so you can look into different options your shelter is going to be one of your bigger investments and one of your more heavy items in your pack so you want to make sure you take the time to select the right thing for you something that's going to be within your budget but that's also going to be light enough for you to pick up and take with you when you transition from camping to backpacking so once you've got your shelter you can start taking all of your other gear and set up and go camping you can even do some day hikes from your base camp right there next to your vehicle if you've got an area that offers camping with some hiking trails nearby and just continue to work on getting used to being in the woods in your shelter and then you build up from there i think in the camping phase the people who are struggling with the confidence to start backpacking will really start to kind of put their mind at ease a bit at first it's probably going to be a little bit sketchy but again if you're right there near your vehicle you know that you can always bail out having to do things like get up in the middle of the night with your headlamp and go to the bathroom though i think that that'll really kind of help you work through it and by the time you start backpacking you're going to have a lot of those fears put behind you eventually you're going to need to get yourself a solid sleeping system so i'm talking like a sleeping bag or quilt and a sleeping pad but to start with you can just use stuff that you have at home if it's in the warmer seasons which i recommend for folks who are just getting into day hiking or camping or backpacking because in the warmer seasons there's more room for error and dealing with hypothermia so if you make some mistakes and don't have the proper gear you're probably not going to freeze to death at night if you've got a pool float that you can inflate just to cushion yourself from the ground and you can bring some blankets and pile over you i mean this would especially work if you're using a tent as your shelter but you don't have to have anything fancy when you first start out in fact you can even pick up a ten dollar closed cell phone pad online or probably at the local outdoor store near you or even at walmart um the pool float's probably going to be more comfortable but the closed cell foam pad will probably be warmer when you do start scouting out a sleeping pad to take with you backpacking you definitely want to make sure you keep it on the lightweight side of things but you want to mainly focus on the r value because that's the number that they assign to sleeping pads to kind of tell you how well it's going to insulate you from the ground and if you're hiking in three season weather so spring summer and fall you want to make sure that the sleeping pad you select has an r value of two or higher once you purchase a sleeping bag or a quilt if you do your research and decide you prefer those then you're ready to go on to the next level the thing that you want to look out for when you're selecting a sleeping bag is the temperature rating you want to make sure it's a comfort rating so they're rated in different ways sometimes when they advertise a temperature it's the lowest temperature at which that bag will keep you alive so you want to make sure that you go with a bag that's going to keep you comfortable down to a certain temperature that you'll be sleeping in but through camping you're going to get acclimated to know what temperatures you're most comfortable in what ones you really don't care to be out in at all and you'll find out what works for you and then you'll probably have an idea of exactly what temperature rating you're looking for in a sleeping bag and finally once you have all of those items you only lack one more item to really make things mobile so you can take everything with you and that's a proper backpacking pack now the good thing for you is at this point you'll know every other item that you're going to be taking with you and how much it weighs how much space it will take up you can load up all of this stuff and go to your local outfitter and check out some of the packs make sure everything's going to fit well in it make sure it's going to feel comfortable with how heavy everything is in the pack and and the way that it will carry on you and then at that point you can decide okay is all of this gear that i'm trying to take in a pack gonna work out for me or do i need to make some upgrades or adjustments do i need to ditch some of the things that you know i thought that i might want to take with me but i don't actually need but you'll have experience with all of that stuff you'll know more about your preferences so that'll really give you a leg up when you're starting to pick out a pack so at this point you'll already have a lot more experience out in nature and you'll certainly have way more experience with your gear and more confidence in it than if you were to just start out with no experience buy everything throw it in the pack and then go out and just kind of throw yourself to the wolves so i hope that some of you who have been a little timid about actually getting out on trail yourselves have found this video helpful and maybe it'll help kind of get the ball rolling to get you out there i know that i probably seem like i really push folks to go out there and enjoy a backpacking experience themselves and i and i kind of do but backpacking has just helped me and my perspective so much in life that i want other people to experience that too you know it's helped me realize that maybe i spend energy on things that aren't so important instead of on the ones that i actually have control over it's helped me appreciate the modern conference that i have at home more it's helped me become more grounded and it's helped me be more in tune with nature because that's where we come from that's where our roots are and i think that it helps our mentality a lot to go back there because as i've said before it's a relatively new thing that we travel in cars and that we live in such large sturdy structures and so i think getting back to our roots just really helps us a lot mentally physically and and probably in every way possible anyway if y'all have any questions about this or if anybody else has some tips for how you can go from having no experience backpacking and kind of make that transition slowly into it feel free to leave that in the comments below thank you all so much for watching don't forget to subscribe before you go and we will see you all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 116,065

Rating: 4.9702663 out of 5

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Id: 5L6VJS4oyW8

Length: 20min 7sec (1207 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 09 2020