The FIRST things you need for camping & backpacking

dude i've seen views but i've never like wow holy cow wow you guys see this welcome back to the channel dan becker here we're talking about 10 things the first 10 things that you need for backpacking and the very first thing that you need for backpacking is not a backpack i know what you're thinking you're thinking dan what's the first thing you need is a backpacker uh we will get to that i will tell you the very first thing but this is gonna be totally out of order and since we're hiking to camp there's gonna be some stuff that i'm going to use on the way to camp that will also be along this whole list so i'll tell you the first thing when we get to camp so stick around for that because it might not be what you expect [Music] all right here it is the moment you're all have been waiting for what is it what is the first thing that you should be uh putting together on your list of ten items as you're preparing for your first backpacking trip uh is gonna be a shelter you're to want to buy or get that shelter prepared first and the reason for that is because once you get that shelter prepared then you can actually secondly figure out your sleep system because now you know what's going to fit inside of your shelter and then the third thing you're going to buy or get or prepare is going to be your backpack and you're going to do it in that order because then it will fit appropriately inside of your backpack so you never want to buy your backpack first for any type of a back country trip but shelter obviously appropriate there's lots of different shelters you've got tents you got bivvies you got hammocks all kinds of stuff but an appropriate shelter now i will say this though if you are planning on uh just sort of car camping or camping in your backyard you're gonna go out and get a cheap tent fine but anything beyond that where you can't retreat to something for safety go out and get yourself a decent tent something that has good ratings good quality good resistance to weather because you do not want to be out in a place like this in a storm and all of a sudden your cheap tent that really is no good for anything other than like your backyard rips to shreds and you're stuck in a storm uh anyway so that's the first thing not to scare you but that's the you know first thing all right next are you sleeping in the back country you're just gonna hang out in the backcountry if you're backpacking chances are you're probably like going out to like i don't know set up camp and sleep so you're obviously gonna obviously obviously you're gonna need some sort of a sleep system grab a sleeping bag and a sleeping pad but the thing is you want to make sure that they are properly rated for whatever you're doing that's so important don't just grab any old sleeping bag and think you're going to be warm so rule of thumb for me is whatever the temperature is going to be outside let's say it's going to be the low is i don't know 40 degrees fahrenheit i'm going to bring a sleeping bag that's at least rated 10 degrees below that so i don't have to think about i have to worry about if i'm going to be cold in that if the temperature drops even colder and also a sleeping pad you want some sort of a sleeping pad and sleeping pads actually have ratings themselves they're rated by what's called r value so the higher the r value the warmer the sleeping pad so hopefully that helps you guys out in your choosing of your sleep system because that's definitely one of the 10 things you're going to need for your first backpacking trip all right now you can finally buy which is obviously going to be on this list and if you didn't know it was on this list then you don't understand backpacking your backpack this is another area i would never chance out on i would never tell you to buy some cheap backpack maybe if it's your first backpacking trip and you're just sort of walking in you know a little bit to sort of test out even if you like the whole thing or maybe you borrowed something if you're committed look at getting a backpack that is going to be comfortable on you and can carry the amount of weight that you want to carry and also have the amount of capacity for whatever you're going to put inside of it but now you already know your sleep system and your shelter everything else is most likely going to be able to fit inside of that backpack okay let's just talk navigation for a second because this is the next one so another thing that you absolutely need if you're your first 10 things for backpacking you're trying to pick those out is learning how to navigate and there's no reason to like freak out about it at all i'll just be super honest with you i'll probably get some hate in the comments for this but that's fine i can count on literally like one finger how many people i've seen in the last several years that i've been out doing this navigating with a paper map and compass it's just something we don't see anymore people are using gps devices not only that but they're faster they're easier they're much more accurate and it's much quicker and even more reliable so as long as you've got a reliable device and most of our devices are pretty reliable and as long as you've got it charged up and maybe a backup maybe like this i've got a gps device here that can also tell me where i'm at and i've got a gps device on my phone you're going to be fine but we always do bring a paper map just in case so yes for all of you paper map people out there we do have one and i'm gonna tell you the navigation app that i use is called onyx backcountry and it is so easy to use it's by far my favorite app to use i actually have a coupon code there that they gave me uh for 20 off for an annual premium membership and you don't want their regular membership you want their premium membership links in the description below it's like 20 or 25 for the year like even if you're going one time that's like your meal when you get done backpacking so have something reliable like onyx so what i love about onyx backcountry is you can see every trail that's around you it's literally like a roadmap so we were going to take this out here this outer loop but we found out that it's actually closed so we were able to just get on onyx right here and now we can go down this route right here and you can see uh the different colors is going to tell you if there's any type of elevation there so you know what you're getting yourself into and if you really want to get precise all you do is hit this button down here and it turns that red mark on and i know that i've got to go back this direction where we came because it tracked me on that blue line to get back to that trail all right we just stopped for a break lunch and i thought you'd probably maybe do you want to know what i brought for lunch oh he's back he's back folks smart man is this one of the top 10 things [Laughter] he's fried burned this is what that wisconsin weather will do mr krabs when you come down to texas i had like three people up on that hike telling me to put on sunscreen [Laughter] [Music] nice well you left uh bears got into your bag oh really sweet i hope that's not a problem i hope they enjoyed it by the way wondering who this guy is in my videos that's steven smith go check them out on youtube yeah my life outdoors okay i got these uh my garbage bag always bring a garbage bag several ziploc bags that's what i do i got these uh starkist creations the buffalo style chicken these are awesome i just put that right on a tortilla shell ate it right up it was good those are also good if you can get like uh string cheese i don't have any string cheese throw that on there too that was super good uh also peanut butter on a tortilla shell is really good super good and then oh for dinner tonight we're like a late night snack i'm gonna get railed for this spam this spam i'm not even joking this is probably two years old and it's still got another two years on the oh yeah can you see the expiration date anyway if you want to know what i ate for lunch even if you didn't now you know hey spam fried up in a little uh pan that sounds good spam in your pam next on the list is some way to cook your food some sort of a cook system there's lots of cook systems out there the one i just happen to have with me is a little stove that goes on top of a fuel canister just like this and it's able to boil water in a pot like this there's lots of different ways to cook your food out there in the backcountry from alcohol stoves to canister stoves and some people actually just don't even cook their food they just rehydrate food and eat it which is actually pretty nasty i don't recommend it and if you're doing that you should reconsider how you eat your food but a cook kit absolutely essential for the backcountry and then i um also with having a good cook kit i like to have really good food this is from pinnacle foods by the way this is their brand new italian sausage and zesty tomato sauce with feral pasta and parmesan i actually read it on the back too you're like wow he memorized that nope this is the first time i've tried it so let's see how it tastes you're that is legit dude that's seriously good what did i tell you yeah look at can you see that hmm i don't think i put enough water in it the sausage is a little crusty but i just needed a little more water but dude this is so good next on 10 things that you need first before you go backpacking is a good light i prefer a headlamp some people prefer flashlights which i bring both because i'm a big nerd but um these are uh both reliable lights and i like ones with red lights on them and a red light is something that will allow you to see with night vision after you turn it off so if you don't know what that does then you can just go ahead and google it also i did make a video on my favorite headlamps which i will list in the description below that you can check that out but a good light is something you're definitely going to need all right next on the list is some sort of a knife or a multi tool i know what you're thinking is he planning on carving this cactus no we just thought it was a very cinematic shot it would make the video look better but what i brought for a knife and a multi-tool and the reason i brought a multi-tool is because we actually film while we're out and so sometimes we need cameras to be tightened down to tripods and things like that so i brought this a small little multi-tool here really tiny little multi-tool very useful but it's got a knife scissors all kinds of stuff and also a pair of pliers like this is helpful in the back country because if you do get like a knot tied into something it makes it much easier to kind of get that knot out but some sort of a knife some sort of a multi-tool is a must in the back country all right next on the list is hopefully obvious like it's probably one of the first things you thought of it's a good medical kit i just happen to have this one with me on this trip and it's got everything that i need for just a few days backpacking nothing nothing so extraordinary that i don't know how to use it so um two things one don't go just grab a ziploc bag and throw a couple band-aids in it because you might need more than that if something does go south to the point where you might have to wrap up a bigger injury and don't bring more than you know how to use so for instance if your medical kit has a trauma kit or some sort of bigger items in it that you've never had any training on that's kind of a waste because you don't know how to use it you're actually just carrying weight out there that you don't need because you don't know how to use it so bring the appropriate medical kit for your trip out there ahead of time make sure it's in your backpack definitely one of the 10 things you're gonna need first for your backpacking trip all right next on the list is footwear i cannot stress how actually important this is because this will actually make or break your hike make sure that you've got some sort of a good footwear whether it's a shoe or a boot but most importantly don't go out and buy a brand new pair of shoes or boots and think that you're going to be able to somehow hike and be okay they've got to be broken in so my suggestion to you would be just get a good pair of shoes that you got lying around your house or a good pair of boots that you already know are comfortable the only prerequisite is make sure that it's got good tread all right next on the list is water carrier some way to transport water wherever you're going we're in the desert right now there is no water and so we've had to bring in a ton of water recommended is about a gallon a day and in this situation what i've got is i've got a water filter this will filter uh just general water purposes here in the u.s but if you're trying to traveling internationally you're gonna want some a little bit uh better than this i can you know filter viruses and then also i've got just water bottles to fill up to so this is my dirty water i scoop up with this and then i filter water into this here and then i've got clean water now if this ends up failing for any reason then i've got these here these are just called potable aqua or potable aqua tablets these are germicidal tablets you just put them in water wait a few minutes and then it actually will purify the water now it doesn't purify or take out any of the sediment but it does make the water at least safe to drink so obviously you're gonna need some way to filter water so don't think you got to like bring water always for the entire trip wherever you're going if you're in the mountains somewhere there's a lot of water you may only need just this okay so apparently the south rim which i'm about to go check out is epic oh my gosh holy cow oh man wow oh my god dude i've seen views but i've never like wow you guys see this [Music] [Music] [Music] big bend national park you did not disappoint oh and uh we made it back to the vehicle and technically there's an eleventh item now that i think about it that you need for backpacking have water back at your vehicle so happy to see this all right you guys hopefully that was helpful if it was make sure you uh subscribe uh click the like button all those things and we'll see you guys on the next one huge shout out to onyx backcountry for sending us to big bend national park you guys are amazing oh my gosh it's hot that's hot that's hot

Channel: Dan Becker

Views: 117,013

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Id: sIn1MHDdLoc

Length: 15min 43sec (943 seconds)

Published: Wed May 11 2022