Top 5 Backpacking Tips I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me

I've made a lot of mistakes in life luckily for me most of them have to do with backpacking and I wanted to present a video to you about learning from high experiences here so I have assembled my top 5 tips that I wish somebody would have told me when I first got started backpacking before we get into the video I would like to ask a quick favor please like the video and subscribe to our Channel we have a broad spectrum of videos out there that are really educational that can help you if you are a beginner or all the way up to advanced expedition connoisseurs of adventure so we have a lot of videos that can help you get out there be inspired and to do it better and have more fun doing it there's a lot that goes into a backpacking experience and you got to start somewhere and you're bound to make a few mistakes but I hope that you might have an opportunity to learn from my mistakes so I wanted to assemble my tips that I would recommend for other people because I wish somebody would have told me these things so first when I just got started backpacking I had stars in my eyes about all of the adventures that I would be on and I thought the world is my oyster I want to get the biggest ding backpack on the market because I want to go climb Denali or do something crazy like that but what that ended up meaning was that I had this ginormous satchel that was way too big that was impossible to fill that didn't fit me very well and if I did fill it it meant that I was carrying way too much stuff so don't be too aggressive on the size of backpack that you get most people buy too big too soon so I recommend that people are purchasing for their initial backpack roughly a 50 to 65 liter backpack I don't really think that you need to go much bigger than that however if you are say a photographer or somebody's going to be carrying some non backpacking items then that might be the only excuse to get too much bigger than that but for most people 50 to 65 liter packs are just right second one of the things that most people fear is sleeping in the wilderness everybody loves their comfy cushiony featherbed or whatever you've got at home and are scared to leave those comforts but I have good news for you good sleep is actually possible when I first got starting and actually not even just when I first got started but for the first like ten years of my backpacking career I was more on the minimalist train and I just slept on a Z light a foam mattress a really minimalistic thin lightweight foam thing that for all of its merits left me sleeping very poorly for almost all of my camp experiences I just assumed that camping meant being cold at night that it meant praying for sunrise because I was desperate for that warmth of the sunshine that I had to toss and turn every twenty minutes because my arm was falling asleep my hips were falling asleep my legs were falling asleep but I wasn't falling asleep so good sleep is actually possible in the wilderness it just takes a little bit of dialing it in and don't skimp on getting the cheap stuff I think if you're gonna spend money on anything in backpacking let it be what lets you sleep well my third thing that I wish somebody would have told me is that you don't have to be deathly afraid of pooping in the wilderness so most of these things have to do with not being afraid of what camping and backpacking actually is and all of the glorious things that come with it so for a long time mostly as a kid I was actually pretty scared of having to go number two in the woods and mostly that was just because I didn't know how to do it I didn't know technique I didn't know how to take care of myself so I just dehydrated myself and I tried to do desperate things so that I could hold in my poo until I got home but that doesn't have to be the case for you it can actually be a glorious liberating experience so I do recommend that you take some time to watch our video all about pooping in the woods it can be very helpful it can be very illuminating and take away that fear factor so that the things that kind of intimidate you of camping and backpacking don't have to apply you can actually enjoy your experience out there my early approach to backpacking and camping had to do with this kind of like I'm just gonna grit through this experience and that discomfort of everything is part of the glory of backpacking and while an element of that I feel like is true your camp experience doesn't have to suck and the same goes with food so my fourth item here on what I wish somebody would have told me is that I can actually enjoy my food that I eat in the wilderness you don't have to feel like you're always eating sawdust not every meal has to be a crappy dehydrated meal there are really good options out there for cooking well for eating well for staying really just excited about all of the things that you're eating so I have some videos about food preparation that I think can be really helpful so if you're just getting started with backpacking you can actually enjoy the culinary experience of the wilderness last on my item list of things I wish somebody would have told me are really kind of a essential for backpacking is don't wear cotton I used to always be cold I used to sweat in my sack ceased to sweat in my base layers and then I would be cold and wet all the time I didn't know and most of it had to do with some budget I was a kid and I didn't buy the the synthetics the quick drying clothing and those things actually go a really long way to making sure that you are comfortable in the backcountry and also it's a safety piece and it helps you stay warm and dry in ever-changing conditions and in weather that might be coming in so if you are wearing cotton that's just kind of a no-no don't wear your favorite hoodie even though it's so comfortable it takes up so much space in your backpack cotton socks the kind of socks that you probably have grown up wearing those are really actually not helpful they're not very good to have in your hiking boots doesn't allow your feet to dry out a trap sweat it holds that moisture against your skin and it's not good for you and it keeps you cold and uncomfortable so if you get the right gear you can really enjoy your experiences here I have learned a lot in my backpacking experience I'm always evolving but these were kind of some of the early mistakes that I was making early on and I wish somebody would have told me about that so I hope that you found this helpful you don't have to learn from your own mistakes you can learn from mine thanks so much for watching I hope you liked this video if you did please like and subscribe and if you've got any tales of woe or misadventures that you've had mistakes that you've made please let me know I'd love to hear about it I could use a good chuckle and I think we can all learn from other people's mistakes out there thanks so much for watching I'm Eric Hansen I'll see you on the trail

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Keywords: BackpackingTV, hiking, backpacking, camping, hiking tips, camping tips, backpacking tips, camping hacks, tent camping, hike, tips, adventure, Epic Trails, Eric Hanson, hiking mistakes, hiking for beginners, beginner hiking tips, beginner backpacking tips, tips for backpacking, camping mistakes, hiking tips and tricks, hiking hacks, backpacking hacks, tutorial, how to, hiking video, backpacking video, camping video, hiking advice, camping advice, tips for camping

Id: uIjNa7z42Jo

Length: 7min 19sec (439 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 19 2020