Overnights Backpacking / hiking.
Our first backpacking
trip was almost a bust. What saved us was our tolerance to certain discomforts and good preparation. We rented stove, tent and backpacks from REI and set out with a fair idea how to backpack with the stuff. It was a hot, hot summer afternoon with too many bugs. The packs were heavy and maladjusted. Swarming insects were so prevalent at our campsite we had to crawl into our tent by 6 p.m. It was a long, boring evening and a sleepless night punctuated with those awful where-am-I dreams. But the morning was cool and pleasant and the hike back, over golden meadows, was quite nice. We took pride in being able to carry all the camping gear upon our backs and making everything work. It felt like an accomplishment and despite the drawbacks we looked forward to a greater challenge.
This is the great transition.
Great because you must carry what you need for a night outdoors, and it’s quite considerable compared to dayhiking. Many hikers opt to remain dayhikers, and that’s OK. I dayhiked for years before I tried backpacking. I saw those huge packs on backpackers and thought I’d never, ever do that. How could that be any fun? Packing for short overnight trips is very similar to longer trips.After all, you’ll need to bring tent, sleeping bag and pad, cooking gear, toilet kit, emergency essentials, food and clothing.The only difference is that you’re carrying less food and clothing. It’s still a big, heavy pack.
Getting used to it
Your first overnight should be light on distance. Hike in, say, two–four miles. Just enough to get acquainted with carrying 30–40 pounds. It takes getting used to! And problems might happen. First of all, this is the first true test of the adjustment of your pack.Who knows, it may not be fitted quite right. After two miles the straps might be dissecting your shoulders. Or a strap could pop. Or it just feels like hell and you don’t know why.
Even if the pack feels good (as it should!), your steps will be heavier. So this is also the first true test of your footwear. Shoes or boots may feel fine without a load, but may not support your feet properly with a full backpack.Your feet may flatten and swell with the load over time and start to burst the seams or even hit the end of your boots. It happens and it’s miserable! If pack and boots are OK, you’ll only have to deal with the new physical effort of carrying a substantial load upon hips, back and shoulders — the pack driving into hip bones, the itch under shoulder straps and your back crying Free Me! Stepping up rocky grades is like doing weighted squats with one leg. Losing your footing is a serious strain on ankles. Falling with a sack on your back is ... well, you get the picture. Don’t get me wrong.A pack can be worn safely and comfortably for miles and miles, but it takes a while to grow accustomed to it.
Time to make camp
Besides learning to hike with a full pack, you’ll need daylight as well as reserves of patience and energy to make camp for the first time.Although you’ve practiced putting up the tent and lighting the stove at home, how will it go when you really need your gear to cooperate? You’re actually going to sleep in the tent this time and cook over that fussy stove.Then there’s clean-up, digging your first latrine, fumbling in the dark, dealing with bugs, preparing your sleeping pad and bag and so on. Making camp is one chore after another until you zip up and close your eyes. Your first backpacking trips should be trial runs.You’re testing and breaking in equipment as well as yourself. There are a lot of parts and procedures involved in backpacking.
Nothing very complicated or difficult, really — it just seems that way at first. It gets tricky only if you haven’t planned and packed properly, or if you try to bite off too much at once. Keep the distance short enough to safely endure (survive) the mishaps if they happen. If something really does go wrong, you’re only a few miles from car and civilization.
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