The Ultimate Backpacking Tips for Beginners
The Ultimate Backpacking Tips for Beginners
Backpacking Tips for Beginners: If you love to travel and love the outdoors, then backpacking may be perfect for you.
When you backpack, you can see areas of the world that those confined to cars or buses can never venture into.
The best views from the top of the world’s most famous mountain ranges and the most secluded spots in forests around the globe must be reached on foot.
In addition to providing access to areas of the world otherwise inaccessible to you, backpacking provides powerful health benefits.
You will burn calories, build muscle and improve cardiovascular health by travelling in this way.
If you regularly take backpacking trips, you can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke, and you may find that you lose weight as well.
Another positive about backpacking and hiking is the benefit towards mental health and what the outdoors can bring you.
Things You Need to Know About Backpacking
Backpacking requires a significant amount of energy, so be prepared with high-energy foods.
In this sport, you can burn between 4,000 and 9,000 calories per day, depending on how rigorous the trail is and how heavy your pack is.
Consider foods that are packed with energy, yet do not take up much room in your pack, such as nut-based bars and dried fruits.
Packing your backpack carefully will be the key to enjoying your trip.
Keep important items, like your bottle of water and snacks, easily accessible.
Also, stay comfortable by distributing the weight evenly on both sides of the pack.
Be sure to have the correct sleeping bag for the conditions you are going to be pitching up in.
Finally, invest in quality gear when backpacking.
Sure, it can be expensive, but you need it to last.
Your tent, backpack and cooking gear need to withstand all that you throw at them on the trail.
A Few Safety Backpacking Tips
While backpacking can be a very healthful activity, it is not without its risks.
Before backpacking, be sure you have taken your safety into consideration.
1. Make sure you are properly insured.
Travel insurance is vital when you are backpacking away from home, especially if you travel internationally.
Your own personal health insurance may not cover accidents or injuries that occur in a foreign country, which could easily happen while backpacking.
2. Plan your travel carefully.
Map out the places you plan to visit, planning for food and lodging, or camping along the way.
With a careful plan before you leave, you will minimise your chances of getting lost.
As you plan your trip, take into consideration the difficulty of the trail, and make sure you are ready to tackle it.
3. Make sure someone knows where you are going.
If possible, make plans to travel with someone else.
This will give you added protection against getting lost, and will also give search and rescue teams the information they need for a timely rescue should you end up lost.
If you do get lost, stop and try to gather a sense of where you are.
If you can determine where the trail is, proceed again, but if you are truly lost, stay where you are and set up signals to show emergency teams where you are.
4. Learn the weather of the region before you go, and plan accordingly.
Rain, fog and freezing night time temperatures are all risks you need to know about before you leave.
You can bring the right gear to combat these risks, but only if you know them ahead of time.
5. Pack supplies to treat the water.
Your body may not be accustomed to water in a foreign area, and water flowing freely in nature, no matter where it is, can be full of dangerous bacteria and parasites, such as giardia lamblia, that can make you very ill.
Plan to filter, boil or chemically treat the water before you drink it, and bring the supplies that allow you to do so.
No matter how excited you are about your upcoming backpacking trip, keep safety as your number one priority as you plan.
By doing so, you can not only enjoy all of the benefits of this rigorous activity, but you can also be more certain that you will return home safely when you are finished.
Do you have any tips you could add?
Share them in the comments section below!
