10 Essentials for a Safe and Pleasant Hike

If you’re just getting into hiking, everyone is going to recommend that you pack the 10 Essentials when you go for a hike. Then they list about 30 pieces of gear that you should bring with you, but they never actually tell you WHAT to buy. If you find this frustrating or confusing, or worse, you’re going for hikes without the 10 Essentials, I’ve pulled together a few sample gear lists for different hike durations  (up to 4 hours and more than 4 hours) that I hope you find helpful. These are suggestions based on my own brand/product experience, with an eye for low price and good cost/value performance.

My goal here is to help you understand EXACTLY what you need to buy, beg, borrow or steal, so we can get you outdoors and on the trail. I’m preparing to give a talk about the 10 Essentials at the AMC Spring Hiking Program based around thse recommendations, so if you have any feedback on these items or want to suggest others, please leave a comment.

The 10 Essentials

 

1. Map and Compass – You need to carry a map of the area where you’re hiking and learn how to find your  location on it based on the landmarks and trail junctions marked on it. It’s good to practice this, even if you’re just hiking in an urban park. Learning how to use a compass at a basic level soon follows. The first thing you’ll learn is how to find north which is quite easy and helps to orient your map so you can figure out where you are if you become turned around. That’s often all you need to know to find your way, but it’s nearly foolproof and doesn’t rely on batteries. GPS Receivers and Cell Phones are not part of the 10 essentials. You can bring them if you want, but nothing is more reliable than a map or compass.
   
2. Sun Protection – It’s always a good idea to carry a hat, lip balm, and some sunscreen to prevent sun burn when you’re out in the open. Sunglasses can also be very helpful, particularly in winter, to prevent snow blindness (which is temporary). If you’re very sensitive to sun, you should also consider wearing special sun-proof clothing.
   
3. Insulation – The amount extra clothing and insulation you bring on a hike really depends on whether you’re hiking near a city or in the backcountry, the average day and night temperature, and whether there’s a chance you might get stuck outdoors at night. For example, if you’re doing an all-day spring hike in the mountains, it probably makes sense to bring an insulated sit pad, an insulated jacket, sweater, hat and gloves along just in case you’re out after sunset.
   
4. Illumination – You should always carry a headlamp or a flashlight and some extra batteries. You want enough light that you can walk with after dark if you’ve been delayed, or that you can camp with if you decide to stop and wait until daylight.
   
5. First-Aid Supplies – When you go hiking, it’s important to bring a few first aid supplies along for yourself or for the other people you’re hiking with. The eastiest thing to do is to buy a small personal first aid kit from Adventure Medical for about $17. You can also assemble your own for much less.
   
6. Fire – If you unexpectedly have to spend a night out because you misjudged the distance you needed to hike, you got lost, hurt, or someone in your group is hurt, you want to have the option to make a fire. This means you should practice making a fire and have the means to reliably light one if necessary. The most reliable way I’ve found to make a fire is to use a fire steel, which is a flint-like device that throws lots of sparks, and a fire-starter like dryer lint or cotton balls that have been covered with vaseline. You can also carry matches for convenience, but these can get damp. Don’t waste your money on emergency matches that will burn 10 minutes under water; it’s just not necessary.
   
7. Multi-tool and Repair Kit – You don’t need a big knife when you go hiking. In fact, scissors are more of a necessity than a knife, so it’s best to bring along some kind of swiss army knife or leatherman-style multi-tool. That, a small roll of duct tape, and a few safety pins are all you really need to patch up broken or torn gear.
8. Nutrition – Hiking is exercise and you need to eat to keep your body going if you’re hiking for more than a few hours. It’s good to bring along healthy snacks with a good balance of carbohydrate, protein and fat or a sandwich if you plan on hiking all day.
   
9. Hydration – When you go hiking it’s important to bring water with you and to drink it liberally. I usually drink a quart of water before I go hiking and then drink 1 quart after every two hours. You’ll feel better if you stay hydrated, particularly if it’s very hot or very cold, the water will help you digest snacks or meals, and eliminate waste. If you go for an all day hike, it’s often good to carry a water filter or Chlorine Dioxide tablets so you can purify water from a lake or stream when you run out. I rarely carry more than 3 quarts on a hike (6 pounds of water,) and just resupply from natural sources as needed.
   
10. Emergency Shelter – It’s useful to carry an emergency shelter like an emergency blanket, emergency bivy, or regular bivy/sleeping bag cover if you get cold and wet or need to camp out unexpectedly. If this happens, it’s also important that you avoid lying directly on cold ground all night because it will literally suck the heat out of your body. It’s best to bring a foam torso length sleeping pad or sit pad that you can lie on top of to remain warm. The pad doesn’t have to be full length, just long enough to fit from your hips to your collarbone.

Other Suggested Essentials

Here are a few other items that are very useful to have when you go hiking.

• Toilet paper and a trowel to dig a cat hole so you can bury your waste
• Gloves or glove liners to keep your hands warm
• Rain jacket and pants. Great if it gets windy and they provide additional insulation.
• A piece of paper with that has your emergency contact info and a list of daily medications that you need to take
• Doggie bags, so you can pack out dog poop if hiking with your dog

Clothing Advice

Don’t wear any cotton clothing or clothing that is partially made out of cotton, bamboo, rayon, tencel, or modal because it is very slow to dry if it becomes wet and insulates poorly. Always wear synthetic or wool clothing because it’s far safer.

Choosing the Right Day Pack

You need to carry the 10 essentials in something, so you’re going to want some kind of day pack. I recommend something between 25 and 40 liters in size, depending on the length of your hiking trips. If they’re in an urban area like a park or under 4 hours in duration, you can probably get by with a smaller pack. If your hikes are longer than 4 hours in length, or you’re hiking in more rugged terrain, you’ll probably want a larger day pack so you can carry more food, water, and insulation.
Personally, I like daypacks that have a lot of external stretchy pockets and a minimally organized internal storage compartment. I put everything I will need during the day on the outside of the pack – water bottles, a wind breaker or rain coat, hat, snacks, and my map in the outer pockets, and store everything else I might need inside the pack.
Packing like this makes it very easy to quickly find things if you’re hiking with a group, especially if they have short rest stops and you’re always falling behind because it takes you so long to pack when the rest stop is over.

Travel Gadgets that Will Change Your Life

I typically subscribe to the belief that technology just makes most things better. Good technology, that is. I’ve road tested a lot of fad gadgets that have broken that second I got them, and I have had others that have traveled to six continents, no problem. Here are the nine devices that every traveler should have in their arsenal.

1. A Speaker the Size of Your Thumb: Most travel speakers are so unwieldy that we just conveniently leave them at home and then lament not being able to listen to Billy Ocean while we lounge by the pool. You’ll never complain about this little guy taking up too much space. Put it on your keychain and get up to six hours of playback with easy USB charging.

2. An In-Flight Entertainment Hack: I’m still surprised by the number of planes that haven’t moved into the 21st century when it comes to in-flight entertainment. Quit your whining. This device mounts your tablet/e-reader/smart phone on the back of the seat in front of you for easy viewing and reading.

3. An iPhone Telephoto Lens: These days, most of us use our phones as our primary camera—often to our detriment. This handy lens puts your iPhone on steroids to provide sharper photo and video resolution. It is no substitute for the real thing, but it isn’t a bad hack if you don’t want to bring your pricey camera on a jaunt.

4. The Perfect Travel Adaptor: It may not be sexy, but this little bugger will save you both space and frustration. If you’re like me, you have a box somewhere in your house filled with unlabeled travel adaptors from about a dozen different countries. Now you can throw them away and put other things in that box (like orphaned power cords). This lightweight gadget is pretty much the only adaptor you will ever need—unless you are going to the moon.

5. A Solar Backpack: Sure, this bag is handy for backpacking, but it is also great for bumming around a city. Having a power source on your back means you don’t need to scout for a coffee shop every time one of your devices conks out. Besides charging all your stuff, it has 1,500 cubic inches of storage space, a padded laptop sleeve, and an integrated phone pouch.

6. Jawbone Wristband: Keep track of how healthy you are on the road with this fitness band that tracks your activity level, nutrition, and sleep to help you make smarter choices while you are on the go.

7. Electronics Hammock: I am an outlet stalker. I will plug in anytime, anywhere, whether it is on the floor of the airport or a dirty bathroom in Cusco. My number-one concern isn’t that my device will be stolen (I stay close by), but that it will be stepped on. This adorable little German hammock the Load-Ding, will cuddle your phone and keep it safe.

8. Sterilizer Pen: In some countries it would behoove you to be wary of even the bottled water. In just seconds the UV light in this pen creates safe drinking water whenever you’re a little iffy about the H2O in a new country.

9. Door-Stop Alarm:How often have you looked at the flimsy lock on a motel/hostel/guest house door and thought, “I am going to be killed in my sleep”? This door wedge alarm will wake you up before an intruder can actually open your door—and odds are it will probably scare them off, too.

Using your credit and debit cards safely when traveling abroad

An important part of your vacation planning process should include consideration of how you will handle money and expenditures on your trip. In most cases, a credit card is the best option when you travel, especially in a foreign country.
Listed below are guidelines and important steps you can take to prepare for your trip abroad.  The list highlights specific information regarding the use of debit cards, credit cards, and currency.

• Notify your bank of your travel plans.  Before you leave, notify your bank, credit card company, or other financial institution that you are traveling abroad and provide them with the specific dates and locations/areas for your travels, as often an unusual change in charging habits or location may result in the fraud department placing restrictions on your account.  To contact your credit card company, call the telephone number listed on the back of your card.
• Consider limiting the cash you carry.  Verify and understand the exchange rate before you travel.  Avoid carrying cash and consider alternate forms of payment such as credit cards.  If you choose to carry cash, carry only enough for one day’s safety net in the event that you run into problems with your credit card.
• Select appropriate debit and credit cards for your destination.  Worldwide, Visa® and MasterCard® are the most widely accepted cards.  Carry only the cards you will need with you on your trip and leave the others in a safe place at home.  Generally one ATM/debit card for access to cash if needed and one or two credit cards are recommended.
• Confirm your card limits and expiration dates.  Check the expiration dates on your card(s) to make sure they will be useable for the entire trip length.  Most cards have daily purchase and cash advance limits.  You may wish to confirm these with your bank or card company prior to your departure.  Generally these limits can be temporarily adjusted to suit your travel needs.
• Find out what fees to expect.  When you contact your bank or card issuer, ask about their foreign currency exchange or foreign transaction fee(s).  Fees generally range from 1%-2%.
• Confirm contact information for your card issuer.  Typically the customer service 800 numbers printed on the back of your card are not good abroad.  Thus, when you contact your bank or card issuer, ask for the appropriate telephone number for the region you are traveling to.
• Backup your critical information.  You will want to have a list of your card(s) information and telephone numbers for card issuers in the event they are lost or stolen.  Additionally, you should photocopy your passport and airline tickets and keep these in the same place in case those are lost or stolen along with your cards.  Keep this separate from your wallet and cards; if you have any secure information on it, you should keep it in a hotel safe or a secure area on the internet that you can safely access.  It is also a good idea to leave copies of the front and back of each card, and any other important documents you are carrying, with a trusted friend or close relative back home.
• Confirm acceptance of your card prior to your purchase.  The presence of a card logo on a door, window, or cash register is not a guarantee of acceptance, so it is important to ask prior to committing to the service or meal lest you will be seeking other payment methods.
• Keep all your receipts.  This is a good rule of thumb for all card expenditures, but particularly for those made abroad.  If a charge appears later that is inaccurate, you will have the proof available for your dispute.  Keep them for several months in the event charges are delayed, which is not unusual with foreign transactions.
• Treat your plastic as if it was cash.  Don't leave it unattended in your luggage or hotel room; store it in your wallet or money belt, and keep these out of view of others while traveling.  Beware of pickpocket scams, a common scenario is someone bumping into you and another distracting you while the pickpocket lifts your wallet or grabs a purse.
• Beware of duplicate charges.  This may most often occur when you have used a card to hold a reservation for lodging or car rental, and then you pay the bill in cash instead.  As stated above, keep all your receipts whether it is cash or credit to ensure you have proof of payment in the event of this sort of error.

A few preventative measures will help keep the loss or theft of your wallet a minor annoyance instead of a vacation-halting affair, making your trip a more relaxing and safer adventure.

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