PLANNING A SUCCESSFUL BACKPACKING TRIP IN 5 STEPS
You’re itching to get into the backcountry. Whether you want to backpack for a night or a week, this article will set you on the right path.
I’m planning to do the Art Loeb Trail here in Western North Carolina”s Pisgah National Forest. As I begin planning this trip I thought I’d share my process and the 5 tips you could use to plan your next trip.
1. Narrowing your trip choices: What are the key parameters of your trip? Should this be a car camping trip? How much time will you need to complete your trip? What specific trails, landmarks, or campsites do you want to visit? How many miles or how much vertical distance do you intend to cover? What time of year will you be going and what will the weather be like? If you’re hiking a point-to-point trail, you’ll have other considerations to make. Will you need to shuttle two cars or reserve a shuttle service? Guidebooks and websites are great resources to get a lot of this info. Will you need permits and passes? Once you’ve finalized your trip, remember to share your trip itinerary with your partner, family, and friends.
2. Selecting the right gear. Now that you have chosen the type, route, time needed, and time of year, you will need to start selecting gear based on all of this. This can be time-consuming, and certainly the most expensive, and unfortunately also the most frustrating part of planning a backpacking trip. It’s very easy to go down the rabbit hole here. A good backpacking checklist and run-down of gear is a great place to start. The time of year you choose will be the major influencing factor here. I recommend looking into sun exposure and hours of daylight, walking surfaces, plant life, wildlife (will you need a bear container) and insects, water availability, remoteness, and potential natural hazards like avalanches and lingering snowfields, river fords, possible flash floods or tides, or lightning.
3. Food and Water. A lot of us will “pack for our fears.” If we fear being cold at night, we bring a sleeping bag that’s excessively warm. If we fear bears, we sleep in a full-sided tent (yeah, that will keep them out LOL). And if we fear being hungry, we pack too much food.
Plan to consume 2,250 to 2,750 calories per day. (I generally assume an average caloric density of 125 calories per ounce, which means about 18 to 22 ounces daily.) If you’re older (like me), female, petite, or on a low-intensity trip, go with the low end of this range. If the opposites are true, go with the high end. Variety is the spice of life, so mix things up! Pack foods with varying tastes (spicy, sweet, salty, sour) and textures (chewy, crunchy). At the beginning of your trip, treat yourself to real food, like a PB and J sandwich, an avocado, or an apple. My personal choice for breakfast is oatmeal with fruit. Lunch is always a combination of snack-type foods like nuts, bread, or power bars. Dinners are store-bought dehydrated meals (to save on weight and time. I’ve also taken ramen noodles or soups in the Fall (which also saves on money). What you eat will determine how much stove fuel you need to bring. Will you drink coffee every morning? I do. If you eat like me, you will only be firing up the stove in the morning and evening. Practice at home so you learn how much fuel you use and you can then estimate how much you need to bring.
If you know how many water crossings or water sources you’ll have and the distance between them you will know how many and what size water containers you will need. No matter the trip, I take two 32oz bottles and a 2.5-liter reservoir. I fill up (or top off) each and every time I have the chance to. Yep, running out of water is the fear I pack for!
4. Fitness and Skills. There’s no better way to improve your hiking fitness than by hiking, and there’s no better way to develop backpacking skills than by backpacking. But who has the time and ability to do that? Not me, and likely not you. Do what you can. I start a month before my trip first walking as many miles as I have time to. Increasing that distance till I reach the average distance I’ll need to hike each day. Next, I add my pack (15ibs to start) to the hike, starting out slow till I reach the average distance I will hike each day with an average of 25ibs in my pack (hike with full water bottles). If your trip is to the mountains, be sure to add climbing and descending to your exercise routine. If you are a flat lander (like I was), go to a local stadium and do the stairs.
5. Final preparation. In the days before your trip, using your checklist, pack up all your gear, including your maps, resources, and permits. Any necessary perishable foods, like cheese, butter, and bread you may want to get within hours of leaving for the trailhead. Look at a five-day weather forecast, and adjust your gear accordingly. Finally, review your trip-planner documentation, and remember to leave a copy of your itinerary with your emergency contacts.
