41 Hiking Tips for Beginners
Last Updated on August 23, 2020
As human beings, we all just need some recreation in our life to delight our souls and mind. Besides, we also need to be healthy as well to become happy in life. And a single activity like hiking, which is not only healthy but also very enjoyable and adventurous can lead us to a happy life. Besides, it has an educative value also.
The hiking is not just walking away for a long distance. Moreover, it is an adventurous exploration with a team. When you are on hiking, it provides you an opportunity to know about new places, new people, etc.
Through this exploration, you have great exercise also. In hiking, when you climb on hills or mountains, it provides you a thrilling experience, which is also good for the body and mind.
From many reports, it is found, “Hiking is very useful for a human to lose weight, to control diabetes, to make both the bone and muscle strength, to low the risk of heart disease, to improve your balance so that you can adapt in any situation.” That’s how hiking makes your body sound and keeps your mood on. Because, there is a proverb, “A sound mind lives in a sound body.”
Now, before starting a hike, it requires a hiker to make some preparations and planning. A hiker needs to follow some tips as well.
Now, for beginners, who are thinking to go for a hike for the very first time, here we are providing 41 the most essential tips for them so that they can gather an excellent, thrilling, educative experience of their hiking.
The 41 Most Crucial Hiking Tips for the Beginners
Make a plan: Wherever you want to hike, at first you need to make a plan. Without any plan, it is impossible to start hiking. You have to do some research on hiking. As you are a beginner, you may check out different websites, talk to experienced hikers, and then decide “How and where to start?”.
Make a list: You have to make a list of your accessories according to the quantity indeed. In such a list, you need to write down all those things, which you have to carry out (food, medicine, water, and others). You have to pack your bag according to the list. If you don’t make such a checklist, then you may forget to take essential equipment.
Join a team: You can’t go hiking single because it is teamwork. In such a team some of the hikers must be experienced, who will provide you all the guidelines indeed. Without the guidelines, as a beginner, you can’t hike properly. These guidelines will help you next time. Besides, when you are in a team, you won’t be alone and afraid. So it is mandatory to join a team for hiking.
Include a friend: In the time of hiking, if you have a friend along with you, then you won’t feel any hesitation. If all the hikers in the team are unknown to each other, then it reduces the enjoyment of hiking for a beginner. So try to include a friend in your hiking team.
Borrow the gears instead of buying them: If you go to buy all the gears at a time, you have to bear a lot of expenses. Many of the items that you can borrow from your friends or other hikers are the bag, lighter, pole, first aid kit, and others. You can buy these items gradually next time.
Drink water from time to time: When you are in hiking, you have to drink water from time to time. Otherwise, if you don’t take water from time to time, it may cause dehydration, and ultimately you will be sick. In the time of hiking, a hiker should drink 2-3 liters of water per day. So, try to carry as much water as you can.
Carry a first aid kit: In hiking, it is essential to carry a first aid kit. It will provide you emergency service. Besides, you need to know about the basic first aid. When you are hiking on the hill or mountains, you may be injured. In that case, you won’t find any hospital over there. So you should carry a kit with your other accessories.
Check the weather: Before start hiking, you should check the weather condition. In rough weather, it is quite risky to start hiking. Always start hiking in good weather. Besides, you also need to know the weather of that place where you will go for a hike. In the lightning, don’t hike in the jungle. In the snowing, don’t hike on the hill or mountain.
Inform your close one: It is very important to inform your family members or other close relatives about your hiking. You won’t know your future. So if anything wrong happens over there, you can call for help so that they can take proper steps to rescue you.
Carry a map and compass: You have to carry the map and compass for the proper direction. In the time of hiking, you may lose direction and go on the wrong track. In that case, you need a map and a compass for proper direction. Now, if you are thinking to carry a GPS tracker, then it sounds good. Yes, you can bring it, but its battery life is temporary. Besides, there may have some erotic network issues to work on the GPS system properly. So it is better to carry a map and a compass to keep hiking on track.
Study the map: Study the map of the spot for more time. It will give you an absolute idea of the place so that if you detach from your team, you can easily join the team. Besides, you can hike on a safe route if you have a full idea of the map.
Food choice: You must carry some food. In your food choice, you need to choose some light meals or snacks if you are going for a one-day hiking trip. Such foods provide you instant energy. You should not carry heavy foods, cause such foods don’t provide immediate energy, and make sleepy and tired. If you are going on a long time hiking for 6/7 days, then you can carry some heavy foods.
Proper dress up: In hiking, you should wear appropriate clothing according to the weather condition of the hiking spot. If you are going on a hill or mountain, then you can’t go there just in a t-shirt. You have to wear jackets in that place. Besides, you have to give more priority to your shoes. You have to take proper boots. For betterment, you may carry another pair of shoes.
Choose a proper color for dress up: You should choose a color to wear which is easily noticeable from a long distance. In the snowing spot, you should not wear a white dress. In the jungle, you should not wear a green or black suit. You may wear a red or yellow or blue dress.
Carry a small towel: If you become wet, then you need a towel to be dry. So carry a small towel in your bag pack.
Avoid cotton: Never wear any cotton in hiking. Cotton absorbs too much water and takes a lot of time to dry. Besides, its temperature regulation process is very poor. For all these reasons, you should avoid cotton.
Keep dress dry: In hiking, you have to keep your dress dry. Most importantly, your socks and other inner wears have to be dry. If you wear a wet suit for a long time, it may cause hypothermia. You may carry another set of dress.
Minimize your weight: Try to reduce your weight as much as you can. Moreover, you may take a haircut and use the washroom before start hiking.
Minimize the weight of your bag: To minimize your weight, you should focus on your clothing. Don’t take more than one jacket. If you can wear it, then don’t put it in your bag. You may choose either an extra battery or a power bank. You don’t need a lighter and a matchbox both. That means, try to reduce the weight of your backpack to enjoy your hiking.
Take sun protection, hat, and sunglass: All these items are quite important for all hikers, to protect their screen and eyes.
Take a 10 minutes break in each hour: After hiking for one hour, it’s essential to take rest at least for 10 minutes. In this time, you may drink some water. You may sit somewhere and enjoy the beautiful sceneries of the spot. You may write down about your adventure and experience in your diary.
Keep an emergency food stock: Try to keep an emergency stock of food. It may happen with you that you go for hiking for a single day, but unfortunately, you have to stay for a few more days. In that case, this stock of food will provide you emergency service.
Use waterproof cover: You need to use a waterproof cover upon your bag so that your gears stay dry. If there rains, this cover will help you to keep gears dry.
Wear a dress in the layer: In hiking, if you dress in layers, then in many situations it’s much comfortable for you. Besides, it provides you warm. It keeps your innerwear dry. If you dress in layers, then you don’t need to carry more dresses. It reduces the weight of your bag.
Practice all the gears at home first: All the accessories which you will carry, you should know about those accessories and how to use them. Before starting hiking, you should have some basic knowledge about the tent set up, lighting up the stove, use of the compass, use of GPS, and others. You should practice using them before starting hiking. Otherwise, you may suffer a lot.
Carry a sleeping bag: For sound sleep in the night, you need to carry your own sleeping bag. It will prevent harmful insects from biting you. Besides, it will keep you warm also.
Carry rope, firebox, or lighter: When you need to tie anything, you need a rope. For tying the tent or moving on the hills, the rope is necessary. For lighting up your stove, carry a lighter or fire matchbox. For your camping in the jungle or hill, you need to fire up. That’s why you need to bring a fire matchbox or lighter.
Keep a whistle: In hiking, it is very important to use signals. A whistle makes more sound than a human voice. So for locating your position, you should tie a whistle on your neck.
Carry a flashlight and knife: In the night time, when you need to move somewhere, you will need a flashlight. For an emergency, you should carry a knife for self-defense but not to attack someone.
Use a pole: When you are hiking on the hill or mountain, then you should use a pole to walk comfortably. This walking pole will make your hiking comfortable. Besides, the pole is mandatory for them who has a knee problem.
Carry a water purifier pump: If your water bottles become empty, you have to drink water from natural water sources like rivers, fountains, and other streams. That’s why you should carry a mini water purifier pump so that you can drink pure water.
Carry extra battery or power bank: When you are going hiking for many days, then your mobile battery may be dead, and you need to charge your phone. So try to carry more batteries or power bank.
Arrange the fuel for lighting up: In the night you need to light up the fire. For this you need fuel. Try to collect the dry woods around the camp. You may carry some stove fuel as well with other gears except food.
For the first time hiking try to take a short trip: You are a beginner. So try to make your trip short for the first time. By this trip, you can test yourself and be ready for next time.
Carry a camera: When you are going on hiking, then you must enjoy the beauty of nature. You need to capture those scenes, which will be a great memory for your hiking. So carry a camera to capture the photos.
Carry a rain jacket: In the time of raining as you need a waterproof cover for your bag to keep your gears dry, so you need to carry a rain jacket or a raincoat to keep your wears dry.
Carry a dairy and pen: To make your hiking educative, you should carry a pen and dairy so that you can take note of what you see. You can write down about that spot, your experience, and everything that you want.
Be friendly to your teammates: As you know, hiking is one type of teamwork. Your approach should be friendly to your teammates. Respect them and don’t do anything that disturbs others. Always try to be calm instead of making noise. Enjoy the beauty of nature. Help each other in need.
Don’t leave any trace: Never leave any single trace of your used product. Destroy all the dust on the spot where you make or keep those dust in a side pocket of your bag. These traces not only hamper the nature but also make it easy for wild animals to smell your presence.
Put out the fire before leaving spot: In the night you put on a campfire for being secure from wild animals. It’s your duty to put out the fire before you leave the spot.
Do not feed the wildlife: Safety is your first and foremost priority. Please, don’t try to feed the wildlife in your own hands. It’s very dangerous. Remember one thing that wildlife always feed themselves in their own way. The wildlife may become aggressive with you when you go to feed them. So, in hiking observe them from a distance.
Final Words
All these tips are mandatory to follow for the first time hikers. As a beginner, you should follow these tips to make your hiking enjoyable, safe, and adventurous. Now, we hope this writing will provide all the information that you need to know.
By following these tips, you will be a pro level hiker for next time. We also hope that this article will remove all your fears about hiking and increase your interest in hiking. So now go and pack your bag, join a hiking team, decide the spot, and start your hiking up. All the best wishes for your next hiking.
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Hi, I am John Campbell, an outdoor enthusiast. Just like you, I value the habitat, heritage and tradition of great outdoors. I do my best to make sure the correct research, writing, and photo are shown on Tacticalgearslab.com. Indeed, I am committed to preserving a great online experience for you.