Packing is an essential part of any journey – this is especially true when planning an outdoor adventure.
For starters, good packing means you’ll be carrying the right equipment. It also helps you to make an itinerary beforehand, even if it is mental. While making your backpacking trip checklist, you’ll consider which activities are planned for the day and how best to dress. Do this for every day of the trip, and you will have made a tentative schedule in your mind. Packing for outdoor activities will also help with maintaining your budget if it is done well in advance.
Unlike other journeys, an outdoor adventure requires precision planning and apt preparation. The outdoors may be extreme at times with regard to weather, availability of food, cell phone service, medical supplies, and terrain. But outdoor packing does not have to be difficult or expensive.
Follow these tips to pack for an outdoors adventure properly:
Do a Dry Run
Before embarking on your journey, it is imperative that you do a dry run. In essence, a dry run is a trial trip that simulates your journey without actually taking it. For short outdoor adventures, it’s possible to pack your bags, travel to your destination, and get a first-hand feel for what is required. The main aim of a dry run is to collect data.
Get a good feel for your entire journey; know what you need and if you packed everything important.
Keep track of everything you missed so that you can include those items for the real trip. For longer trips, it might not be practical to do a first-hand survey. Instead, do thorough research on your itinerary. The internet is a good place to start. To be thorough, check weather conditions, availability of amenities, electricity or power, emergency services, availability of food and water, health hazards, and the general geographical landscape.
Always Pack Light
Packing light does not necessarily mean packing badly. It means foregoing unessential items, such as fashionable clothes, for camping essentials, such as a compass or a medical kit. It is wise to begin with essential items like a compass, insect repellant, sunscreen, headlamps and/or flashlights, portable chargers, food, sleeping bags, and clothes for all manner of extreme weather conditions. In an ideal world, this should be enough for an outdoor trip. However, depending on your trip, you might need specialized equipment like ropes and pins, hooks, high trails backpacks, heavy boots, umbrellas, and helmets, among other things.
The most important thing to remember is that the essentials go in first – other items are optional.
The best ultralight pack will make your adventure easier and inexpensive. It would be absurd to backpack through the woods with an incredibly heavy bag loaded with tons of beer and no water. Light luggage will also save you some money at the airport. Getting a proper camping backpack with the right capacity will help in this endeavor.
Make Smart Wardrobe Choices
The great outdoors does not care about your fashion choices. It will subject you to extreme weather conditions and unimaginable terrain. Take the example of a hiking trip through the Himalayas: freezing weather is to be expected, but temperatures might at times soar to searing heights.
The great outdoors does not care about your fashion choices.
A backpacking trip checklist should include a range of clothes suitable for different temperatures. Be sure to layer up – pack long-sleeved as well as short-sleeved clothing, pants and shorts, jumpers, tank tops, and fleece. It would also be wise to consider durable clothing fabric such as cargo pants or wool. For female hikers, dresses are usually not an appropriate choice for outdoor journeys.
Factor in Footwear
Footwear is perhaps the most forgotten item when packing for the outdoors. While many people will have the proper boots on when they leave the house, they forget that other circumstances may call for a change in shoes. And you don’t want to leave out an extra pair of socks in your backpacking trip checklist.
Don’t forget an extra pair of socks! A good quality pair of woolen socks will prevent blisters. A sock-change will also be required once the worn pair gets wet.
A quick internet search will reveal the best boots to bring with you. Leather and Gore-Tex boots provide the best protection against wet conditions while ankle-high boots will offer more support. Wellington boots, on the other hand, are impervious to water and act as the first line of defense against snakebites.
Traveling around the world has never been easier. These four tips should help you pack your bags like a pro. Your next great outdoor adventure awaits – pack wisely!