If you are an adventurous fellow and would love to be close to nature, hiking might be for you. Hiking lets you experience the beauty of nature without too much cost, as you are basically doing some outdoor walking. It is easy to plan out a hiking trip. Read on and find out.
1. First and foremost, you need to be physically fit. Hiking is one of those outdoor activities that can test your physical capabilities. For beginners, you are considered fit if you can jog two kilometers and not feeling very exhausted.
2. Determine the difficulty of your terrain. Choose a hike, in terms of distance and elevation change, that you can easily handle.
3. Choose a destination. Take note of the name of the mountain or other landmarks as well. Do some reading related to the chosen hike, so you can spot difficult parts and potential hazards.
4. Check weather conditions. You can visit online weather sites, so you can check the weather forecast for the duration of the hiking trip. Weather.com and other weather information sites give you current and forecasted conditions for various areas and localities around the world.
5. Prepare your hiking gear. There are several hiking-related activities that require gear, such as sleeping, cooking, tent repair, and the like. Don't forget to bring sleeping bags, pans, tents, rope, flashlights, and matches among others. Of course you would need the basic hiking gear like hiking shoes, backpacks, and tents, if you plan to stay several nights outdoors.
6. Have an itinerary. Make a plan that states your exact or approximate times for arrival, departure, meeting places, and other details. A hiking itinerary would usually be divided into the different days of your hike.
7. Have an expedition leader. As a contingency plan, you would also need a back-up or an assistant expedition leader. The expedition leader and the assistant expedition leader serve as the overall guides for the rest of the hiking team.
8. Identify a medic and a sweeper. The medic will be responsible for health and first-aid related matters while the sweeper will be the last person in the line. The sweeper should be the most dependable person in the group, as he watches out for everyone. You should maintain the ratio of one sweeper to five hikers. If you will increase the number of hikers, then you should increase the sweepers proportionately.
9. Have a pre-hike meeting. Most pre-hike meetings tackle the destination, the things that need to be brought, and itinerary matters. This is also where the members of the team share their expectations and set goals. The hikers are also broken down into groups or buddies through this meeting. Subsequently, the respective group leaders that would report to theExpedition Leader are identified.