How to Plan a Great Hiking Experience

Series Summary

When planning a hike in the great outdoors there are a few preliminary steps that must be considered to ensure you have a truly rewarding experience. Exploring new areas and enjoying scenic surroundings are two of the most poignant benefits of hiking, but wearing the appropriate hiking boots and gear, reading a topographical map and setting goals are also essential to a successful hike. It is important to familiarize yourself with the trails and terrain, obtain the proper permits and pace your hike according to the skill level of your hiking party. Whether you're hiking through the mountains or in a rural area, hiking is great exercise and a healthy pastime. Though the surroundings may vary around the world, there are still various similarities to the basic idea of hiking. Because hiking is done on foot, it requires a certain level of fitness, depending on the ground you wish to cover, and requires essential equipment such as a backpack, hiking boots, hiking poles, food, water and first aid materials.

In this series of free video clips, you'll get the essential information on all levels of hiking. Expert hiker Kate Carcio shows you how to read a topographical map, offers advice on planning a hiking excursion appropriate to your skill level, and shows how bushwhacking and geochaching can add fun to your hike. She also offers tips on hiking with children and dogs, and how to choose the best boots or shoes and socks for hiking conditions. After watching these free hiking videos you'll be ready to hit the trail like a real pro.

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m Kate with Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com talking to you about hiking and backpacking. When you are going out for a hike or a multi day hike, you really want to plan you experience and goals. You might want to go out for an easy hike; you might want to go out for an advanced hike. You could bushwhacking, you could peak bagging, and you could geocaching. There are a lot of options. You could also just want to go out to birdwatch. Before you go out, you should have an idea. Set your route. If you are peak bagging, you want to find a condensed area of a lot of summits, so you could possibly reach more than one in one day or if you want to geocache, you should get a guide book, find an area where there is a bunch of geocaching to do and go to that area for the day. Certain areas are better for birdwatching. There are certain areas that are better for animal watching. All these things you should have in your head before you go out. Some trails have a rating system of intermediate or advanced and if you want an advanced trip, you should look for those types of trails. You might just want to go out and try to find a spot where you can boulder. There are plenty of guide books to help you choose your destination and choose your height and you want to make sure that at the end of the day you have accomplished what you want to do and had a good time doing it. So pre-planning your route, your goals is always the best way to get the most out of your hiking experience."