How to Plan for a Hike that Will Take More than One Day

Series Summary

Multi day hiking can be an incredible adventure, whether you are camping in the Rockies, Alps, Andes, Appalachian Mountains, or in any state park or even the desert. There are essential backpacking tips and techniques to know before setting out on a 3 or 4 day or more backpacking and hiking trip. Planning an exciting adventure of multi day hiking? Then before you head out to the wilderness, learn the basic essential backpacking tips, for free online, from our expert hiking guide.

In this free online backpacking video series, learn from expert hiker and backpacker Kate Carcio with Zoar Outdoor. She will teach you the multi day hiking essentials, before you hit the trail. Learn how to plan a multi day hiking trip, how to make a hiking itinerary, how to plan for meals, how to plan out a hiking route, how to plan for water needs, how to protect your food from small animals and bears, how to pack your back pack, and how to set up a tent in this free backpacking guide.

Video Transcript

" Hi! I’m Kate with Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com. I am going to talk to you about hiking and backpacking. When you are planning a multi day backpacking trip there are some things you need to consider to begin with. First you should plan your route completely. Whereas end to end route or a loop route, you want to have your vehicle, itinerary and dashboard and someone else who knows what is going on and possible evacuation route depending on how far out you go. The next thing you want to consider is your food. You want to make sure you have at least 2,000 calories per day. You have snacks, breakfast, lunch and dinner with drinks and deserts. You want to make sure it is lightweight where you have plenty of calories for the time that you are out; high calories, pasta those are always good. Along with food, you need to bring fuel. You need to make sure you have enough fuel depending on how many days you go out. One or two of these bottles could be sufficient or you may need four of them if you are going out for a long period of time. Making sure you have enough fuel for breakfast and for dinner are important. Lunch if it’s not a winter trip, you might not need it. Also with fuel if you are going to a high altitude or if it is cold, you are going to need more fuel than normal so be aware of where you are, the altitude, the weather will have a factor in what you are having for food and the amount of fuel that you are bringing. You are going to need to determine the sleeping bag you are going to use and the backpack you are going to use. All this has to do with weather so it is a good idea to get on-line to figure out average weather of where you are going to be in that period of time and you can determine if you need a warmer sleeping bag or colder sleeping bag, a bigger backpack or a small backpack. All these things should go into making your multi day trip better, more fun and you will also be ready to go. "