Backpacking for Beginners
There are many forms of backpacking depending on how you look at it. Backpacking for beginners could be traveling through Europe living in hostels. Another form could be a 4 day hike over 20 miles through the mountains and forest. An even easier example would be hiking two miles into your campsite and hiking the two miles out the next day. I recently experienced this when I hurt my foot three days prior to our trip. We had reservations for two different camps and would have put in around 18 miles for the three days we were out. With the injury, we cut it dramatically short, but still wanted to get out and enjoy the fresh air.
On one of my first backpacking trips I used a $50 dollar backpack from the army surplus store. It was one big compartment and I used bungee cords to strap my sleeping bag on. It was not ideal, but I didn’t care as long as I could still go. I would advise that you should bring a mummy bag or some other synthetic sleeping bag. The kids sleepover bag should probably stay in the closet.
You have a backpack and a sleeping bag, now you need some backpacking food. After have picked out your essential goodies, pick out a trail in your area. You do not need to venture far to enjoy the outdoors. Check out the national parks website for ideas.
credit: xoque
Filed under: Camping