How many years have you spent on earth? Plenty, so you are old enough to be able to read this. But have you touched nature yet? You might have gone on a trip with the family, it is fun but that is not called, confused what I am touching the nature, they are called vacations. You might be confused what I am talking about here. I will clarify this for you.
When you go on vacations, you have a family, friends with you. You spend a time while travelling around, having a laugh where you live in a fancy hotel and come back. In all this chaos you miss the small details that the nature has to show you.
Do you want to have a real experience? Climb a mountain the entire day and camp at the top at night. Have a much clearer view of the sky, listen to the stories that the mountains have got to tell you. Lay under the open sky, listen to the flower opening and the trees waking up in the morning. But you cannot just decide one day to experience all of this and start hiking. There are things that you are going to need to have a comfortable experience.
Here we have listed down some camping and hiking essentials for you.
1. Appropriate footwear
First and the most important thing is to make yourself comfortable. Usually, people pick out sneakers or heavy pack for hiking, that makes the whole journey much worse. Always choose lightweight shoes which have thicker sole. Mountains usually have pointed stones coming out of them, the thick sole will prevent your feet from getting hurt. Shoes should always be lightweight, otherwise, your muscles can get pulled even after a mile of hike.
2. Appropriate outfit
Then comes the clothing. Always choose the clothes according to the temperature. Note that the temperature will be relatively high when you are down below the mountain, but as you start hiking, the temperature will start to fall. You might not feel it at first but once you reach the destination, your blood flow will come to normal and you will start feeling the cold. If you are planning on staying the whole night, grab in some highly isolated coats.
3. Navigation
Always have a map or compass. It will help you in finding the right track. If you have done hiking a lot in the past, you might be thinking it’s not a necessity, this is where you are wrong. It just takes one wrong turn to end up in complete isolated or dangerous area. it not only tells about the right route, it tells you how long the distance is and how much more you have got to cover. Where you can find water, which area is safe etc.
4. Sunscreen
When you step into the wild, one thing that gets affected the most is your skin. Make sure that you have some sunscreen and sunglasses with you. Through in lip balm too. If you have happened to get sunburns easily, garb a hat. There is nothing more irritating than having skin burns when you are out on a trip. It does not matter what the weather is, even when it’s winter, you can still get the sun burns.
5. Extra food
One of the first thing that you are going to need is the food. The scenery might be astonishing but that is not going to fill your stomach. Keep it in mind that there are going to be absolutely nothing up there to eat. Pack yourself full meals for the time you are going to stay there. Garb some extra packets too, as a precaution.
6. Rain gear and medicines
You should be prepared for any kind of situation. The weather may get bad and you might have to face several difficulties. For such situations have the whole rain gear ready.
If you are allergic to anything, you should always have the medicine with you. When you are out there, help is not going to arrive soon, it makes take several hours to get you to the nearest hospital. Make a small first aid box as well in case you fall or soothing bits you, you should be able to handle the situation all by yourself.
7. Safety precaution
If you are going to spend a night in a wild, you should know how to survive. If it is too cold you should be able to start a fire. If you lost, you should get yourself back in safe place before it gets too dark. Now the question is how to get help if you are lost. You should always have a whistle hanging around your neck all the time, in case of any emergency use it for alarming others
8. Pocket knife
Pocket knife is also one of the essentials. You can use it for protection and cutting your food items as well. If you are hurts, you can use it for cutting a piece of cloth and using it as a band-aid. If you are feeling cold, you can start a fire by cutting up some woods form nearby trees.
9. Tent and sleeping bags
The fun part of camping will be over soon as you are going to be tired from the hiking. You will need a place to put your head on. You cannot sleep in an open ground, you will be waking up completely restless next morning. If you want to stay strong, get a proper night sleep. Don’t take a chance to comprise your health.
For a better sleep, a tent is not the only thing that you are going to need. You need to have a sleeping mat as well with a small pillow. It is also known as a ground mat. It is quite feasible and lightweight to carry around.
10. Water bottle
Keep yourself hydrated. Always keep one or two bottles with yourself. Whenever you see a water supply near, fill the bottles up. Staying hydrated will help you in keeping your body strong.
