8 Rookie Mistakes Made By Backpackers

If you’re heading out for your first few backpacking adventures, excitement takes over, causing you to make mistakes that you could dearly pay for later. Depending on where you’re hiking, you could find yourself hundreds of miles from home without a tarp or tent. Perhaps you didn’t check the trail conditions and have no idea what to expect. It’s easy to make mistakes as a rookie hiker, so here are some errors that new hikers make so you can avoid them.

1. Not Checking Your Supplies or Gear

It sucks when you start your hiking adventure and, somewhere along the way, you realize that you forgot something important. That’s a bad feeling and could have serious repercussions.

A few weeks before your trip, create a checklist of all the things that you need for your trip. Start purchasing the equipment and supplies that you need for the trip. About a week before, lay out all your equipment on the floor and check off the items on your list while you pack your bag. If you find you’re missing some items, you still have time to get them.

Also, it’s not a good idea to wash clothes right before your trip because, in all the rush, you’ll probably forget some necessary tactical clothing in the dryer. Before you hit the trail, check your gear one last time to make sure you have everything that you need. If you find you’re missing something, sometimes there’s a gift shop or another store close by where you can pick up last-minute items.

2. You Forget to Check the Forecast

Typical weather forecasts may not accurately predict the weather in the backcountry. It’s best to prepare for the best and bring equipment and clothing suitable for all weather conditions typical for the area you’re hiking. Be prepared for lightning, rain, wind, snow—whatever is typical for that area. You can contact rangers there for accurate weather reports or go to weather.gov to determine the weather conditions for your hiking destination.

Because it’s difficult to predict the weather 100 percent, wearing hiking layers is critical. If you wear and pack layers for your hike, you can add them or take them off as the temperature changes. It is possible to start with too many layers, so start a little chilled and adjust as you hike.

3. Failure to Check on Trail Conditions

Checking on trail conditions may not be high on your to-do list for your hiking journey, but it should be. It’s a good idea to call rangers a couple of days before your hike for the latest on trail conditions. If you don’t, you may be surprised by high levels of water and lingering packed snow that makes the trail impassable.

4. Miscalculating the Miles You Can Hike in a Day

It’s quite common for novice hikers to overestimate how much ground they can cover in one day. Creating itineraries that are overambitious will wear you out and not allow for rest time to enjoy yourself and nature. That’s part of why you hike in beautiful scenery in the first place, right? To get away and destress. You can’t do that if you’re overdoing it.

Start by hiking a few miles the first day, and then increase the daily miles you hike over the course of the trip. Your hiking adventure will be much more fun when you can actually enjoy it instead of hiking 10 miles up many steep hills and rough terrain to make the day’s hiking goal.

5. Not Preparing or Forgetting Your First Aid Supplies

No one expects or predicts to get injured hiking, but it is definitely a possibility. The one time it occurs and you don’t have a well-stocked first aid kit, you’ll regret it, whether it’s a small cut, a burn, or an allergic reaction. Open wounds can become infected more easily when hiking because of the nature of hygiene on the trail. Without proper first aid supplies, you can’t clean and dress wounds correctly. You won’t have an antihistamine for an allergic reaction if you have one or be able to treat animal bites and stings.

A first aid kit doesn’t have to be complicated. You can make one yourself or purchase a fully stocked kit at most popular stores, such as Walmart or Target.

6. Overpacking

If you’re a prepper like many people, you want to have everything you may need for every possible scenario. Hauling around extra shirts or meals on the trail can bog you down and make you lose time plus exhaust you. Keep it as light as possible.

7. Taking a Shortcut to Save Time

Don’t take what you think may be an off-trail shortcut. It can result in injury or even death. Trails are marked for a reason. Your shortcut may be dangerous and, once you’re descending a steep off-trail path, it’s too late to turn back. You may fall and end up injured, and no one will know where you are. If you get injured or lost, rescuers will look in the wrong place for you. It’s all on you if you decide not to heed this advice.

Is there ever a good time to take a shortcut? Perhaps, but only if you can see the endpoint and every inch of terrain in between, as well as have the hiking skills to traverse it and backtrack if necessary.

8. Get Separated from the Rest of the Hikers in Your Group

Whether you have a small party or a large group of hikers, everyone has a different pace. A slower hiker may fall behind, and that can be catastrophic. Someone may get injured, take a wrong turn, darkness may fall, or a sudden storm can set in. It’s impossible to communicate with your whole group if everyone gets separated.

A good practice is to put the slowest hiker up front, and everyone must keep pace with that hiker. It’s not meant to embarrass the slower hiker; it’s to keep the speed demons under control. You can also stop at each trail junction to make sure everyone is together. Also, assign someone to be a sweeper to bring up the rear and make sure everyone is together.

Hiking is supposed to be fun and relaxing, but you must be aware and make logical choices on the trail. It’s easy to get lost, injured, or find out you are missing your tent because of your lack of preparation. Keep these rookie mistakes that new hikers make in mind so that your first few hikes are fun and enjoyable.

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Mark Hedman serves as the CEO for LA Police Gear. Mark oversees a little bit of everything, from product development to walking the dogs from our Valencia, CA headquarters. Before joining LA Police Gear, Mark was just a kid that was very interested in programming and e-commerce. Starting from the bottom, he worked his way up through all stages of the company. Mark loves animals and the outdoors. He tries to spend as much time at the range as possible or hanging out with the pups.