319 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 22 Apr \ on: How would you plan an extended backpacking trip? earth
Don't plan it. I mean do not make a rigorous plan about where to go, what items to take with you, how long you gonna stay.
Do this, in stages:
- Stage ONE - accommodation
- take short hiking trips, with easy routes / trails
- put in your backpack anything you think you will use, eat, wear
- this short stage is to see how much you can carry, resist walking with all the weight, what you really gonna use.
- take notes about almost anything you do: how much time you walk, when did you start and when did you stop walking, how much time you can do x distance etc. Enough to see your OWN possibilities and how far you can go.
- take notes about items that you wish you had but you didn't take them.
- accommodate with your shoes. Shoes are VERY IMPORTANT. With your foot in a good condition, your trip will be over after 1-2 days. Always have a pair of reserve shoes, light shoes. Test your shoes in different occasions, see how are resisting.
- Stage TWO - strength and resistance
- take a medium hiking trip, this time a bit more difficult, longer and a bit more harsh environment.
- put in your backpack ONLY the items that used in the phase one, at least once per day. All the rest, throw them away, are useless.
- put half of the food and drinks you had in the phase one - see how much you can resist with less and also start organizing better your energy
- take the shoes that were best for you
- less clothes too
- walk faster and longer, only to see how your body could adapt.
- this is the phase when you train your body and your mind - RESISTANCE
- Stage THREE - enjoy
- now take the longer route and don't plan how many days you will made it. Just to enjoy it.
- take a tent or a hammock with you and sleep outside, under a clear sky.
- make your own schedule of walking. Some people walk better in the early morning, when the sun is not even arise. So you could have for example all afternoon available to relax in a nice place and just enjoy the rest of the daylight. Some other people are walking better under the hot sun, during the midday, some other are walking better afternoon until total darkness, but that could be more dangerous if the trails is not visible and well known.
- take notes about all you do, timing, eating, drinking, wearing etc So you will know better for your next trip.
If after these 3 stages you are still alive and willing to make more trips, then you became a strong man that nothing can stop him in his trips. NOTHING. It's all about discovering your own strength, endurance, skills, mind.
There's no common universal advice about this experience, is all about YOURSELF.
This picture was not taken in the 1st stage... was in the 6th stage after many hikings, walkings, failures, lessons etc
But you feel like a king of the world once you've done it. In that moment there's no other mountain, trip, valley that can scary you, you control everything.