This list is getting long of planning.... who would even want to go with all this
planning all right another thing the time of the year is it summer you can
carry less stuff you're gonna be hot is it late fall might be cold like here in
Minnesota look at the season and look where you're going and see what the
temperatures will be going online and looking at weather is some people say
it's useless I like to have an idea of what I'm gonna face weather-wise how
many days are you going camping you're going one night or seven days you got to
think about that in relation with your food and your fuel whatever your stove
is gonna be I feel like me I'm using an alcohol stove most of the time so I want
to think about my fuel how much I'm gonna bring and if you're gonna bring
five six seven days of food that entails another thought as well which goes into
the size of the pack you might want to carry two day trip yeah any good old
pack will do but when you start getting into longer trips I have three backpacks
I switch between sometimes if it's cold weather and you got six days of food you
might really start maxing out think about this if you're going with somebody
else so there's four of you are you gonna share gear it's one person carry a
saw yeah you don't really need four saws are we gonna share stoves or are we not
if you're tenters a lot of people go well we're both going to be in the same
tent unless you're the kind of tenters who are like ham occurs I'd like to
sleep alone but sometimes you might have a big three person tent for three people
and one person carries the poles and one person carries the fly and one person
carries the tent you can split that gear up but always check on those other
people to make sure they got it packed up don't ever assume that they will not
even if they're good experienced campers don't let it hurt your feelings if
somebody comes over and looks over your shoulder make sure you packed it it's
just smart it's prudent you watch each other's back out there are you gonna
split food maybe you're cooking big meals where it's a it's a huge meal or
one person's gonna cook it so you might be dividing your food up to now a guy
like me I have a lot of gear I have it already half packed all the time so when
I want to take trip I grab and go because I have a
strange schedule because I'm in show business
sometimes a trip just comes up I two days before my wife and I are talking
and I go you know I think I'm just gonna go camping I I don't really feel like
doing anything this weekend and you're busy so you know she might be busy with
family or teaching at her circus school so I said I'm gonna take two nights or
go for a 36-hour trip bam-bam-bam I pack it up and I go if you're fairly new to
it test your gear if you can't set it up in your backyard in your house look at
your gear get to know your water filter if you've never set up your tent before
at least set it up somewhere so you kind of know what you're doing I know most of
you won't and everybody says this but if you can do if you've never hung your
hammock it's really smart really smart to familiarize yourself with that first
so look over your gear pack your pack go through it go take stuff out don't fret
about it too much at the end of the trip if you're new you'll find things that
you never used and you can decide if you're gonna bring that next time or not
leave an itinerary with someone every time I go camping I take a piece of
paper and I write you know usually print the map out just so my wife knows where
I'm going and I write how many nights and where I think I'll be I put my car
the make of my car I put my my tag number I put my cell phone number
I put the number of anybody that may go with me if I'm with Hickory I put his
number and I don't do this so much for Meg I do it actually in case I'm out on
the trail and something were to happen to her and one of her sisters is at our
house and so I have a big thing up there that says Shauna's backpacking and where
I am and where when I left and when I'm coming home the dates I'm gonna be there
my proposed route and each night about where I think I'm gonna be and that way
it for some reason and I hope it never happens they have to come out there
looking for me because something's happened at home they got a basic idea
where I am
everybody's gonna trip plan a little differently I'm kind of a guy that wings
things a little bit but I I go enough that I kind of
know what I'm doing other people are very detail orientated
I've seen people that have an itinerary with uh we're gonna leave camp at 9:17
we're gonna walk for 1 hour and 43 minutes we're gonna stop for a three
minute break and then we're gonna go on for another two hours and seven minutes
and then we're gonna stop and fill our water bottles and we'll take a moment to
sigh and breathe and you know that's that's some people's style whatever your
style is do it but plan it but let me tell you this be ready to let that plan
go sometimes okay like I've always said mother nature is gonna dictate the trip
the weather it might turn into a big storm or a snow storm or you might get
there and there's trees down all over the trail because there's been a storm
it might happen when you're out there some days you're not gonna make the
miles you thought you were for various reasons crossing water a bridge is out
blowdown and you're having to go around under over trees and that's another
thing to check find out if they've had a storm because that happens a lot here
and is the trail clear like on the border route you know their site will
let you know that that they get a lot of storms up there so find out things like
that what the trail conditions are superior hiking trail on their website
they usually give a list of trail conditions what trail heads are open are
there problems with bears in area as the trail been rerouted not every website
does that so all of these things search online get a map do your work
enjoy your trip plan it as much as you want to go on the trip have a good time
make notes of what you do right make notes of what you do wrong but let's
focus on what you do right but take heed on what you do wrong you might be too
cold you might be too hot you might have brought too much food you probably
didn't bring enough food did you bring enough candy you were thirsty of the
whole time your feet hurt you got blisters cuz you bought new boots and
never wore them it could be your socks get to know your socks whoo Oh secure in
Sector 7
what an ending well might as well that's the first balance on that table I liked
it I liked it a lot