YOU’VE left the gym behind, stretched your legs during COVID and been bitten by the nature bug to immerse yourself in forests and now want to take it to the next level to try multi-day hikes or through walking. How do you make that transition when there’s information overload? Ask five hikers and you’ll get six opinions as everyone is vouching for their own gear.
Preparation is the key. Gear checklists are not only a great way to remember all you need, but they can also be listed in a spreadsheet with the weights of each item so you know roughly what your pack will weigh before you even saddle up. In the beginning, we measured everything down to undies so we could make the best choices.
A word of caution though, lightweight isn’t the only consideration. You must think about the type of environment you’re trekking in, the weather forecast for expected night and day conditions. For example, our data sheet has one page for day walks, another for through walks categorised into sections – food, travel, sleeping, emergency, cooking, navigation and comms. The amount of detail may have reduced with time and experience, but it’s still
