Learning Curve: What I Learned From Taking a Beginner into the Backcountry

Thanks for the article – it was fun to read.  I’ve taken a number of people on their first backpacking trip, but never someone who had never even car camped in a campground.  A couple fond memories:

• One of my regular partners now brought a water filter (he didn’t trust my UV) and a 2-lb first aid kit on our first trip together (I had told him I was bringing both).  He loved the UV and returned the filter, unopened, when we got home.
• I took a couple for an overnight on the AT.  We had carefully talked about each of the things they were bringing, but when we got to the shelter for the night the guy pulled out a rather large bluetooth speaker and a full glass bottle of Jack Daniels!

As a leader of adults we can only do so much to pass on guidelines and suggestions.  With kids you can lay everything out and not let them take, for example, the 4-lb hatchet.  As long as adults don’t complain about the choice they made I really don’t care.  I just don’t want to ever be in the “I told you so” world where someone is miserable and complaining when they directly ignored some of my hard-earned backcountry wisdom.  I try to be pretty careful about my hiking partners – both new and experienced.

I took my 3 year old for his first overnight trek out this weekend, only an easy 1.3 miler. Fun, but I have not carried that much weight (30lb backpack, 30lb child in my arms much of the way!) in a while. Luckily it was short and only about 5-600 feet elevation gain. Note the lack of a backpack in the last pic :)

“and a full glass bottle of Jack Daniels!”  If someone “wants” to carry the whiskey–I’ll let them!

“and a full glass bottle of Jack Daniels!”

Actually…I was that guy, once.  But only once.  And it was a full glass bottle of Pampero Aniversario.  Cumberland Island, Ga in August, 90 deg, 90% humidity, with 2 gallon jugs of water in my 80L Kelty pack. It was miserable.  Come to think of it, that Aniversario probably saved my butt :)

He never complained and, at the end, the couple told me that they both really enjoyed the trip.  I’ll confess that I enjoyed lightening his load a bit…

Yeah, I can totally relate to all of this, lol. Many many times I have brought out total beginners with me. I dont mind because I always expect and prepare for the worse.. for myself and them. I does kill me when they do not heed to my advice pre trip!! Im telling them this information for a reason!!!  It will make the trip and experience more enjoyable not only for myself.. but for them also!  As for my kids.. I have taken all 3 of them out with me since they were about 5 or 6 years old.. and back in those days, my goodness it was a LOT of work on my part!!.. Just inflating 3 or 4 pads was killer, lol.  Now, thankfully they are all older and have the knowledge and experience to handle their own, especially my son!

Very well written article with an excellent last line that tied it all together.

It reminded me of the time I took my girlfriend backpacking. She did the hiking well and she was warm enough. Overnight, cool breezes blew, the squirrels scampered in the trees and coyotes howled periodically.

To her, it sounded like the coyotes had surrounded the tent and were closing in. I mumbled something about how they were a lot farther away than they sounded and that they had no interest in us and fell back to sleep, contented by the nighttime sounds. She spent the night staring angrily at me while I snored and shifted.

She still married me, but she won’t backpack with me again. She sleeps well, listening to the coyotes from inside the house.

The last time I took complete beginners on a trip, two of them (my nephew and his friend) were engineers.  Their S/O were not.  But boy, did those engineers ask questions!  They wanted to know everything beforehand, and they wanted to know how everything worked, as well.  They wanted to set up the tent, work the stove, filter the water, etc.  It was as if they were preparing for a test later in the week.

We had a dream trip–quite likely because of their inherent philosophy of not wanting to leave anything to chance or ignorance.   Plus, they loved every single minute of it.

For better or worse, when I take a beginner out I specifically tell them NOT to buy anything for the trip (they don’t always listen).  I try to appeal to them by letting them try different things (I’ve tried a lot of different gear and have held onto almost all of it).  I give them a pretty short list of things that they need to bring (usually just clothing) and I give them a WP stuff sack in which to put it.  As we plan the trip I’ll repeat my mantra to them:  “The pack is the last thing you should buy – wait until you know the size of the rest of your gear.”  At least a couple of them have shown up with brand new packs to try out.  Sigh.

As Dirtbag says, it’s a lot of extra work to take a newbie into the woods, but I know that in advance and am taking them because I want them to love it!

The number one affliction I’ve seen with first-timers is hotspots and blisters.  I pack extra leukotape expecting that they will have blisters and I’m usually right.  I’ve had 3-4 trips where I pick someone up and they excitedly proclaim:  “Look – I bought these new hiking boots at (insert big box store name here) last night and I can’t wait to try them.”  Oh well…Even though I haven’t suffered from blisters in years, with first-timers I take my shoes and socks off at every break to examine my feet for hotspots and “require” them to do the same.  It’s a lot easier to slap a piece of tape on a red heel early than to treat big blisters later in the day.

Newbie participation once in camp definitely varies.  Some of them are so shot from hiking that as soon as I set up their tent and inflate their pad they crawl in and lay down (Dirtbag had a good story about a guy like that earlier this year).  Others are eager to learn about setting everything up, starting a fire, working the stove, and especially hanging the bear bag.  It’s all good!

When you do something for a number of years, it is hard to think like a beginner.  I have been playing guitar for many years.  A good way to understand what a beginner is going through is to try and see things through their eye.  As a guitar player, a simple way is to flip your guitar over, for me that would be cording with my right hand and picking with my left.  Very humbling.

A great story, Maggie!

A friend of mine took to backpacking late in life at 58 years old. (We live in Bellingham, Washington BTW). After spending two nights at Colchuck Lake in the Enchantments in Washington, he wanted to hike a bit of the PCT.

I chose Harts Pass and north to a wooded campsite approximately one mile south of Rock Pass.

I told him before we left that I was going to make this a backpacking clinic.

We left Bellingham at 5:00 a.m. After arriving at Harts Pass, we did a side trip to Slate Peak, then started north on the PCT. The air temperature was very hot. It was so hot that I was concerned about heat exhaustion. Fortunately there was adequate water along the way, and we camped at Shaw Creek mid-afternoon. We talked about the heat and I explained to him the benefits of an early start the next morning to get some miles in before it warmed up.

Early the next morning we continued on northbound to a wooded campsite approximately one mile south of Rock Pass.

The next day we  day-hiked to Lakeview Ridge. It was so hot that I had to use all my skills to keep us hydrated and to cool off as best we could. I taught him how to top off his water bottle with snow, rub snow around his wrists and neck, and to put snow on top of his head to melt and cool his skull. It was really hot on the west side of Three Fools Peak in the full sun. I have been in the mountains when it was hot outside, but this was the hottest I have ever experienced. It almost ruined the trip.

The next day called for a return to the car. Time for the ‘clinic’ to kick in again. I did not tell him that we were hiking out all the way; he eventually figured it out on his own. Of course, he wanted to know why. I explained to him that he needed to learn what ‘all day’ hiking is like and what it takes to do 16 miles. I said if you want to get deep into the backcountry and not have to carry tremendous amounts of food then your mileage has to go up so that you accomplish your objectives in four or five days instead of seven or eight.

During the trip we talked a lot about backpacking skills, other places to go etc. I explained to him the concept of ‘hiking your own hike’ and that he now had the skills now to plan his own trips.

I am proud to say that he has done so. He later led a small group to Horseshoe Basin and they did a loop that included Windy Peak.

I really enjoyed this article, Maggie.  Perfect timing for me, too: I’m planning a backpacking trip with my brothers, all of whom are new to backpacking.  It’s difficult to find a balance between providing them too much information (overloading them to the point that they tune me out) versus not providing enough information (and they feel like I left them in the dark).

The best teacher is experience.  I think the key is to get them out there with enough knowledge that they have fun and they can learn from the trip.

-Michael

I tell my scouts  you learn more from your mistakes than your success. But it’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.

So I have no problem telling them mistakes I’ve made.

Fun read!

I backpacked with a lady once that all she brought for food was GORP, and other than water, she had a bottle of whiskey. At dinner time she ate GORP and drank whiskey and was happy as a clam. To each their own.