Basic Hiking Stretches

Stretching before you hike is a key to avoiding muscle strains, cramps and injuries. By doing a few basic stretches you can increase the enjoyment and safety of your hiking adventures.

One of the most basic and useful stretches is the calf stretch. To do the calf stretch, place the sole of your right foot against a vertical surface, such as a tree or a wall. Slide the heel of your right foot as close tot he surface as you can. Lean forward as far as you can comfortably. Hold that position for at least 15 seconds, taking care not to bounce. Switch legs, and repeat the stretch.

A hamstring stretch is the next stretch you should do if you intend to go hiking or backpacking. To do this one, sit on the ground with one leg extended out in front of you. Tuck the other leg against your body. Bend at the waist and reach toward your toes. If you can’t reach your toes, hold on to a comfortable spot on your leg. This will stretch your hamstring.

The next stretch will also help stretch your leg muscles. Face toward a flat surface, such as a wall or tree. Lift one leg to the level of your groin. Brace the bottom of your foot against the hard surface. Bend slowly at the waist. Hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds, and then repeat the stretch with the other leg. This is known as the standing leg stretch.

The toe touch is another common stretch used by hikers. To do the toe touch, stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Point your feet forward. Bend slowly forward, using the hips. Don’t lock your knees, but keep them just slightly bent. Bend until you can feel the stretch in the back of your legs. Don’t bend so far as to cause yourself pain, but bend as far as it is still comfortable.

The final stretch you should consider before hiking is an upper body stretch. With your knees slightly bent and your feet about as far apart as your shoulders, reach your hands over your head. Grasp one hand with the other. Bend to one side, and hold the stretch for 30 seconds. Repeat the stretch for the other side.

Wilderness Survival Tips

Wilderness survival skills can save your life. The four basic principles of wilderness survival are as follows:

• Stay warm and dry
• Stay hydrated
• Treat injuries and stay uninjured
• Find a way out

Those should be the guiding principles behind everything you do when you’re stranded or lost in the wilderness. Here are some ways to do just that:

• Stay focused. If you’re going to survive, you need to be able to accurately assess your situation, and to determine the best course of action.
• Stay warm when you sleep. Sleep with your head lower than your heart helps you stay warmer while you sleep.
• Use a fire to keep warm and dry. Have dry matches with you at all times, but master matchless fire building techniques, as well.
• Use a bed of dry leaves to keep warm in an emergency.
• Use large trees to provide temporary shelter during light rains.
• Mark your path using anything you can. For example, tie ribbons or torn pieces of fabric to trees , so that you know you aren’t going in circles.
• Always have a first aid kit at your disposal. Learn basic first aid techniques long before you start hiking or camping. Take care of physical injuries immediately, especially those that may be life-threatening.
• Establish direction. If you don’t have a compass, you can use a stick to establish direction. Simply place the stick in the ground and mark the tip of the shadow. Mark the tip of the shadow again fifteen minutes later. Draw a line between the two; that line points East.
• Follow water sources. Eventually, rivers will lead you to civilization of some sort or another.
• Drink. Fill your water bottles or canteens from fresh water sources. Make sure that the water source is not stagnate or have a foul odor.
• Eat. Identify edible foods. Berries are generally a good choice. Even berries that are poisonous won’t hurt if you only eat one. Poisonous berries will have a bad taste to them, so spit out any berry with a bad taste.

Dress for Hiking

The best approach when camping or hiking is to wear multiple layers of clothing. By wearing multiple layers, you can help keep warm during the winter months and cool during the summer. Simply adding or removing a garment is a quick and easy way to adapt to changing temperatures or a change in activity level.

There are a number of layers of clothing you should consider when hiking, starting with undergarments. If you’re hiking during cold weather, you should consider using polyester performance or “long” underwear. Unlike cotton, polyester keeps moisture off your body.

When hiking in the fall, you’ll want to put on a layer of fleece on top of your long underwear. Fleece helps trap the warmth of your body and keep away moisture. If you’re hiking during moderate weather, you might consider packing a fleece shirt in your pack in case you become cold.

A wind resistant and water resistant outer layer is helpful, as well. You can usually wear these clothes over your regular clothes, and they’ll help keep you dry and keep the wind from chilling you to the bone.

While rainwear isn’t always necessary, it doesn’t hurt to have a disposable poncho in your pack in case it does rain.

You’ll also want to consider wearing a hat. During colder weather, a hat will help keep the heat from escaping from your body. During warmer weather, a hat can protect your face from the sun. If you’re hiking in moderate weather, you might consider bringing a warmer hat as well as a lighter hat, so that you can switch between them as necessary.

It doesn’t hurt to wear more than one layer of socks when you’re hiking. Many hikers prefer to wear a thin polyester sock underneath an outer sock. This again keeps the moisture away from the body while trapping the heat.

Obviously, if you’re hiking during the warm summer months you aren’t going to need long johns. Likewise, if you’re hiking during the winter months, you don’t want to wear shorts and a tank top. Dressing in layers helps you keep from becoming too cool or too hot during those seasons when the temperature changes quite frequently.

Wilderness Survival Essentials

You hope and pray that you never find yourself stranded or lost in the wilderness. Unfortunately, accidents do happen. If you find yourself in that sort of situation, there are some key things you need to keep in mind.

• Keep calm. To survive in the wilderness, you’ve got to have your wits about you. You need to be able to think rationally, so ignore your fears and anxieties so that you can solve the problem.
• Assess the situation, starting with your own physical well-being. Are you injured? Treat yourself first. Is anyone with you injured? Treat them next. Apply all of the basic principles of first aid, such as not moving someone with a potential neck or back injury.
• Examine your surroundings. Are there any immediate dangers, such as wild animals? Are there any dangers from impending weather? Figure out how to address these dangers, whether it is moving to another location or finding immediate temporary shelter.
• Take an inventory of your assets. What survival items do you have with you? If you’re wise, you’ve brought a variety of useful items.
• Identify or create a shelter. This could be a cave (make sure there aren’t any angry inhabitants first) or It could be a simple lean to that you fashion yourself.
• Identify a clean water source. You need to keep hydrated until help arrives. Don’t attempt to drink salt water or stagnate water.
• Find a way to signal for help. You might spell out the word “Help” using logs in a wooded clearing. You might build a fire in an open area. The main thing is finding a way for someone to find you from a rescue helicopter.

Ultimately, wilderness survival depends, to a large degree, on your patience and ability to keep a level head. In addition, keeping a variety of survival items with you, such as matches, a cellular or satellite phone, a flashlight, flares, energy bars, a first aid kit, water bottles and emergency blankets will exponentially increase your chances of survival.

The Most Important Wilderness Survival Principle

No one goes hiking or camping with the intention of becoming lost. The fact of the matter is, however, that accidents happen. People make mistakes, and nature sometimes interferes with our plans. The key is to be ready for when it happens.

There is one thing, though that you need more than anything else to survive in the wilderness. Can you guess what it is?

What it’s not

There are some important things you need to have to survive in the wilderness. These things are important, but not the most important thing. They include:
A first aid kit. Yes, you want to have one of these with you at all times. Yes, it will come in handy if you have an injury, or an allergic reaction, or any other physical problem. A first aid kit is important, but it’s not the most important thing in wilderness survival.

Water. If you don’t drink something, you’ll die in a matter of days. Long before you die, though, dehydration will cause your body to shut down and stop functioning properly. Water is an important part of wilderness survival, but it’s not most important.

Shelter. Protection from wild animals and from inclement weather is a necessity when it comes to wilderness survival. You have to be able to avoid these dangers in order to keep alive and safe until you can find your way or until someone finds you. But here again, it’s not the most important thing.
So, what is it? What’s the most important thing in wilderness survival?

It’s your mind.

Simply put, if you’re going to survive in the wilderness, you have to keep your wits about you. You have to be focused. You have to be coherent enough to watch for dangers and avoid them. You have to have the sense to seek out or build a shelter, or find fresh water. You have to be able to address your injuries, to keep yourself mobile or to keep yourself alive.

Maintaining a calm focus is the most important thing you can do to survive in the wilderness.

Fire Building Without Matches

No one expects to be stranded in the wilderness without matches to start a fire. The fact of the matter is, though that it does happen. When it does, it helps to know how to start a fire without matches. You need to have fire to provide heat and light while you’re stranded.

Some of the oldest methods of fire building without matches are friction-based methods. These methods use a spindle – a stick you spin to create friction. They also use a fire board, which is the board on which you will create the ember that you use to start your fire. Both the spindle and the fire board need to be bone-dry in order to be effective.

The Hand Drill Method

1. Gather and build a pile of tinder. This tinder needs to be dry and catch fire easily. Leaves, bark and dry grass are all good choices.
2. Cut a notch into your fire board in the shape of a V. Make a small dent next to the notch.
3. Put some bark beneath the notch. This will catch the ember you create.
4. Place the spindle into the dent and begin to spin. It will take a long time, but don’t give up. Your survival may depend on it.
5. Once an ember forms, tap the fireboard to drop the ember onto the bark. Put the bark into the tinder pile, and fan it to start your fire.

Fire Groove Method

1. Cut a line groove in the fireboard.
2. Place the fireboard at the end of your tinder pile.
3. Place the spindle in the groove.
4. Rub the spindle back and forth in the groove.
5. Once an ember forms, transfer the ember to the tinder pile, and fan it to start your fire.

Bow Method

1. Get a rock or another piece of wood to use as a socket.
2. Use a flexible piece of wood about an arm’s length and attach a string tightly to either end. This is your bow.
3. Cut a notch into your fire board in the shape of a V. Make a small dent next to the notch.
4. Put some bark beneath the notch. This will catch the ember you create.
5. Wrap your spindle in a loop of your bow string.
6. Place the spindle on the dent in the fireboard, and hold your socket on the other end to maintain pressure.
7. Saw the bow back and forth.
8. Once an ember forms, tap the fireboard to drop the ember onto the bark. Put the bark into the tinder pile, and fan it to start your fire.

Essential Hiking Gear

Hiking can be a wonderful experience for individuals or families. Like most other outdoor activities, though, there are some things you need to have with you in order to be prepared for an emergency. There are also things you’ll want to have with you to make the hiking trip more comfortable.

Here are a few of the key items you should bring on a hiking trip:

Your cell phone. While there’s no guarantee you’ll have coverage where you’re hiking, the GPS transmitter inside your phone may be able to help others locate you in an emergency.

Extra clothing. Bring a sweatshirt or something else to keep you warm. Extra socks don’t hurt, either. You can bring a rain poncho, as well, in case of inclement weather. A hat can help keep the sun off your head, too.

A first aid kit. Make sure it’s stocked each time you go hiking, and replenish any items you’ve used. At a minimum, you should have an ice pack, bandages, gauze pads, medical tape, and an antibiotic cream in the first aid kit.

A survival pack. This is a small container, preferably one that’s waterproof, that contains a pocket knife, whistle, space blanket, dry matches, a compass and water purification tablets. Each of these items will come in handy if you should get lost or if there is an emergency.

Insect repellant and sunscreen. These items keep your skin safe and free of bug bites. Make sure to reapply these items frequently, as they lose their effectiveness over time.

A map. A topographical map of your hiking area can be especially useful.

Medications. You should bring prescription medications, as well as medications for common ailments. A pain reliever, antihistamine, decongestant and anti-diarrheal medication can be especially useful while hiking. If you are allergic to bees, you should bring an Epi-pen in case of an emergency.

Food and water. Make sure to pack a little extra in case you wind up hiking longer than you originally intended.

All of these items should fit comfortably inside your backpack when hiking.

What Type of Tent to Buy?

Trying to decide what type of tent you need can seem confusing. There are many different types of tents on the market, all for various camping trips.

First, know how your tent will be carried. Will you be driving right up to the campsite, hiking, biking or boating? If you’re driving, frame tents are the first choice of many campers. They are usually large enough to walk around in and can feature separate bedrooms, cooking facilities and a living space.

Ridge tents are also a perennial favorite among campers who don’t have to carry their equipment very far. They feature a horizontal post that is held up by two vertical posts, with canvas stretched over all of them. The resulting triangular tent is great for pleasant weather, but isn’t suitable for rain or high winds.

Hiking tents and pop-up tents are great for campers who will be using bikes, boats or sturdy boots to get to their campsite. They are both lightweight, easily collapsible and small enough to carry on one’s back.

If you still aren’t sure what you are looking for, take a trip to your nearest sporting goods store and explain your circumstances to a salesperson. With any luck, you’ll find exactly what you are looking for.

When you do, you’ll be well on your way to a great first camping trip.