Let’s Go Backpacking Together!

As summer winds to a close and we take in our last beach trips and pack up our swim trunks, I encourage you to build space for reflection to appreciate the special qualities of one season from another. As an avid hiker, birder and backpacker, to me this often means pondering the longer stretches I spent outside. This year I had the privilege to trek through the Chama River Canyon Wilderness on Pueblo and Diné land in northern New Mexico. Restorative time like this is such a gift, one that I feel should be shared with others. While I can’t take every reader of our newsletter into the backcountry, I can provide tips on how one can take their own adventures to the next level and spend a night (or many more) away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. I welcome you to continue reading if you want my crash course in leaving your car campsite behind in order to head out into the wild!

One note before we start. How does backpacking tie into our work at Threespot you wonder? As a creative team, we are always looking for new sources of inspiration to guide us down a path of awareness, empathy, understanding, sustainability and excitement. Turning towards the natural world for inspiration has a name — Biomimcry, which is the practice of applying lessons from nature for design innovation. Want to learn more about biomimicry and design thinking? Join me and Threespot designer Megan Lewin-Smith on Friday, October 21, 2022 at DC Design Week for a workshop on Design Thinking & The Natural World. In this workshop we will talk through the concept of biomimicry and how to make intentional time for things like forest bathing (even if you live in a city). Then we will put that into practice by participating in exercises that employ nature-inspired design thinking. We hope you will join us!

How I got started backpacking & how you can too

Growing up in the small town Corvallis, OR I was lucky to have a childhood spent outside, instilling in me an insatiable curiosity about the natural world. This drive to explore led me to take farther and longer hikes, getting more adventurous over the years. Gradually building up to backpacking was key and I will always advise people to make sure they have gone on longer hikes and car camped before they try their hand at backpacking. In the same way a runner has to train for a 5K, you should train for entering the backcountry.

If you don’t know another backpacker directly (although now you know me!), I recommend looking into a local outdoors group or REI for beginner backpacking classes. Even with access to personal know-how, I took a free female-focused backpacking class at REI before my first overnight that provided many great additional tips, some of which I am sharing with you here.

Planning your route

Next up is planning your route. Any backpacker will tell you that the success of the trip hinges on the success of your planning. Nothing is more important in my book than selecting where you will hike. As you are picking a trail, be it for one night or ten, here are some key factors to keep in mind:

• Length — Both the mileage and the number of days. Doing a 20 mile loop looks pretty different when done in two days versus four.
• Elevation — Gaining 500 or 5,000 ft of elevation on a trail doesn’t just potentially portend altitude sickness or leg cramps, it can also mean changes in temperature, necessary footwear, or water access.
• Obstacles — Some obstacles you can’t plan for, like fallen trees, but some you can, like rivers. For example, need to plan to ford that river? Make sure you bring sandals and can carry your pack on your head, no one likes soggy feet or a wet tent!
• Weather — Check this when you plan your trip, check it the night before you head out, and check it the morning of. You need to plan your supplies around temperatures, sun exposure, wind gusts and downfalls of rain, sleet or snow. And you have to be flexible enough to call it off when the weather just won’t agree.
• Water — There are two ways to deal with water on a backpacking trip. If there is water on your route, you will be in good shape if you carry a water purification system like a Steripen (my favorite!). But if there are no streams, you hike it all in, which can get very heavy very quickly.

There are many variables to consider when planning your route, these tips just scratch the surface. I always recommend that before you head out, you talk to experts who know the current conditions of the area well. Park rangers, forest service employees and local guides are all wonderful resources that you should not pass up when planning your next adventure.

Safety 101

Just like planning, taking key safety precautions is vital to having an enjoyable trip! While the list below is by no means exhaustive, you should always take these precautions when heading out on the trail. There are many more things to consider — taking a first aid class, deciding what maps and/or technology to carry, area-specific wildlife considerations, etc — but these are just a few things to think about as you get started.

• Share your route — Someone should know where you are going and how long you plan to be out. You should check in with them right when you leave and when you get back into cell service. That way, if something does go wrong, they have a good idea on where to start looking.
• Prep for weather — I mentioned this above, but I am going to say it again, check the weather and prepare. Extreme heat is just as dangerous as extreme cold and you want to make sure you know what you are getting into as it is just you and the elements out there. Plus you will have a much better trip if you are not sunburned, soaked or freezing and the whole point is to have a nice time!
• Bears — Not every place you can go backpacking has bears, but many beautiful places do. I am of the mind that the best way to keep safe from bears is to be aware and make noise as you hike. Bears don’t like to be caught off guard and I promise you, they are not interested in humans unless provoked or you leave a bunch of tasty treats out for them at night. I find binoculars much more protective than bear spray because it is better to see the bear from 200 ft and get out of their way than to spray them with a chemical when they are 20 ft close. Don’t let bears deter you from getting into the backcountry, just treat them with the reverence and distance they deserve!

Planning your pack

People have lots of opinions about gear — how much to bring, what is the right brand, new v. used, etc — but am sharing the short list I swear by. A nice thing about backpacking is that it really makes you realize what is essential, and we could all use a little more minimalism these days. Also, don’t forget to pack heavy things on the bottom of your pack, your back will thank you for it!

• Backpack
• Tent
• Sleeping bag
• Sleeping pad
• Lightweight pillow
• Lightweight chair (not essential for everyone, but essential for me)
• Headlamp
• Book
• Water bottle
• Steripen
• Cooking system that includes stove, pan, fuel & lighter (Jetboil fan over here)
• Tin cup
• Spork
• Coffee press
• First aid kit
• Changes of clothes (or at least fresh socks + underwear each day!)
• Toothbrush + toothpaste
• Wilderness wash
• Binoculars
• Battery pack
• Bear bin
• Food (see below… but coffee, always coffee)

Cooking

A whole article, frankly a whole book, could be devoted to backpacking food. Suffice it to say, as a person who loves to eat, I am still working to find a happy medium of camp recipes that I look forward to enjoying at the end of the day but don’t take up too much weight in my pack. People are evangelists for various freeze-dried dinners — this vegetarian Thai Curry is my favorite option — but these can get expensive quickly. My rule of thumb is that I splurge on a freeze-dried dinner for the hardest day of my trip, it feels like such a reward! Then it is back to the oatmeal, couscous, trail mix and tuna packets. I will let you explore all the various culinary options on your own, but just remember the easiest way to eat on a backpacking trip is out of a tin cup with a spork. One cup to rule them all!

When you are on the trail

Now that you have planned more than you thought possible for a night outside, you are ready to hit the road. A few things to keep in mind once you hit the dusty (or muddy) trail!

• Watch for signs — Trails on a map don’t always look the same in reality, so make sure to pay close attention to trail signage, mileage, rerouting and rock cairns.
• Leave no trace principles — Do your best to leave the wilderness wild and follow guidelines like staying on the path (prevents erosion), leave what you find (don’t pick the flowers), packing out all your trash (even things like coffee grounds) and when you need to use the loo, dig a hole far away from water and burn your TP (but make sure it is fully out so you don’t start a fire!).
• Take breaks — Make sure to build time in your route for pauses, snacks, naps and frolicking through meadows. You are there to enjoy the ride and your trip will be all the better for it!

Now get out there!

There is a lot more to backpacking than this starter guide. But I hope this has provided you with a good entry point and feeling of excitement for the outdoors! Because every time I have the opportunity to bask in the beauty of our natural world, I am reminded of the tiny part I play in this system as a whole. As Buckminster Fuller famously observed, a system is greater than the sum of its parts. For me, backpacking is a wonderful way to remind myself that all of these parts out here in the natural world add up to something so deeply magical — our beautiful planet earth.