Hiking equipment


Hiking equipment is the equipment taken on outdoor walking trips. Hiking is usually divided into day-hikes and multiple-day hikes, called backpacking, trekking, and walking tours.
The equipment selected varies according to the duration, distance, planned activities, and the environment. Additional factors include weight and preparedness for unplanned events. The level of preparedness can relate to remoteness and potential hazards; for example, a short day hike across farmland or trekking in the Himalayas. The length and duration of a walk can influence the amount of weight carried.
The nature of a hike is both by the natural environment and the applicable government regulations and hikers plan accordingly when considering equipment. To minimize the impact on the natural environment, many hikers follow the principles of "Leave No Trace".

Planning and checklists

According to Tom Brown, the basic plan for survival is in the order of shelter, water, fire, and food. Cody Lundin writes about the "Rule of 3s"; this relates to human survival without basics: three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water, or three weeks without food.
Hikers may take with them equipment ranging from a stout knife to ultralight backpacking, to the heaviest, most durable gear a hiker can carry. Checklists help to minimize the chance of forgetting something important.
Considerations for choice of hiking equipment may include:
A pack's capacity to carry items is determined by:
Commonly-used carrying methods include:
Some hikers divide their backpack into sections associated with specific needs, i.e. kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc., or by clothes, shelter, water, fire, and food. Military and law-enforcement personnel use a variety of modular and attachment systems, like duty belts, tactical vests, All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment, MOLLE, Improved Load Bearing Equipment, FILBE, and PLCE. Military surplus outlets are optional sources for backpacking equipment.
Construction quality may be determined by design, manufacturer reputation, advertised purpose, and field testing. Customer reviews are often posted online. Heavy pack fabrics are made from 800–1000 denier nylon material.
A large, heavy pack of weighs, and of water weighs. The best-made packs may carry up to twice their weight in water; less well-made packs may only carry half their weight in water. The British army bergen backpack, which has a capacity of carrying up to is made from 1000 denier nylon. Backpacks carrying more than usually have waist-belts to help with posture by transferring the weight to the hips. Some experts recommend keeping the equipment's total weight to less than 25% of the hiker's weight.

Apparel

Apparel, including clothing, jackets, shoes, hats, etc., provides insulation from heat, cold, water or fire. It shades the body and protects it from injury from thorns and insect bites.
Basic outdoor clothing materials are goose down, wool, polyester, and polyolefin, which provide similar degrees of insulation when dry. Wool and polyesters perform reasonably well for most weather conditions and provide some insulation while wet. Cotton/linen wicks moisture, good for hot/humid weather. Cotton, linen and down lose insulation when wet unless they are treated to be water-resistant.
Natural fabrics, such as cotton, linen and wool have higher burn temperatures, and they char instead of melting when exposed to flame. When a fabric melts onto skin it is difficult to remove, unlike a material that chars. Nomex is used for fire-resistant clothing. Wool is a good all-around fabric. Cotton and linen are best for hot weather and worst for cold, wet weather. Synthetics can be about the same as wool in the winter; many of them are fire hazards. Fabrics can be treated to help reduce their disadvantages.
Down is the lightest thermal-insulating material and compresses the most. Synthetics are next best. Wool is heavier than down and synthetics, and does not compress well. Stuff sacks and compression sacks are used for carrying insulated clothing and sleeping bags. Layered clothing allows for fine tuning of body temperature. The inner-base layer should wick away moisture. The mid-layer is used for the appropriate insulation, and the outer-shell layer provides wind and rain protection.
For long trips, having enough clothes to change into is helpful, while washing or drying others. An extra pair of socks can be used as mittens. Shorts for swimming and fording streams are also useful. Wet clothes do not insulate as well and can freeze while a hiker is wearing them. If a hiker falls into ice water, an immediate dry change of clothes from a dry bag can be lifesaving. Layered clothing helps regulate body temperature in varying weather conditions.
Gloves provide protection from blisters, abrasions, cold and hot objects, and insects. General purpose gloves are a thin glove-liners—wool may be preferred around campfires—combined with a pair of leather gloves. Glove liners often provide enough dexterity while not fully exposing the hands to freezing conditions. Shoes with traction reduce the chance of slipping, causing an injury or death. Shoes that support the ankle may also prevent injury. Well-constructed, breathable, waterproof hiking boots are general-purpose hiking shoes. Mountaineering boots provide more specialized protection. Trainers, sandals, or moccasins are useful for easy walks and may be taken on extended hikes as backup, and to wear when fording streams and in the evening around camp. Waterproof gaiters are used in cold or wet conditions to protect the lower pants and upper part of the shoes, and reduce the amount of water, snow, and debris from entering boots and soaking into other fabrics. Brush chaps or pants for thick brush or thorns, and snake chaps or gaiters help protect the legs from snake bites.

Hot-wet-weather clothing

High-altitude hikers encounter freezing conditions, even in summer, and there are also permanent glaciers and snowfields.

Overnight shelter

An overnight shelter may be as simple as a wool blanket and tarp, or a complete sleep-system inside a double-walled, four-season tent. Sleeping layers may be layered the same way as clothing layers: inner, mid, and outer shell. Bedding options range from a pillow made from clothes to a sleep system comprising sleeping pad, sleeping bag, bivouac shelter, bag liner, and compression sack. Shelter structures can be constructed from a tarpaulin, ground sheet, rope, poles, or trees, with a mosquito net. Rain poncho may be used as a ground sheet, or used as an overhead tarp, or rigged as a hammock. Tent hammocks comes with a bug net and overhead tarp. A cave, bivouac shelter, or debris shelter can also be used. Jungle shelters are used in jungles and tropical rainforest, where rainfall, mud, invertebrates, and snakes are common. A Venezuelan or jungle hammock is well ventilated, with a bug net and a covering tarpaulin. A platform can be built off the ground or tied into a tree. Trekking poles can be used to construct a shelter; they can be used as poles for a tarpaulin. Some tents are designed to use trekking poles in place of carrying additional poles, a technique common in ultralight backpacking.

Continuous clothing-sleeping layers

The line can blur or shift between clothing, bedding, and structural shelter. A rain-poncho and its thermal liner is an example of equipment that can be clothing, bedding, and structural shelter. Ultralight backpackers use typical cold-weather clothes to extend the temperature ranges of their sleepingbags. Then this reasoning can extend to packing a winter coat and snow pants with a bivy bag before adding a two-pound sleeping bag. Adding an insulated pair of socks or down booties would complete the insulation layer.
Given an unexpected turn toward cold weather, bedding can be converted to mobile insulation, but if the pack already contains those items, then time and energy are saved.

Basic equipment and abilities

The most basic hiking equipment is a stout knife, a pot, cordage, a few ways to make a fire, and equipment to carry water and other gear.
snow goggles function by reducing exposure to sunlight, not by reducing its intensity
Water needs to be drinkable. Hikers usually carry some, but do not carry all that they need, because it weighs one kilogram per liter, and hikers can consume 2-4+ liters per day. Additional water usually can be located, collected, filtered, and purified. All water in the wild is potentially unclean.
The details of locating water are beyond the scope of this article. The basics are using a map, knowing how water flows through and collects in certain geographical formations, and identifying which plants indicate shallow-underground water and contain easily accessed water. Heading downhill to streams, and looking for rich, green vegetation that may indicate a spring, are ways to start. Following bees and tracking animals to cisterns, knowing where to dig in apparent dry stream beds, and possibly waiting for night when vegetation releases water, are slightly more advanced techniques. Water can be collected in a clean container. Clear plastic bags can be used to make vegetation and solar stills. Dehydrated, chemical-free sponges can be used to wipe dew from vegetation, or tied to ankles before one walks through damp vegetation in the morning, soaking up water from wet rocks or sand. A flexible drinking straw can access water in a rock crack, or drink from a water still without opening it. Tarpaulins can also be used to collect rain water or dew.
To remove larger impurities, water can be filtered through grass, sand, charcoal or cloth, such as a bandana or pantyhose. Pantyhose can also be used as an emergency fishing net. Filtering water of larger impurities is a useful way to extend the life of commercial filters, preventing them from getting clogged quickly.
Water must be purified of harmful living organisms and chemicals. Some commercial filters can remove most organisms and some harmful chemicals, but they are not 100% effective. Distillation filters, purifies, and removes some harmful chemicals. Chemicals with a lower or about equal boiling point of water are not eliminated by distilling. Iodine or chlorine dioxide solutions or tablets can be used to purify water. It can be boil water in a fire-resistant pot or water bottle. Water can be boiled in some flammable materials like bark because the water absorbs the heat. Pasteurization takes place at temperatures lower than boiling point, but knowing the temperature of the water and calculating the duration of treatment can be difficult. This technique is useful when only non-durable containers are available. Sunlight can be used with a clear container. Filters made from heat-treated diatomaceous earth can also be used.

Transporting water

A wide-mouth, metal water bottle or a metal pot or cup can also be used to boil and transport water, and can be used fairly easily for cooking. A lid for the pot will help water to boil sooner, helps with cooking by requiring less fuel, and reduces water loss. Other containers for transporting water include appropriate plastic water bottles in materials like Nalgene. There are hard plastic bottles, and soft-collapsible bottles. A hydration pack tube freezes easily. A non-lubricated condom can hold up to two liters, but is very vulnerable to puncture. Placing a stick in the knot will allow it to be re-used. Breast milk bags are plastic bags that double-Ziploc, so they are easier to reseal than a condom and they do not puncture as easily. They are transparent, allowing solar purification and can be used as a magnifying lens to start a fire. Containers that may freeze with water in them may allow for 10% expansion; they may be filled to 90%. Oral rehydration therapy packets can be added to water to help replace electrolytes.

Fire kit

needs ignition, oxygen, and fuel, and the ability to be extinguish. Ignition can come from a spark, a chemical reaction, electricity, or concentrated solar energy. The more oxygen involved, the easier the fire starts and the hotter it burns. Organic material must either be dry or the fire must be hot enough to dry it and burn it. Fraying organic material is more combustible as a tinder. Grain dust and granulated sugar can ignite when oxygenated over a flame.
designed for fire starting
in a hobo stove
Sources of ignition include flint, carbon steel, firesteel and a sharp edge, matches, butane and Zippo, and peanut lighters, and magnifying glasses.
Fuels include natural substances like dry wood, peat and coal. pitch, petroleum jelly, charred cotton, shaved rubber, and frayed synthetic cloth can be used as kindling. Candles provide illumination and can help start a fire. Alcohol, DIY and commercial alcohol stoves are made and carried by hikers. Oil, petroleum, vegetable, and tallow can help start and feed a fire. Propane bottles are made for backpacking. Charcoal or briquettes could be packed in the fire.
Sure fire is a way to start a fire in bad conditions or when a hiker has no man-made equipment, like when the fuel is wet, or the lighter has run out of fuel. Some hikers will carry tinder in a few forms, such as a few cotton balls soaked in pure petroleum jelly, fat wood. Alcohol-wipes and alcohol-hand-sanitizers are other options. Vegetable oils, and some fruit oils, like olive oil, coconut oil, corn chips, or nuts are edible and can be used to help start a fire because of the oil in them. "Bad" conditions also includes high altitude because of less oxygen, high winds blowing out a fire, high humidity that soaks either the fuel source or the igniter.
To extinguish a campfire, see extinguishing a campfire. Knowing ways to survive a wildfire may also be helpful.

Cordage

Cordage provides the abilities to bind, build, repair, and prevent damage. It comes in many sizes and materials, and can be used for building shelters and traps, flossing teeth, fishing, repairing and making clothes, replacing shoelaces, gluing or taping things together. Many cordages are made from natural materials. Some types of cordage are:
There are a variety of containers for organizing and keeping equipment dry:
Military ready meals provide a wide range of food options for hikers; they tend to be higher in fat and salt than is appropriate for sedentary people. The meals are not dehydrated, and are not intended for more than a few days of hiking. Most of them are not designed to minimize the space they take in a pack.
In addition to a food's expiration date, the main considerations for hiking food are water content, caloric density, and nutritional density. Water weighs, so a food container can weigh up to less when it contains dehydrated food. Dehydrating foods can reduce weight and may reduce nutrition while increasing the need for water to reconstitute the food. More weight also expends more energy, so packing lighter foods reduces the need for more calories. Calories equate to energy. Nutrition becomes more important as the number of hiking days increases; for example MREs are not intended to be used beyond ten days. Multi-vitamins may help offset some nutrition deficiencies.
The three macronutrients are fats, carbohydrates, and protein. Fats are calorie dense and nutritionally important, nuts are a good example. Carbohydrates that release energy slowly give sustained energy, such as legumes and whole grains. Some sources of protein are meats, dairy products, fish, eggs, whole grains, pulses, legumes, and nuts. These are the reasons that "trail" mix usually has dried fruit and a variety of nuts. Nuts and dried fruit can last a long time based on their expiration date. The USDA's page on expiration dates is available online.
Not all food needs to be dehydrated or dried. When a hiker plans to carry a couple liters of water, that is 4.4 pounds of water weight that can be carried in fresh fruits and vegetables for the first day. The same is true for other foods based on their water-weight. Depending on which ones are chosen, this can eliminate or reduce the need for cooking, and the reconstitution time. One of the first meals on a hike could be a Greek salad with a fruit cocktail, followed later with refried beans and tortillas. Nut-butter and honey sandwiches on flatbread can last longer depending on the preservatives in the bread and nut-butter. The same is true for canned goods, most of the weight is in the water. Selecting a canned food is the same: calorie and nutritional dense. Using this can put a hiker down the trail a day or two with little difference in the foods normally eaten.
Taking foods that do not require cooking provides for higher mobility, and allows for the contingencies of not having a fire, the cook stove breaking, or running out of fuel. In general, the foods in a grocery store that are not in the refrigerated-freezer sections, are available for the trail.
No-bake home-made "energy" protein bars may contain oatmeal, ground flaxseed, arrowroot powder, peanut butter, powdered nuts, chopped nuts, coconut oil, coconut flakes, dried fruit, cinnamon, cooked beans, and natural sweeteners, like honey; they may also be baked. Baked versions may contain natural sweeteners like bananas, applesauce, grated carrots and zucchini. Either way, they and the no-bake ingredients may be used for the trail.
Flavor enhancers: salt, salt substitute, powdered peppers, spices, dried herbs, powdered bullion or cubes, hot sauce.
If food supplies run out, a field guide to edible, medicinal, and poisonous plants may be useful. Or a hiker could study them ahead of time. As the movie "Into the Wild" brought out, some poisonous plants look like edible plants. He had a field guide with him but did not notice the details well enough.
Vegan note: The equipment in this article comes from hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, balanced with how much a hiker wants to carry and is willing to risk. Within that context, if the worse scenario happens and starvation is imminent, then it may be too late to choose and learn and be able to fish and trap. As neutrally stated, the decision becomes an informed choice.
If hikers plan their food carefully, they may wind up eating more healthily on the trail.

Refrigeration

Water and food can be cooled in snow. Evaporation causes cooling and is used in the pot-in-pot refrigerator. Placing green grass or a sponge into a hat and soaking it with water is another technique. Bottled water can be cooled in a stream.

Cooking

Ultralight backpackers rely only on food that does not need cooking, and reconstitute dehydrated, pre-cooked food without cooking it. A hot drink or meal may help someone with a lower body temperature or help boost morale. In an emergency, most locations would supply material for a fire, as long as there was a container that could withstand the heat. Some options and tradeoffs for choosing equipment.
Cooking options
Cooking options may range from a candle to a bonfire, and may include a solar oven, or a Fresnel lens, or more typical tools and other options:
Common utensils: knife, fork, spoon, and spork. A butter knife may not be an optimal weight item considering that other knives may be available, or at least it may be sharpened. Utensils may be carved from wood. A fork spears food, so can a sharp stick or a knife. Sporks trade off the volume of the spoon with the ability to spear food. A mid-sized, sturdy metal spoon may be used for cooking, eating, and digging. Even if not cooking, utensils can be useful as tools.
Equipment not already in the kitchen.
Handheld-waterproof electronics with spare batteries for critical gear. Some devices come with different power options: solar, hand-crank, and/or USB. And then there are portable solar-charging systems. Depending on electronics to work in life-and-death situations means that the hiker's life is at risk when the equipment fails.
in a rainforest, Cameroon
s with rawhide webbing

Additional equipment

s may be compiled from multiple sources, and then tailored to fit a hiker's preferences, and adjusted for specific hikes.
The possible hazards of hiking may affect equipment choices and decisions about which skills are important to learn. Hazards encountered by hikers include: