Sports Show
Avoid beginner mistakes with hike to backpacking seminar
The first time I took my sister backpacking, I let her mostly pack for herself.
I gave her some tips and answered questions, but mostly let her succeed or fail on her own.
For the most part, she did well: not too many clothes, the right amount of food, a balanced pack. And then we got to the campsite at Big Bend State Park in Texas, and she pulled out a full-size tube of toothpaste. Sigh. Even if you’ve been hiking or camping for years, backpacking is a different beast. And while it can seem intimidating — and some think expensive — to get into, a little instruction or assistance from someone who’s done it before can go a long way to avoiding beginner mistakes.
Sarah Mayer of Waukesha has been teaching backpacking and other outdoors classes at REI for six years, including an increasing number of women-specific classes. She will bring a version of the co-op’s Backpacking 101 class to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports Show at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
“We try to keep it basic, so we touch on basically the gear that you’re going to need, what you need to do before you go,” Mayer said.
Planning is key, she said, and that includes deciding where to go and what resources you have on where you’re going, from field guides to trail maps.
“We really focus on the Ice Age Trail, because that’s kind of our local backpacking option, and it’s such a great trail,” she said. “We really promote the Ice Age Trail and we work closely with the Ice Age Trail Alliance, they’re one of our grant recipients, too . ... They’re a great ally in helping us to get folks outside, and that’s one of our goals with these classes especially.”
Mayer said one of the biggest concerns beginner backpackers have is gear.
“I think a lot of my feedback that I get from folks who are just starting out is they have a budget, and they want to stick to that budget, and it’s totally understandable, and they ask what are the first big things I should buy,” she said.
Mayer suggested a sleeping bag as the first bigticket item you buy, since “that’s really personal.” You can rent or borrow tents and backpacks from stores and organizations like the Urban Ecology Center. The internet is also full of ideas for making gear, like a lightweight alcohol stove made out of a tuna can.
Mayer said some mistakes beginners make are buying a backpack that doesn’t fit properly (REI staff can help with that, she said), hiking in brand-new boots that aren’t broken in, or overpacking — like bringing a big tube of toothpaste when you could have shared or brought a travel-size.
And while the “big three” backpacking gear items (sleeping system, shelter, backpack) are important, Mayer is partial to a smaller piece of gear.
“Even though it’s used sparingly, a good rain coat and rain pants — because that could make or break it for someone,” she said.
And no matter how prepared or experienced you are, there will be challenges, of course: rainy days and muggy nights, hordes of mosquitoes and threats of bears, blisters and scrapes and sore muscles.
But in the end, backpacking can take you places and provide you with experiences that no other sport or mode of transportation can.
“It’s solitude, it’s beauty, it’s probably the most selfsustaining you can get on a short-term basis,” Mayer said. “Sometimes it’s the only way you can get to some of the most scenic places.”