Hiking gear – learning from your mistakes and fixing them
Have you ever returned from a hiking trip and thought?
- never again, it is all too hard, too heavy and too difficult
- my pack was loaded badly
- my tent was too heavy
- my food was awful
Matthias, a fellow blogger and mate at Matt Worldwide posted a fantastic , detailed analysis recently on the lessons he has learnt from his first two Australian bushwalks.
A very thoughtful and thorough blogger, Matthias has put together a long post about his preparations to undertake the South Coast Track in Tasmania over Easter. We highly recommend you read his full post Preparing for a 10 day hike in South West Tasmania
Here are a few of the key points he has identified and tried to fix. We will look forward to his post trip report to determine if he has been successful!!
Mark at Louisa Bay – strapping on his gear – he carried around 30kg and regretted it!
- My backpack was badly set up and caused me pain in back and shoulders.
- My backpack was too heavy, I carried too much stuff
- I carried too much food, and what I carried was too heavy (e.g. cans or fruit cake).
- I didn’t carry mosquito repellent.
- Cotton clothing, not really suitable for hiking.
- I had blisters on my feet all the time.
- With only a 1 litre bottle I ran out of water sometimes.
- No real rain protection (it was summer so a light poncho-like jacket did the trick).
- Food planning and the positioning of stuff in my backpack in general was too complicated. On most days I didn’t have lunch because I didn’t want to unpack everything. I didn’t carry real lunch food anyway, only snacks, so I simply walked on to the next camp and had early dinner. It didn’t bother me much, once I start walking I can walk the whole day without eating much, but I think it would be beneficial to have a lunch break.
- My tent was too heavy and took up lots of space.
Read Matthias’s full post Preparing for a 10 day hike in South West Tasmania, it is great information.
Does all or some of this sound familiar? It does to us, so we will be keen to read how Matthias’ improvements to his hiking gear set up works after he completes the South Coast Track.
We would love your comments about how you have modified your gear over time and what you would change if you could.
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Things strapped on the outside of pack is usually a very bad sign.
Hi Ken,
Thanks for the comment. You are right. The photo is of a mate of ours a few weeks ago on the South Coast Track. It was his first major hike for 15-20 years and he ran into a “few problems” BUT had a ball.
He is now in the market for a new pack, tent, mat etc……
Always appreciate you dropping by.
Frank
definatley follow the lighter is better rule.and i learnt from an old guy, to carry a decent sized bumbag reversed, you can carry 4by 500ml bottles of water and suitable munchies and also small needed things at the front,which also seems to balance the body a little better,was a very handy trick,and the wearing of a laden backpack whilst exercising prior to trip also is a benefit