A walk outdoors can be a real pleasure, however, if you take a hike plan poorly or badly equipped, you may regret your experience greatly. Before leaving, here are some essential tips to follow for a ride well done.
Clothing for a successful outdoor excursion:
Hiking boots for hiking in the mountains or walking shoes for flat ground. Make sure you have shoes or boots with good quality breathing. Long pants or leggings. Short for the months May-September through November with a legging. Bring the two is a good idea. Sweater or polypropylene wool.
Absolutely avoid cotton is a fabric that dries poorly and stays wet and then lose its heat capacity. But if you use it, have a change of underwear. For more comfort, choose clothes made of synthetic fabrics or combination synthetic cotton. For more comfort, go for the multilayer system that you can adjust according to temperature. For walking more pleasant, all clothing must be composed of fabrics that breathe. In terms of pants, is the ideal pant with zippers that can turn into shorts or long pants to shorts as needed. For the sweater, use one of polypropylene or wool. So collect your gear what you required for outdoor activities.
In winter or cold weather, it is particularly important to protect the head during long walks. This may lead to escape until nearly half of our body heat. Remember to cover your ears and forehead. While these materials are vulnerable to frostbite, the latter, if it gets too cold, you could go blind. It is also important to protect yourself with a good neck scarf or neck warmer, this being the basis of our heating system. Arteries passing off, an exposed neck as you could cause significant heat loss. Our ends are devoid of fat, the blood flow is the only thing that keeps them warm. In cold weather, these little bits will be the first to freeze. If you are cold, do not go drink a hot tea. The high temperature of the latter rather sends the opposite message to your body, giving it a feeling of warmth that will last long unfortunately. Alcohol has the same effect by dilating blood vessels. Instead, drink something cold, without being frozen. To stay warm while you adapt to temperature changes, whether external or internal, multi-layer system will be your best ally, from head to toe.
Tips to get boots or shoes suitable for hiking:
Note that the sneakers are not recommended. They help the development of blisters and in some parks, trails guards may even deny you access to the trail with them. Choose shoes based on the type of hiking that we project to practice (eg urban hiking, long or short, etc.). Choose a shoe that offers good support for the ankle that breathes and has a grip sole. The shoe is suitable rigid. It has an average weight, offers good support and protects the ankle.
Go to a good specialty shop and take the time to try both boots and walk to the store. A low synthetic fibers (polyester or polypropylene) covered by a sock or may not contain a portion of polyester is ideal. Unlike cotton, synthetic fibers do not absorb a very small percentage of their weight in water and expel the rest of the moisture away. Walking sticks are an optional accessory, but this item is intended as a helpful companion when hiking. These could save you up to 20% and energetically downhill, they save the joints and muscles.
What you need to find in your bag touring:
- Bottle of water, allow at least 2 liters per person.
- Food, fresh fruits, nuts, energy bars, etc..
- Hat, gloves or mittens for the months from September to May
- Extra pair of socks.
- Windproof lighter, high in the mountains, it sales almost always and often quite strongly.
- One or two additional t-shirts.
- Sunscreen, altitude, ultraviolet rays are aggressive.
- Sunglasses.
- Insect repellent lotion essential from May to August.
- Plastic bag to reduce your waste.
- Garbage bag to protect your clothes in the backpack in case of rain.
- Toilet paper.
- Small first aid kit.
- Whistle.
- A flashlight.
How to get a good bag for hiking:
A good backpack will own compression straps at the waist to reduce the weight of the bag on his shoulders. It is important to spread the load in your bag for hiking it is easy to carry. This is how the load that will make all the difference. The center of gravity of the bag should be as close to the back. To do this, the heaviest elements (usually food and water) must be placed at 2/3 of the height of the bag (shoulder blades) and as close as possible back. We put the lighter elements (sleeping bags and clothing) at the bottom of the bag. We must also consider the utility. The most useful things must be easily accessible. So even if the clothes must be put at the bottom of the bag, clothes for the day can be placed on top to avoid having to undo his entire bag for a pair of gloves. It’s the same for food, snacks for the day on top or in the head of the bag. Care must be taken by putting food in the head of the bag, because this part is very often exposed to sunlight and its contents can heat up quickly. Chocolate bars may suffer.
Avoid hanging objects swinging. If you must place items in your bag, make sure you keep them to prevent them from swaying from left to right during the hike. It can be uncomfortable, because you will always feel the bag unbalanced and more noise can be annoying. Avoid overloading your bag. The weight of your bag must not exceed one third of your body weight. Generally, a bag of 30 to 40 pounds is a reasonable weight for a hike of two or three days.
