A Beginner's Guide to Hiking
tips for How to get started hiking
The author, Felicia Hermosillo, at Pear Lake in Idaho
Have you dreamed about beautiful landscapes, gazing at the reflection of the mountains in an alpine lake, or walking a trail carpeted with colorful autumn leaves? Is it a lack of experience that keeps you inside, away from the outdoors and wild places?
Remember: all adventurers once had a first step into the outdoors. You too can develop your skills, little by little. Here are some steps a beginner hiker can take to start enjoying the natural world while safely increasing outdoor skills to become an experienced hiker.
En español: El Senderismo para principiantes
The author with hiking partners in New Mexico
Choosing a trail and a partner
The first step to hiking is to choose where you want to go and who you want to go with.
Most communities have a few trails nearby. You don't have to go to a national park to find a trail.
Finding a hiking trail is a matter of asking friends or searching the internet for hikes nearby. We suggest starting on a local, easy trail that’s six miles (or less!) in length. A good beginner hike has little or no elevation gain. Someone who’s physically fit can generally walk a flat trail at a pace of two miles an hour. The trail should also have cell phone signal, just in case something unexpected happens. Cell service is less likely to be found on backcountry trails.
Your hiking partner should either be someone who already knows the trail or a fellow hiker like you, with the same goals and/or the same level of physical fitness. As a beginner hiker, having a hiking buddy who is either an experienced hiker or who is also interested in day hiking and learning about how to gain more hiking experience.
Hiking Etiquette
Like in other parts of society, there are certain norms for behavior in outdoor spaces.
The Seven Principles of Leave No Trace can be used as best practices to help guide your thinking:
Plan Ahead and Prepare
Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
Dispose of Waste Properly
Leave What You Find
Minimize Campfire Impacts
Respect Wildlife
Be Considerate of Other Visitors
The three we feel are most important as you start hiking are the first three, which we’ll explain in more detail.
The author, with a friend, using gloves, raincoat, and a rain gear.
Principle 1: Plan Ahead and Prepare
The first principle is all about making sure you’re as ready as possible for any difficulties you might face while hiking. You’ll want to make sure you’re choosing the appropriate hiking gear, bringing along snacks to fuel your adventure and a first aid kit to tend to any small injuries, and leaving an itinerary with your emergency contacts - just in case.
Choosing the appropriate gear
For starters, as a beginner hiker, you don't need the latest and greatest equipment. You can use what you already have. In fact, we recommend doing a few hikes to better know what you need before you invest in new equipment.
For a day hike where you won’t be out overnight on a backpacking trip. You don't need a specific hiking backpack. Any backpack works. You should always carry what many people call the Ten Essentials, to be as safe as possible.
Hiking Essentials
Map or some sort of navigation - you can learn how to read it here
Compass - you can learn how to use one here
Sunglasses and sunscreen
Waterproof clothing, a long-sleeved shirt, and gloves
Headlamp (see our Best Headlamps guide for suggestions)
First aid kit
A lighter (or matches, if you prefer)
Water - you’ll need to carry and drink 1 liter per person for every two and a half hours of hiking
Extra snacks - you won’t need much, but just in case!
For a short hike, you don't need the backpacking gear like a tent, sleeping bag, or other backpacking gear.
Hiking Tip: Dress in Layers
When it comes to clothing, it’s important to dress in layers. Always check the weather before you head out on a hiking trip. Make sure you’re bringing the appropriate clothing for changes in weather, like a rain jacket or waterproof jacket.
With hiking clothes, try to avoid cotton, if you can, since it loses its warmth once it gets wet and takes a long time to dry. Look for fabrics that are "quick dry" for your shirts, socks, and hiking pants. When you’re first starting out, there’s no need to get any
Related: The Best Rain Jackets
Hiking Footwear
If you’re following our recommendation of starting out with easy hikes, any type of comfortable shoe works - but know they will likely get dirty, so choose accordingly.
If you keep hiking, you might want to consider investing in some Hiking Footwear.
We recommend that your first investment be a good hiking sock, which can help prevent blisters and can help your feet from getting too hot or too cold. See our Best Hiking Socks story for our suggestions.
Then, we recommend investing in hiking shoes or boots. Depending on how much you want to spend and how much support you’d like in a shoe, you may want a hiking shoe, hiking boots, or trail running shoes. See our guide to Hiking Shoes, Hiking Boots, Trail Runners (men’s and women’s), and Lightweight Hiking Boots to help you decide what is best for you.
You may also want to look into trekking poles or hiking poles, especially if you have knee or joint issues. See our guide to The Best Trekking Poles for our suggestions.
What food to bring hiking
For food and snacks, how much you should bring depends on the length of the day hike. Remember, a person can generally walk two miles per hour on a flat trail. If the trail climbs upwards or is at higher elevation (above 8,000 feet), you’ll probably take a bit longer because it can be more difficult to breathe at altitude.
A good guideline is that everyone will need about 200 calories per hour; using this estimate, you can calculate how much food you’ll need to bring along. For example, if the hike is 6 miles long and not too steep, it's likely to take around three hours to day hike - which means you’ll need about 600 calories. We suggest bringing a mix of sweet and savory foods along - protein bars, fruits that travel well (like apples or oranges), nuts, dried fruits, trail mix, cookies, chocolate, and chips are all good choices.
An example of a selection of snacks for one person for a hike lasting up to six hours. We recommend bringing a little extra, so you don’t go hungry.
First-aid Kit for Hiking
Since you can’t anticipate everything that will happen on a hiking adventure, it’s important to be prepared and able to improvise.
You should carry a first aid kit that includes:
band-aids
aspirin and/or ibuprofen
allergy medications (such as benadryl)
alcohol wipes
hand sanitizer
An example of a first aid kit from www.thehikinglife.com. For a hike where you’ll be home before dark, you’re unlikely to need the toothbrush or toothpaste
Itinerary and Emergency Contacts
Before you leave on your hike, it’s important that you communicate your itinerary to two people. This itinerary should include the name of the trail, the distance, where the trail is located (what park or forest), your planned route, and the time you expect to complete the trail and return home. Once home, contact these people to notify them of your safe return. If your contacts don't hear from you, let them know that they should try to check in with you - and if they can’t reach you, that they should call the police and your family.
You and your hiking partners should let each other know who your emergency contacts are. It's also a good idea to review your first aid kits together, to get a better idea of the resources you’ll have available should something go wrong.
Make sure any children hiking with you stay in sight of an adult for the duration of the hike, to prevent them from getting lost or injured. In most places, pets must be kept on a leash and under control to protect vegetation wild animals, and other people, who may dislike or be afraid of dogs. You likely won't need bear spray for a hike and are unlikely to encounter dangerous animals on your hike. In fact, bear spray is not allowed in many national parks and trails.
Related: The Best Personal Locator Beacons and Satellite Messengers
This “braided trail” is an example of the erosion that happens when people leave the trail, often to try to avoid mud. It’s okay to get a little dirty to preserve the trail - you can always clean up when you get home. Photo by Amanda Jameson.
Principle 2: Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
It’s important to stay on the trail - you likely came here to see the beauty of nature, so it’s important to protect that beauty.
Don't take shortcuts because you think you've found a more direct route; trails are built to prevent erosion, and when you make your own trail, it damages the landscape. Likewise, if you’re trying to grab that epic photo, don’t go off trail to do it, unless you can do so by stepping on hard surfaces like stones and rocks rather than the fragile vegetation around the trail.
Principle 3: Dispose of Waste Properly
When you make a habit of hiking, eventually you’re going to have to go to the bathroom outside. Urine contains salt that attracts various animals - so if you urinate on plants or flowers, the animals will eat them to get at the salt. Instead, urinate on a hard surface, such as rocks, dirt, or sand.
It’s disgusting and unhygienic to find human feces and used toilet paper along the trail - so bury your human waste and pack out used toilet paper. www.thewalkumentary.com
To defecate, go 200 feet away from any nearby water source, and at least 100 feet from any trail. Dig a hole six inches deep and six inches wide - while you can dig with your hands, we recommend carrying a trowdl instead - then squat over the hole and do the deed. Once you finish and wipe, take a stick and mix a little of the dirt from the hole with your feces, then fill the hole back in the rest of the way. After you relieve yourself, use rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer to clean your hands.
Make sure you take all used toilet paper, cleaning wipes, and feminine products with you for disposal in a trash can once you’re out of the woods. It may seem gross, but none of these products decompose, and animals can get sick from digging them up and eating them. One way to carry these used products out with you discreetly is by using dog waste bags, since they are usually opaque and durable.
We hope that each hiking tip in this guide will help you gain hiking experience. The more you hike, you will find yourself going from a beginner hiker to an experienced hiker.
Now that you know how to get started safely, grab a friend and a map, and go enjoy the outdoors responsibly. That beautiful view is waiting!
