#ANDREW SURKA BACKPACKING CHECKLIST HOW TO#
In fact, I teach my students inside of my backpacking program, Become an Outdoor Backpacking Badass, specifically how to be self-sufficient and confident in their own skills outdoors so they can actually take some REAL OWNERSHIP of their safety… instead of always leaving it to chance or hoping others will help them out. Look, hiking doesn’t need to be overwhelming, but I am a big fan of being prepared for the worst case scenario. But I guarantee you that wasn’t part of their Half Dome hiking plan. Luckily, they decided to wait it out at the campground (with the help and supplies of strangers camping there) instead of risking it and wandering down the trail at night. So their fun Half Dome day hike could have gone from good to bad in an instant, simply because they didn’t come prepared with the essential hiking gear for their worst case scenario - which for them was that the hike took them much longer than anticipated. They also had no jackets, and in the mountains, it can go from warm to very cold very quickly after the sun sets.
I started to get a little concerned because for one, they had no headlamps and it was almost dark (they were using their phone for lighting), and two, they didn’t seem prepared with any sort of map or GPS or way to find their whereabouts on the trail. The sun was starting to set, and they came up to us and asked, “Do any of you know which trail is the correct trail back down?” When we were filling up our Camelbaks with water to get a head start for the next day, we ran into a couple of day hikers making their way back down from Half Dome. We had just completed a summit of Half Dome and were camping in Little Yosemite Valley for the evening before we ventured further into the backcountry the following day. I was backpacking with a few friends of mine one time in Yosemite’s backcountry, and the first leg of our trip was up the very popular Half Dome route (which many people day hike). Let me tell you a quick story, to emphasize why it’s important to have some key safety essentials on your hiking gear list whenever you head out and hit the trails.
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