Hiking Tips

Purchasing

Backpack - prefer packs with tie down openings and top loaders with few back pockets
Boots - wax boots and other waterproof material
Tent - prefer free standing

For steep slopes. Ascend and descend using these tips:
- Zig zag across the narrow trail or duck walk for steep inclines
- Keep the heel down and always straighten your lower leg when ascending and pushing up or descending and landing down.
Shake boots every morning in case

Check health insurance
Trip plan with a contact:
- Names and phone numbers
- Where: area, map, route
- Time and schedule
- Emergency contact
Site registration & booking
Pad backpacks with garbage bags for waterproofing
Pack sack with lighter items on bottom and heavier ones on top near back
Pull pack compression straps for minimize pack size

Choose a camp that is can be reserved and not a drive in one
Trails should be short and managed and have kitchen facilities
Let kids do what they are interested in and ensure their safety. Rope up with them if needed
Avoid ground squirrels, they can carry the plague and fleas.
Keep dogs leashed.

Avoid other mammals (moose, deer, bison, cats)
- Cougars: travel in groups, pepper spray, be aggressive
For photography, choose a foreground and background
Seton watch: be still for 10 or more minutes in wilderness
Don’t run, especially in rugged terrain.
Yield to horses and bikes.
Don’t cross streams more the thigh deep. Wait until next morning or later in day after mid day melt.

To fan a fire, add oxygen by blowing into fire with a diamond shape with your two hands in front of your mouth.
Hang food up to prevent bears from getting it. Either use pulley with 2 ropes or one rope slung over branch and tied to bottom. At least 3 m up
Knots for tarps and clothes lines - overhand loop knot - knots two ropes together, pop knot for securing lines to stakes - tie a loss knot, pull rope through stake, tie another knot with end through first loose knot
When bathing or going to toilet, rinse well away from water sources.
To make kindling wood, split branches lengthwise. Knife at branch end and tap knife down with another branch
For tarps, place a sapling in cross of tree, spread tarp over sapling. Weigh/stake tarp. Tripods work well as frame for tarp.

Site selection: Clear ground around fire to ground and 1 foot from fire.
- Pack stones with mud
- Choose site close to water, rocks, or sand
- Avoid trees (smoke inhalation may cause breathing problems)
Starting:
- matches and sandpaper, matches dipped in nail polish = safety matches
- Use lighter
- Flint + steel, iron strike on glassy stones (flint, quartz, agate, jasper)
- Fire by friction (drill a hole). Cedar is best.
- Other: battery ends, ammunition and guns
- Tinder: shredded bark, paper/cotton fuzz, nests, gasoline/alcohol from stove, rags
- Fuel: softwoods are best, esp. dry/standing

During thunder crouch down low in a depression. Avoid trees. Avoid being the tallest thing in an area.
Slip feet in pack for warmth.
Dip burns in streams
For Mosquitos bite, create a t-shaped indentation on top of the bite with fingernails.

Dig holes for poop well away from run off or water levels. Dig 6-8 inches down and stir poop with soil with stick.
Make latrines for large groups. Dig a trench that is 6-8 inches deep lengthwise. Place stick for stirring and shovel to fill in trench as people use it.

Rope = plant roots
Bowls, logs, = Burn logs/branches to size if needed. Fire can born holes and bowls.
Shingles/roofing = Bark
Insulation = moss = also sponge for cuts, toilet paper
Bed = spruce evergreen leaves

Cliffs, caves, rock piles (check safety)
Lean to: two trees carry ridge and pile on boughs for sloping roofs
Igloo: cut trench, pile snow blocks on top or tree materials. Curved dome is the secret to building. Koodlik = heating and light lamp used by Inuit.