what's going on hikers in today's video
I'm gonna give you five beginner
mistakes that you could make on trail if
you're new to the channel my name is Joe
my stringer and here we talk about all
things hiking and backpacking so if
you're into that kind of thing consider
subscribing yes we've all made our fair
share of mistakes I know I've made many
of these and if you've been hiking for a
while you've probably made some of them
too
let me save you some pain and agony if
you haven't experienced these mistakes
these are in no particular order
starting with number 1 kicking yourself
yeah pick this title because it sounds
better than poor shoe choice you get it
kicking feet yeah you get it
so my first backpacking trip I went to
my local shoe store and I said I need a
pair of hiking boots I'm about to go on
a backpacking trip for 4 days like ok
follow me and I said which one of these
are on sale and they said all right here
you go try them on and I was like oh
these are ok I guess I'll take them plus
or Unseld so I'm saving some money
brought them home so I was 14 thought
they'd work that's about what size I
wear you know just around and start
backpacking got 10 miles in on my first
day first time I've ever worn them
backpacking first time I've been
backpacking and took them off and I was
like man my feet are big and not just
big because they're big but these feet
are swelled up they're not fitting in my
shoes properly so I would suggest
whenever you go to buy your shoes make
sure you get the right size by possibly
going after you've worked all day if
you've been standing a lot and that's
going to give you an idea of how much
your feet are we're going to be swelled
while you're out backpacking another
thing to consider is you could go up a
half size or maybe even a full size
depending on the shoe brand like now
I've been using ultra and going with the
trail runner instead and I get a size 15
which is around the size that I would
normally wear look about a half size
bigger number two everything but the
kitchen sink the other day I was I was
going through some old papers and I
a list of everything everything even my
food that I took on my first backpacking
trip and I thought man I brought
everything but the kitchen sink actually
I may make a video of that on the future
let me know if you'd want to see that
going through and taking a specific look
on each item that I brought on the first
trip I brought duplicates of all kinds
of stuff stuff I didn't need I don't
know if I thought I was going out there
B Bear Grylls or what survivor man and
you know after looking back I was like
why would I ever need any of this so
don't bring everything but the kitchen
sink
I would suggest doing small backpacking
trips especially if you're starting out
and then make a checklist of everything
you brought and when you get home
checklist off or a check mark off the
stuff that you actually used and then
maybe put a tally next to the things
that you didn't use and if you take an
item on two or three trips and you
haven't touched it you probably don't
need to bring that out of me more number
three gear know how guys you got to know
how to use your gear so I made this
mistake I get out there and I try to set
something up or use something and I'm
like wait oh yeah I didn't bring the
instructions with me I don't even know
if I know how to use this so save
yourself some hassle try it out at home
you may find that it's a piece of gear
that you never would actually use on
trail it look like a good idea at the
store and then you get home and you try
it out and you're like why did I ever
buy this I'm taking it back and getting
my money back
number four too much to choose sometimes
we bought off more than we can chew I've
been there I've actually gotten injured
on trail while doing that trying to hike
too many miles it could be physical it
could be something like hey you know
what I think I'm gonna go hock this
14,000 foot mountain and each day I'm
gonna do 15 miles a day well I just I
physically can't do it my physical
abilities will not allow me to do that
or it could be mental I've been on trail
especially on a thru-hike and people
have had to bail out because their mind
is just not in it you know they say
things like this trail has beat me up so
much I'm just mentally not checked in
I'm done
gonna bill and you got to do what's best
for you so make sure you're not biting
off more than you can chew whenever
you're scheduling out what trail you're
doing number five cotton keels I'm
serious on this one cut and you get it
wet it loses all of its insulation value
you get soaking wet out there wearing
cotton who gets cold you can die from
hypothermia I made the mistake of
bringing cotton socks whenever I went on
my first backpacking trip and those
actually wore through there were literal
holes in the socks by the time I was
done and what you could do to avoid this
this whole cotton situation is wear
synthetic clothing or wool or a wool
blend especially my socks I always go
with the wool blend my shirts I'll
normally wear something like this an
athletic tee or an athleisure and then
under wearing pants also synthetic I
want to hear some of the mistakes that
you've made while you've been on trail
so if you would share in the comments
below what are some of the biggest
mistakes that you've made while
backpacking folks I hope you enjoyed the
video if you did make sure you like
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