Monday, April 21, 2014

How To Prepare For A Multi-Day Hike

By Kamryn Mattson


For those who love to hike, you might be thinking about taking your day treks a bit further and enjoy some overnight and multi-day hikes. This is a great way to enjoy some spectacular scenery that is only accessible by foot. It's definitely a challenge to backpack for many days, but here are some tips that can make it easier.

Preparation for these long, multi-day adventures is highly important. You can't simply hop from simple weekly hikes and then expect to be ready to spend a week or more traversing the Pacific Coast Trail or the Grand Canyon. It takes time to build up the stamina that you will need for these big hiking trips, so be sure to begin training months before you go. If your hike will be taking place at a high elevation, it is wise to train at higher elevations prior to the big trip. Elevation can be quite difficult, so in addition to training at higher elevations, work on improving your cardiovascular health.

Your feet can be your best friends or your worst enemy on the trail, so protecting the feet is one of the most important things you can do to ensure a great hiking experience. Find the best possible, highest quality hiking boots as well as buying proper hiking socks and other helpful items, such as moleskin. Don't wear new boots on this big trip, break them in first and break them in while hiking with a full backpack. Assess any areas that seem to rub a particular area of your foot and find solutions to these problems to prevent blisters.

Your backpack is also important and it needs to fit well and be large enough to hold all of the supplies you will need, such as a water bladder, water purifier and food. As with hiking boots, you need to actually go to a store and try on this item. Do go to a store where the staff is comprised of people who actually know something about hiking and backpacking. Get measured and try on the pack before you buy.

While you might be worried about bears and wildlife, muscle pain is another problem you might have to deal with on the trail. Obviously, you can't simply relax on a couch and plop a bag of ice on your sore muscle, and you also can't just stop your hike. So if you are out in the wilderness and encounter muscle pain, simply apply a physiological hybrid shape to the sore area and you should be able to hike on with less pain.

These shapes are a type of muscle support remedy that contains no medicines or drugs, but instead provide support and pain relief by acting like an exo-skeleton for a muscle that is sore. The physiological hybrid shape features a unique design, and the center point of the shape provides structure while the "arms" of the shape borrow stability and strength from underlying muscles, ligaments or tendons. There are physiological hybrid shapes designed to provide shoulder pain relief, lower back pain relief, upper back pain relief, shoulder pain relief and knee support. They are also lightweight, which makes them easy for backpackers to tote.




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