Wilderness Backpacking for Beginners
Have you always wanted to do more backpacking in the great outdoors, but felt intimidated? In less than a week, this course will teach you how to plan a safe and successful trip so you can enjoy nature while living out of your backpack!
Featuring Jesse Blough, Ultra-Endurance Athlete
Format
Daily lessons delivered straight to your inbox, completely mobile-friendly
Duration
5 days
Time
5 minutes per lesson
What you will learn
- How to plan backpacking routes based on factors like seasonality, distance, and types of terrain
- Customized simple, effective training plans to boost your endurance for backpacking adventures
- First aid basics for the backcountry
- All the cooking and eating essentials for hike days and overnights in nature
- How to pack your bag for whatever adventure you choose to embark upon!
Why should you take this course?
- You want backpacking to stop feeling scary and start feeling approachable and exciting. Not everyone's idea of the ideal outdoor excursion involves hanging off cliffs like professional climbers and Patagonia catalogue cover models. This course was built specifically to make outdoor excursions approachable and fun. No matter your speed, you'll find valuable information that will fit your particular level of outdoor comfort.
- You want to take your wilderness skills to the next level, and be able to plan or lead your own trip. Have you gone on a few backpacking overnights, but want to be able to plan your own trip or start going solo? This course is designed to meet you where you're at and give you the tools to reach the next level. You'll be able to create your own itineraries in 5 days.
- You want to brush up on your outdoor skills and feel both safe and prepared during outdoor adventures. Outdoor smarts are like street smarts–you need preparation and experience to build them up. By taking this course and learning from an expert, you'll develop a solid foundation that you can build on with experience.
Course Overview
5 Lessons
Plan a Backpacking Trip
Go over the key logistics of starting to plan a backpacking trip, and learn how to make key decisions about location, seasonality, and group size.
Prepare for Your Adventure
Get essential training in fitness, first aid, and orienteering that you'll need to successfully undertake a backpacking adventure.
Eat Well When You’re Outdoors
Camping food does not have to be mediocre–in fact, learn strategies to make the most out of every meal on the trail!
Pack Your Bag
The best laid plans can go awry with poor packing. Get specific instructions on how to prepare your pack, the (literal) backbone of backpacking.
Hit the Trail
Ready to go? Now that you've made it through Lessons 1-4, close out the course with some essential campsite etiquette training, and tips for choosing locations and itinerary. You're all set!
Meet the Expert
Jesse Blough
Ultra-Endurance Athlete
Jesse Blough is an ultra-endurance athlete who competes in ultramarathons, ultra-distance bikepacking races, and has pursued FKTs (fastest known time records). He is the Executive Director of Northwest Competitive Adventure, an organization that supports ultra-endurance athletes and provides financial, educational, and equipment sponsorships to BIPOC adventurers as well as athletes from other marginalized communities through the Adventure Access Fund. Jesse regularly competes in road & gravel cycling races, and has volunteered, directed, or otherwise supported nearly every variety of athletic event.
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Frequently Asked Questions
I want to try backpacking and camping, but I've never gone before. Is this course really for beginners?
Absolutely! This course has been specifically designed to teach anyone the key factors to consider when planning a camping or backpacking trip. We recommend plenty of strategies for a first time backpacker in this course, and you'll learn tools to try introductory techniques like planning a test run to get your bearings.
How will I receive this course?
Once you complete the enrollment process, you will receive a confirmation email that your course has begun. You will then receive a lesson to your inbox each day for the next 5 days. Make sure that the email address you have on your wikiHow account is the email you would like to have the course materials sent to! To make sure you don't miss them, add learn@courses.wikihow.com to your contact list.
What kind of safety and first aid training does this course contain?
This course features essential “know before you go” advice about planning safe outdoor excursions, and contains basic camping first aid instructions. We advise supplementing this course with a certified first-aid course if you'd like to gain more advanced skills.
What is wikiHow's refund policy?
We want our learners to be satisfied with the wikiHow Pro membership experience. That's why, if you try our courses or other features of wikiHow Pro and aren't satisfied, you can cancel your membership at any time. Contact support@wikihow.pro for help managing your membership.
What are others saying?
Kris
This course was very helpful, the lists on topics like what to pack and tips on how to prepare for a camping trip made me feel much more secure making an outdoorsy commitment. This also made planning my upcoming backpacking trip so much easier and more fun!
Kenan
The course saved my life, I learned more information than I could have imagined about taking a camping and backpacking trip. My outdoor plans have gone without a hitch thanks to wikiHow.
Mariya
Super valuable information, I trained for an upcoming hike/overnight the way the course told me to and I was totally prepared. Highly recommend.
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