4 Essential Safety Tips For People Who Are Novices At Hiking
Hiking provides hundreds of thousands of people with a great deal of pleasure and a sense of adventure every year and 99% of the time it is far from dangerous. However, people do get lost and have accidents from time to time and it can then become a dangerous activity very quickly if you are not prepared.
Below are just 4 basic hiking safety tips to make sure that your hiking trips don't land you in difficulty.
Safety Tip No1 - Think about taking a partner of friend along with you.
You don't need to worry about heading out by yourself if you're going for a short hike in a local area on easy terrain, but, if you are hiking through heavily wooded wilderness areas with steep canyons and winding trails then the likelihood of becoming lost or suffering an injury becomes very real and you ought to think carefully about whether you are wise to head out alone.
Taking a friend along has a lot of advantages, especially if that person is an experienced hiker. Obviously, 'two heads are better than one' and if you do become lost or run into trouble you're much less likely to panic if you have someone with you to help sort out the problem.
Safety Tip No 2 - Make sure that someone knows where you're going.
If you are new to hiking then you should stick to clearly marked and well traveled routes and ought not to stray from these trails to explore until you have gained some experience and have learned map reading skills and know how to read a compass. However, it will not be too long before you're ready to try some more adventurous routes and the likelihood of getting lost or injured will arise.
Consequently, you must always tell somebody where you're going and when you plan to return so that a search party can be dispatched if you do not return as expected.
Safety Tip No 3 - Ensure that you take some basic equipment along.
In addition to as a good pair of hiking boots and sensible clothing it's vital to have a basic survival kit with you and your local hiking club will be able to give you excellent advice on the sort of items that this should include, as well as giving you advice on basic emergency first aid steps. What we are looking at here are such things as matches and a lighter, a first aid kit, a good knife and a flashlight.
It is also a good idea to have a map and compass along together with a fully charged cell phone.
Safety Tip No 4 - Take along some basic provisions.
Water or other fluids such as sports drinks are essential as you can lose a great deal of fluid even over a couple of hours on a hot day. You should note though that water weighs about 8 lbs per gallon, so take along enough but not too much. Remember though that you should not drink from local streams as natural water sources may appear to be inviting but they are often high in bacteria and may make you very sick very quickly.
Also take sufficient food to last you. It is no fun to be hungry while you are out hiking but don't forget that you can last a lot longer without food than without water.
