So you want to start hiking? Well, let me grant you a big WELCOME to my piece of the internet where I share tips and answer all the questions you need to know about hiking for beginners!
I don’t claim to be a hiking expert myself, but I’ve walked my fair share of trails around the world, so I do feel like I know a thing or two by now. I basically made hundreds of classic mistakes, but I survived, and I’m here to help you not to make the same mistakes as I did.
In this blog post, I’ll go through all the questions you might have as a beginner who wants to start hiking: What is hiking, why is it healthy, how to prepare for hiking as a beginner, how to begin the hike, and how not to fail at hiking.
This guide should (hopefully) cover all the questions about hiking for beginners, but if you still sit back with a few unanswered questions, then please drop them in the comment section in the bottom of this page.
Now let’s get started, so we can start to walk!
What exactly is hiking?
First things first, “what is hiking?” – Just to be clear.
Hiking is an outdoor activity that involves going for longer walks. You can do a day hike, a multi-day hike or even hike across a country! It’s all up to you.
You’ll often find the best hiking trails away from the big cities, somewhere in the countryside, by coastlines or in mountain ranges. Many national parks are full of hiking trails, which is why most people visit them in the first place.
Why should you start hiking?
There are so many benefits to hiking! And it’s never too late to start hiking. Remember that hiking is a workout so it doesn’t matter whether you’re a beginner at hiking or an advanced hiker, you’ll still get all of these amazing health benefits!
Here are my top 3 reasons to why I think you should begin hiking today!
- Hike for your body: There are so many health benefits to hiking. Just by going for these longer walks you can improve your physical health so much! Hiking is a full body workout. You use every part of your body when you’re out on the trails. You strengthen your muscles, improve your balance, and lower your risk of heart diseases and much more!
- Hike for your mind: Apart from improving your physical health, hiking is also good for your mental health. Being surrounded by nature has amazing benefits for your mind since it can reduce stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues. When you combine the exercise you get from hiking, and the feeling of being out in nature, you have the best cocktail for improving your mental health.
- Hike to live in the now: One of my top reasons to why I love hiking is because it makes me focus on the now. When I hike I’m present, and my mind and body is working together in harmony. In my daily life, I often find myself working like a robot in front of my computer all day long, going grocery shopping, doing dishes etc. – You know all the basic things in life… But when I hike, I feel present, and I feel ALIVE!
How to prepare for hiking as a beginner?
Hiking preparations for beginners and advanced hikers are basically the same. You always need to prepare some things in advance, and the only difference for beginners are that they often forget to either pack a few hiking essentials or check the weather beforehand. Trust me, I’ve been there!
That’s why I’ve made this section for you! Let’s have a look at what you need to prepare before you head out on the trails.
Check the weather first
All right, the first thing you need to do is to check the weather. While it’s your decision to hike whenever you want, you might want to skip hiking during a storm or a heat wave. A little rain and wind is okay, but during extreme weather, you should always stay home.
So one of the best tips is to check the weather in the area that you’re hiking, and make sure that you pack your backpack and wear clothes accordingly.
Get to know the trail
The second thing you want to do is to get to know the trail. I think that one of the biggest mistakes that beginners make during their first time hiking is to not look at the elevation of the hike… Actually, I (of course) made this mistake myself, which led me to NOT being prepared for the hike and dehydrating on the trail… Check out the story in the link below.
Related post: How NOT to hike Roy’s Peak
Basically, you ALWAYS want to check the 3 main features of a hike, and after this, you can anticipate better on how tough the hike is going to be. Here are 3 important things that you NEED TO KNOW about the trail:
- How many long is the hike? There is a big difference between a 5-kilometer hike and a 25-kilometer hike.
- What is the elevation of the hike? A hike with an elevation of 1000 meters is much more challenging than a hike with only a 100 meters of elevation gain.
- How long will it take to do the hike? Is it going to take 2 hours or 10 hours? Because you need to make sure to bring enough water and other essentials for longer hikes.
What to wear on the hike
Now it’s time to look at what you’re going to wear for your hike.
Rule number 1 is to ALWAYS wear layers (especially if you’re hiking in the mountains). Make sure to always be able to dress up or dress down depending on the weather. If it’s a challenging hike, for example with a steep incline, then you’re going to work up some sweat and you want to drop some clothes along the way. BUT it could also be that a massive rain cloud rolls in and you need to pull out your rain cover and an extra shirt.
You don’t need to buy expensive outdoor clothes when you start hiking. It’s 100% more comfortable to wear outdoor clothes, but it’s not necessary unless you’re doing some crazy tough multi-day hike. Outdoor clothing is very expensive, and it shouldn’t hold you back from hiking if you don’t have the money for it.
For a normal day hike I always wear sport leggings, a sport bra, sport top, a hoodie, and either my Salomon hiking shoes or my Teva hiking sandals – depending on the weather and type of hike.
So beginners at hiking don’t need to go all in on expensive outdoor clothes. Just put on something comfortable and breathable. The MOST IMPORTANT thing is that you’re wearing some good shoes – this is something worth investing in.
Packing for beginner hikers
If you’re a beginner at hiking, then chances are that you’re going for a day hike and not a multi-day hike.
The reason that this is important is because it really varies whether you need to pack a sleeping bag and a tent for a hike that lasts several days, or just the necessities for a nice, simple day hike.
I think that one of the things that are most intimidating for beginners at hiking (or any outdoor activity really) is the thought of not having all the gear you need. But sometimes gear is overrated. If you’re completely new to hiking and you just want to get started, then don’t waste a lot of money on unnecessary gear.
Just learn to bring the essentials such as water, food, extra clothes etc., and then you can always gear up if you want to do some tougher hikes. You’ll find all the essentials that you need to pack for a day hike in the link below.
Related post: What to pack for a day hike?
Tell someone you’re hiking
The last thing you want to do while preparing for a hike is to TELL SOMEONE. This is very important! Even though hiking is a fairly safe activity, people do sometimes get lost.
So make sure to tell someone in your family or friend circle that you’re heading out for a hike. That way someone will know if you never make it back.
How to start hiking as a beginner?
At this point you should be on your way to actually do your chosen hike! So, I’ve gathered 5 hiking tips for beginners that you might find useful while on the trail. Let’s dive into how you start hiking as a beginner!
Get up early
One of the best hiking tips I can give all new beginners is to get an early start on the hike! There are so many benefits to why you should start hiking in the early hours. I promise that it’s 100% worth it even though you think, “NO!” when the alarm rings at 5 AM (or even earlier).
When you get up early you beat the crowds on the more popular trails, which means you have the trail all to yourself. During summer time, it’s also very recommended to get an early start on a hike because the temperature is better for hiking in the morning. Plus, when you get up early, you get home earlier! Win-win.
Take breaks
It’s important to take breaks during a hike – especially during the longer ones. When it’s your first time and if you’re a beginner at hiking, you might just want to push on, but this can lead to a quick burnout of your legs.
So take a short break after every couple of kilometers where you have a sit, stretch your legs and body, and drink some water. Your body will really appreciate this!
Keep energized
Taking some good breaks brings me to the next point – Keep energized! For example, when you take breaks you build up some new energy for the next leg of the hike. But you can also keep energized by other methods.
What works best is to make sure that you don’t get low blood sugar levels, so snack a little bit now and then. Some nuts or a piece of fruit will do. You can also keep energized by putting your favorite music in your ears, listen to a podcast, or talk to your hiking buddy (if you have one).
The worst thing to do when you’re tired is to keep thinking about how tired you are. So distract yourself by either looking at your beautiful surroundings, put some entertainment in your ears, or eat a snack.
A little extra tip that gives you like 10% more energy is to change socks during your hike. I know it sounds silly, but it feels SO good to change into some fresh socks after you’ve hiked for 10-20 kilometers. Try it, and you’ll see!
Leave no trace
One of the most important rules when hiking is to leave no trace behind!
Most people are decent, and they would never start throwing trash in nature… But I still find it worthy to mention this in a blog post about hiking for beginners. Just to make sure that we’re all on the same page.
A little tip is to bring a small plastic bag with you. That way you can throw your food wrapping and other trash into this during your hike. And if you want to gain some extra karma points, then you can even pick up some trash on the trail and put it in your little trash bag – Just a suggestion.
Be respectful
For me, there is almost nothing worse during a hike than when people bring speakers and listen to loud music. What is up with that?! Most people go hiking because they want to appreciate the nature and all of its sounds. So please don’t start blasting your music on the trail, nobody wants to listen to it, except for yourself.
Also, some nature trails are sacred. For example, we hiked to the top of Fushimi-Inari in Japan which is a sacred place. It would be even more disrespectful to blast music here or to walk around shirtless… Just don’t. Please.
So my last tip for new hikers is to be respectful of other people. That way everyone can enjoy the trail.
Why do some beginners fail at hiking?
I also want to quickly mention why some beginners might fail at hiking, and give some tips about how not to. When I say “fail”, I mean that you didn’t enjoy hiking at all, and you might not want to do it again.
Don’t overdo it – be realistic!
I’ve seen many miserable people on several hiking trails around the world. And it’s often because they don’t know their own limits, so they’ve chosen a hiking trail that is too challenging compared to the state of their physical health.
Please be realistic about yourself and your body before you start hiking. There is no shame in being overweight or having bad knees – we’re all just humans and we’re all differently made. But if you have any forms of limitations, then you need to gradually work your body towards the harder trails.
For example, I saw so many people on the Mirador las Torres trail who were absolutely miserable. It’s a popular 18 kilometer trail with 900 meters elevation, so if you’re not used to hiking, then you will quickly feel the pain kicking in. Instead you could’ve started building up your stamina at an easier trail like Mirador los Cuernos, which is only 6 kilometers with 100 meters elevation.
See my point?
Beginners at hiking should gradually build up their strength because that way you’ll have more success on the trails you do, and eventually you can do the tougher and more challenging hikes. Plus, if you start out with too challenging trails, you might end up getting injuries, which will further limit your hiking journey.
Don’t overpack (or underpack)
Another thing that can make you miserable on a trail is packing too much stuff! If you’re going for a simple day hike, then you would never need to bring a 60 Liter Osprey backpack on the trail. Instead, get a day pack for regular hiking trails.
The bigger your backpack is, the more you’re going to put in it. Get it?
However, you also don’t want to underpack and forget essentials for your hike. For example, I once packed too little water on a very hard day hike. This resulted in me being miserable for the main part of the trail, and what’s the point of doing it then?
Related post: Day hike packing list
FAQ Hiking for beginners – 5 bonus questions
Before I end this blog post, I want to answer a couple of more questions which beginners at hiking might have. So here are 5 bonus questions answered (of course according to my own opinion as are the other questions in this post).
Is hiking safe for beginners?
YES! Just because you’re a beginner at hiking doesn’t mean that you can’t do it safely. Remember, in the end it’s just all about putting one leg in front of the other.
However, the safest thing that beginners at hiking can do is to make sure that they don’t start out with trails that are too challenging. If the trail is too challenging in comparison to your physical health, then it might do more damage than good to your body.
Is it safe to hike alone or as a woman?
YES! But make sure to tell someone that you’re going hiking if you’re alone. That way someone will know if you never return, and they can send a search team out to look for you.
It’s also perfectly safe to hike alone as a woman. Bad things can happen anywhere in the world, but I would say that the chances that someone will target you because you’re a woman alone on a hiking trail are pretty slim. The best thing you can do is to make sure that you’re hiking in a safe area of the world, and you’ll be just fine.
How far can a beginner hike in a day?
This is completely dependent on the state of your body. If you’re young, fit, and have no injuries, then you can do some really challenging hikes right from the beginning.
However, if you have physical injuries or you’re overweight and unfit, then you should just start out with a couple of kilometers and see how your body feels. Then you can gradually build up your stamina per hike. Please don’t overdo it in the beginning of your hiking journey if you have any physical health issues. Build up your stamina gradually!
Is there any specific hiking gear for beginners?
You can ALWAYS get more gear in any kind of outdoor activity!
But hiking gear for beginners isn’t something that I would necessarily recommend you to look into if you’re just starting out. I think that the most important thing is to make sure you invest in a good pair of hiking shoes. Then you can always buy hiking poles, comfortable hiking backpacks, and outdoor clothes once you have build up stamina for the more challenging hikes.
How much does it cost to go hiking?
Hiking is most of the time a free outdoor activity. I mean, how is it fair to charge you for walking?!
However, some national parks have entry fees. These fees are often used to help protect the wildlife and maintain the walking tracks. So make sure to pay the fee if it’s a requirement.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post about hiking tips for beginners! If you have anymore questions, then please drop them in the comment section below and I’ll get back to you. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I do LOVE hiking and, I do think I’ve learned a thing or two by now.
Thanks for reading! See you out on the trails.