Planning for a Hike

We have a saying in our family: make a plan, do the plan. It sounds simple enough, but coming up with a realistic and doable plan can be difficult, even torturous at times. Plans should be fairly detailed and complete, covering most aspects from the broad to the daily needs, while allowing some room for adaptation. Here's some of the aspects we considered when making our hiking plan for the Ice Age Trail, and some of the realities we had to face which changed our plans.

WHERE

Where are you going to hike? Where will you start and end?

We knew we'd be hiking the entire Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Wisconsin, and determined from the start we wanted to through-hike it (hiking the whole trail from one end to the other including all connecting routes, in order). My wife initially planned to start from the Western terminus point, but once we switched the start place and decided to hike from the Eastern, it solved a lot of problems we had with our early plans.

WHO

Who is going on the trip? Who will carry what gear, if you're splitting it up instead of everyone carrying their own? Who is your primary contact, the person who has a list of your travel plans, dates of travel, and contact information in case of emergencies, or in case your group gets separated? Who will send you those carefully encapsulated supply packages when you need them? Who will help you get to the trail, or pick you up at the end?

Originally Nicole thought I would be in a support role, driving ahead of them with supplies and setting up the camp so she and the girls could travel lighter and faster. When she mentioned a theme of the trip would be spending time together as a family, I pointed out that I wouldn't actually be with them for most of it. So I became a more integral part of the adventure and the plan had to change. There are a few other people who have expressed interest in joining us for part of the hike, so we'll adjust our plans when and if we get confirmation of those. The girls will carry their own water, snacks, and personal necessities (like blankets, journals, extra layers of clothing, etc), along with their basic individual first aid and emergency kits. Nicole and I will each carry a two person tent, two sleeping bags and pads, and spare clothes for us and the girls. We'll split up the food, cooking equipment, emergency and medical and first aid supplies, extra water, etc. I will carry most of the electronics we'll need to keep you updated (cameras, GPS, memory cards, batteries, solar panels, cords, phone, etc). It doesn't seem at this point like we'll be needing to be mailed any supplies, and no one else has volunteered to give us rides or anything yet that we need to coordinate.

WHEN

When are you going to hike? How long are you going to spend on the trail? When are you going to return home? This helps you determine how long you need to take off work, or when to make reservations at various points along the way, or how long your supplies will last and when you need to pick up more.

Nicole originally planned on spending approximately 50 days on the trail this summer summer. This would necessitate hiking more than 20 miles each day, something I don't think the girls could do on their little legs. Not that they wouldn't try, to please mom, but I think it's physically past their capabilities. This required us to change the plan again, to find more time to hike the trail somehow, and changing the starting point helped with this immensely since we're starting closer to home and can utilize some three-day weekends to get a head start on our hiking. This means more changes to the plan, however, due to the changes in weather.

HOW

How are you going to travel? How are you going to resupply? How are you going to stay? How will you navigate the trail?

Nicole thought I would be driving a vehicle in support of the trip, and she and the girls would hike in true female-only #TrailTessa fashion. This would enable them to move fast and light. Now we're going to be backpacking most of it as a family, and hiking the trail in its entirety, but maybe we'll find some trail angels along the way willing to help slackpack us, or move our vehicle from a starting to ending point, or collect us along the trail and take us back to our vehicle when we finish a segment. We'll be driving ourselves to and from the trail section, using two vehicles for a good portion of it, to leap frog between trail start and end. We'll be gathering water on the trail, harvesting power via portable solar panels and battery banks, and camping along the way. We'll carry our own food and supplies for several days at a time on our backs, and use a vehicle as a resupply point by storing extra food and water in it. We'll be using maps, a compass, and a portable GPS unit to navigate, supplemented by the awesome online interactive trail map compiled and maintained by the Ice Age Trail Association and a smartphone.

SAFETY/FIRST AID

I know a lot of hikers scoff at this step. I'm not sure if it comes from my time being in true wilderness with groups of people completely reliant on me with any needed help hours (or days) away, or my chosen profession as an emergency planner and self defense instructor, but I take this topic seriously. So we have planned for everything from people with bad intentions, farm dogs, and wild animals, all of which have been encountered by previous hikers along the IAT. This isn't the girl's first trip into the wild either, so they know (in theory) not to bring food into the tent, run from a bear, be too far away from us in places and times favored by area predators, and so on. They also know basic wound care (taking care of cuts and scrapes) and will have very basic first aid kits on them. Nicole and I will be carrying more comprehensive first aid kits, ready to deal with common trail problems such as sunburn and blisters, to stabilizing more serious injuries and problems. We may overpack this slightly, but I'm not going to be taking any chances with the children along.

GEAR

This is what a lot of people focus most of their attention on before a trip. The trip can certainly be made easier and more fun by traveling with the correct and necessary gear. But there's no one-size-fits-all gear list, despite what some authors may try to convince you. It will be highly dependent on your individual needs – where you're hiking, how long you'll be gone for, your desired comfort level, any dietary needs or medical conditions, the season you'll be traveling in, and so on. As part of our plan, we drew up a list of what we thought we'd need, then went through our camping totes and find out what we already have. We then put together a list of what we needed to upgrade. Since most of our camping since the birth of our children has consisted of utilizing established campgrounds, and driving our vehicle right up to the tent site, a lot of our gear was big, heavy, and bulky – in other words, completely unsuitable for carrying all day long for weeks at a time. Although lighter replacements can be expensive, they need to be purchased for this trip. By listing out what we need ahead of time, we can take advantage of sales, closeouts, coupons, and this will save us a lot of money.

TRIAL/TEST

While not completely necessary, a trial run or testing your gear can help immensely. I have seen so many people who don't know how to use their gear – from a guy who doused himself with bear spray thinking he was supposed to use it like mosquito spray, to a girl who tried to set up her tent upside down. Practice setting up your tent in your living room or backyard when you're not tired, stressed, and under threat of a storm so you can learn the basics of how it should go together. Try using your water filter with tap water out of a bowl the first time. Make sure your pack fits properly when fully loaded, and take it for a walk to see if it's too heavy or uncomfortable. Get in trail shape by walking long distances because it takes your body time to adapt to carrying weight and hoofing it. There are so many people whose bodies quit on them after a day or two on the trail, or they sustain preventable injuries, due to not preparing their body or taking it easy the first few days to get in the rhythm. Don't let the first time you use your gear on the trail include pulling it out of the wrapper and reading the directions. We've been testing some of our new equipment in our home (using sleeping pads and sleeping bags overnight, setting up tents, etc), and walking a lot more around town. My next step is to put some weights in a backpack when we walk.

A couple more notes on developing a hiking or camping plan. Writing it down helps immensely, especially when more than one person is involved. This helps you remember key details, easily access or assign tasks you still need to accomplish, and communicate ideas or needs to others. A simple legal notepad will do, and you can cross off tasks as you complete them, or rip off a sheet and carry it with you when you shop for gear.

Finally, time is crucial. Usually people underestimate how long it will take them to hike somewhere, so give yourself time for side adventures, slow trail sections, injuries, sniffing the roses, mother nature, and other unforseen eventualities. Your trip will usually be on you before you realize it, so time management in accomplishing your tasks helps. Start early, especially if you have to acquire permits or deal with other people or organizations – their time frame will often not be as urgent as yours. It'll give you plenty of time to find, acquire, and pack the gear you need and lessen the likelihood of forgetting important items. Most of all, give yourself time to enjoy the trip. Forcing yourself or your party to make certain hard deadlines can make a trip stressful, rather than fun.

Any trip takes a certain amount of planning, but traveling a long distance on foot, with children, and only what you can carry on your back, takes a lot more. But a good plan will make your trip smoother, more enjoyable, and more comfortable, and will give you more time to actually enjoy what you're doing rather than stressing about the next step, or worrying about what you've left behind. It can also save you quite a bit of money and time in the long run.

What else do you make detailed plans for? What other things would you add to the list above, if you could? Leave us a comment below, and we'll see you down the trail!

#IceAgeTrail #Hiking #FamilyPlans #NationalScenicTrail