Tips & Tricks For New Hikers

Ribbon Snake, NJ

Your hike is planned, and you are ready to hit the trail.  Here are some quick tips to make sure the hike is amazing.  If you are planning your first hike, check out my post on planning it.  If you are wondering what to wear hiking, check out my post on clothing.

Other Tips:

1. Anti-Chafe Balm ~ for short hikes, I've never needed this, BUT for longer hikes, rub this goodness all over your feet and under and between your hooters or man parts.  You will be thankful.  The best kind that I've found is Bodyglide at REI (it's cheaper at REI than Target).  Rub that all over yourself.  Be liberal.  You can buy more.
2. Noise Makers ~ Bears and snakes and bobcats are just as (if not more) afraid of you as you are of them.  Have something on your pack that makes a little noise, little bells or clanky things.  They have much better hearing than we do, so they will hear it and they will stay away.  Always carry a whistle, too.
1. If you encounter a bear, don't run.  Speak in a calm normal nice person tone and back away slowly, keeping your eyes on the bear.  This is a great article on dealing with Black and Grizzly Bears. 
2. If you encounter a snake, again, back away.  Don't poke at it.  Give it lots of room to escape.  It doesn't want to eat you; it wants to get away from you.  If you've accidently stepped on it, do your best to get away from it by backing up slowly and giving it room to go its own way.  Here is a good scouting article on encountering snakes.
3. If you encounter a mountain lion, you probably aren't in New Jersey.  Most attacks, and there aren't that many per year in the US, happen on the other coast.  But, just to make sure we cover it all, DO NOT RUN.  Cats chase. Back away slowly.  Likely, they want to just get away from you.  You can read more about escaping them here.
3. Poisonous Plants ~ The forests of the Northeast are littered with poison ivy, oak, and sumac.  Know how to identify these plants and steer clear and never use them as TP.  If you can remember the phrase "3 is not for me" you can avoid most poisonous plants since many of them grow in groups of 3 leaves.  Also, avoid eating mushrooms and berries unless you know what is not poisonous.  When it comes to shrooms, the tastier it looks, the more likely it is to be deadly.  
1. Poison Ivy ~ Poison Ivy is just about everywhere.  Here are some good reads on identifying it, but remember the phrase "3 witches." The leaves grow in patches of three and have tipped ends like a stereotypical witch's nose.
2. Poison Oak ~ Poison Oak also grows in groups of three but doesn't have pointy leaves.  Here is a good article on identifying it.
3. Poison Sumac ~ Wanting to be different, Sumac doesn't grow in leaves of three, but usually grows inside other bushes or trees.  It looks like a feather plants.  Here is a good article on it.
4. Mushrooms and Berries ~ Seriously, bring your own food.  But, if you are lost and have to find sustenance, follow these guidelines.  If you want to know about berries, read this.
4. GORP ~ people call trail mix all kinds of things, but I've always called it GORP.  That stands for either "Good Ole Raisins and Peanuts" or "Grains, Oats, Raisins, and Peanuts" depending on who you ask.  It's cheaper to make your own in bulk if you hike a lot, but, if not, it's actually cheaper to buy it in a store.  I've tried a ton of them, and I have to say, Walmart's got the best.
1. To make Gorp, combine equal parts of dry crap that you like.  For me, it's Peanuts, M&Ms, and Raisins.  That's it.  I have friends that add in almonds, cranberries, dried bananas, cashews, etc.  Just add what you like.  I'm a simple kinda girl, so my trifecta perfection is just three ingredients.  
2. To buy GORP, you don't have to get all fancy.  But, don't get tricked into buying the dollar store kind (not much in the bag) OR the fancy expensive crap at high end hiking stores that I actually love for most everything else (cough cough, REI).  Seriously, I've tested every GORP out there, and Walmart's Trail Mix is my number one go-to seconded by Aldi's Trail Mix.  Both have stuff in them I wouldn't put in my own recipe, but both are sustaining and tasty.
1. To make your life soooo much easier, take the big ass bag from Wally's and divide it into smaller Zippie bags.  Keep one small Zippie bag in an easy to reach place in your pack, and refill during breaks or at camp.
5. Pictures ~ I love taking pictures of nature.  It's one of the things that actually keeps me from hiking with other people because I stop A LOT to take pictures. I use all the pictures I take as screen savers on my 400 computers, and when I am knee deep in programming, I look at them and remember that I am programming in Python so I can go see something like THIS on the weekend.  It is motivator.  I am not an expert photographer, but here are some of my tips.
1. I use my iPhone on smaller trips, and then I take a more fancy pants camera on longer trips (never forgetting spare batteries).  I do editing at home.  
2. Label your pictures with the date and name of the trail.  After a few hiking trips, some places all start to look the same, and my memory is not as good as it once was, so, yeah, I will forget.
3. Frame a focal point in one of the 3 sections of the screen (main, left, right) or 6 sections (double the first set).  
4. To make things look smaller, shoot from on high.  To make things look bigger, shoot from down low.
5. When you get home, play with B&W or sepia settings.
6. Journaling ~ I have a few degrees in English, and I love to write (hence, this blog), and sometimes I like to just plant my fanny on a rock and write.  Don't worry if you are not Henry David Thoreau.  Write whatever you want, and bring meaning to the moment.
7. Praying/Meditating ~ Another reason I don't hike with other humans is that I use the trail to reconnect to God, and I talk out loud.  I would love to claim that my discussions are akin to St. Augustine, but it's usually just me talking to Jesus about life.  The trails in nature are, in many ways, a path for me to reach God away from the busyness of every day life and the complications of organized denominational religion.