Your First Hike

[jickham]

What was your first hike?

And what are the three most important things you have learnt since then?

Mine was the Great Ocean Walk in Victoria. My mate and I had just watched Into the Wild and had a massive craving for seeing the outdoors.

So we set out on achieving a hike as quickly as possible and did as little research as possible. We used the movie as a guide on how to hike, thinking we were going to encounter bears, extreme temperatures, snakes, wild people and the like I carried a big hunting knife and hammer, and he brought a hatchet (just in case). Our scariest experience of that trip was hearing something that sounded like a wild pig, but turned out to be a koala clearing his throat.

For the eight day trip. Notable mentions of equipment and food (for me) go to: 8 cans of 375g baked beans; hammer; hunting knife; rope; 3 litres of water at all times if possible (just in case); 3kg 2 man four season tent (for me in Spring); enough clothes for a family of 8 (exaggeration); and enough food for a family of 3 for 8 days (not an exaggeration).

My pack at the beginning weighed 26kg. We made it four days because my friend became seriously homesick, and my knees were giving me some serious grief under the weight of those beans.

What did I learn?
No more beans: There are better, lightweight, and just as nutritious foods available to take when exploring the outdoors, less weight, means your carrying less, therefore, you don't need as much food to replace that energy your burning. Ultimately less beans .

No more hunting knives: Be realistic about what you are going to face in the wild / outdoors. I find a decent first aid kit and a satellite phone will keep you out of most serious-trouble in Australia.

Use a rock for tent pegs: Improvise: Use what you have around you, find 5 uses for a tool you bring along instead of 1. If you can use the land to achieve the same goal a man-made tool would, isn't that one of the most important things when bush-walking? You're separating yourself from civilization just that little bit more.

That's what I learnt. Not immediately, but I was just an 18 year old crazy back then. Now I'm a 24 year old crazy. I have a back condition, a bad knee, and meet the definition of an alcoholic because I am no longer a student. But, I am glad I went over-prepared that first hike to learn all those important lessons because now I have much more comfortable hiking experiences.

Jickham

[Solohike74]

This was in a summer, my pack must've been 15-20kg.

I hiked from Diamantina Hut, along the Razorback to camp at Federation Hut.

Next day, left via Bungalow Spur to Harrietville.

Didn't carry topographic map so was a little optimistic about my abilities, which have since improved.

It was awesome & I was hooked. Since then, many hikes including snow camping. Have done Overland Track in snow at autumn too.

[Pongo]

My first hike was with my highschool, which I don't really count as I didn't hike again for over a decade. On this hike I learned that cooking pancake mix with m&ms in a trangia is a recipe for scrambled pancakes.

My first hike years on was done in 35 degree heat over 9 km of coast. The three of us carried 600ml of water each and all wound up rather dehydrated. I'm very grateful to the lifesavers who gave us some water and a cool place to sit whilst we recovered. The trip was supposed to be a return walk, but we had to sense to get back to the car via a cab.

Since this I've learned...

1. That if I want to travel great distances I will need more than 600ml of water and as a result, will need a pack to carry it in.
2. Poor fitting shoes and no conditioning lead to injuries and several hundred dollars in medical bills undoing the damage
3. People's tolerance of suffrance varies in different ways. Think about what you hiking buddies response to the challenges of a walk might be not what mine would be.

[jickham]

1. That if I want to travel great distances I will need more than 600ml of water and as a result, will need a pack to carry it in.
2. Poor fitting shoes and no conditioning lead to injuries and several hundred dollars in medical bills undoing the damage
3. People's tolerance of suffrance varies in different ways. Think about what you hiking buddies response to the challenges of a walk might be not what mine would be.

I ALWAYS do squats a week or two before a hike. If I don't the first night after a long days walk, especially up and down hills just destroys my legs. I find squats at least a week before take away the shock you feel that first days walking.

Water is always good

[jickham]

Didn't carry topographic map so was a little optimistic about my abilities, which have since improved.

Do you laminate your maps? I could never justify the extra $25 it costs to have them plasticated.

[north-north-west]

With High School group into Pedder.

What I learned: Always walk alone. Other people whinge too much, they slow you down (or go too fast for you).

[Onestepmore]

My first proper hike (ie not a family bushwalk of a few km's) was with a few friends to the Blue Gum Forest in the Blue Mountains in 1985 or 1986 when I was about 20. They were all geology/geography students at Sydney Uni and had bushwalking gear. I hired a pack - not sure where from, but I do remember the assistant recommending that I take a smaller one than what I had chosen. I didn't take her advice, thinking 'bigger is better' and selected a 75L bag for this overnight walk. Of course I filled it to the brim. I did have a down sleeping bag - in fact I still have it but due to it's 1.9kg weight it's now used for car camping for one of the children. I had a HUGE thermarest sleeping pad (again we still have it), and I brought tracksuit for sleeping in, parka (a really thick skiing one), walked in jeans and all cotton clothes, with a complete spare set (in case I got wet) as well as a change for the next day. God knows how many pairs of socks. Swimming costume (why??) Metal gardening trowel, full roll loo paper - neither used. Full cans of insect repellant and sunscreen (despite it being mid autumn) Someone else was bringing the tent and cooking gear (I could never had fitted that in with all the food and clothes I carried)
My food choices were a joke - like the original poster i thought canned food was the go - baked beans for lunches, canned soup, canned meaty mush and veges for dinner, cans of coke, even a small carton of milk. And I bought an enamelled metal plate/bowl/cup set - that's what you bring when you're going camping right? Water in those metal bottles.

I remember walking down into the valley next to a waterfall, and even half way down my legs were shakey and trembling. We had morning tea on some rocks, and I went though and ate the heaviest canned items I could find, drank both the coke cans - but left the milk because of course I'd need it for morning cereal.

Despite it being cool I was sweaty and overheated, nothing breathed and it was all cotton which got heavier as I sweated. I got blisters and chafed. I have no idea what shoes I wore - I have a sneaky suspicion they were my riding boots.....

I remember lying in my shared tent that night with my girlfriend, laughing about how I struggled, and how they had 'told me so' about what I wanted to bring. Lovely campsite and a great walk, but how I suffered on the walk back out of the valley. Up and up, never ending steps to a railway station somewhere. I think I ached for a week afterwards - and I was pretty fit then!

I've yet to go back to Acacia Flat and the Bluegum Forest - last time I'm embarassed to say hubby and I missed the turnoff as they were doing messy trackwork and we think the marker was covered up by some large white bags, and we ended up doing a different overnight walk. I'm looking forwards to going back wiser and much lighter!

.

[alanoutgear]

Mine was in 1967, and I remember it well. Jim Williams and I walked up Mount Buffalo following a rough pad, parts of which I think were later upgraded to become the Big Walk. I remember we camped at Lake Catani in incredibly heavy rain. We couldn't cook food because the rain was so heavy, and I think I ate a can of Tom Piper Braised Steak and Onions cold for tea (I haven't been able to eat it again since, although I still see it at the supermarket from time to time). If we could have cooked it would have been on an Esbit solid fuel stove that burned hexamine fuel tablets. We were wearing mostly cotton clothing (as everyone did back then), and a pair of massive green leather Blundstone hiking boots that each had 36 brass screws holding the sole to the upper. They weighed a ton (and I'm talking Imperial, not Metric). They had what at the time was called a rocker sole, which didn't flex and worked like a cam to supposedly aid walking with a heavy load. My tent was made by me from waxed Japara on my mum's sewing machine. It was so small you couldn't sit up in it. My pack was an external frame pack with a cane frame and Japara sack. Like others, our food was a mix of mostly tinned food and a few fresh fruits and vegies. After two days on the mountain in continuous pouring rain, we cut our losses and found a spur on the eastern flank of the mountain that took us down to the Buckland Valley, and a very dicey crossing of the Buckland River, before walking to the car at Porepunkah.

What I've learnt.
1. Home dehydrated food and fresh ingredients beats cans of stodge any day.
2. Foster Clark's instant custard with dried apricots is always fantastic.
3. A decent tent with room to move when it's pouring down is always worth the weight.

[Bluegum Mic]

Hmmmm. Having grown up with bush at the end of the street I walked and pottered from a young age but I recall going down govettes leap when I was about 8. What did I learn...well it was more from looking at my poor mum. It was a 30*+ day and didnt carry any water. Whilst us kidlettes had a great big splash and play (and dare say drink) at the bottom of the falls my mum seriously looked like she was going to cark it by the time she made it back up the top.

[Strider]

Cape Pillar. Way too many clothes. Way too much food. Boots too small. Ran out of water. A learning curve alright!

[colinm]

First overnighter was in the 70s with some scout mates. Royal National Park from Lilyvale Station (since closed) along the Burgh and Cliff tracks to North Era to overnight, then Era to Waterfall along the road. I didn't have a pack, so carried a duffel bag with my tins of food etc. I believe it weighed 18kg. Yes, the two 10km+ walks nearly killed me. I was wearing my old Cadet boots.

What shocks me, now, is that we carried *no* water. "There's a creek at Era," was the rumour, "we can get some there." Well, no. The creek's probably not been potable for 50 years, and even then probably only flows after torrential rain. I remember we were reduced to raiding the 99 year lease cabins' tanks for water. Wasn't the first or last time I wandered around in the bush with no water (it was the fashion at the time.) I think we were lucky and it rained, so we were stuck in the tents and the humidity stopped us dehydrating. I think we picked up some water at Garie on the way out - enough for a big drink.

Lessons: You will make it, just keep going. If you're stupid enough to go overweight, you will be carrying it the whole way. Don't carry cans. Carry water. Don't carry water or *anything*else* in a duffel bag (the rope really burns into your shoulder, then your other shoulder, then your hands, then your shoulder again.) Take tequila if you want, but don't decide to be 'blood brothers' after imbibing it (not me, one of the others.)

Oh, and if your campfire's heat is bringing leeches out of the ground (ours was) then getting some beach sand and sprinkling it around will deter them (they hate salt.)

I don't know how we didn't die. I didn't do another overnight hike for 20 years.

[walkinTas]

My first hike was around cradle. I don't remember all the details, but we went along Houndslow and up over Riggs Pass and stopped the night at Scott-Kilvert hut. That was April '78 and we were looking at Fagus.

Three things I've learnt since then, take a camera if you want to remember the trip, go with people who have the same interests as you (or go alone), and the trip is more important than the destination.

[wayno]

cant recall which was the first one exactly but one of them i was on a big boys brigade camp when i was around six or seven, was a bit freaked out by teh camp. didnt eat much breakfast then we were taken on a big hill walk with no water or food and i ran out of energy, thankfully we were going donhill by that stage ut i was stumbling and tripping so it was a lesson to make sure i eat enough and to pace myself.
then i got lost and panicked big time.... although i panicked because i couldnt see where the track went i was able to turn around and run back the way i came, then when i saw some other people started walking pretending nothing was wrong....
realised then that panicking wasnt a good option, hardly a pleasant experience and achieved nothing except wasting a lot of energy and possibly getting me into more trouble
i also learned that the big wide wilderness and the concept of getting lost in it scared the crap out of me, which is perhaps why i research my routes and navigation of them...

[troy8880]

Done a two nighter on the Wollemi river with a bunch of people from school led by my geography/history teacher. Well equipped and not over packed. I did however kick a toenail off and has never been the same since.

[Son of a Beach]

My first overnight bushwalk was with my Dad and my brother along the Friendly Beaches (Freycinet Peninsula, east coast of Tasmania). I was very young, so it would have been during the mid 70's.

Three lessons learnt:

• After you've wet the bed in the tent during the night and Dad hangs your favourite jeans over the camp fire to dry in the morning, keep a careful eye on them.
• You'll never, ever, EVER, EVER see a pair of red demin jeans with fancy ball-bearing-chain pocket zips that cool again for the rest of your life after they catch alight and burn away to nothing.
• When you take your own kids on their first overnight bushwalk 35 years later, be sure to bring Pull-Ups, because nocturnal bladder control issues appear to be hereditary.

Of course the 4th lesson is that I love my Dad. He didn't do a lot of bushwalking, but that's only because he was too flat out busy being unofficially on call 24 hours a day 365 days a year. But he took us on a few and he loved every minute of it (as did we). I'm hope to get him out on another overnighter one of these days... before his second hip replacement, perhaps.

[norts]

My first o/n hike was into Lake Pedder, just before it was flooded, we walked in via the Scotts Peak Track. Dad wanted me to see it before it was gone, I wasnt old enough to appreciate exactly what I was seeing and experiencing.
I will always be grateful that Dad took me and then a couple of years later he took me through the "Park" for my second o/n walk. I was hooked.

Roger

[Solohike74]

[/quote]

Do you laminate your maps? I could never justify the extra $25 it costs to have them plasticated.[/quote]

No, just take care of them, putting them inside the pack.liner if rains coming.

Have never laminated them.

I figure after visiting the areas in a map more than once or twice, I'll know.

Now I carry maps, either took 1:25000 or 1:50000

[doogs]

Ben Lomond (Scotland) aged about 6, I remember racing my brother the last 200m uphill to see who could get to the top first, I lost

[Travis22]

First hike as a grown up with friends (not counting school or earlier family trips); Lake Tali Karng. Age? 18-20ish

My now wife, two friends and i set off from the bottom. I carried all the gear for my wife and I and our two friends had their own packs.

Got dehydrated on the first night, spewed for a few hours at camp and ended up going off in search of water in the middle of the night thinking i was dying lol, which was fortunately found within 100m of camp.

Our two friends did it very tough, bigger guys so the going was very slow which was the killer walking for 3x as long in the heat. On the hike out my wife took one of the other guys packs and carried it out for him. Back out the way we had come along the Wellington...

Was an amazing trip and a once in a life time for the other guys, i dont think they have or will go hiking again. No gps's or other fancy electronic gadgets, no specialized gear just good people and a real sense of adventure.

Travis.

[jickham]

First hike as a grown up with friends (not counting school or earlier family trips); Lake Tali Karng. Age? 18-20ish

My now wife, two friends and i set off from the bottom. I carried all the gear for my wife and I and our two friends had their own packs.

Got dehydrated on the first night, spewed for a few hours at camp and ended up going off in search of water in the middle of the night thinking i was dying lol, which was fortunately found within 100m of camp.

Our two friends did it very tough, bigger guys so the going was very slow which was the killer walking for 3x as long in the heat. On the hike out my wife took one of the other guys packs and carried it out for him. Back out the way we had come along the Wellington...

Was an amazing trip and a once in a life time for the other guys, i dont think they have or will go hiking again. No gps's or other fancy electronic gadgets, no specialized gear just good people and a real sense of adventure.

Travis.

Where were you camped? The only place I could camp when I did Tali Karng was next to the river. Although that was last year and circumstances could have been much different previous that!

That forest makes so many weird noises at night.

[puredingo]

My first hike or Hikes had nothing to do with actually wanting to participate in the art of bushwalking, it was purely to persue mine and my mates selfish desire to surf alone. So rather than do battle with the hordes of tourist who descended on Garie beach (which we had to ourselves Mon to Fri) on the weekends we would trundle off around the headlands and over the ridges to places like Era, burning palms and Bulgo.
How we survived I'll never know? Basically no food except maybe some noodles, lollies or whatever was in the cupboard, NO water, i don't even know if they sold bottled water in the mid 80's but we didn't have it. We just gulped out of a couple of creeks we knew about and a spring from a wall...and this was after full days of surfing in the blazing, sunscreenless sun!
Ocassionally somebody would bring a tent but more often than not everyone was too lazy to put it up so we'd sleep in our boardcovers and make sand pillows...funny how you don't want for what you have never have.

My first REAL bushwalk was with my old man and a few of his mates when I was about 13. It was on the 6 foot track and at the end of the first day walking I dropped my pack which seemed overly heavy and had a look inside to see what dad had packed me...NOTHING....My pack was walking bottle "O". It soon dawned on me just why I had been invited on this trip in the first place (Dad and his mates found this realization hilarious). Again there was no need for tents in the oldmans eyes, come night fall a tarp got layed on the ground and it was good night 'till tumorra.

[ofuros]

When I was 12, a mate & I followed a river downstream in devon (uk), fishing as we went.
We left it way too late return & ended up spending the night in a local farmers haybarn. Burying ourselves in the hay to keep warm.
My parents & his were livid when we finally made it home the next morning.

.....via tapatalk.

[Travis22]

First hike as a grown up with friends (not counting school or earlier family trips); Lake Tali Karng. Age? 18-20ish

My now wife, two friends and i set off from the bottom. I carried all the gear for my wife and I and our two friends had their own packs.

Got dehydrated on the first night, spewed for a few hours at camp and ended up going off in search of water in the middle of the night thinking i was dying lol, which was fortunately found within 100m of camp.

Our two friends did it very tough, bigger guys so the going was very slow which was the killer walking for 3x as long in the heat. On the hike out my wife took one of the other guys packs and carried it out for him. Back out the way we had come along the Wellington...

Was an amazing trip and a once in a life time for the other guys, i dont think they have or will go hiking again. No gps's or other fancy electronic gadgets, no specialized gear just good people and a real sense of adventure.

Travis.

Where were you camped? The only place I could camp when I did Tali Karng was next to the river. Although that was last year and circumstances could have been much different previous that!

That forest makes so many weird noises at night.

We camped just off the track in a little clearing found at last light - we'd walked allllll day but didnt make it to the lake in the one day given the unexpected slower pace.

Travis.

[jickham]

Ahh when I went I came from the north of the lake, and then got on to the main track when I reached the lake which follows Wellington.

I didn't bother filling up at Tali because I though a liter of water would be fine to get me to camp. The spur I took was in the sun ALL the way. By the time I reached Wellington I just about jumped in, almost forgetting that I was still wearing my boots and pack hehe.