A primer for new hikers (and old)
In 1906, a group of hikers from the Seattle area separated themselves from a larger organization, Mazama, which was based in Portland, and formed a club called simply “The Mountaineers.” There were 110 original members of this adventure club, and almost half were women. The Mountaineers grew to be the third largest outdoor recreation, education, and conservation club in the country, and we share space with some of them as Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness.
Besides exploring the Cascades (they climbed Mount Baker as a group in 1908, Mount Rainier in 1909 and pioneered the trans-Rainier Wonderland Trail in 1915), they have been active in conservation and education about recreation in the out of doors since their inception.
In 1935, The Mountaineers began running a climbing course, and in that context, they established what they called “the ten essentials for hiking.”
We have lots of lists thrust at us in our current culture: “The Ten Best Ways to Lose Weight,” or “84 Things You Shouldn’t Do on a First Date,” and even “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” Some of these lists are as ephemeral as dust, but some stand the test of time, and The Ten Essentials for Hiking is one of the latter.
Here they are, pure and simple:
- Map
- Compass
- Flashlight
- Extra food and water
- Extra clothes
- Sunglasses
- First aid kit
- Pocketknife
- Waterproof matches
- Fire starter
Of course, the list has been refined. New technology is supplementing the compass with the GPS unit — but don’t leave that compass at home. Long after the batteries on the GPS are gone, that needle will still be pointing north — umm, magnetic north. The pocketknife has been replaced with the multi-tool. The flashlight has given way to the light-weigh LED headlamp. Wool and waxed canvas have given way to neoprene and GoreTex. Polarized sunglasses now filter out UV light the original Mountaineers didn’t even know was harmful. And, the first aid kit, with its tube of Neosporin, ibuprofen, and epinephrine and an air splint, to boot, might look like something out of science fiction to the original Mountaineers.
The other items on the list are pretty basic. Waterproof matches are still on the list, even though lighters work most of the time. The key is that you need to be able to start a fire all of the time. Maps of the area you are traveling through are still necessary, though they have become larger scale (quad maps used to be 15 minute instead of what has become as standard 7.5 minute span) and often made of more durable papers. And fire starter for folks in 1915 might have been a blob of tree pitch wrapped in oilcloth, as compared to magnesium shavings that will burn in pouring rain if you can get a spark to them.
There’s been a lot of research done since the first list was written, and four items we now consider basic have been added.
They are:
- Water filter or purification system
- A whistle (or a cell phone, Spot, two-way radio, signal mirror or other “getting found” device)
- Insect repellent and/or insect repelling clothing
- Sun block or sunscreen
All this might seem like overkill for a casual stroll up a well used local trail, and you might be right. But any time you are going to be more than a couple of miles from the car in a place where access is by foot only, most of this stuff is a very good idea to have along. You might consider it good practice to just leave it in your pack and let that extra weight not only give you a better workout but assure you that if something does go wrong you will have what you need to deal with it.
The Ten Essentials for Hiking were eventually put into a book published by The Mountaineers, Mountaineering; The Freedom of the Hills. The first edition was published in 1960, and it has been updated several times since. The latest edition, the eighth, was published in 2010.
The great thing about The Ten Essential for Hiking is that the basics, even if that is all you have, will still work to help you make your way into — and out of — the backcountry.
This article, written by Sandy Compton, was originally published in our July/August 2011 Peak Experience Newsletter, Vol. 7 No. 4.
