What’s your hike?
There’s more than one way to get outside and hike at the weekend. Depending on the time you have available, your experience and what you want to get out of it, you have several weekend hiking options:
- The Microadventure – Coined by Alistair Humphreys(Opens in a new window), the Microadventure is in essence “short, local and cheap”. It’s all about getting outside in a time poor world and making the most of it. Anyone can do it. Just escape to a local forest, countryside or even a field and pitch a tent. You can mix in a few hours of hiking around your camp to make this trip more active and even more adventurous
- The Day Hike – Look up your local routes on the internet. There are a wealth of resources available which give you short to medium length day hikes in your local area. You can spend anywhere between 4-8 hours on circular or point to point trails
- The Multi-day Hike – It’s not hard to find a multi-day hiking route near you. They’re all around us. You can pick a segment of a long hiking route near you and head out for a hike and camp trip over a weekend. These take more time but offer a wilder, more challenging experience
Get Excited
After a long week at work it’s tempting to hit the sofa and make the most of the Netflix autoplay feature. Don’t do it! Getting outside for a hike can reset those batteries and, in some cases, leave you with more energy than when you started. You just need to get excited:
- Plan your route – By planning your route, looking at distances and time spent hiking you can build a real picture of the sort of hiking weekend you’re going to have. This is a great way to build the excitement for the weekend
- Research – Looking up some new and interesting locations is a great way to get motivated. Spend an evening browsing points of interest on your hiking route. You could even learn about some of the local wildlife that lives around you
- Challenge yourself – Setting challenges and objectives can add another dimension to your hike. Do you want to learn some map reading skills? Maybe you want to increase your daily hiking distance? Maybe you want to learn to cook in the wild? There are plenty of safe and achievable challenges for you to set
Get Prepared
Preparation is key to getting the most out of your weekend hiking trip. Be it a single or multi-day hiking trip, there are some simple steps you can take to get ready:
- Which pack should I carry? – Different hiking styles require different Hiking Packs. Our guide to pack selection can help with this
- Pull together a checklist – Preparing your kit and writing a list will ensure you have everything you need for your trip. Will you be hiking in bad weather? How will this affect your kit? Are you camping over night? How much food will you need? Take a look at our 7 hiking life hacks for more tips!
- Grab a map – An important part of hiking preparation is having the tools to navigate. If you’re going to be spending some time on a trail then picking up a map is both useful but also advised
Get out and hike
The last and best piece of advice we can give is for you to just get out there and hike. We all have a limited amount of free time to enjoy the outdoors so, above all else, be sure to enjoy it.
