Essential Tips For Your First Multi-Day Hike – 4 Things I Wish I’d Done Differently

Strap in for a wild ride of hiking mishaps as Explorer Hannah spills the beans on relatable rookie mistakes. Even seasoned hikers will get a grin out of her tale of Darth Vader impressions, a lack of tomato tins, and newfound love of bin bags.

Here’s the thing – I think of myself as a hiker. I enjoy walking. I like trees and views and telling people about the hike I did. And I really like trail mix. I identify as a hiker in the same way someone on week one of ‘Couch to 5k’ identifies as an athlete.

I’ll look at a Patagonia advert of someone summiting a snowy peak and think to myself, ‘actually, that is relatable’. ‘That could be me’. We have nothing in common, and yet, in my mind, we are one and the same.

Hiking here? Obviously a walk in the park. Probably easier

I have a friend who suffers from the same affliction. Combined, we are a dangerous union of delusion and impulsivity, liable to suspect decision making and running away with ideas that would be better left alone. This is precisely how we found ourselves booking a three-day hike one afternoon, without once considering the reality of what we were signing ourselves up to.

We’d chosen one of New Zealand’s most prized possessions to pop our proverbial tramping cherry – the Routeburn Track. The trip turned out to be the perfect combination of ingredients for an ideal adventure, even after adjusting for our profound amateurism. While it’s true that every good story must have an element of slight misfortune, it’s not always easy to remember that at the time. Turns out hindsight is bittersweet. It also comes with an inflated ego and a false sense of expertise. Did I mention that I’m a professional now?

Accordingly, I’ve compiled a list of things I’d do differently with my newfound specialist hiking knowledge. Perhaps you’re new to the world of tramping and are curious to know what you definitely shouldn’t do. Perhaps you just enjoy reading about another person’s mistakes. Either way, below you’ll find a list

1. Pack Light. Light. Like, ‘Put the Yeti Down, Hannah’ Kind of Light

Do you know what you don’t need on a three-day hike? A heavy, stainless steel water bottle the size of Queensland.

Yeah, do you also want to dislocate your shoulder? The thing about most multi-day hikes is that you carry everything you need on your back, which is a concept I understood perfectly in theory but didn’t translate to the luggage scales.

Don’t get me wrong – I love my Yeti water bottle. But this is the kind of situation where you choose lightweight solutions. A bladder, for instance. Not three insulated multi-litre water bottles, a family pack of Kmart saucepans, and enough local chocolate to get a kindergarten through Easter.

Maybe if I walk like this it will feel lighter?

When your own back becomes the literal bearer of any hoarding tendencies, you quickly realise that you don’t actually need that much stuff. I know ‘pack light’ is painfully obvious and the most basic piece of advice, but take it from someone who misinterpreted the ‘light’ part. Whatever you do, pack light!

It’s the difference between a smug walk enjoying the sights, and having a small lie down on the track because you’re a drama queen and have developed a stitch from the weight of your pack.

Read more: How To Pack A Backpack Like A Boss

2. For the Love of God, Please Train Properly 

Alright, this is the part where I admit to being an arrogant, self-righteous fool. The hike in question was 32km long with an elevation gain of 1300m. If that means nothing to you, you’re in good company – it meant nothing to me either. I thought to myself, ‘I don’t need to train. It’s walking. I can walk’.

This is true. But what I’d failed to realise was that walking is quite different to walking on an incline with 25kg on your back for three days straight. Another friend on the trip had trained specifically for this hike. In the months prior, she went for long walks with a heavy pack on and became increasingly familiar with the stairmaster machine in her gym. 

At the time, I privately thought this was a little extreme.

Fast forward three months, and I was halfway through a two-hour climb, delivering my fellow hikers an uncanny Darth Vader impersonation. It featured stopping intermittently to catch my breath, marvelling at the insane views and – if I’m honest with myself – eating sour straps ‘for morale’.  

This hill would have been a lot more enjoyable if I didn’t sound like I was dying the whole way

To be clear, if you have a standard level of fitness and prepare yourself for your upcoming trips, you can do most hikes comfortably! But proper training means you’ll spend less time wondering aloud how you’ll afford the orthopaedic surgeon likely required upon your return, and more time smugly sauntering around like an insufferable mountain goat. I know which option speaks to me more.

3. Take Enough Bin Bags

A piece of information that was very much my responsibility to know, but that I neglected to research, was the fact that there are no bins on the track. You enter the forest and three days later you leave the forest, and everything that went in must come out with you. 

A common saying parroted around most natural parks is ‘take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footsteps’. Leave no trace principles are arguably the number one hiking rule – and although they’re something I strongly subscribe to, I still had the audacity to be shocked when I fished my tampon out on day one and realised it had to go back in my pack. For the next three days. 

Read more: Managing Your Period While Hiking

It was joined by empty packets of freeze-dried pasta, used baby wipes, dirty tissues, food-stained dish clothes, and every other micro and macro plastic floating around in my bag. 

What was more unexpected, was my subsequent obsession with bin bags. They’re the ultimate multi-purpose, life-saving product and I’ve been grossly underappreciating them my entire life. Dirty clothes? Bin bag. Quick waterproof pack protector for the waterfall you’re about to pass under? Bin bag, baby. What will I do with my wet tent cover? Chuck it in a bin bag. Have an unbearable snorer in the tent next door? Just kidding. Don’t do that. Pack earplugs instead. 

My newfound love for bin bags did mean that we spent the last two hours of the trek encircled by a swarm of flies, but that’s what happens when you become a human-powered rubbish truck. Make bin bags great again! And make sure to pack enough – we smashed half a roll of regular sized bags between three people. They go faster than you think!

Us and the few hundred flies that tagged along in the hope of snuggling into our bin bags. No dice fellas!

4. Bring a Portable Charger With Juice, Please

I know what you’re thinking – I didn’t come all the way to the mountains to stare at my phone. And I’d agree with you. You didn’t. You came to marvel and to enjoy and to feel an incomparable sense of superiority as your screen time dwindles to a record low. But dare I say, you might like to take a picture every now and then.

Here’s the thing, in the case of the Routeburn, and many multi-day hikes, you don’t have reception. So, although you can use your phone, you can’t actually use your phone. You can trawl through unhinged notes app entries and play that weirdly addictive Google Dino Run game that appears when you have no internet, but you can’t check Instagram or quickly respond to a work email. 

This means that most of the ways your phone is a dirty little time thief are eliminated, leaving behind a thin aluminium rectangle that is largely useless but for one element – the camera.

It also means you’ll need a decent portable charger. Three days without reception is wonderful, but three days without a camera is how you end up in a steaming pile of regret. 

This shot was so good I could probably win a photo competition with it

In addition to my perfectly curated trail mix, this was one thing I nailed. Investing in a solid power bank meant I wasn’t rationing the amount of content I took, and those photos have become an invaluable shortcut back to the memories. I have pictures of the astonishing scenery, but also of instant mashed potatoes (thanks Deb!), and the impressive leg pimples I developed from three days of sweating in compression tights.

Final Tips For the Trail

Look, I could go on. I could tell you to check the customs rules of wherever you’re going so that your freeze-dried lasagna isn’t thrown out at the airport. And I could tell you to unpack your tent at least once before the trip to ensure all the pegs are accounted for. 

But I think if we were bordering on common sense territory before, we’re well into it now. Every adventure has its mishaps, but I’m a believer that the setbacks – however avoidable – are what make adventures unforgettable. 

I hadn’t laughed quite as much or found myself quite as awe-struck before going on this hike. So please, have a chuckle and learn from my mistakes. Don’t let them deter you from going out there and making some memories of your own. It’s magic out there.

One thing’s for sure, this mountain range has made zero mistakes. It’s perfect

Seeking more advice and cautionary tales?

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