Beginner Day Hiking Gear List: The 10 Essentials

If you’re a beginner hiker, what day-hiking gear do you need to get started? That’s a question I’m frequently asked. The truth is, you don’t need much, especially if you stick to the local trails in your town or those in a nearby state park, where you might want to only get out for a few hours to start out.

The 10 Essentials
So how do you decide what to pack? Many hikers base their gear selection on a checklist called the 10 Essentials, first developed in the 1930s, which is still as relevant today as it was then.

Continue reading to learn more about gear for a beginner day hike, written by Philip Werner.

Author and Backpacker

फिलिप वर्नर

Philip Werner is a full-time outdoor author and backpacker who resides in New England. The name of this site, Section Hiker, refers to Vermont’s 272-mile “The Long Trail” which I section hiked in 2008 in addition to hiking 1400 miles of the Appalachian Trail. I’ve also hiked and thru-hiked the TGO Challenge (Coast-to-Coast across Scotland) twice, and I’m currently section hiking the Cape Wrath Trail, also in Scotland.

But my heart belongs to New Hampshire’s White Mountains and Vermont’s Green Mountains, where I split my time and do most of my hiking and backpacking. I’m the 36th person to finish hiking all 1440 miles of the White Mountain National Forest trail system and the 3rd person to do it twice. I’ve also climbed all 48 of the 4000 footers in the White Mountains 12 times (576 summits) once in each calendar month of the year. While I love hiking trails and backpacking, I am also a compulsive off-trail hiker and enjoy spending the day Tenkara fly fishing on mountain streams you can only walk to.

‍

दस्ते से

हमारे समुदाय के साथ कैम्प फायर वार्तालाप, स्क्वाड सदस्यों और राजदूतों से लेकर ब्रांड पार्टनर्स और सॉयर टीम तक।

मीडिया मेंशन

4 MIN

मीडिया मेंशन

Sawyer’s picaridin lotion lasts a long time, stores well in survival kits and cars, and doesn’t have the laundry-list poison control label like DEET sprays.