Hiking Essentials: A Duct Tape and Red Bandana Kind of Glamour

I once traversed Zion National Park on foot.  It was a fifty mile hike and it was a total blast.  The following is a story I tell often about that hike.  

On the third day of the hike we reached Zion Canyon and walked down Walter's Wiggles to the Canyon.  Zion Canyon and the Walter's Wiggles Trail are full of tourists.  Full of them.  As I walked down the trail with my pack on my back, I was hit by all the clean fresh smells of the tourists -- lotions and shampooed hair, to name a few.  As I wondered how I smelled and looked to them, I suddenly found that I was somewhat of a celebrity!  Many people stopped me to talk about what I was doing.    Other people just gawked and some people secretly took my photo!  Looking back, it might have been my shining moment in life.  If only they had known how very unglamorous I felt!

I'd been bathing in streams using the bandana I was wearing around my head as a wash cloth.  I had also hiked one morning with my sleeping bag wrapped around me because we woke up to a surprise layer of snow and freezing temperatures and I didn't have warm enough clothes with me. And underneath my socks, my toes and heels were covered in gray duct tape to combat my many blisters.  I was as unglamorous as a person could get and yet, I think what I was doing excited the imaginations of many of those fine people who made me feel like a celebrity!

I'm a big fan of lightweight backpacking and I pack as little as possible. I have a women's Deuter pack.   I try to get my pack weight to 20 to 25 lbs (excluding water). Since I usually hike with another person, we split the weight of shared items like tent, cooking supplies and safety kit.  It's a more enjoyable hiking experience if your pack isn't too heavy. You find that you really don't need all kinds of stuff anyway.  For me, it is the bandana and the duct tape that go on every hike.  They both have multiple uses.  The bandana can be a sweatband and a hat; douse it with water and wear it to cool yourself off, and of course, it's a great washcloth for bathing.  Duct tape is great for blisters and can be used to repair tents, packs, shoes, etc.

So maybe I wasn't all that glamorous on the outside with my dirty bandana and my blistered feet.  But that day in Zion Canyon, I was carrying everything I needed on my back.  I was out roughing it in the wilderness.  When you are out there, your soul is being fed with the spectacularness of it all: the wide vistas, owl hoots, boulder rivers, tall trees and rushing streams.  You're out there in the wind, dust, rain, snow and heat.  You never know what will happen and the gloriousness and wonder of it all shines through.  I was happy and it showed.   Is it possible, that maybe the hiking glow is glamorous -- despite the duct tape and dirty red bandana? 

Below is a list of things I'll put in my pack this summer when I hike the Maroon Bells in Colorado. Happy Trails!

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• Down Sleeping Bag
• Sleeping Pad
• Two Person Tent (usually I don't take the stakes or the tarp that goes underneath)
• Kettle (for boiling water)
• Compact Stove, fuel canisters, lighter
• Safety Kit (whistle, ibuprofen, duct tape, bandaids, water purification tablets, tweezers, Chapstick, etc.)
• At least four or five 32 oz. Nalgene bottles
• A filtering water bottle
• Clothes: 2 pairs socks, 1 pair spandex shorts, 1 pair long pants, 2 shirts (not cotton), 2 undies, 2 bras, sweatshirt (Clothing items could be less, could be more depending on where I'm hiking.)
• Lightweight sandals for camp that you can also cross rivers/streams in
• Hiking Shoes - I usually hike in a pair of my old running shoes - or shoes one size too big if I'm hiking in heat because my feet swell from the heat. The shoes need to be sturdy enough to handle rocky surfaces.
• Prescription Sunglasses 
• Glasses
• Paperback Book (Swap out books with your hiking buddies)
• Wide Brimmed Hat (for ears and neck sun protection)
• Bandana
• Camera Equipment
• Maps
• Toiletry bag:  toothbrush, biodegradable soap, toothpaste, comb, ponytail holders
• Food bag (a sampling of items I put in):  a dehydrated dinner for each night, McCann's Irish oatmeal packet for each morning or lunch, granola bars, Clif bars, dried apples, a packet or two of Ramon noodles (they satisfy the salt craving), crackers, Nutella, beef jerky, single serve coffee packets ... Remember to eat all the heavier items first!
• Plastic Mug for coffee and oatmeal, a Spork
• Racko Game
• Lightweight Light to hang inside tent 
• Old Ski Pole to use as a walking stick
• Pen and Paper for journalizing
• ID, credit card and some money
• Cellphone
• A few plastic bags to put trash in to follow Leave No Trace policy.  You can also use your used dehydrated dinner bags for your trash.
• Poop Scoop (Yes, for digging holes ...)
• Toilet Paper

Optional items (depending on weather, region I'll be hiking in and how long I'll be out there):  wool hat, rain poncho, warm gloves, mosquito netting, compass, lightweight rope for hanging food, pepper spray (for animals or other unwanted guests), nail clippers, wet/dry sack.

Things I don't always take:  insect repellant and sun screen -- both make me feel sticky and I sweat them off anyway.  Usually who ever I'm hiking with does take them though, so if I want them I have access to them.  I also don't take deodorant since you smell a little funky no matter what you do!