1. (Feet) Crampons or Snowshoes: One or the other or both depending on snow conditions and steepness of terrain.
2. (Feet) Boots.
3. (Feet) Sock liners: Very important, at least for me anyways. I water proofed the exterior of my boots, so there’s hardly any breathability. Sock liners wick the moisture to the socks.
4. (Feet) Socks: I got a nice thick pair of synthetic wool. Very comfortable and warm.
5. (Bottom) Gators.
6. (Bottom) Under Armor boxer-briefs: Another level of comfortable. Also awesome in the summer.
7. (Bottom) Leg warmers: I use ones that I use for cycling. I use this as a base layer.
8. (Bottom) Hiking pants.
9. (Bottom) Snow pants: I use snowboarding pants. I’m sure there are lighter ones out there, but those are beyond my budget. Also, get ones with vent zips  on the inner thigh and cargo pockets.
10. (Top) Moisture wicking long sleeve: Base layer.
11. (Top) Short sleeve wicking shirt: Another layer of warm.
12. (Top) Fleece long sleeve: My warm layer.
13. (Top) Down jacket: Used when the weather is expected to get really cold. Otherwise I leave it in the car.
14. (Top) Outter shell
15. (Hands) Gloves – waterproof: Mostly for staying warm on the descents.
16. (Hands) Gloves – fleece: Used during the climb.
17. (Hands) Ice axe
18. (Head) Balaclava: Covers the entire face if needed, or can be adjusted to cover the neck only.
19. (Head) Wool cap: For when it gets colder and more insulation is needed.
20. (Head) Helmet.
21. (Head) Headlamp.
22. (Head) Sunglasses or goggles: I prefer goggles. Especially while climbing. Keeps the wind out.
23. (Misc) Sunscreen.
24. (Misc) GPS.
25. (Misc) Extra batteries: for GPS and headlamp.
26. (Misc) Camera.
27. (Misc) Memory card.
28. (Misc) Extra batteries.
29. (Misc) GU Gel.
30. (Misc) Hydration: My requirements are about 1 liter for every 2000′ of gain.
31. (Misc) Lunch.
32. (Misc) Hiking poles.

That’s my list I used on the last climb, and it covered everything I needed. Of course it’s missing the essential survival items and the 10 essentials. But those should already be included in your kit. You can read a little about that here.

I’m sure I’m missing something…

This can only mean that it’s time to kick up the training for the winter months. That’s where the real fun will be. Up in the mountains in the snow. Carving out a path and falling knee deep. Exciting times!

I got to thinking about how I must have looked when I started hiking. And I must say, I looked average…ok, I looked like a newb. But just like the people trying it out for the first time, I had no idea what to buy. After all, this can become an expensive hobby. Plus, you end up buying gear as you need it. And what I grabbed from the closet was rugged enough at the time.

Anyhow, I dug into the archives and pulled up a photo from my third hike. It was taken 7/28/07 atop Echo Mtn. I had started from Millard Canyon and took the Sunset trail to the road to Sam Merrill. It was pretty warm that day. High 80′s I believe.

Alright, click on the photo to make everything readable.

Did I miss anything? I’m pretty sure that I did. If I did, that’s what the comments section is for.

Lastly, here’s a pic I’ve always wanted to post, but never could. Until I realized, “hey, I could just censor it.” If Girls Gone Wild could get away with it on TV, why can’t I?

For some background info. This was on the ridge heading up from Brand Park. This was also my first Meetup hike and the first time that I “met” Ze. “Met” because he simply said “hey” as he passed me at the very beginning when I was starting to burn out. By the time I took this photo, the first unit was probably almost at the road at the top of this ridge. This was the only shade I could find. And it was barely enough. In the end, I finished the hike with the much cooler and better Lee Zeebold and the 2nd unit. Take that Ze!

Useless trivia #1: This was also the day that all the National forests were closed due to fire EVERYWHERE. My lungs weren’t quite right for the next couple of days.

Useless trivia #2: First time I met Eric too. He had to cut his day short because he threw up during the first half of the ascent.

Socks, cushion, sole, O.D. green.
Try and keep your feet dry when we’re
out humpin’. I want you boys to
remember to change your socks wherever
we stop. The Mekong will eat a grunt’s
feet right off his legs.

Forrest Gump

These are pretty much the essentials that you need when traveling the backcountry. You wouldn’t necessarily need these if you’re doing a front range San Gabriel hike or parts of the Santa Monica mountains. When I go backcountry though, I make sure that I carry these 10. Except for the compass. That’s been on my desk for the past 2 months :/

But if you’re somewhat experienced hiking the backcountry, you probably already know what to expect in terms of weather, water requirements, terrain, etc. However, if you’re new to hiking, then this post is for you.

First of all, if you’ve been hiking the Santa Monica’s, the front range San Gabriels (Mt. Wilson, Echo Mtn, Jones Peak), or places in LA (Griffith Park), and are feeling like a challenge and have decided to check out what’s in the backcountry, then Congratulations! Not only have you stuck with getting outdoors and back to nature, but you’ve also decided to kick your adventures up a notch. Welcome to the club. When you bag your first backcountry peak, I’m sure you’ll get addicted.

Ok, back to the essentials. On a “normal” hike pre-backcountry, you would probably pack something like:

1. Water – Hopefully enough. If you’ve run out on these hikes, then reexamine how much you’ll need. Look for my upcoming post regarding water requirements.

2. Sunscreen – After your first hike, you’ll have realized the red painful skin tone isn’t natural.

3. Food – If your hikes have gone from 2 hours to 6, then you’ll probably have started to carry a lunch around.

Those are all I could remember from my short day hikes. Now onto the big dogs…

1. Map - With the absence of any towns, or a large metropolitan area such as LA to guide you back to civilization, a map would be necessary should you get turned around somewhere on the trail.

2. Compass (optionally supplemented with a GPS receiver) – Unless you’re familiar with the area, your map would be pretty useless without a compass. What you could do though is wait about 20 minutes and try to get a direction using the sun.

3. Sunglasses and sunscreen – I didn’t use sunglasses for a good year and a half. But since I’ve started, my eyes have never felt better. Sunscreen for the obvious reason.

4. Extra food and water – This is crucial. Carry a Clif Bar in your pack as a last resort, and pack half a liter of extra water as a reserve. You could either (a) pack enough water, or (b) learn to pack enough water the hard way by running out and becoming severely dehydrated.

5. Extra clothes – This is good for winter. Especially if it looks like it’s going to rain. But summer it could be helpful if you need to change a shirt or your hike runs into the evening.

6. Headlamp/flashlight – You never know what might happen. The night is a scary scary place in the woods.

7. First aid kit (use in case of emergency) – Just need a simple one. Band aids, Tylenol, sterilization wipes, etc. Good for simple cuts scrapes. Also, include a set of tweezers and mole skin for blisters.

8. Fire starter (use in case of emergency) – It’s always a bad idea to start a fire anywhere in a southern California forest if it’s not Winter and possibly raining. Fire danger is always pretty high. But if you’re able to and know how to build and control one, then do it to stay warm.

9. Matches (use in case of emergency) – Matches are better than a fire starter. A bit more efficient I would say. But the same as number

10. Knife - It’s good to have a sharp edged tool for cutting things. Also, if you’re hiking alone, it’s a good psychological booster. But I haven’t had to use the knife for anything other than to cut apart a watermelon.

Here are some other “essentials” that I carry regardless of weather, season, or distance:

1. Chapstick
2. Extra Clif Bar
3. Socks
4. Hat
5. Toilet paper

That’s about it. Hopefully you won’t have to use these essentials, but they are essential for a reason.

Ok, pace. It’s the speed you would like to move at constantly and maintain. Of course it changes with the angle of the incline/decline. And of course, the flatter the elevation, the easier it is to keep a fast pace. But on the inclines, how does one know what pace to keep? Some go at a pace that they can maintain at a steady speed over the course of an hour or so. Some go at a pace based off their heart rate. I guess I would fall in the latter category.

So while on the trail and while I’m busting my butt up an incline, how do I know my heart rate is near it’s peak? Well if I had a heart rate monitor I would let the alarm sound off. But since I don’t have such a nifty device, I rely on the good old thumping sound in my ears. Usually by this point I’m breathing pretty heavily and sweating a good amount. I can maintain the pace for a little longer, but eventually I know that I’m going to have to take a break. Instead of breaking, I prefer to just slow the pace down the let the body recover a little before trying to find the pace again.

But, why set pace to heart rate over a hiking for a constant time? I believe that it allows for (1) maximizing speed, and (2) getting the best possible workout.

Also, pace is dictated by length of the hike and overall gain. There’s no sense on having a fast paced start only to burn out midway through the hike. Likewise pack weight, weather, and a host of other variables will set the pace for you. In the end, you’ll set the pace that you’re most comfortable with.

Ok, lets get to it. There are three parts to a turn. The entry, apex, and exit. The entry and exit is self explanatory. The apex is the highest point in the turn. Think about the apex being the tip of an arc and the entry and exit the base. The goal is to smooth out this arc as much as possible so that you’re not taking too sharp of a turn (where you’ll be shaving off speed) or too shallow a turn (where you go too fast and risk going off trail or crashing into the mountain).

The green line represents the most beneficial line to take. It also represents the proper positioning that one should be in. The yellow line is what happens when taking the turn too late. You’re forced to slow down to take the corner. The red line is taking the corner too shallow.

To get into this turn, you need to set yourself up on the outside and then cut the corner at the proper point. The apex should take you as close to the inside of the turn as possible. In the exit, you should aim for the outside of the track and try to keep as smooth a line as possible.

If you get a good line at the entry, after you hit the apex, you’ll more than likely be able to punch the “accelerator” and get some good exit speed. Also, be aware of the next turn and set yourself up properly for that. However, sometimes it’s you need to make your turn a little late as is shown in turn 1 of the “Fast” track. This is necessary to slow you down enough so that you’re setup for turns 2, 3, and 4.

As far as hairpins go, it’s the same principle, only applied to a 180 degree turn.

Walking pretty much neglects these principles since forward momentum can be stopped any time. It’s when you jog or run down the mountain that this helps. But if you’re just walking, give it a shot. For me it’s a good game to play in my head when I’m alone or just not in the talking mood.

Here are some videos that demonstrate what I’m talking about:

This one has some good 180 examples:

With that said, let’s get to it.

It’s morning, you wake up and go through your mornings routine before you head out the door. The question is now, what do I eat? For me, it used to be McDonalds. An Egg McMuffin with hash browns and an orange juice. This was an especially good meal which brought back childhood memories. But as happened then, happens still, it leaves me feeling a bit sluggish. It was probably just too heavy and probably doesn’t have the essential nutritional requirements that I would need.

So eventually I moved on to what I eat now, a Clif Bar, or if that’s unavailable, a Powerbar. This seems to hold me over pretty well until lunch which is normally 3-4 hours into our hike and normally either at the summit or near our goal. So for the most part, all the leg work is already done.

But as of the last two weeks, I’ve come to start drinking Sugar Free Red Bulls along with my Clif Bar. Why? For the caffeine. A couple of hikes, I drank a cup of coffee, but that left me parched for a good hour or so on those hikes. So trying to rehydrate while on the trail at the beginning of a hike wasn’t my idea of fun.

Alright, below are the nutritional values of a Blueberry Crisp Clif Bar and a Sugar Free Red Bull.

The only real numbers that stand out to me are the calories and sugar. Fiber as well, but I’m thinking that isn’t as important starting out as it is during the hike. So Clif Bar has the calories to provide the fuel, and a good amount of sugar to provide the kick.

As far as the Red Bull is concerned, it’s most likely the caffeine that gives me a jolt. Here’s some facts about it:

it contains, per 250 mL (8.4 U.S. fl. oz.) serving, about 21.5 g sucrose, 5.25 g of glucose, 50 mg of inositol, 1000 mg of taurine, 600 mg of glucuronolactone, vitamin B — 20 mg of niacin, 5 mg of vitamin B6, 5 mg of pantothenic acid and 5 μg of vitamin B12 , 80 mg of caffeine.

So why the switch from a tasty Egg McMuffin meal to something that only astronauts stranded on Mars would eat? Here’s why:

I suppose these nutritional values would make some sense if you’re going on something extreme like Cactus to Clouds, but even for our day excursions, I think this is too much. Especially considering that I’m looking to lose body fat on these hikes. The fat count here along with the carbs is pretty extreme. Perhaps the carbs would help the night before. But even I know that there are better/healthier ways to carb up. Again though, for another post.

So that’s breakfast. Is it the breakfast of champions? Most likely not. But so far, it works pretty well for me. So until I find another alternative cocktail mix, this will be my morning nutrition for the foreseeable future.

Next up in the Layman’s Series, lunch.

The goal of this is to not only show how much I still have to learn, but to also hopefully shed light on the topic of proper nutrition and training in order to go farther, faster, longer. Hopefully you find these back and forth rantings not only entertaining, but educational as well.

Coming Monday, Layman’s Guide to Hiking Series – Part I: Breakfast