Trekking Tips for Beginners: How to Plan and Enjoy Your First Adventure

1. Choose the Right Route

When you first start trekking, you should not rush to choose routes that are too epic because the difficulty is high and can be overwhelming for beginners. Instead, you should choose an easy and popular route to improve the safety of your trip.

If you are new to trekking, you should prioritize choosing itineraries that operate tours or at least marked trails of indigenous people. Roads that are not too remote and have a phone signal are also recommended locations.

2. Know Your Limits

For people who like to explore alone, determining your limits is very important so you know the right journey. Besides, understanding your limits also helps you stay safer and stay away from injuring your body from overexertion. You should start with journeys that match your daily physical ability, then gradually increase as you gain more experience.

3. Prepare Before Going

There are 4 main things to prepare before each trekking trip: baggage, physical strength, mindset, and survival skills in special terrain. Additionally, resistance exercises, endurance training, soccer, jogging, and stair climbing are very useful for trekking.

Regarding baggage, you should bring complete but lightweight items, including items to support the trekking in the mountains such as tents, flashlights, first aid kits, and navigation devices,… Before departure, you should check the weather to ensure you avoid a stormy day or prepare extra raincoats, boots, and quick-drying clothes for the trek on a rainy day.

Regarding survival skills, you must learn how to make a fire, keep warm, find water sources in the forest, treat insect bites, and swim through underground caves,… to be ready for any terrain.

4. Backpack with Enough Capacity

Depending on the length of your trek, you can consider choosing a trekking backpack capacity from 20 liters to 80 liters. The backpack will accompany the participant throughout the journey. Therefore, you should buy a good-quality trekking backpack that fits your body to avoid causing discomfort and shoulder fatigue when moving.

5. Personal Belongings

To ensure safety, you should choose a reputable tour or go with someone with a lot of experience. Normally, the tour guide will prepare the necessary items for the whole group. They also advise tourists to bring appropriate baggage. In addition, you should bring some personal items such as medicine, insect spray, sunscreen, flashlight,… Moreover, you should bring snacks, candy, and dry food that are “lifesavers” when lacking energy throughout the trip.

6. Dress in Layers

One of the most important trekking tips for beginners is to dress in layers. This will help you to adjust to the changing weather and temperature conditions along the trail. You should have a base layer that wicks away sweat, a mid-layer that insulates you, and an outer layer that protects you from wind and rain. You can also bring a hat, gloves, and scarf for extra warmth. Dressing in layers will keep you comfortable and prevent you from getting too hot or too cold.

7. Pay Attention to the Surrounding Scenery

In the middle of the vast sacred forest, any carelessness or negligence can cause risks for trekkers. Therefore, you must practice observing and paying attention to the area around you to make the most accurate judgments and decisions. In particular, wearing headphones when trekking alone seems interesting but is not recommended. When wearing headphones, you will be limited in receiving information and feeling the world around you through hearing, making it difficult to recognize changes in nature, weather, or unexpected situations.

8. Respect the Local Culture and Environment

Another essential trekking tip for beginners is to respect the local culture and environment of the places you visit. You should learn about the customs, traditions, and beliefs of the people who live there, and follow their rules and etiquette. You should also avoid littering, damaging, or taking anything from the natural surroundings. Besides that, you should leave the trail as you found it, or even better, by picking up any trash you see. Respecting the local culture and environment will make your trekking experience more enjoyable and rewarding, and also help to preserve the beauty and diversity of the world.

9. Choose a Safe, Reputable Tour

To ensure safety, many tough trekking locations and routes are only operated by professional units. You can register to join the tour with other trekkers under the guidance and support of a professional team.

For example, if you are passionate about challenging and tough journeys in Quang Binh province such as Son Doong, Hang En Cave, and Hang Ba Cave,… you can learn about expedition tours operated by professional operators. During the journey, the unit will provide helmets, seat belts, headlamps, gloves, and other safety equipment for trekkers to overcome difficult terrain. Furthermore, there are teams of cave experts, tour guides, safety assistants, and porters accompanying the journey will ensure the safety of participants. What you need to do is follow the expert’s instructions and ask for assistance at the right time to have a safe and memorable trip.

10. Keep in Touch with the Necessary People

Don’t forget to tell relatives, friends, or someone who can monitor and rescue you about your travel plans. Make sure you regularly keep in touch and update your safety status throughout the journey. Besides, before each trip, you should know the contact information of the rescue organization or ranger to contact in case of emergency.