Equipment
The equipment required for hiking depends on the length of the hike, and according to the source. Hikers generally carry water, food, and a map in a backpack. Hikers often wear hiking boots to protect their feet from rough terrain. Some outdoor organizations, such as The Mountaineers strongly advocate a list of equipment for hiking, such as the Ten Essentials. This list includes items such as a compass, sunglasses, sunscreen, clothes, flashlight, first aid kit, fire starter, and knife. Other sources suggest additional items such as insect repellent and an emergency blanket. Nowadays a GPS navigation device is a great help especially in weather conditions with low visibility or when hiking in unknown territories.
Proponents of ultralight backpacking claim that long lists of required items for multi-day hikes increases pack weight, and hence fatigue and chance of injury. Instead, they recommend a goal of reducing pack weight in order to hike long distances easier. Even the use of hiking boots on long-distances hikes is controversial among ultralight hikers, due to their weight.
Read more about this topic: Hiking
Famous quotes containing the word equipment:
“At the heart of the educational process lies the child. No advances in policy, no acquisition of new equipment have their desired effect unless they are in harmony with the child, unless they are fundamentally acceptable to him.”
—Central Advisory Council for Education. Children and Their Primary Schools (Plowden Report)
“Pop artists deal with the lowly trivia of possessions and equipment that the present generation is lugging along with it on its safari into the future.”
—J.G. (James Graham)
“Biological possibility and desire are not the same as biological need. Women have childbearing equipment. For them to choose not to use the equipment is no more blocking what is instinctive than it is for a man who, muscles or no, chooses not to be a weightlifter.”
—Betty Rollin (b. 1936)