Can You Over Prepare for a Hike?

So can you be over prepared for a hike? The answer comes down to whether you are preparing PROPERLY. Many people feel like they are being prepared by bringing a whole bunch of extra stuff “just in case” People will bring a saw, and a hatchet, and an emergency fishing kit and 3 gallons of water on and on… 

The problem with bringing all this extra stuff is that carrying extra weight adds risk. It slows you down, it will exhaust you faster and it will increase the chances you get injured. What we want to do instead is prepare properly and carry a simple kit that efficiently mitigates the likely risks. 

Lets break this down a little bit. 

The first thing we need to do to be properly prepared is understand the likely risks. We need to be able to navigate, deal with first aid issues and deal with an unexpected night on the trail. We don’t need to plan to survive in the woods for a month. Going for a day hike and surviving in the woods for a month are two totally different scenarios. In my opinion, survival training often fails to make this differentiation. 

Our kit needs to be able to care for our basic human needs under a range of different scenarios. Both ones we expect to happen and also contingencies that may or may not happen. 

Bottom line, if you think through your hike as you plan it to go, and think through some likely contingencies, you will set yourself up for success when you assemble your gear system.