Beginner Backpacker Tips: Learn From Expert Guide Halle Homel

Halle (00:00)
I do enjoy backpacking solo. ⁓ I tend to go and solo backpack when I need to like process stuff ⁓ and like be in my head a little bit and like think through things.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (00:09)
Okay.

Halle (00:10)
It’s kind of like pausing time in a way, because it’s like, cool, I’m going to like step away and not be on my phone and I’m going to just be in nature. And then I get to like reenter society having had this really cool experience.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (00:27)
On this episode, I have Hallie Homel with me and I’m so excited to have her share her knowledge and expertise on backpacking. If you have not backpacked at all, if maybe you’ve only done a few trips or maybe you’re just looking for some more tips and trail recommendations, this is the episode for you.

is an expert backpacking guide and she has a lot of information to share and you’re gonna wanna take notes this episode, I’m pretty sure. So let’s get into it. Let’s start planning our next backpacking adventure.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (00:57)
Hi Halle, thank you for joining me today. How are you doing today?

Halle (01:01)
Thanks so much for having me. I’m doing really good. Just went on a trail run, just got back. So happy to be here.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (01:07)
How nice is that? What’s

the weather like today? We are talking at the end of October. So what’s the weather like?

Halle (01:13)
Yeah, it’s actually surprisingly nice. We had a little bit of snow a couple weeks ago up here in the mountains, but it was like 50 degrees today. Absolutely gorgeous. So yeah.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (01:24)
And

I guess I should say, where are you located? So everyone knows where we’re talking about the weather.

Halle (01:28)
Yeah, totally. So I right now am finishing up my season in the Eastern Sierra in California. Yeah, I live at 8,000 feet of elevation. ⁓ the snow definitely stuck in town ⁓ when it came through. ⁓ But yeah, I’m moving in about a week down to the desert for my winter job. So kind of temporary up here in the mountains.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (01:34)
Okay, how nice.

that’s cool that you get to kind of get the best of both worlds throughout the year then. you’re here to talk about your expertise in backpacking, which I really appreciate because I know a lot of people ⁓ will want the information. But before we even get into that, I always like to ask people, were you always like a hiker? Did you grow up hiking or did you kind of get outdoorsy as an adult?

Halle (01:57)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so I sort of kind of grew up hiking. My parents ⁓ took me outside all the time when I was like a young child. Like we definitely were out hiking, looking for lizards, rock scrambling, all the things. I grew up in Southern California, so a lot of outdoor access ⁓ down there. Yeah, yeah, I grew up like right next to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. So

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (02:33)
Yes, great place for hiking. Yeah.

How nice.

Halle (02:42)
tons of trails right out our back door, right? ⁓ And then as a teenager, I sort of like strayed away from it as teenagers do and kind of rediscovered my love for nature and the outdoors in college. ⁓ Went on a little spring break trip to Yosemite and kind of absolutely fell in love with hiking and with our national parks. And so it was kind of like reconnecting with the younger self that ⁓ loved nature.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (02:51)
Yeah.

how could you not fall in love with nature in Yosemite? It’s like a requirement there. Like if you don’t love nature when you visit there, then there’s something wrong with you. So that’s awesome. So did you start backpacking in college or did you start that later?

Halle (03:13)
Yeah, right.

Yeah, yeah, something didn’t quite connect, right? ⁓

So I started backpacking in my early 20s, like pretty much as soon as I was out of college. You know, it took me a few months. I did a lot of hiking, a lot of car camping. I was actually living out of my Kia Soul for a few months right after I graduated. So I was just doing these like really long day hikes for a while. And then my partner at the

introduced me to backpacking in my early 20s.

But yeah, spent many years doing longer day hikes, car camping. My first backpacking trip was in the Wind River Range in Wyoming, which if anyone knows anything about that, that is pretty rugged terrain to be introduced.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (04:03)
how lovely.

And I was, yeah.

Halle (04:09)
to the sport.

And so because of that, like, you know, it was a rough trip, I’m not gonna lie. You know, my gear was super heavy, but learned a lot. Yeah, it was kind of a necessary learning curve. Like, I’m really glad that I had that experience because it let me learn enough to then streamline my best practices. And it’s been really cool to kind of like watch myself grow into the sport.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (04:19)
You learned a lot, I assume.

Halle (04:38)
and become a guide and have hundreds, if not thousands of miles behind me now. ⁓ And then like look back on that first trip in the winds ⁓ when I was a beginner and be really grateful that like that version of me actually stuck with it, ⁓ even though it was really hard.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (05:00)
Now how long then have you been backpacking?

Halle (05:02)
what year was that? ⁓ I want to say five or six years at this point. Yeah. Yeah.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (05:06)
Okay, awesome. And then,

so when did you become a backpacking guide? Like what brought you into doing that?

Halle (05:15)
So I started backpack guiding at the end of 2022. It was after my first season in the outdoor industry. So I was kind of working as like an assistant rock climbing guide before that. Yeah, super fun. And yeah, so winter 2022, I believe I started in December, I was hired

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (05:31)
That’s fun.

Halle (05:39)
on as an outdoor educator in a program that involves a 10 day backpacking trip for high school students. So I worked with that program for three winters. So it was that winter and then the two after that. And last year I got the privilege of being my group’s lead guide, which was such an honor because this is a program that like is literally older than I am. So that was really special and

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (05:44)
Okay.

Halle (06:07)
⁓ Just getting to introduce students to the outdoors is really, really cool. But I also do a lot of guiding with adults as well. I actually prefer working with adults. ⁓ I think it’s really cool to watch grown humans realize as an adult what they’re capable of. I think that that is one of the coolest things to just get to bear witness to. ⁓

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (06:17)
Mm-hmm.

Halle (06:34)
I will say that backpacking is about 50 % of everything I guide. ⁓ My official job title or what I tell people my job title is, because who knows? I work seasonally, it changes all the time. ⁓ But I tell people that I’m a multi-sport adventure guide. ⁓ So I do a lot of overnight trips, ⁓ but I also guide a lot of naturalist focused day hikes.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (06:40)
Okay.

Yeah.

you

Okay.

Halle (07:03)
I’ve done a lot of paddle guiding, canoe guiding. I’m also a certified rock climbing instructor. I just love getting people outside. Yeah, yeah. And this past summer, I worked full time as a backpacking guide here in the High Sierra and the Yosemite High Country. ⁓ So I guided everything from John Muir Trail sections to Mount Whitney summits in just one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (07:10)
You’re a Jane of all trades.

Halle (07:32)
I’m really grateful to have gotten to call these mountains my office and also gotten to introduce people to them.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (07:40)
what are some of your favorite backpacking trips that you’ve done? Do you have any number ones or ⁓ is that hard to choose?

Halle (07:45)
Yeah.

It is a little bit hard to choose. I definitely tend to challenge myself when it comes to my personal

I always say that my favorite trail is the Timberline Trail, which is 43 miles. It circumnavigates Mount Hood in Northern Oregon. ⁓ I did most of that trip solo.

with the exception of the last section where I kind of started hiking with somebody that I actually met on the trail. that trip was truly life-changing. It was like the trip that showed me how capable I was as an outdoors woman at the time. I also did it before like they cleared all the downed trees and before they built the bridge over the Elliott Glacier River and…

So like it was actually like kind of technically challenging in a lot of ways and really like engaging in this really cool way. Like it was just this like super intimate relationship with the trail that I hadn’t really gotten to experience ⁓ prior to that. ⁓ But other areas like I’m always gonna have a soft spot for the Backbone Trail, which is a 70 mile through hike that I completed in 2023.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (08:32)
Yeah. Yeah.

Halle (08:56)
That goes across the Santa Monica Mountains, which is the mountain range that I learned to hike in. So that’s like super near and dear to my heart. ⁓ And then also like I’ve gained such a love for certain sections of the John Muir Trail as well, which is where I did a lot of my guide miles this past summer season.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (09:12)
Mm-hmm.

Halle (09:17)
Absolutely in love with the Whitney zone and that whole surrounding area through like Sequoia National Park and even the iceberg lake ⁓ side of the mountain. I just think it’s so special. ⁓ And then like further north on the JMT, I love the Donahue Pass area and like Lyle Canyon right below the pass and the glacier, what’s left of the glacier. That area is just wild and it’s just absolutely pure magic.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (09:47)
everything sounds so incredible. And it just makes me have such an appreciation for what we have available to us in this country that we can explore and just appreciate the beauty of this country, because I think we’re really lucky that we have so many different terrains, know, different, different places. I’m glad I have you on because you are truly an expert. You’ve been everywhere. I love it. I love it.

Halle (09:54)
Thank you.

Absolutely.

thank you. Thank you.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (10:10)
So say you’re a first time backpacker, ⁓ what would be a good beginner trail for somebody like myself who doesn’t really go backpacking? I’ll do day hikes all day, but backpacking is, I haven’t really done that, so.

Halle (10:14)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Totally. I mean, I think like what it comes down to is more about the qualities to look for in a trail versus the trail itself because everybody’s physical capabilities are so different from each other and everyone lives in different parts of the country as well. So like the trails that like I have access to here in California,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (10:32)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Halle (10:45)
are gonna be so different than what somebody on the East Coast has access to or someone in the Midwest. ⁓ And so I think like the main thing is to make sure that you’re keeping it like super short and sweet for that first trip. ⁓ Two nights is so perfect, ⁓ absolutely. Like you don’t need to do a lot of miles. You don’t need to summit a mountain. Like I always see these people who are like, I’m gonna go do a 14er for my first backpacking trip. And it’s like,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (10:48)
Yes. Yeah.

Maybe like a couple nights, like two nights.

Halle (11:14)
You don’t need to do something that big to feel like you’re out in the back country, if that makes sense, right?

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (11:19)
Yeah.

Halle (11:25)
But yeah, your first trip is for seeing whether or not you like the sport.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (11:31)
Yes, that makes sense. Yeah.

Halle (11:31)
more than anything, right?

So I recommend taking like what you normally do for a day hike and subtracting like three or four miles from that for your daily average. ⁓ Definitely a short trip, one to two nights is perfect. And that way you can truly focus on like paying attention to how you feel and give yourself like a good amount of time in the evenings to troubleshoot gear if you have to. I also recommend doing something that has like

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (11:56)
Yeah.

Halle (12:00)
pretty obvious campsites available. ⁓ I know that a lot of people are very stressed about, how do I know where to camp, right? ⁓ And you can usually find that information pretty accessibly online, but there are definitely areas that are better for that, right? So, I mean, I’ve done a lot of my guiding here in California and just on the West Coast in general. ⁓ So like Channel Islands National Park, awesome for people who are

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (12:16)
Mm-hmm.

Halle (12:30)
stressed about like having to find a campsite because there’s designated campsites. So it’s like you’re hiking to your campsite and you are in the backcountry because you’re dropped off on the island, right? But you have an assigned campsite, you have a food locker, so you don’t need to kind of think about all of those logistics for that first time out. You can kind of use that energy to like think about other things. ⁓ Yeah, think about like your gear, think about how you’re feeling, think about

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (12:33)
Okay, that’s good.

Yeah.

That’s nice.

Yeah.

Halle (13:00)
you know, ⁓ just getting there and everything that takes to get to your campsite. ⁓ I will say in the High Sierra, my top recommendation for beginners is Green Lake in the Hoover Wilderness. It’s only three miles to the lake. ⁓ Easy water sources, easy to find campsites, absolutely gorgeous. ⁓ But you do need a permit. It’s only $30. But yeah.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (13:04)
Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, that’s not bad. Yeah.

Halle (13:30)
But it’s really true. Yeah, pretty much. Pretty

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (13:30)
I’m paying for your campsite at that point, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Halle (13:34)
much. But yeah, that’s where I used to guide wilderness skills courses ⁓ this past summer for people who wanted that kind of intro to backpacking.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (13:44)
Is there like a best time of year for anyone to try backpacking? Do you have, I mean, a recommendation for that? Obviously not winter, probably not.

Halle (13:50)
Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend winter unless you’re

like in a part of the country where that’s your best weather, right? You know, because really, like, I automatically want to say like, summer is going to be your best bet. But it’s so dependent on where you live or where you’re trying to go. You know, most of the country

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (13:58)
Yeah, yeah, that’s true. That’s true. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

That’s true, yeah.

Halle (14:15)
Summer is gonna be great. Fall might also be really awesome because it starts to cool down. You’re not gonna be dealing with heat. Heat exhaustion won’t be like as big of a factor. You know, a huge thing to think about is like, are my water sources going to be available? You also don’t wanna be dealing with snow on the trails or weird weather, which I feel like can be…

a little bit more prevalent in the springtime across the country. ⁓ Water sources are gonna be flowing more abundantly earlier in the season, especially if you live somewhere where you’re dealing with snow melt, ⁓ because all of that comes from snow. ⁓ But fall is also really nice for the cooler weather. you know, there’s that. If you’re in the desert though, I would say like actually aim for spring, because that is gonna be a little bit more reliable with.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (14:42)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Little bit, yeah.

Halle (15:06)
with water and pretty good weather. Winter can be good in the desert too. I’ve done some Death Valley ⁓ backpacking. Yeah, depends on what desert for sure. Yeah.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (15:13)
Yeah, if it doesn’t get like too cold at night, right? mean, yeah. Yeah.

would you say like daylight is a big factor too, because obviously as you’re getting into fall, the sun’s coming down earlier and earlier. So is daylight something that you would also consider something for someone, a first timer to consider?

Halle (15:22)
Thank

Yeah, 100%. That’s kind of why my immediate instinct is to just say, go for the summer. Like July, awesome. July is a great time of year to go. But yeah, of course, lots of daylight. gives you a lot of time to get to your campsite. You can take a lot of breaks. It’s not a big deal. Obviously, that is something that you do have to think about in the winter. But also, there’s a lot of people who really don’t do well with hot weather. So it’s kind of like finding that balance of,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (15:38)
Summer. Yeah.

Got all the daylight.

Yeah.

Halle (16:02)
what is going to work for you, making sure that you have the right gear ⁓ to actually be able to handle yourself ⁓ if it were to get dark Definitely make sure you have a headlamp. Definitely make sure you have extra batteries.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (16:14)
that actually

leads us into a great, the next question I have is, what are some must have items when backpacking? And that’s fine. Everyone get out your notebook, so start taking notes.

Halle (16:17)
Thank

Yeah, this is going to be a long answer. I’m so sorry. Yeah, no, truly, truly.

⁓ So there’s definitely a base setup that I always recommend that people start with. ⁓ But I will say, if you’re not sure if you’re going to like the sport, rent gear or borrow from a friend for that first trip. ⁓ Backpacking gear is so expensive. ⁓ So like making sure that

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (16:34)
Mm-hmm.

It’s smart.

So expensive, yes?

Halle (16:48)
you’re getting stuff that’s gonna last you, you don’t just buy the cheap thing, just because you are gonna have to replace stuff. I call it the big six. So you’ve got the 10 essentials, which I’ll get into in a little bit, which is gonna be carrying on a day hike.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (17:02)
Okay.

Halle (17:04)
anyway, it’s kind of like your base safety gear. But I always say like you have the big six of backpacking, which is a backpack that fits you. ⁓ So go go and get properly fitted. ⁓ Most gear shops are going to be able to help with pack fits. ⁓ So go to your local gear shop, ask them to help you fit a pack. They do come in sizes, and they do come in women’s or men’s and they are like built for different body types. I found that I don’t like

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (17:05)
Yes.

Okay.

Halle (17:33)
to use men’s packs generally just because I have a shorter torso. So being able to find that gear that truly works for your body is actually going to be huge for injury prevention. So that is super important. So backpack is the first one. You obviously need something that you can carry everything in. ⁓ The other stuff is going to be your sleeping pad, sleeping bag, tent, water filtration, and your cook system.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (17:36)
Mm-hmm.

Halle (18:01)
I think that’s six, right? One, two, three, yep, that’s six. For your sleep system, which is your sleeping bag, your sleeping pad, and your tent, ⁓ A, make sure that your gear works before you go out. ⁓ That’s huge. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you don’t want to be fumbling with a tent that you’ve never put up before in a surprise thunderstorm, right? You want to kind of know how everything works.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (18:03)
I think so.

Yeah, and that you know how to use it. Like you can put up your tent.

Yeah, no.

Halle (18:30)
You also want to make sure that your tent is actually waterproof, especially if you’re borrowing gear from a friend instead of like renting it from a gear shop or a company that does gear rentals, because they should be testing their gear pretty regularly. But like if you’re borrowing your friend’s old tent, make sure that that is actually waterproof because again, thunderstorms can happen. And the last thing you want to do is be

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (18:33)
Yeah, that’s smart.

Yeah.

Yes.

Halle (18:56)
stuck out there and not be able to keep yourself dry. That can be really dangerous. ⁓ And then, yeah, make sure that you’re checking the temperature ratings on both your sleeping pad and your sleeping bag, ⁓ because they do come in different temperature ratings. And your sleeping pad is actually a way bigger deal than a lot of people think. You lose most of your heat through the ground when you’re sleeping in a tent.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (18:59)
Yeah. Yeah.

Halle (19:21)
So making sure that you have something underneath you that is gonna keep you warm is gonna be huge, especially if you’re doing like inflatable sleeping pads. Those temperature ratings are going to change and fluctuate. know, the more ultra light pads are not gonna be as warm, but they should, most of them these days should all be insulated. If you’re going really cold weather camping, I would recommend a closed cell foam pad, which is, you know, your classic fold up.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (19:21)
Mm-hmm.

Halle (19:47)
thermo rest. Yeah, because those are reliable and they are going to keep you warm. They might not be as comfortable, but they are going to save your life if need be. ⁓

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (19:47)
Yeah, the accordion style, yeah.

I didn’t

realize that the sleeping pads had temperature ratings too. I knew the sleeping bags did, but I didn’t know the mats did. So thanks for that information. It’s good to know.

Halle (20:01)
Yeah

Yeah, yeah, of course,

of course. ⁓ Yeah, and then the sleeping bags, yes, like you mentioned, do have a temperature rating. And they have an extreme rating and then they have a comfort rating. So essentially, that extreme rating is going to be ⁓ what is going to save your life? What is going to, you know, be that savior when you are stuck in that surprise snowstorm? And maybe it’s colder than you thought ⁓ versus like

your comfort rating is like where you’re actually gonna get like a really good night’s sleep, water filtration. I carry two different types of water filtration on every trip, at least two. ⁓ So one of those is sometimes my stove, because I can always boil

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (20:45)
Okay.

Halle (20:51)
that’s actually the safest, like, guarantee that you’re actually gonna kill everything. my favorite personal type of water filtration is a squeeze filter. Those can get a little bit complicated in cold weather, so just like make sure that you’re choosing gear that kind of works for the trip that you’re gonna be on.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (20:55)
That’s so

Halle (21:09)
You know, there’s always like iodine tablets or aqua and those can be a little bit complicated as well. They’re not really great to be consuming for like long periods of time.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (21:12)
Yeah.

They look good in a pinch,

Halle (21:19)
yeah, if you’re going out like every once in a while, using iodine, not a big deal. But if you’re using it all the time, if you’re, you know, relying on iodine on the PCT, not gonna have the best long term effects. I just learned that recently through a friend who’s also a backpacking guide.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (21:30)
Yeah.

Well, that’s good to know.

Halle (21:37)
so water filtration. mean, I think that’s something that maybe a lot of people don’t think about or put a lot of emphasis on. But it is something that is really important. And it’s just as important to have a way to filter water as it is to have access to those water sources.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (21:51)
to water.

Halle (21:52)
Yeah, other things to consider, ⁓ your clothes and your layers. ⁓ You know, don’t, yeah, you don’t need anything super fancy, right? I will bring just one outfit to hike in, one outfit to sleep in. ⁓ You know, my sleep clothes can also double as a base layer.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (21:57)
Typical hiking.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Halle (22:14)
if I’m hiking and it’s super cold out, I tend, my sleep clothes tend to be my merino wool ⁓ base layers, which are really good for keeping you warm. They can also layer under your hiking pants. ⁓ Exactly, exactly. And that’s why I don’t recommend people bring, you know, a ton of changes of clothes. ⁓

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (22:28)
That’s smart use of your space too in your bag.

Yeah, you don’t need that.

Halle (22:38)
Yeah, I think a lot of people, ⁓ you know, think that they need to bring a lot of changes of clothes, but really what you need to be focusing on is your layers. you know, base layer. ⁓ I like to have a fleece always. ⁓ Sometimes I’ll bring an insulating layer. That’s my puffy back there behind me, which you can see in the video.

And then I always also like to have a wind or rain layer that can go on top of the puffy. The puffy is great for wind generally, but it is down and it is going to be a problem if it gets rained on. So making sure that I have something that is ⁓ waterproof is huge. ⁓ I may or may not bring rain pants. It depends on where I am. If I’m in Alaska, the rain pants are definitely coming.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (23:01)
That’s smart, yeah.

Yeah

Halle (23:24)
Um,

it just, it just totally depends. Um, and then of course you want good shoes. Um, if you’re already a hiker, like if you already do a lot of day hiking, you don’t need to buy new shoes. Just make sure that what you have is broken in, um, so that you’re not dealing with, uh,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (23:40)
You want

Halle (23:40)
Especially because when you’re backpacking, you might be dealing with more like river crossings where your feet might get wet and that,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (23:46)
Mm-hmm.

Halle (23:47)
make you more prone to blisters. And also just carrying more weight that your body is not used to, like that can definitely add to injury risk as well. So just making sure that your shoes are really well broken in and that you have something that works for you. I’m constantly getting questions about what shoes I recommend and it’s like, just go and try on shoes. Yeah, exactly.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (24:07)
Yeah, everyone’s feet is different. And I know

some people like swear by some people swear by trail runners, some people swear by their hiking boots. So everyone’s different. Yeah.

Halle (24:16)
⁓

Yeah, yeah, I’m a trail runner girly for sure.

keeping that in mind and keeping in mind like what footwear actually like overall works for your entire body is really important. So just use what is comfortable for you and what you actually like. Something else that you might need to think about in terms of gear is potentially food storage.

it depends on where you are. depends on where you are and where you’re going. Yeah. So, so you guys use bear bags over there. We use bear cans, ⁓ here in the Sierra, which are so heavy. ⁓ but, ⁓ they keep the bears away, which, well, they keep the bears out of your food. but it’s really important to know what the regulations are and the requirements are.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (24:37)
Yes, yeah. Over here we need the bear bags.

Okay.

Halle (25:00)
for the area that you’re gonna be because you don’t wanna show up in Yosemite and learn right then and there that you need to now rent a bear can.

it is something to think about when you are like organizing your pack for the first time and making sure that everything fits. if you know that you are going to need something as big and bulky as a bear can, just like keeping that in mind before you get to the park is going to be huge.

having a way to go to the bathroom You know, I think a lot of people don’t think about that. Yeah, but also it goes back to the regulations, right? because some areas are totally fine with you digging cat holes,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (25:26)
Pack a shovel with you.

Halle (25:37)
so carrying a trowel slash poop kit, ⁓ which usually for me consists of ⁓ toilet paper and a couple of I actually bring dog poop bags to pack my toilet paper out with me because those are literally meant to carry waste.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (25:40)
Yeah.

Smart, smart.

Halle (25:53)
They’re also easy to just untie and you can just keep adding to it throughout your trip. ⁓ And then some hand sanitizer, of course. But some areas that are drier, ⁓ so the desert and ⁓ up in the high alpine, so you’ll find that in Colorado and the high Sierra here, ⁓ do require wag bags. So they actually require for you to pack out all of your waste. So making sure that you

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (26:15)
Okay.

Okay.

Halle (26:20)
know about that and are prepared for that ⁓ is really important because leave no trace is incredibly important.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (26:28)
Very important.

Halle (26:29)
In terms of other things gear-wise that I’d recommend, like carry a map. ⁓ Yeah, carry a paper map. ⁓

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (26:36)
smart. It’s like, it’s

like the obvious thing that everyone forgets.

Halle (26:43)
Yep, exactly. Yeah, carry a map, carry a headlamp, carry another safety device. If you’re doing a lot of outdoor activity, I really recommend getting a Garmin InReach Mini.

Having the ability to satellite call or satellite message people is going to just bring so much peace of mind. it’s always really nice to just be able to like text my emergency contact, like, hey, made it to camp, this is where I am. You can send them an exact GPS coordinate of where you are.

And that way somebody knows where you are. And it generally just makes the whole experience a lot safer.

giving somebody your plan ahead of time is huge. You know, just being like, hey, like I’m going in at this trailhead, this is where I’m planning on camping. This is when I’m supposed to be back in cell service. And this is what to do if I’m not back.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (27:35)
even if you’re not by yourself backpacking, still somebody not with you should know where you are, like what the plan is.

Halle (27:37)
you

if you were to get hurt or if your friend were to get hurt it is really essential for somebody to have that information of, know, what trail were you on? Where were you planning on going? Because, you know, 24 hours passes past when you were supposed to be back and they want to call search and rescue. They need to have that information.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (27:58)
Yeah, they need to

Halle (27:59)
yeah and ⁓ the ten essentials just because I have mentioned it a couple times. So you’ve got navigation, which we just talked about.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (28:06)
Mm-hmm.

Halle (28:07)
⁓ And

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (28:07)
Yes.

Halle (28:08)
also the Garmin InReach does connect to the Explore app, the Garmin Explore app. And that also has a map on it as well. So, you know, really good to cover all your bases. I also like to recommend that if you are gonna be relying on your phone for navigation, bring a battery bank ⁓ because your phone will die, especially if it’s cold out, sun protection.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (28:13)
okay, yeah.

That’s smart, yep.

You will die.

Halle (28:30)
is huge. I’m a big sun hoodie girly. sun protection in the form of whatever is the most comfortable for you. So whether that’s sunblock, a hat, definitely bring sunglasses, especially if you’re going up into the alpine. The UV up there is just so strong. something to think about. Insulation and warmth. So I kind of talked about that when I was talking about layering, but it’s, you know, just a huge thing that

maybe people don’t think about, especially if you’re going out in the summer, ⁓ you know, make sure that you have those layers because it does get cold at night.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (28:58)
Mm-hmm.

Halle (29:03)
Illumination, I’ve mentioned headlamps a couple times. ⁓ Make sure you have extra batteries for that. ⁓ Makes a huge difference. You really don’t want to be caught in the dark

in terms of safety, first aid is also on the 10 essentials. even if it’s like your super basic first aid kit, like it does not need to be anything super fancy.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (29:16)
Oh, 100%. Yep.

Yeah.

Halle (29:22)
but just like having things like gauze ace bandage, Benadryl

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (29:25)
Yeah, was gonna

yeah.

Halle (29:28)
doesn’t

need to be super fancy, but you should have something. On the 10 essentials as well is something to make fire with.

you know, something to be able to, to generate heat with is, is kind of what that is implying. even if it’s just like, I have a lighter to light my butane stove. ⁓ that is, great because you can warm your hands up.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (29:49)
You definitely need that.

Halle (29:50)
You can

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (29:50)
Yeah.

Halle (29:51)
boil water, you can make a hot water bottle to keep in your sleeping bag and keep yourself warm if need be. A repair kit is on the list of the 10 essentials. So I usually just bring my Leatherman

It’s a heavy, but I think it’s worth it.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (30:04)
it is heavy.

It’s worth it.

Halle (30:09)
having my little pocket knife on there, having the pliers, having a can opener, like those kinds of things, just because you never know what might be needed when you are in the back country. having a patch kit is really good. ⁓ Knowing how to potentially patch your inflatable sleeping pad.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (30:15)
Mm-hmm.

Halle (30:27)
is really essential as well. just kind of like being prepared for like when gear does break because it does happen. And then food and water, obviously. ⁓

or water filtration, you know, you are gonna run out of water if you’re backpacking, if you’re out for a few days, but having your water filter is really huge. And then shelter, ⁓ which we’ve already talked about tents. So yeah, most beginner backpackers are gonna be sleeping in a tent. There are some other options that, you you might kind of graduate into like tarps and flies or bivy sacks as you become a little bit more comfortable with sleeping in the backcountry, but tents are kind of where I would recommend.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (30:51)
to tempt you.

Halle (31:07)
⁓ starting

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (31:08)
You mentioned food, is there any kind of food that you would recommend to bring on a backpacking trip?

Halle (31:13)
Yeah, so for beginners, it is really convenient that we are living in a time where we have these pre-made dehydrated meals that are just available at most outdoor shops. Even like the grocery store here in my little mountain town sells dehydrated meals,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (31:24)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Halle (31:32)
I’ve been loving Good To Go as a brand for like healthy dinners. But there’s like such a large selection.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (31:35)
Mm-hmm.

Halle (31:39)
And it’s really important to just like buy stuff that you know you’re gonna like ⁓ and you know you’re gonna eat. If you’re super on a budget, ⁓ just bringing like boxed mac and cheese.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (31:44)
Yeah, yeah.

Halle (31:51)
is super easy. Even like the Knorr rice or pasta sides, a lot of food hikers ⁓ use those and yeah. Yeah, and then you can, yeah, and then you can just like throw in some whatever, you know, protein. Exactly.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (31:52)
that’s smart.

That’s so smart. I wouldn’t even think of that. But yeah, that’s so smart. Yeah. And very reasonably priced.

Like throwing like a pack of tuna or something and you’re good to go.

Halle (32:12)
Yeah. And I deal with clients who have all sorts of dietary restrictions and you know, there’s gluten free options that are out there. there’s vegan options, there’s vegetarian options, there’s pescatarian options. Like we are living in like such an innovative time when it comes to dehydrated food. But I think like really what it comes down to is buying food and bringing food that you

Genuinely enjoy. ⁓ You know, bring stuff that you’re actually going to eat. know, don’t bring just, you know, trail mix as your snack just because it’s a quote unquote hiking snack.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (32:36)
Yeah.

Halle (32:45)
You can think outside the box and you can bring things that like are genuinely going to taste good to you and are going to motivate you to eat. Because if you’re just stuck with a bunch of food that you don’t want to eat, you are going to be putting yourself in a really tricky situation. Like you need to be in taking calories when you’re crushing miles and carrying weight on the trail.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (33:01)
Yeah.

Halle (33:06)
I like to even bring candy on the trail. I’ll bring a bag of Sour Patch Kids and keep it in my hip belt pocket because that sugar boost is really good. I also like to bring an electrolyte packet per day just because you are trying to upkeep your body while you are going through this pretty physically demanding activity.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (33:10)
Mm-hmm.

So I want to ask you, since you’ve been backpacking for so long now and a guide and everything like that, do you have any like funny or ⁓ no, like story that you would like to share that the audience might find enjoyable?

Halle (33:31)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I

I could just talk about the Timberline Trail. I actually had a story published about the Timberline Trail back in, what was that, spring of 2024 in an anthology called Blood, Sweat, Tears, not to self-plug, but also to self-plug.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (33:49)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Well, we did have Christine Reed on the podcast, so we’ve already plugged the book. We can plug it again.

Halle (34:01)
I’m feeling close.

Beautiful, beautiful.

I’m like right in the middle, like directly in the middle of the book. But I talk about the Timberline Trail in ⁓ my story. And specifically, I talk about the moment where I have to cross the Elliott Glacier River, it was deep. It was above my knees. ⁓ And I’m not a large person.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (34:09)
Love it.

no.

Halle (34:22)
I’m only like 5’5″, so ⁓ you know, that’s a lot of me that’s in this very cold river. ⁓ There is a bridge there now, apparently, which is crazy. ⁓ I know, right? ⁓ But yeah, it was one of those river crossings, and I’d done tons of river crossings in the past before, but it’s one of those river crossings that you kind of get warnings about. ⁓ Like everybody who’s going in the other direction was like, hey,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (34:22)
No.

That takes the fun out of it now.

Halle (34:51)
make sure that you’re crossing this river in the morning instead of in the afternoon. And that’s because snow melt tends to increase in the afternoon as it gets hotter. ⁓ I didn’t really have a choice with that timeline ⁓ just because of where I planned on camping on that trail. And I just kept telling myself like, it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine. But the river was really deep. It was really cold and it was going really

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (35:00)
That makes sense, yeah.

Halle (35:16)
There were definitely moments where I was like stepping into the water and then being like, nope, backing back out. I have my teevahs on because I didn’t want to get my boots wet My teevahs are getting like absolutely ripped off of my feet because the river is going so hard.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (35:31)
my goodness.

Halle (35:31)
Eventually,

another solo hiker kind of passes me and he’s this like six foot tall dude who runs across the river, drops his pack, comes back across like halfway to like where it was stable for him to stand and he like sticks his hand out to me. So he essentially like pulls me across the river. ⁓

which I’m glad he did because, you know, who knows what could have happened. I could have ended up very wet and very cold. I could have ended up down the river a ways. ⁓ If there hadn’t been somebody else there, it also could have been

And we ended up hiking most of the last day together, ⁓ which was really cool to just have someone to talk to, because I had done two days totally solo up until that point.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (36:17)
that like when you’re backpacking solo? Do you start to go little stir crazy start talking to all the animals you see on the trail?

Halle (36:18)
Thank

Yeah.

I mean, it depends on where I am. If I’m in bear country, I am talking to myself the whole time.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (36:30)
yeah, yeah, well you want

everyone to know that you’re there. Don’t come near me.

Halle (36:33)
Yeah, exactly.

No, I do enjoy backpacking solo. ⁓ I tend to go and solo backpack when I need to like process stuff ⁓ and like be in my head a little bit and like think through things. ⁓ I think a lot of people will solo backpack because it kind of gets them out of their head. It does the opposite for me. ⁓ But it allows me to like have that like solitude to work through whatever is going on in my life and reset and it’s…

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (36:45)
Okay.

Halle (37:02)
It’s really cool. It’s kind of like pausing time in a way, because it’s like, cool, I’m going to like step away and not be on my phone and I’m going to just be in nature. And then I get to like reenter society having had this really cool experience.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (37:14)
Before I let you go, I ask everybody this. If you could only do one kind of hike for the rest of your life, would it be a hike that would lead to a waterfall or would it be a hike that would lead to a really beautiful view?

Halle (37:17)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. I’m gonna go with the really beautiful view. I don’t really love the word peak bagger, but I do tend to gravitate toward mountain summits. the reason why I gravitate toward mountain summits is because there is this really special moment where you get to the top of whatever mountain you’re.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (37:39)
Nuh.

Mm-hmm.

Halle (37:56)
aiming for and you finally get to see the view that’s on the other side of it. And that is so special and so magical. And waterfalls are awesome. I actually used to be a waterfall hiking guide in Oregon a few years ago. Have such a special place in my heart for all the waterfalls. Do go chasing waterfalls, definitely. But I will say a big expansive view is just absolutely life changing.

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (38:01)
Yeah.

Okay.

So before I let you go, ⁓ where can everyone find you? you’re on social media, you’re online.

Halle (38:29)
Yeah, so I’m Halle Treks on all platforms. So that’s H-A-L-L-E-T-R-E-K-S. ⁓ So I’m mostly active on Instagram and TikTok. ⁓ Threads is a new one. So sometimes I do be sure my opinion’s on threads. But yeah, mostly Instagram and TikTok,

Lauren – Her Side Of The Trail (38:42)
Yes, it is.

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise because I definitely learned a lot from you. ⁓ You’ve kind of made me like, maybe I could do some backpacking, maybe. But I appreciate your time and your expertise and thank you so much for being here.

Halle (39:00)
You definitely could. You definitely could.

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It was a really, really fun time.