As someone who has discovered their most passionate hobbies and interests relatively recently, I’m no stranger to trying something new: be it scuba diving, surfing, bike mechanics, photography, DIY home improvement, or writing. Backpacking has been on my to-do list for a while now, but I never got around to it. Events recently conspired to put backpacking on my calendar this summer and now I just need more time in my day (and year) to make room for this newest of activities.

One thing that kept me from trying backpacking before now was the misguided idea that it was beyond me – only for the truly hardcore and outdoorsy. That’s not true, of course, backpacking is completely approachable (and fun!), but there are still a few things I learned that had I known ahead of time would’ve made my trip even easier and more enjoyable. Read on to hear how things went for me and get inspired to plan your own backpacking trip!

1. The Spot

I could not have asked for a more perfect spot to try out backpacking than Maine’s Bold Coast – that extra-rugged stretch of granite coastline extending from Cutler to Lubec and overlooking the Bay of Fundy. It’s a wildly beautiful area characterized by wave-washed cliffs, serene wetlands, blueberry meadows, and classic Maine evergreen forests. I wish I could take credit for the find, but that goes to my girlfriend and personal backpacking guru, who even refused to tell me where we were going.

The roughly 12,000 acre Cutler Coast Public Reserved Lands allow anyone to access all the Bold Coast has to offer through a 10-mile system of trails and primitive campsites. We affectionately called the area “the baby PNW” given its striking similarity to the Pacific northwest coastlines of northern California, Oregon, and Washington, albeit on a smaller scale. Look out for a future article detailing this fantastic Maine gem.

2. Preparedness and Packing List

There are two big things to keep in mind when deciding what to pack for your trip: how long you’ll be out (how many nights) and the weather you expect to encounter. These two things will frame the discussion of what I ended up packing as well. Because we only planned to camp out one night, I didn’t need to worry about bringing too many changes of clothes.

I did, however, need to be prepared for a pretty wide range of weather. August in New England is all over the board. You might get stifling hot and humid days, intense booming thunderstorms, pleasant mid-70s and a light breeze, an all-day drizzle, or all of the above in less than a 24-hour period. Plus, you shouldn’t be surprised if the temperature drops 20 degrees or more overnight.

With that in mind, my clothing choices were centered around layering – which is a good rule of thumb no matter your outdoor activity. A minimum of three layers is appropriate for most situations: a moisture-wicking synthetic base layer (a t-shirt) to wear next to your skin, a fleece or synthetic layer for warmth, and then a wind- and water-proof jacket to go on top of the other two layers. With that basic structure, you’ll be prepared for most conditions you encounter when 3-season hiking or backpacking.

Whether you wear shorts or pants is more of a personal call (or bring both; if your budget allows, get zip-offs for the best of both worlds!), but remember that you shouldn’t be wearing anything cotton as it doesn’t insulate when wet and will take forever to dry – synthetics only. I brought a light rain jacket and fleece for my outer layers, and then a wider variety of base layers – because I had the room so I could try things out and see what I liked.

I wore a short sleeve t-shirt and shorts for hiking during the day and then a pair of running tights and a long sleeve tee in the evening and overnight. I appreciated having the full body coverage after the sun went down for warmth and to mitigate mosquito bites. The long sleeve tee is redundant if you’re trying to cut down on what you’re packing (because of the fleece layer), but I would definitely bring long leg coverings of some kind.

Even though I was well aware of layering and the moratorium on cotton before this trip, I didn’t quite nail my packing. This was apparent from the start when we laid out all our gear in the morning prior to departure (see below pictures). My very first note for writing this article is: “bring a beanie, you bald idiot”. Remember how I said the temperature drops significantly overnight? Well it was still pretty chilly that morning, too, and boy did I feel it on my bare head. Even if you’ve got hair, you’ll still want to bring a warm hat – yes, even in summertime. I’m from here, I knew this intellectually ahead of time, but I was still not totally awake to the reality of the situation until I stepped outside that morning. In my defense, a warm hat was not on my personalized packing list and I’m a rule-follower, so if it’s not on there, I don’t bring it. Luckily, I was entitled to the spare beanie, but of course that morning ended up being the coldest part of the trip.

The rest of my wardrobe was rounded out by a swimsuit (which I was specifically told to bring), a baseball cap, a “Under Armour”-type long sleeve top (waaaaay overkill), wool socks, and my Teva sandals. I can’t recommend enough that you bring a pair of sport sandals or lightweight sneakers as “camp shoes” to wear at the campsite and especially on the car ride home. There is no better feeling than taking off your boots after a long day – your feet will be so grateful (and make sure you properly secure them so you don’t lose one and end up stuck in your boots like me, ugh).

Outside of clothing, food and drink is probably the next biggest thing you’ll need to devote brain power towards planning. Because we only did a single overnight, we were a bit indulgent when choosing our meals. We brought ham sandwiches for lunch on our first day and pre-cooked chicken to add to our backpacking “just add water” pouch dinner that night since the short time frame meant we didn’t have to worry about spoilage. The rest of our snacks were fairly standard hiking fare: Clif Bars, banana chips, chocolate (be careful about THAT in the summer, though, or you’ll have a different kind of goo!), nuts, those apple sauce goo pouches. The idea is to bring plenty of calorie dense foods so you can efficiently replenish your energy.

For water, I’d recommend bringing as much as you can comfortably carry (is there a rule for this?). We each filled our 3-liter Camelbak reservoirs as well as roughly another ~2 liters each in separate bottles (one of those earmarked for cooking). So all in all we carried approximately 10 liters between the two of us which ended up being more than enough for our 24-hour sojourn. Of course, we also packed water purification tablets just in case, but we didn’t even come close to needing them. Those are cheap and light, so if you don’t backpack much they may be okay, but yuck, they make water taste bad. Better idea; either a filter from somebody like Sawyer or Katadyn , or a UV light from SteriPen .

If you like an alcoholic drink in camp, remember that warm beer is…warm beer. Whiskey/tequila works better, or wine, particularly box wine (lighter weight, no glass to break). Pro tip: Put your box white (or red) wine in the freezer, then wrap your food that you want to keep cool around it with a t-shirt or something; it’ll slowly melt, and you’ll have cool food AND cool wine on a hot day.

Here’s the complete packing list with a few annotations about the things we haven’t discussed so far.

• Clothing
  • Hiking boots
  • Camp shoes (Tevas, Xero, etc.)
  • Wool socks (2-3 pairs)
  • T-shirts (2)
  • Long sleeve tee (ultralight longies can be great for this)
  • Shorts (1 pair)
  • Swim trunks
  • “Under Armour” top
  • Tights (or long leg coverings; again, ultralight longies can fit the bill)
  • Fleece
  • Rain jacket
  • Ballcap
  • Beanie
  • Sunglasses
• Toiletries
  • Toothbrush
  • Toothpaste – optional, frankly (unless your partner says is isn’t). Hang on to those mini tubes that the dentist gives you; perfect for backpacking!
  • Toilet paper
  • Sunscreen
  • Bug spray
  • Chapstick – I can’t live without
  • Baby wipes – for “showering” (or a travel washcloth and some warm water)
  • Medication
• Camping supplies
  • Tent
  • Sleeping pad
  • Sleeping bag
  • Inflatable pillow – an actual lifesaver
  • Stove + fuel
  • Small pot
  • Bowls + cutlery
  • Bear bag (careful here; KNOW how to use it, and practice…it’s not as easy as it sounds to do it right)
  • Paracord
  • Multi-tool / knife
  • Lighter
  • Firestarter material – we had dryer lint (which sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t, depending on what clothes you’ve dried. Better idea; soak it in some melted Vaseline and it’s guaranteed to work)
  • Trailmap
  • Water purification (tablets or UV like SteriPen or filters like Sawyer)
  • Trowel
  • Whistle
  • Duct tape
  • First aid kit
• Other
  • Pack (duh)
  • Hydration bladder for pack (cool new option: Hydrolight)
  • Additional water (particularly on the coast, where a lot is salty)
  • Photo ID
  • Hammock (optional, but nice if you’ve got the right trees and a hot afternoon!)
  • Book (or Kindle)
  • Notebook (and pen…duh)

When it comes time to load up, you want to make sure your load is balanced well and that anything you want to access quickly is on top or in an outside pocket (like snacks, bug spray FOR SURE, etc.). I wasn’t too careful repacking on the morning of day two because I was getting mauled by mosquitoes at the time. It was clearly noticeable that I was a bit top heavy and off-balance that day and if the hiking had been any more technical I would have stopped to fix it. At least now I can personally attest: how you pack is as important for comfort as what you pack, so do it right!

3. Don’t Hesitate to Turn Around

I had so much fun on this trip, but it wasn’t without challenges. My biggest one was blisters on my heels – which I knew would be an issue, but man, they were bad. My hiking boots are relatively new still, but I thought that I was moving out of the break-in phase and that slapping some big bandages on my heels would make me good to go. Listen to me now: if you think your boots are broken in because they’re comfortable to wear around town, you’re wrong and you should continue to break them in. I’m actually wearing them now as I write this so I don’t have to experience what I went through ever again (until the next pair!). However, the unfortunate truth is that some boots may give you blisters no matter how well you’ve broken them in (if only this was something you could find out in the store when trying them on).

There are a couple of things you can do to combat blisters, which arise when your foot moves in your boot, rubbing against your sock and boot liner. One method is to use Kinesio Tape to cover blister-prone areas so the rubbing is on the tape and not your heels. This is what I was trying to accomplish with the bandages, but those end up being too loose and just act as another surface to produce friction. Kinesio Tape adheres like a second skin to absorb the friction and protect your actual skin. Another possible solution is to add a sole insert to your boot to hopefully take up that extra space that is allowing your foot to move around. Even just a bit of something, flat plastic, etc., underneath the heel may be enough. I’ll experiment for next time and get back to you.

What this all translated to for my trip this time, however, was a fairly uncomfortable afternoon. The Cutler Reserve does not have big elevation, but it is a lot of up then down then up again – and boy was that a killer on my heels. As we were making our way to our intended campsite in the far south of the reserve, we were also getting pulled off trail every 0.1 – 0.25 miles onto rocky overlooks to snap stunning pictures of the coastline. We passed a couple of campsites recently added to the reserve, one occupied and one free, but we wanted to hike the entire coastal route so we continued on.

But as it grew later in the afternoon and we struggled to estimate exactly how much further we had to travel, we started to consider turning around. Campsites in the Cutler Reserve are first-come, first-serve, so even though we were hedging our bets by camping out on a Sunday and avoiding most of the weekend traffic, there was no guarantee. Plus, I became insatiably thirsty in the afternoon and there was some question as to whether we’d need to be near the stream (which was much closer to the campsites we’d passed) to replenish our supply. My girlfriend and I are both stubborn and don’t like to quit – but that’s a terrible way to look at the situation. Deciding to turn around because you’re uncomfortable for any reason is always smart. In this case, water ended up being a non-issue and blisters were unavoidable (though I was happy to cut our mileage a bit and not make them that much worse), but backtracking did mean we narrowly secured what turned out to be a phenomenal campsite; we had a tent pad on a bluff overlooking a private cove and pebble-strewn beach – as picturesque as can be.

4. Indulge in the Simple

That pebbly beach ended up being fuel for one of life’s simplest joys: throwing rocks into the water. If you haven’t indulged in this activity recently, or at all as an adult, I cannot recommend it enough. Now, perhaps my girlfriend and I are particularly childish, but I think we were on that beach all of five minutes before we started trying to skip stones in the light surf. When it became clear the conditions were not of the skipping kind, we transitioned quickly to attempting to make the best “kerplunk” (“sploosh”?) sound possible. We excavated deep trenches on either side of where we sat fueling this game. It sounds totally stupid, but it was also so, so enjoyable. And if this kind of simple thing isn’t what hiking/backpacking is about, then there’s something I must be missing.

It’s the easy take, but true: when you divorce yourself from the phones and the screens, and the instant gratification of modern life by getting far enough out to lose cell service (or put on airplane mode), you find pleasure in nature’s simplest things. Throwing rocks, climbing trees, or just observing and being in nature. I think backpacking is great for this because it forces you to simplify; you can only bring what you can carry, after all. That combined with the physical exertion is a great mental reset. Even though we both brought books and notebooks, we were content to sit on the beach and let our eyes follow the line of lobster buoys out of the cove towards Grand Manan Island, Canada (only 13 miles away!). After our arms were too tired to throw more rocks, of course.

5. Do NOT Underestimate Maine’s Mosquitoes

Between this and the blisters it probably sounds like I had a hellish first time backpacking, but that’s really not the case – it was a blast. However,I would love for you to be able to avoid the minor negatives to my experience and so I’m telling you now to bring a lot of insect repellent. Gripes about Maine’s mosquitoes are nothing new, but my God they were vicious and they were legion. They were a contributing factor to why we spent so much time throwing rocks, actually, because there weren’t quite as many right on the beach as there were where we had to pitch the tent. I even ended up dragging everything down to the beach in the morning to repack in an attempt to minimize exposure, but still ended up with a whole zodiac of bites covering my legs and arms. We had mosquito repellent, but not enough. If you’re trying to save space or shave weight, this is not an area where you want to make compromises. You should, however, check out some of these bug un-friendly products: Thermacell, Insect Shield.

6. Still Bring That Smartphone

I know I just sang the praises of putting it down, but you should absolutely still bring your smartphone on your backpacking trip for a couple reasons. The first is safety: if you have an emergency and still have cell service your phone can be the difference between life and death (or at least mild and extreme discomfort). I had mine in airplane mode to try to preserve my meager data allowance and temperamental battery (which refuses to charge from anything less than a wall outlet), but my girlfriend had hers on and even had decent service almost the whole trip so we were covered there. However, a big secondary reason to keep your phone handy is to document your trip. I have a decent DSLR camera and I swear my smartphone takes better pictures more than half the time because the technology for automatic focus, exposure, and all that jazz is just so good nowadays (and it’s one less bulky and HEAVY thing to pack, too). And while it’s far from my first instinct to pull out my phone and snap a picture when something catches my eye, I’m glad that I made an effort for this trip.

The shared album where my girlfriend and I both dumped our photos has 415 pictures, and sure, a lot of them are duplicates or only slightly different (I’ve yet to comb through and delete anything), but there are also a number of great pictures of the two of us – not to mention the stunning landscape. I’m very happy to have this record of the fun time we had, plus plenty of propaganda to convince my friends and family (and all of you!) to go give backpacking on the Bold Coast a try!

7. Backpacking Isn’t as Scary as It Sounds

It really is not as hard as you might think – especially if you start with just a single night (or stick with doing those forever!). As I mentioned above, doing just an overnight cuts down on the clothing and other items you need to bring, and it very much lets you play fast and loose with your food planning – you could pack in with cold pizza or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and get away with it easily (plus then you don’t need a backpacking stove or have to worry about cooking over a campfire). Backpacking gear can be expensive, but you can easily rent it from local outfitters or online here, also letting you try it out before you commit. If you’re already a camper or hiker you’ll have most of the things you need anyway.

When/if you do decide to purchase gear, keep in mind that for the majority of circumstances you don’t need to purchase “ultralight” or backpacking-specific gear. Often this type of product is much more expensive than its “normal” counterpart while only shaving a few ounces (or a few fractions of an ounce). Useful if you’re undertaking a technical trip, but overkill for the vast majority of us weekend backpackers.

Finally, you don’t need to tackle a 4,000 foot mountain in order to go backpacking. Elevation in the Cutler Reserve is no more than ~200 feet and trails are well marked and decently maintained, making it ideal for a first-time sojourn. Make sure you take proper safety precautions and do a little planning (refer to the packing list above!), but there’s no reason you can’t follow your heart into the wilderness for a night to look for the best rocks to throw.

Photos by Adam Copeland and Ashley Charleson.