BushWhacking Tips & Tricks

Footwear

Forget about the old fashioned leather hiking boots. Bushwhacking means bush, not snow, so leave the heavy hiking boots in the closet where they belong.

What's wrong with leather hiking boots? When bushwhacking you will encounter numerous creeks, swamps, rivers and other bodies of water that you will have to cross. Inevitably your footwear will become wet as you can't remove your hiking boots and socks every time you encounter water, then walk through the wet stuff in your bare feet, then put everything back on when you reach the other side. It's just not practical. When leather hiking boots get wet they get heavy. Now you've got a couple of pounds of skin-soaking strapped onto each foot. Move this soggy weight around a couple of thousand times (every step you take) and you've got yourself a blister factory. We've all seen the pictures, and probably experienced the whole ugly scene ourselves at one time or another. Screaming with every step is no way to enjoy the great outdoors.

What to do? Slap some BodyGlide, or other skin-safe lubricant/sealant on your feet, cover with a couple layers of synthetic-fibre socks, and slip into some trail running shoes. Garnish with gaiters and wade right on through those nasty liquids. When you reach the other side (dry land) just keep on going. Within 20 minutes or so your feet will be back to their normal trekking moisture level (sweat) and you didn't have to bare foot it through those lacerating bogs, creeks and riverbeds. Periodically, at break times, take everything off and reapply the skin sealant. This will keep the skin on your feet from absorbing too much moisture and becoming soft and vulnerable to blisters and hot-spots.

Worried about the loss of ankle support when using trail running shoes? Your ankles will know the difference and make the adjustments and compensations.

Trekking Poles

Leave the trekking poles at home. There is no place for them during a serious bushwhack. You will need both hands to grab onto the bush and if stowed on to your pack they will hook everything in site. Frustrating!

Food

Eat your heaviest food first. Take heavy, heavy fresh fruit and vegetables and cut down on carried water to compensate. Eat these fresh, heavy and nourishing items first. We all know that when we start a hike we are bursting with energy. Use this energy and enthusiasm to carry these big-ticket food items but eat them first, leaving those disgusting freeze-dried meals and power bars to the latter stages of the bushwhack.

Ever gone for a few days without a hot meal even though you could have had a hot meal? Sandwiches? Cold pizza? By eliminating the need to cook you can leave your stove, fuel, pots, lids, pans, utensils, etc, all at home. The weight savings will be enormous! Yes, it is nice to have a hot meal at the end of a hard day's bushwhack. But it is even nicer to bushwhack all day with a backpack the size of a day pack. Think about it.

If you can, cook on a fire. Roast things, heat up other things in tin foil. Eat with your hands, right out of the container or package. Need caffeine? Eat chocolate or take caffeine pills instead. Or better yet, forgo the caffeine until it is available back in civilization. Leave the stainless steel coffee making machinery at home. Ultralite bushwhacking is about sacrifices.

Tents

Small is beautiful. Good things come in small packages. Bring a small tent, hammock or tarp and your backpack can be even smaller and lighter too. Ultralight!

Sleeping Bags

Why take off warmth-giving clothing (your down jacket), cast it aside, and then get into yet another warmth-providing item; your sleeping bag. Bring a smaller and lighter sleeping bag and supplement it with other warm clothing that you are bringing anyway.

Backpacks

Ultralight means ultra small. Take a full sized expedition pack with you on a bushwhack and you will be like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Strap things to the outside of your pack and when you stop for the night be prepared to be missing things. Mesh pouches and pockets will be torn to shreds within minutes, spilling your valuables into the unknown. A good bushwhacking packsack should have a built-in fanny pack to keep those often used items within easy reach. When you are fatigued and sore you will not want to stop and take off your pack every time you need your sunscreen.

Navigation

GPS? Compass? Maps? Bring them all. Navigating in the thick, dense bush, especially at night, can be a challenge. With a solid overhead canopy you may not even see the sky for hours at a time, never mind distant mountains and other terrain features that will aid you in navigation. Study your map before you leave and have your route roughly planned out with a series of waypoints.

Route Finding

Navigation is one thing, but route-finding is another altogether. Topographical maps don't tell you how thick the bush is and sometimes do not highlight small local terrain features. Here are some good bushwhacking rules of thumb:

• Try not to lose altitude if you have to gain it back later. Traverse the hillside, maintaining your altitude, instead of going down and then back up later. You will save time and energy this way.

• Try not to gain altitude if you have to lose it later. Same logic applies.

• Avoid logging slashes and areas that have been tree-spaced.

• Stick to old-growth timber (virgin forest) if possible. There will be less undergrowth and the scenery will be vastly superior. Logging companies would like you to believe that second-growth forests are the same as old-growth ones; they are not.

• Ridges are usually less brushy than valleys.

• Avoid large areas of salal and devils clubs.

• Gain some altitude and then descend down through slide alder; go with the grain, not against it.

Campsites

Avoid established public campsites. They are generally very uncomfortable and are bear-magnets with all of the cooking and dish washing that goes on in those places. Look for areas of undisturbed virgin forest and sleep on the spongy duff of the forest floor. If you are lucky the huge canopies of the old-growth trees will deflect the rain and keep you dry.

Caves can keep you dry and out of the severe weather. Look for rock over-hangs and boulder-fields made up of large boulders. Under some of the bigger boulders can be comfortable and dry accommodations.