By Geraldine Mills
Hiking feels like such a personal adventure that can get a lot of people excited. People use their hiking journey as a way to discover the world and their selves. When you’re hiking, though, try to care for the environment you’re hiking in.
Self-awareness of your hiking habits that might harm the environment will help you avoid doing them. If you need help figuring out how to hike sustainably, here are a few tips.
Bring a reusable water bottle
As you should know, there is lots of plastic pollution in our air, lands, and seas that are damaging our environment and the creatures that live in it. Thus, you should try and reduce the plastic waste that you contribute to this world.
The simplest way to do that would be to stop using or buying plastic water bottles and start bringing a reusable one instead.
Bringing a high-quality and reusable water bottle will help save you money in the long run since you’ll be able to use it again. Aside from that, better reusable water bottles can keep the temperature steady for a long time.
Of course, all that contributes to reducing the plastic waste that you produce, too.
As an avid hiker, it makes sense to have a reusable water bottle as part of your hiking gear essentials.
Take pictures. Leave no trace.
When you’re on your hiking adventure, you should aim to leave as little a trace as possible of your journey. Leaving behind no trace is especially crucial if you’re hiking in remote and protected hiking trails.
Too many hobbyist hikers and tourists think that it’s a “cool” moment if they carve their name somewhere. The same thing goes when taking away a rock back with them. Nothing about those are refreshing. You should aim to leave no trace at all.
Even when you’re hiking in a popular hiking trail that’s not remote, you should still aim to leave behind no trace. If you want to take a souvenir for your journey, the most you should do would be to take a photo.
Stay on the trail
Staying on the dedicated hiking trail is an excellent way of preserving the environment whenever you hike. You want to make sure that you don’t disturb the environment when you go hiking there. Otherwise, it can disrupt the lives of the local flora and fauna. It might change the hiking trail that makes it impossible to experience it the same way.
Staying on the trail will help you maintain the state of the path for a longer time. Another way to keep that appearance and state is through the help of hiking poles.
When you use trekking poles, you can have more stability when walking. The effect of this is that you won’t end up picking up long sticks around the hiking trail to use for balance.
Thus, you aren’t disrupting nature in any way. You can even use trekking poles to pick up any trash along the way.
Camp in designated sites
Something you can do with similar reasoning as staying on the hiking trail is to camp in designated sites. If you’re going on a long hiking journey, you should camp in designated sites as much as possible.
Going outside of designated areas can feel like an adventure. But what you’re doing is endangering yourself and harming your environment. You might be disrupting a region where certain local wildlife lives because of your spontaneous decision to set up camp.
You’re endangering yourself because wildlife might stumble upon your campsite and create an unwanted encounter. Thus, you should use the designated sites for camping. They’re there to protect you and the local flora and fauna.
Bring back what you take
You should be responsible for the items that you bring with you. If you’re introducing a foreign object into the wilderness, you should make sure that you bring it back.
For example, if you bring plastic water bottles with you (not recommended), make sure that you put that back in your pack and don’t leave it behind.
Do not litter
When you litter, you’re compromising the quality of the hiking trail for future hikers. You are also putting the local wildlife in danger and adding work for the people maintaining the site.
Thus, you should make sure that you don’t litter. Bring a reusable bag that you can use for the litter that you generate.
Remain fire smart
If you don’t want to start a forest fire, harming local wildlife and flora and you, you should practice smart fire safety practices.
Keep your campfire as small as possible. Start a fire in a dedicated space and create a border around the campfire to prevent it from spreading. Also, don’t leave a fire going if no one’s there to watch it.
Final Say
Being kinder to the environment that you visit when you’re hiking makes you a better hiker since you develop respect for the environment.
Aside from that, you’ve become a better person in one aspect. That’s because you help other hikers experience the same quality of the hiking destination that you experienced.
If you’re an avid hiker, you should try and develop a constant awareness of how you can care for the environment. That way, you are also helping the future of hiking while enjoying your hiking adventure.
More from Geraldine Mills
- Ways to Be a Sustainable Traveler During Your Beach Holiday
- Go Green: 9 Energy Saving Tips for a More Eco-Friendly Home
- 7 Ways to Encourage Your Employees to be Eco-Conscious
About the Author
Geraldine Mills is a self-confessed wanderlust from the land down under, Australia! She funds her adventures by working as a brand consultant and as a travel writer. She loves sharing the allure of backpacking and being one with nature.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media