Backpacks are not waterproof, especially in heavy rain showers or if you fall into a river. Pack food items that should not be allowed to get wet in plastic bags with ties. Put clothing in larger bags, squash each bag to expel as much air as you can, and then tie the end of the bag in a thumb-knot to prevent it from inflating again. Your sleeping bag can be a survival item so carry it inside your backpack, not outside. If it is too big to fit inside your backpack in its own stuff-sack, invest in a compression stuff-sack that will allow you to compress the sleeping bag to a size that does fit.
Keep your water bottle within easy reach. You should not have to ask someone else to hand you your water bottle every time you need a drink, and – besides – this can become very irritating to the others in your group. Your water bottle should have a pouch with its own shoulder strap and / or belt loops and / or harness clip that will allow you to choose any one of several locations where you can reach it on your own.
Leave a clean set of clothes in a tog bag in the car for the return trip. Several entry points have showers to freshen you up after your hike, but a dip in a river in summer can add a nice finishing touch as well.
Clothing
The berg can be cold, even in mid summer, so come prepared.
Many so-called waterproof items are merely water repellent, and most are not seam-sealed. Ensure that your rain gear is seam-sealed and totally waterproof, otherwise you could land yourself and your party in serious trouble, especially in winter, besides making yourself totally miserable. Rain gear should be considered an essential survival item.
Lace your boots up properly. You won’t deserve any sympathy if you twist an ankle because you failed to lace your boots all the way up and sufficiently tightly to provide good ankle support. Gaiters – either the full-length type or just anklets – will protect your laces and prevent them from hooking on the adjacent boot or branches and roots.
Unless you hike with walking poles, keep your hands free. This is a far more comfortable and natural way to walk than being burdened with all sorts of paraphernalia that could be inside your backpack or strapped to the outside of it.
Walking (hiking / trekking) poles are expensive but they have their uses and can be indispensable in slippery or very windy conditions. They can be used to break cobwebs, knock dew off grass and act as additional legs to steady yourself with. A single pole is better than none but does not allow you to propel yourself forwards as you can with two poles.
Food
Food items such as fresh cheese and chocolate should be wrapped in several layers of newspaper and placed in plastic bags to insulate them from the heat on summer hikes. Margarine and butter are a waste of time in summer.
Compact, light foods are the most desirable, but often the most tasteless. Try spicing them up a little.
Both salt and sugar are essential food items because their levels drop rapidly during hot, strenuous activity. Salt can be obtained from chips, but salted peanuts are more compact and have better food value.
Avoid individually wrapped sweets like Sparkles – it is far too easy to litter, especially with kids.
Chewing / bubble-gum has little energy value and some contend that they are bad for the digestive system. However, sugarless gum is a useful alternative to a toothbrush when water is scarce or the weather is too harsh to leave the comfort of your shelter or sleeping bag.
Mice are common in the Berg and are often found in and around caves and huts because they can find good shelter there. Unwary hikers who leave their food unprotected are an added bonus. They will chomp holes in your backpacks to get to strong-smelling food inside. Crows will also help themselves if you leave your food unattended in the open and the craftier ones will even get into your backpacks. Baboons will help themselves too, but the squabbles that are an inevitable consequence may result in the complete destruction of your kit. Genets are quite common in bushy or forested areas and will also raid your food stores. Be aware of these opportunistic thieves, pack your food in light plastic containers and never leave your backpack unattended out in the open for long periods if you can avoid this.
Navigation
It is always a good idea to carry at least one spare map if you are hiking in unfamiliar territory. It is amazing how easily a map can blow away in a strong wind!
A GPS is a useful piece of technology, but never rely totally upon them in case they fail. The leader and at least one other member should always track the group’s progress by old-fashioned map-reading as well.
Check the scenery behind you at regular intervals as you hike. If you don’t and you have to back-track, you may be amazed at how unfamiliar your route looks in reverse!
Except on hard, clean rock, it is impossible for a hiking group to cover ground without leaving a trail. If you need to back-track, follow an indistinct “way-to-go” path or find someone, you should be able to follow a trail. This is a skill which develops slowly and subconsciously over many years, but if you want to become really good at it you should consider taking some tracking lessons.
Tenting
A tent is a survival item and should be treated as such. Check your tent regularly for tears, broken stitching, faulty zips, etc. Always clean and dry your tent thoroughly before putting it back into storage after a hike, otherwise it will become mildewed and start perishing.
Most tents can be split into four basic components: inner, flysheet, pegs and poles. Share these components amongst the people who will be occupying the tent. Each set of components should have its own bag for protection. Avoid stuffing the inner or flysheet straight into a backpack, and never hang them on the outside of your pack unprotected. Thorns, twigs, grass and other hiking equipment can easily puncture these components, and in heavy rain water will leak in through even pinprick-sized holes once the tent is pitched.
Place a groundsheet under the tent when you pitch it. This provides some protection for the inner, and if the groundsheet is long enough it can also provide a floor for the vestibule/s of the tent. Don’t wear boots inside your tent – leave them in the vestibules.
Use strips of car tyre inner tubing to tie the poles together wherever they cross. This improves the rigidity of the tent and prevents the poles from clattering together in strong wind.
Anchor the inner tent with pegs before inserting the poles. This makes the job easier and ensures that your tent won’t blow away before you finish pitching it. Dome tents are particularly prone to rolling away like this.
Avoid cooking and eating or drinking inside your tent unless the weather really dictates this. Tents burn at an alarming rate, and spilt food or drinks can turn a cosy interior into a mess.
Always ensure that you have sufficient pegs plus some spares to anchor your tent properly as intended by the designers. Use an indelible marker to write the number of pegs on the peg bag and always check that you have the same number when you break camp. While pitching the tent or taking it down, place unused pegs on a rock where they are highly visible.
On stubborn ground wire pegs – especially aluminium ones – bend easily. You can coax them in using a small rock, but try pressing them into the ground by using the front of your boot instead. Keeping the boot on your foot, hold the front of the boot over the peg with both hands and press down firmly.
The flysheet usually gets wet overnight, either from rain, dew, condensation, snow, ice or a combination of these. In the morning, as soon as the occupants are ready and assuming the weather allows it, remove the flysheet, gently shake off the excess water and ice, and leave it out to start drying, placing a few smooth rocks on top of it to prevent it from blowing away.
In extreme cold, the ground around the tent is likely to freeze overnight, in which case the pegs will be frozen into the ground when you come to remove them the following morning. There is only one way to get them out: hit them further into the ground first, using a rock.
It is usually easiest to remove pegs from the ground using the eye of a spare peg. Never use the tent’s peg loops for this purpose – you may damage the tent.
