These important items should be with you or in your day hiking backpack on every hike, no matter how short or easy the trail ...

Day hiking might not be as epic as backpacking ... of how to plan your first backpacking trip and we give you a backpacking checklist with our recommendations for the gear you need.

This list is designed for basic multi-day backpacking trips in temperate forest conditions in the United States. Typical temperature ranges would be 30's - 50+ Fahrenheit during the day with evening ...