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Adventure Ready: A Hiker’s Guide to Planning, Training, and Resiliency, which I co-authored with thru-hiker and personal trainer Heather “Anish” Anderson, is a how-to guide for long distance backpacking.
Adventure Ready will prepare you for your first, or your next, long hike.
It includes detailed chapters on planning, gear selection, physical training, trail nutrition, health resiliency, navigation, and backcountry safety.
Uniquely, it also includes chapters on mental preparation as well as how to adapt to life once you return from your hike.
By purchasing your copy of Adventure Ready through this page, you’ll receive a copy signed by Katie.
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“It’s commonly estimated that 75 to 85 percent of aspiring thru-hikers on the Triple Crown trails quit before reaching their goal. That’s a staggering number. So, what’s the difference between those who get to the opposite terminus and those who don’t? It’s generally not athletic ability. People of all different demographics and athletic abilities successfully complete long-distance trails.
Backpacking is not a particularly technical sport, though it does require you to learn a particular set of skills. The primary physical component involves walking over natural surfaces with a load on your back. And though good physical fitness reduces the likelihood of injury and can make the experience more enjoyable, a backpacker always has the option to slow down or reduce mileage to ease the physical demand. The challenges unique to a multi-month backpacking trip are exposing yourself to the elements day after day and continuing to move forward when you’re tired of sleeping on a thin foam pad, sick of eating dehydrated foods, and missing your family and friends. Thru-hiking success comes down to the ability to endure when things get hard.”
-excerpted from page 161 of Adventure Ready
Read a longer excerpt on mental preparation for backpacking here.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
9 Introduction: Time to Get Adventure Ready!
14 How to Use This Book
CHAPTER 1—PLANNING YOUR BACKPACKING TRIP: AN OVERVIEW
19 Defining Trip Parameters
26 Researching Likely Conditions
28 Creating Your Itinerary
32 Selecting Your Gear
34 Planning Your Food Resupply Strategy
36 Safety in the Backcountry
37 Preparing Yourself Physically and Mentally
39 The Final Check
CHAPTER 2—GEAR SELECTION
42 Route Conditions
42 Weather
44 Resupply and Water Access Frequency
44 Evaluating, Choosing, and Testing Gear
50 Primary Gear
58 Tips for Lightweight Backcountry Travel
CHAPTER 3—BACKCOUNTRY SAFETY
66 Weather-Related Risks
70 Snow and Water
73 Physical Preparedness and Injury
74 Human Interactions
75 Animal Interactions
79 Risk Factors Associated with Solo Backcountry Travel
CHAPTER 4—NAVIGATION & ROUTE PREPAREDNESS
82 Navigational Tools
88 The Beta Packet
CHAPTER 5—CREATING A RESILIENT BODY
92 How Resilient Health Impacts Your Backpacking Trip
93 Optimizing Your Gut Health
95 Prioritizing Sleep
97 Minimizing Stress
102 Spending More Time Outside
103 Supplements and Herbs for On-Trail and Post-Trail Use
CHAPTER 6—PERFORMANCE NUTRITION & BACKCOUNTRY MEAL PLANNING
109 Pre-Trail Nutrition
115 On-Trail Nutrition
CHAPTER 7—PHYSICAL PREPARATION
140 Features of a Well-Rounded Training Program
152 Building and Maintaining Your Training Plan
CHAPTER 8— MENTAL & EMOTIONAL PREPARATION
160 Strong Mind, Strong Body
167 Techniques to Prepare Mentally
CHAPTER 9—REINTEGRATION
173 Common Mental Challenges of Reintegration
179 Common Physical Challenges of Reintegration
181 Strategies for Reintegration
187 Worksheets & Checklists
197 Additional Resources
201 Selected Sources