Day Hiking Check List

Backpacker Magazine's Gear Guide issue came in the mail the other day. Oh, how I love the gear guide issue. Makes me want to buy a ton of.. gear. The issue got me thinking about what I usually take with me on day hikes and how happy I am with the small investment I've made on these hiking necessaties.

These items, below, are what I currently use for every day hike I go on. They come highly recommended- by me! So, if you happen to be considering new day hiking gear.. here ya go!

1. Camelbak 2011 L.U.X.E pack
2. Marmot Women's PreCip Jacket 
3. Merrell Women's Moab Ventilator Hiking Shoes
4. Black Diamod Cosmo Headlamp
5. Anthropologie Training Flight Shades 
6. Turkey Sandwich (photo)
7. Canon PowerShot D10 
8. Trail Map

The Camelbak is the most important thing I use. It carries  100oz of water which is more then enough for your typical day hike. When it comes to water it's better to have too much. You never know.. and you also never know when your friends are going to run out of their own!

I pretty much always keep my Marmot rain jacket in my Camelbak, just in case. It folds up to a really tiny little pouch anyway.

I am a big fan of Merrell's hiking shoes. I'm probably due for a new pair pretty soon, but for now these are great.

A good headlamp is always a good thing to have. Hiking in the dark without one would be impossible. It's fun to hike up to a viewpoint to watch the sunset.. that headlamp is helpful for the way down. 

An inexpensive pair of sunglasses are nice to have along and I pretty much always take a turkey sandwich with swiss cheese, lettuce and tomato.. no dressing or it might get soggy. Yuck.

Matt got me that Canon camera for Christmas a couple of years ago. It's amazing. It's pretty sturdy, so it's not the end of the world if you drop it. It's also waterproof so it's great for snorkeling and you can bring it along when you ski, too.

Always bring a map. Just do it, ok? I learned that the hard way.