My first long-distance hike was 96 miles through the Scottish Highlands. I regretted not bringing a water bladder, waterproof bag cover, and more.
Cassandra Brooklyn
I'm no contender for summiting Everest, but I've done quite a bit of hiking in my day, both as a solo hiker and as part of guided group hikes.
From four-hour forested waterfall hikes in Madeira, Portugal, to four-day jungle treks through Colombia's northern mountains, I've experimented with loads of backpacking gear. Last month, I joined a guided "wilderness walk" along the 96-mile West Highland Way in the Scottish Highlands, and I immediately learned that my backpack (and its contents) were not up to the task.
Here are essential items I wish I'd packed.
I have an excellent 55-liter Osprey backpacking backpack that I left at home because it was much larger than I needed for this hike. I wound up bringing a new 26-liter backpack (not made by my beloved Osprey), and the waist strap kept riding up my back, causing lower back pain.
The sternum strap also kept riding all the way up to my chin, which was annoying and uncomfortable. Never again will I bring a backpack I haven't used extensively and know that I love.
Cassandra Brooklyn
My guide with Wilderness Scotland, Tim Willis, has two decades of mountain guiding experience under his belt and the first thing he said to me was that "just because something is 'waterproof' doesn't mean it's Scotland waterproof."
Noted. Although a backpack (or jacket, pants, or boots, for that matter) may claim to be waterproof, they might only be able to withstand moderate rain for a couple of hours. However, they may not withstand eight hours of heavy rain and wind that is whipping the water into nooks and crannies not designed to keep water out.
Because I thought my backpack was waterproof, I didn't bring a rain cover. Fortunately, another hiker had an extra waterproof backpack cover that I borrowed.
Cassandra Brooklyn
I usually hike with water bottles that I stash in the side pockets of my backpack and grab whenever I get thirsty. I've never had an issue with this strategy, but on day one of the seven-day hike, I immediately wished I had brought a water bladder (also known as a hydration sleeve).
Water bladders distribute the weight evenly along the backpack's center, versus having lopsided bottle weight on the sides. Because nearly everyone else on the hike could just sip from their bladder's tube while hiking, I felt like a jerk asking people to stop and wait for me to grab my bottle.
Although I can normally grab and drink from bottles fairly easily and quickly, because it rained so much, I often had my backpack enveloped in a rain cover. As such, I had to swing my backpack around and pull off the side of the rain cover before I could even access the bottle.
On a single-day hike, this isn't a big deal, but on seven consecutive days of long hikes, it proved annoying.
I keep a handful of thin blister pads in my toiletries bag because you never know when you'll get a blister. But when you're hiking 14 to 16 miles per day, thin blister pads just don't cut it.
Fortunately, the thickest and most effective blister pads I've ever tried in my life, made by Compede, are readily available in Scotland, so I picked up a few packs at a small store we stopped in during the hike.
I was lucky to find the blister pads in stock but, next time, I'm bringing my own stash.
Cassandra Brooklyn
I was wise enough to pack a pair of waterproof Arc'teryx pants that I love because they're comfy and they don't look like the garbage bags that most waterproof pants resemble. The waterproofs I brought go on like traditional pants and can be worn on their own or slipped over hiking tights or trousers.
I quickly learned, however, that I should have brought a style that zipped all the way up to my knees or thighs so that I could pull them on and off without having to remove my boots. Because the weather in Scotland changes frequently and rapidly, there were many times when we'd get a 15-minute downpour followed by several hours of sunshine.
Because I didn't want to slow down the entire group by sitting down and removing my boots to put my waterproofs on (or get my socks soaked in the process), I wound up putting the pants on over my leggings when getting dressed several mornings. Doing so kept me dry, but it also caused me to be much hotter than necessary during the many dry and sunny sections of the hike.
I've never hiked with a knee brace, which makes no sense because I often get slight knee pain when hiking down steep hills. The knee pain I've experienced on one- or two-day hikes has been minimal and tolerable, but it became significant during seven days of steep hills along the West Highland Way.
Luckily, a few days into the hike, my guide let me borrow an extra knee brace he had brought (I love you, Tim!).
Cassandra Brooklyn
Because my knees were bothering me so much, I requested ice from the bars and restaurants in our hotels every night.
Without a bag to contain the ice cubes, I wound up stuffing them into a hiking buff or towel and holding the ends tightly so the cubes wouldn't fall out. It worked, but a proper ice pack would be a much better solution.
This part of Scotland may not have man-eating animals or loads of poisonous snakes, but it does have midges, tiny annoying bugs that swarm and can make your life a living hell.
Although the rain and wind kept the midges mostly away on my hike, I know that if and when I return to hike in Scotland (with Tim, of course!), I will definitely be bringing a midge net like many of my fellow hikers did.
