Booking a wilderness trip for the first time can be exciting. It’s a new experience to behold, and it is an experience that will make your overall trip more enjoyable. And when booking, it’s all too easy to be pulled in by photos of scenic landscapes, open expanses of water, quiet trails, and perfect weather conditions.
And while all of these aren’t entirely inaccurate, they’re not always as the brochures or websites portray them to be 24/7. When dealing with the great outdoors, especially in relation to wilderness trips, many variables can impact the experience, from weather changes to busy routes, changing environments, and challenging terrain. It’s not always as easy or straightforward as it might initially seem.
This means you need to spend a little bit more time planning and getting ready than you might realize, or what you do for a typical sightseeing trip.
Let’s look at a few preparation steps that might be beneficial for first timers booking wilderness experiences.
Research the Terrain and Condition Before Choosing
This is a really common mistake many people make on their first time. They choose an adventure without fully understanding what they’ll encounter and how different environments create very different types of experiences. A coastal excursion, a forest trail, or a mountain route are entirely different and require different levels of skills, fitness levels, and preparation.
Before clicking to book, you need to understand exactly what will be expected of you. You need to understand the conditions of the location itself and get a better idea of the environment and the activity level required. Some trips involve long periods of walking, others scale different altitudes, and some occur in inclement weather or have multiple types of weather along the way. The more you know, the more you can assess exactly what you’ll come across along the way and check if you’re really prepared for it.
Check the Physical Demands and Personal Fitness Levels Required
Some activities, like fishing, don’t really require too much in the way of exercise or physical activity requirements. But others, like carrying equipment to the top of a hiking trail in the mountains, for example, will require you to be physically fit.
Even activities that look relaxed in promotional materials will require some type of fitness level to be able to keep up on the day.
Read reviews, check the small print on the website, and find other excursions and look at what they suggest if you’re unsure if you meet requirements. If nothing is clear, ask the operator directly. And be honest about whether or not you will physically be able to complete it. If you don’t, not only won’t it be a fun and enjoyable experience for you, but it could also impact the rest of the group, too.
Clothing, Layers, and Footwear
Weather changes outdoors can occur quickly, especially if you’re scaling through elevations in mountainous areas. Within a single day, you can experience sun, rain, high wind, and low temperatures. And this means you need to understand the right type of clothing and footwear you need to cope with what you can expect, especially if it’s not just a multi-hour experience and you’re going to be away from home comforts for a night or two, maybe longer.
Again, this is something your tour operators can advise on. For example, Oasis Alaska Charters can inform you of expected weather conditions so you can dress appropriately for your time on the water. They will share if it’s expected to be warm or cold in general and point you in the right direction for the day’s forecasts, but for the most part, fishing in Alaska can and most likely will be wet, so you can dress accordingly.
What You Need to Take
Not all wilderness experiences will be the same, nor will two operators doing the same type of excursion have the same requirements. This means you need to double-check exactly what they provide and what you personally will be responsible for.
Simple items like water, sunscreen, sunglasses, gloves, etc., might be your responsibility entirely, and all can make a difference in your comfort level on the day. Some operators supply the equipment you nee,d i.e. fishing rods, walking poles, etc while you need to bring small items for your convenience. Knowing what you need and what is supplied ahead of time can help you make a more informed decision on whether or not an excursion or an operator is right for your trip.
Safety Requirements and Policies
All excursions come with some element of risk, but wilderness ones even more so. With this in mind, check out what type of safety policies they have in place, whether they have briefings prior to setting off, and what conditions you can expect that might impact how safe the overall trip is.
Your guides will be experienced in this area, and there will be protocols in place. For peace of mind, always ask at the point of booking what happens in different scenarios and what safety equipment failsafes they have to ensure that everyone is as safe as possible. While they cannot guarantee outcomes in the event of safety breaches, knowing how things will go can give you something to think about when assessing if it’s something you want to go ahead with.
Check Meeting Points, Transport, Departure Times, and End of Trip Details
These aspects of your trip can significantly extend the day, especially if you need to travel to a more remote location to access a starting point, not an obvious one.
Do you need to make your own way there, or will there be a pick up point everyone meets at to be collected and then returned to? Do you need to arrive prior to the scheduled time for safety briefings or training, or to run through checks before you set off?
The last thing you want is to miss it, as you didn’t know where to meet, what time to arrive at the designated meeting point, or you have scheduling conflicts, as the “4-hour excursions” required an hour each side for training and unloading, etc.
