Hiking with Impunity 101 - Trail Etiquette Part 2; or, "Kids, Make Way for the Parade!"

In the first part of our series of articles on trail etiquette, we focued on issues relating to hiking with your dog as well as when not to pull out your cell phone when on the trail. In this article, we will examine the etiquette related to hiking with either a partner or in a group, as well as hiking with kids. It should be noted that the tips in these articles are based solely on the opinion of Hiking with Impunity. While you may find the same tips in other magazines or on other sites, these are what were considered by us to be the most important.

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Hiking with Impunity 101 - Trail Etiquette Part 1; or, "Can't We Just All Get Along?!"

We've always said that there is no bad places to hike. After all, whether you're outside deep within a forest or walking along the spine of a mountain, hiking takes you out into nature, giving you a greater appreciation of everything around you. However, while there are no bad places to hike, sometimes the hike you take may not be as enjoyable as you were expecting. There are many reasons why this may be the case, but one that ranks in the top three reasons why a hike may not live up to your expectations is due to the actions (or inactions) of other hikers.

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Hiking with Impunity 101 - Trail Markings; or, "What the Blazes is Going On?!"

Pardon the bad pun, it was too difficult to resist. For some reason, following blazed trails comes almost instinctively to people. During our first couple of hikes, we didn't even realize that there was a method or pattern to the strange markings we saw on the trees lining the trails, but for some innate reason we knew to follow them.  

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Hiking with Impunity 101 - The Backpack; or, "How to Avoid Buyer's Remorse!"

Picking out your backpack is one of the most important purchases you will make, being rivaled only by the selection of your boots. Hiking with Impunity has gone through the process of purchasing their "first" backpacks twice: the first time we purchased our packs online without any understanding of what we needed; and, the second time we went to a brick and mortar store to return the first packs after enlightening ourselves as to what we would want to actually place in the pack...

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Planning with Impunity #1 - "Was it Supposed to Take This Long?"

When planning a hike of any kind - a day-hike, an overnight hike, or a long-distance hike - it's always a great idea to start by figuring out exactly how long you intend to be out hiking. Day-hikes are the most common type of hike, and the one that I will refer to most often in this article, although these basic concepts can be applied to any hike that you go on.

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