Intrigued by backpacking, but feeling a little overwhelmed by all the details?
I completely understand. When I first went backpacking, in the company of more experienced friends, it felt like rocket science.
Since then I’ve become comfortable enough to live on the trail for months at a time, reveling in the freedom and confidence I feel there. That feeling is priceless, and I want to help you find it too.
If I could sit down with you and walk you through the entire prep process, and then go hiking with you, I would! This backpacking trip planner, essentially a guided workbook, is the closest thing I could come up with.
~ Alissa
Introducing the Trip Planner
This Backpacking Trip Planner is a highly interactive workbook designed to walk you through all the important decisions needed to plan and prepare for a backpacking trip. It includes:
- 9 interactive worksheets covering food, water, itinerary, gear, emergency plan, and more.
- Tips and recommendations to guide new backpackers through prep and gear decisions.
- Checklists for packing and preparation to make sure you won’t forget anything important.
- Support for viewing and editing offline on your smartphone, so you can take it with you into the middle of nowhere (using the Google Sheets app on Android or iOS).
Price: $9
Preview the Workbook
The Backpacking Trip Planner contains 9 separate worksheets: Route, Food, Water, Camping, Itinerary, Gear, Emergency, To Do, and Future Hikes.
Each worksheet contains a mix of key questions to consider, tables with automatic calculations to help organize your details, checklists for key gear and tasks, and my own personal tips and recommendations for new backpackers.
The workbook is built in Google Sheets, so some familiarity with spreadsheets will be helpful. It’s easy to use though, and prettier than most spreadsheets, if I don’t say so myself. 🙂
Here are previews of a few sheets:
As you work through these sheets, you’ll be guided through answers to essential questions like:
How much food and water should I carry?
How far can I expect to hike each day?
What gear do I need and how do I pack it?
What sort of backup plan do I need in order to stay safe?
What else am I forgetting?
This is for you if:
You’ve never backpacked before and want help planning your first trip.
You’ve tagged along on a few trips and want to graduate to planning your own.
You’re taking on a longer or more complex trip and need help organizing all the details.
You’re excited about backpacking but worried you’ll get yourself into trouble because you don’t know what you’re doing (yet!).
This is probably NOT for you if:
You hate spreadsheets or have never used one before.
You don’t have a Google account (doesn’t have to be a Gmail address, just a Google Account) and don’t want to create one.
You’ve already done a few trips and are comfortable planning and organizing your own logistics.
You prefer to wing it and don’t have patience for detailed planning.
Why pay for this?
The Backpacking Trip Planner costs $9. I know, stuff on the internet is supposed to be free, right? I thought hard about whether to charge for this product, and how much.
I pour countless hours into creating free hiking content on this website. I’ll never make enough money to justify all the time I’ve put into that.
But here’s the thing: this planner is a step up. It’s a premium product that pulls together everything I know about backpacking prep and presents it in an easy-to-follow guided progression. It doesn’t just dump information on you. It teaches you through an interactive process, while helping you organize your thoughts at the same time.
By spending just $9 – about the cost of a dehydrated meal or a cheap pair of hiking socks – you accomplish three things: you help support this site, you keep me accountable for creating a top-notch product, and you keep yourself accountable for actually going on that backpacking trip. Consider it an investment in turning your adventure dreams into reality.
Get the Backpacking Trip Planner
Ready to jump in and make it happen? Here’s your next step:
