How to make hiking trip more enjoyable for the Mrs.

Domanfp

Domanfp

Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
742
OK so I have finally convinced my wife to come along a two night hike with me. I am thinking we will do roughly 5 miles a day so there wont be too much strenuous days, might even set up camp on first day and than just day hike around.

What I am wondering is what sort of things do you guys do or bring to help non-outdoorsy people enjoy the hike. And what are some good meals, I usually just pick up some freeze dried stuff but I'm curious what else you guys make.

Thanks!
 
One word, "geocaching". Get a GPS and learn to use it, she will want to go hiking every weekend.
They are all over the place, google it .

For this particular hike, if it's been planned, some good cooking will help a lot. A small bottle of wine won't hurt either.
I usually pack in the essentials, but s'mores are a good one for the ladies.
I am sure others here have more info on meals, I predict this thread will make me hungry.:D

Oh, freeze dried coffee, tea bags, and hot cocoa is a must, bring sugar and creamer packets.
Dried fruit in oatmeal is my favourite hiking breakfast, if you can handle a bit of weight a an of sweet evaporated milk is awesome in coffee and oatmeal.
Find a good bannock (biscuit) recipe.
 
Last edited:
We have been geocaching around where we live but no real hikes. I plan on looking up some caches in the area of the hike so we have something else to do other than "walking"
 
Identifying plants/wild edibles, animal tracks, birds, photography, basketmaking, even pottery if there's a source of clay.
 
What kind of stuff is she into on the side? Maybe you can bridge that into the outdoors. I find that the crossword gals love to ID tracks. The music girls, bird calls. With your sig other, any type of mixed drink you can concoct from powder.

I learned of this mix from some fun backpackers:
Condesned milk
Tang
some water
and vodka
For an orange cream mixed drink. Try it at home to get your proportions right, I just do it by hand and can't remember.
 
well, if you aren't going too far and want to take the extra weight, pizza in a cast iron skillet is really good! Boboli at the market get the crust packet of sauce cheese and whatever other toppings... yum, whine or whatever spirit is prefered is nice.
Cards if you're into that, one of my favorite meals is summer sausage, you fry it up in mustard, put it in a pita with cheese, and grill the whole shebang.

Bisquick instant pancake mix, it's actually really, really good. with honey or syrup and coffee. Oh man, now I'm really hingry! I'm off to get some food, I might check back in later with some more.

Oh, for smores I get my favorite cookies, choc chip, PB whatever you like, and marsh mallows, make the smores that way, very good.
 
also, baby wipes. My gal is super sterile minded due to her profession. Those wet wipes can do a number on a sweaty person. Feet and hand warmers, do not spare any expense on the first run. Idahoan mash taters on the side are great. Smores are wonderful, mayhaps even some chocalate liquor in the drink.


...and the key to the trail side alcohol is to make sure you don't get drunk. Have a tipsy time that will make the gal have a good nights sleep, not wake up craving water. one can even pack in bagged wine. Just my two cents. You can have just as great a time, even better, without it of course.
 
How about giving her responsibility for some of the planning, like having her plan the menus and do the cooking and you doing the clean up. If she's got a part of the work, then she'll feel needed and somewhat in control, and you won't have to worry as much about keeping her busy. Feeling needed makes people happy.
 
The idea of baby wipes is a good idea. My wife is a nurse and a self admitted germophobe. I will definitely have some spirits around, as well as plenty of snacks/luxuries. I am planning on hiking in some frozen foil bag meals to cook on coals for the first night, and pizza sounds like it could be done pretty easily.

Bisquick instant pancakes sounds like a good breakfast idea, we used to always pack in some muffin mix but never thought of pancakes.
 
Awesone. Proper planning will ensure many more to come. With my wife, like others have mentioned, food and comfort is priority. She loves to read, so she always brings the latest book. Cover shorter distances than normal. We actually like the Mountain House dehidrated food, but we bring a few extras such as smores and other easy snacks. Check the weather and prepare so she is not wet/cold etc. You can do some searches for backpaking food too. Lots of ideas if you have a dehydrator or can carry a lot of weight.
 
food and drink top the list- make sure she likes it, go ahead and pack fresh instead of dessicated, and do everything you can to make it EASY to set up cooking stuff.

Either convert her to hammock camping FAST or get a REAL GOOD XL sleeping pad. DO NOT SKIMP on this.

Make sure her boots and socks will work.
Keep the load light.
Pack surprise chocolate and beer/wine/jagermeister/whatever. And I do mean surprise. You'll know when to pop it out.
 
A lot of good suggestions - wet ones :thumbup:; "Pack surprise chocolate and beer/wine/jagermeister/whatever. And I do mean surprise. You'll know when to pop it out (Geez I hope he's talking about the chocolate :rolleyes:) :thumbup: and a bunch of other ones.

I have to disagree with my friend, LittleHairyApe, although normally I would agree with his position. I feel that your wife agreed to the hike, reluctantly, so IMHO, you want to spoil the heck out of her. You do the cooking, cleaning up, etc., unless she insists. Leave her free to enjoy being pampered and to enjoy the sights and sounds.

One more thing, absolutely make sure (as much as humanly possible) that the weather is going to be good. If not, reschedule. If, on the first overnight hike your wife makes, it rains and is generally miserable, she may never want to go again. OTOH, if the first few trips are great, it's more easy to be philosophical about less than perfect weather on subsequent trips.

Doc
 
Triple check that youve packed toilet paper. The Mrs probably wont be too impressed if she has to wipe with a clump of cold wet moss.
 
DOC-CANADA said:
I have to disagree with my friend, LittleHairyApe, although normally I would agree with his position. I feel that your wife agreed to the hike, reluctantly, so IMHO, you want to spoil the heck out of her. You do the cooking, cleaning up, etc., unless she insists. Leave her free to enjoy being pampered and to enjoy the sights and sounds.
Doc
Click to expand...

On second thought, I disagree with me too. Doc, I think you make an excellent point.:thumbup:
 
If you can....go on the route and plant some gift, especially for her, to be found by some GPS coordinates. Let it be a surprise.
 
another idea for desert or even breakfast is to get instant muffin mix and some foil, add just a little water to the muffin mix, so it's a thick texture and pack it around a stick like you would cook a hotdog, wrap it in foil, and set on top of some embers. Once it's done pull it off the stick and add butter or syrup or honey in the hole left by the stick.
 
My wife is always amazing our friends with the grub she cooks on the trail. She's gotten real artisitic with dried food since buying a dehydrator this year. She will dehydrate an entire sheet cake into crumbly bits and then add hot water. It turns into a pudding-like dessert and she usually tops it with something.
You can also buy mini pie crusts about 3 inches in diameter. Cook up some vanilla pudding and top it with a chunk of Hershey bar and you have individual banana cream pies.
Desserts always make camping more fun.
 
Stay at a Holiday Inn Express. :p

Seriously, an air mattress goes a long way. Heavy though, so you should make her carry it.

Take a camera. Stop occasionally for pics.

Remind her that you love her, every hour on the hour.
 
My wife got me into backpacking so there was no convincing on my part.

However I do have tips.

First don't saddle her with "womens work" I have a buddy whose wife likes backpacking but never comes with him. I believe it is because he expects her to serve him.

Make sure she has good shoes that don't raise blisters. Make sure you are ready for rain.

Take lots of breaks for enjoying the scenery.
 
hollowdweller said:
My wife got me into backpacking so there was no convincing on my part.

However I do have tips.

First don't saddle her with "womens work" I have a buddy whose wife likes backpacking but never comes with him. I believe it is because he expects her to serve him.

Make sure she has good shoes that don't raise blisters. Make sure you are ready for rain.

Take lots of breaks for enjoying the scenery.
Click to expand...

:thumbup::thumbup:

Try to encourage her to make an activity her own also. If she has a digital camera and is interested in photography, then give her some time to set up her compositions. Bring some good whittling knives and show her how to carve. Take a plant i.d. book and learn to identify the plants.

You don't necessarily have to be the expert in the above to make this work. In fact, if she figures a bit of it out on her own, she will cherish that skill even more. The key is that it is something she is inclined towards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top