As the title states, this is a guide for beginners. Given this, the author accomplishes this goal in an easy to read, compact package.

In this age of Internet experts, we often are bombarded with information from dubious sources and of questionable expertise. So the first place to start with this review is the author’s credentials as a backpacker and expert.

Paul “Mags” Magnanti has thru-hiked  the Triple Crown of America’s trails:

• Appalachian Trail (2,190 miles)
• Continental Divide Trail (3,100 miles)
• Pacific Crest Trail (2,650 miles)

Probably more important than these trails, Paul has completed many multi-week trips that included extensive off-trail sections, requiring advance navigation and backcountry skills.

Disclosures and Other Legal Stuff Required by the Federal Trade Commission

I should mention, as a disclosure, that Paul and I are friends. We’ve backpacked together and he has spent time at our home in Palm Springs with us. We’re not close friends, mostly because we live so far from each other, and we occasionally communicate via email.

I didn’t realize Paul had published this book until I saw it on his blog (www.pmags.com). He did not ask me to review the book, doesn’t know I bought a copy with my own money at retail price, or that I decided to write this review.

Style

Paul approaches backpacking with a simple worldview. Backpacking is about walking in wild places, where gear and equipment are just the tools you use. His focus is on the walking portion and he is known in the backpacking community for his propensity to find bargain deals on functional, durable, and inexpensive backpacking tools. Instead of buying an $80 specialized shirt at REI or some other outdoor company, he’ll find a $5 equivalent at a thrift store. Slightly used perhaps, but with a long life still left in it.

This style is a theme throughout the book. If you are a beginning backpacker, you don’t have to break your piggybank to equip yourself.

This book itself is aligned with this theme. Instead of an elaborate symphony, it is a light sonata containing much useful and realistic information in a small package. At only 139 pages and pocket sized, the beginner can take this book with them on their first trip.

Organization

With only six chapters, Paul covers the most important aspects for that first backpacking trip. All the information needed to comfortably “survive your first trip in the wild.”

1. Planning Your Trip
2. Gearing Up
3. Getting Trail-Ready
4. Hitting the Trail
5. Setting Up Camp
6. Cooking and Camp Life

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Just like the fable, this book isn’t too little, or too much. It is just the right amount of information for a first foray into the sport.

Many backpacking “how to” books are probably overwhelming to the beginning backpacker. Often these guides contain pages and pages of data, terms, and general confusion such as, base-weight, total pack weight, FTSO weight, fill-power, the Big 3, Clo, MET, and on and on. You won’t find all of that in this book. You also won’t find specifications for specific brand name items.

For example, in a discussion of tents, Paul presents the three basic types, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and then a recommendation for the type most suitable for the beginner backpacker.

Contrast this with the most famous of all backpacking books, Colin Fletcher’s The Complete Walker. His fourth (and last) edition is 800+ pages of fine print. Rather intimidating for a beginner. There is enough information in this book to mount a yearlong expedition.

How to Survive Your First Trip in the Wild: Backpacking for Beginners

Now retrieving the rating.

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Paul’s method is to plan your first trip, recommended at 2-3 days, close to home, with maybe a mild elevation gain. He walks the reader through everything they need to know to safely and confidently complete this first trip. He even discusses how to become physically ready.

Tips

Throughout the book are one or two page “Tip” sections. These give quick useful information, although a couple times they jumped out and stopped the flow of my reading. Not a huge criticism, and some people may find them extremely valuable.

Who Should Buy This Book?

Obviously it is written for beginners. But it can be a quick review for more experienced walkers, who sometimes forget the basics and make things more complicated than they should be.

Experienced hikers, who might be helping a “newbie” get into the sport, will find that a gift of this book, or lending your own copy, will probably be a welcomed resource.

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