A Guide to Hiking Close to Home: 10 Tips from an Outdoor Expert
When everyday life starts to weigh on you, a short trip close to home is a great way to enjoy the summer outdoors while you wait for your holiday. Your local spots often go unexplored, and longer breaks usually mean travelling further afield. Yet there's no shortage of varied places for local trips – you just need to know where to look.
We've put together 10 tips to make planning a local trip easier and give you some fresh ideas.
10 tips for a successful local trip!
1. Keep things as simple as possible
Keep the threshold for heading out as low as you can. The easiest option is to start your trip right from your front door. Make it too complicated and it becomes all too easy to find excuses to call it off.
A good local trip doesn't necessarily require packing anything, and you don't need to plan anything special to do either. A simple walk in your local woods, taking in the nature around you, is always worth it.
2. The snack break is usually the highlight
You don't always have to bring food, but for many people the snack break is the most memorable part of the trip. Snacks and treats are also a reliable way to get the youngest members of the family on board.
Make your food the evening before so everything's ready when you head out in the morning. All that's left is to pack your rucksack. Think about how much packaging you're bringing, and make sure all your rubbish comes back home with you.
3. Be ready for changing weather
A downpour in the middle of a trip can actually be fun – especially if you're dressed for it.
Check the forecast just before you leave. Even so, a sudden summer thunderstorm or shower can catch you out, so it's good to have a waterproof shell jacket that packs down small with you.
Reliable weather services include the Nordic Finnish Meteorological Institute and Norway's Yr. Both also have handy mobile apps.
4. Bring a map or GPS device, or download a map app to your phone
A map helps you find the most interesting spots and gives you a good overall picture of your local area. After using one for a while, you'll usually start to know the area well enough to leave the map at home.
The simplest way to print a map is the Pikakartta website. It lets you print maps to the correct scale, which makes judging distances easier. Other map sites include Retkikartta and Karttapaikka.
Map apps work well on mobile devices, but GPS devices are a little more dependable outdoors and often have more features.
5. Look for new and interesting local destinations
Once you've set off from your front door to the same places enough times, it's time to look for somewhere new. In the Nordic countries we're lucky – there are remarkable places to explore near almost every town and city.
Experienced explorers can spot interesting places straight from a map, but it's also worth checking your local council's website, the tourist information centre and local tourism providers. Another handy resource is the Retkipaikka portal, which has a huge collection of stories about great local destinations. The Retkipaikka map service is the easiest way to find places near you.
6. Try different ways of getting around – you don't always have to walk
On a bike you can quickly get a bit further from home, which opens up plenty more destinations.
When cycling, a rucksack with a ventilated back panel, a basket or bike bags will stop your back getting too sweaty.
You can also do day trips on foot at a run and cover ground quickly. Wear a larger hydration pack while trail running and there's room for snacks too. In summer you won't get cold as quickly when you stop, so you don't need to carry much in the way of extra layers.
You might also be able to make your local trip by paddling. Canoes and kayaks can be hired in many places, or you can buy your own. A packraft, for example, weighs around 3 kg and is easy to carry with you.
In winter, skis are the natural way to get around outdoors. On skis you can often cover much longer distances than on foot.
7. Find something fun to do on your trip
Some people need a specific reason to head out. Not everyone wants to go to the woods just for a walk.
Spring is the golden season for wild herbs. Each spring you can learn to identify a few new ones – there's no shortage of them in the Nordic countries. Remember the rules around foraging, and take care with poisonous plants.
In summer the berries start to ripen, and later in the autumn you can go mushroom picking.
Eat the berries you've picked straight away or take them home with you.
Building a fire and practising bushcraft skills are often a favourite with the men of the family. Fishing and photography are other hobbies that keep plenty of people outdoors for hours. Geocaching adds variety to your trips, too, and leads you to great new places you might never have stumbled across otherwise.
8. Invite friends along
What could be better than a local trip with friends? Take turns planning trips for each other and you'll add a nice element of surprise.
The previous tips already give you plenty to work with, but here's a pro tip: build your trip around a dramatic arc, just like in films and books. As far back as ancient Greece, people noticed that audiences enjoy a performance most when it follows a certain structure.
9. Have breakfast, lunch or dinner outdoors
At the weekend, breakfast outdoors is easy to arrange. Keep it quick – walk to your local woods with breakfast and head back in afterwards. It's a great start to the day!
Lunch cooked and eaten over a campfire goes down well with everyone. With camping pots and a frying pan you can cook almost anything. Remember to check for wildfire warnings first.
10. Local trips can be overnight too!
If you've got the enthusiasm and the gear, there's nothing stopping you from spending the night out. You'll usually sleep much better outdoors than inside – especially during a summer heatwave.
In fine weather you can take a chance and sleep out with nothing but a sleeping mat and –bag. Smarter still is to rig up a tarp just in case, so you've got somewhere to move to if it starts raining. Your spot doesn't have to be a national park – in the Nordic countries, everyman's right allows you to camp in the forest. Just use common sense and leave no trace (as you always should).
When the mosquitoes are out in summer, a good trick is to pitch just the inner tent as a bug shelter – with dome tents in particular, this is usually quick to set up.
We hope these tips inspire you to get out on plenty of good local trips and share the joy of the outdoors with others. Exploring close to home is eco-friendly, feel-good adventuring – and an easy way to step away from everyday life.
Wishing you a sunny summer and great local adventures – from everyone at Scandinavian Outdoor!
