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  • HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List

    Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List

    You don't need a lot of gear to hike safely. You need the right few things. Here's what I'd actually buy, in order of how much it matters, not how much it costs.

    Water (don't skimp here)

    • Budget: Two 32-oz reusable bottles you already own. Fill both, every time, even for a "short" hike.
    • Nice-to-have: A hydration bladder (2-3 liter) if you hike with poles or just don't like stopping to unscrew a lid.

    Our air is dry and it pulls more water out of you than you'd guess, especially if you're used to hiking somewhere humid. I carry more than I think I'll need on every single hike. I'd rather haul the extra pound down the trail than run out on the way up. I learned that one the hard way on a six-mile route with half a liter of water. Didn't make it past mile two before I had a headache and had to turn around.

    Feet

    • Budget: Good wool or synthetic hiking socks, one pair, worn once around the block before trail day. Ten to fifteen dollars a pair.
    • Nice-to-have: A second pair to swap mid-hike on longer routes, and actual hiking shoes or boots if you're going regularly.

    This is where I'd spend money before anything else on this list. Cotton socks bunch up and you'll pay for it in blisters. My oldest found that out the stubborn way on a trail up at Timpanooke. Two blisters the size of dimes. I didn't say "I told you so." Didn't need to.

    Navigation

    • Budget: A paper map of the trail, printed at home or picked up at the trailhead kiosk if there is one.
    • Nice-to-have: A dedicated GPS unit, though honestly I don't use one.

    Bring the paper map no matter what. Phones lose signal up the canyon regularly, and cold weather eats batteries fast. I got complacent about this once, relied on my phone, and lost signal partway up. Got down fine. Wasn't happy about it. The map goes in my pack before anything else does now.

    Weather protection

    • Budget: A light rain shell you probably already own, plus a hat for sun.
    • Nice-to-have: A proper packable rain jacket if you hike often. Sunday-best weather can turn fast up here from July into September, and I'd rather you have a cheap shell than no shell.

    First aid and basics

    • Budget: A small drugstore first aid kit, ibuprofen, and a roll of athletic tape or a blister-specific bandage. Fifteen dollars, tops.
    • Nice-to-have: A pre-made trail first aid kit with an ankle wrap included.

    I keep a wrap and ibuprofen in my pack always, not because I'm fancy about it, just because someone eventually needs it. A friend rolled her ankle a mile into a hike once and I already had both on hand. She still brings that up.

    Pack

    • Budget: Any backpack you own that fits water, snacks, and a layer. A school backpack is fine for a short hike.
    • Nice-to-have: A 20-25 liter daypack with a hip belt if you're hiking regularly and your shoulders are telling you about it.

    Shopping notes

    Macey's and Costco both carry decent wool-blend sock multipacks if you're not picky about brand. For the paper map, the trailhead kiosk usually has something, or print one at home the night before. I wouldn't spend real money on a jacket, a pack, or trekking poles until you know you'll be doing this regularly. Spend on socks and water capacity first. Everything else is optional until it isn't.

  • HandoutHandout 2: Trail Planning Cheat Sheet

    Handout 2: Trail Planning Cheat Sheet

    Print this, stick it in your pack, and check it every time before you leave the house. This is the same list I run through for my own hikes, minus the columns from my spreadsheet.

    ---

    Before You Leave the House

    • Check the elevation profile, not just the mileage. Four miles flat and four miles with 2,500 feet of gain are two different hikes. Mileage lies. Look at the gain per mile.
    • Check the forecast, then check it again the morning of. You're watching for afternoon storm buildup, not just rain percentage.
    • Set a turnaround time based on the clock, not the trail. More on this below.
    • Pack the paper map. Phones lose signal up the canyon and batteries don't love the cold. The map weighs nothing. Bring it anyway.
    • Tell someone your route and your expected return time. Doesn't have to be fancy. A text works.

    ---

    Water: Rule of Thumb

    Carry more than you think you need. Our air up here is dry, and you lose water faster than you notice, especially with elevation gain.

    • Short, flat hike (under 4 miles, low gain): 1 liter minimum
    • Moderate hike (4-7 miles, 1,000-2,000 ft gain): 2 liters
    • Longer or steeper: 2.5-3 liters, more if it's hot

    I'd rather haul the extra weight down than run out on the way up. I learned that one with a headache at mile two of a six-mile trail.

    ---

    Reading the Elevation Profile

    Don't just glance at total gain. Look at where the gain happens.

    • Steady climb the whole way — pace yourself early, you'll want energy left for the last mile.
    • Flat start, steep back half — this is the one that fools people. Looks easy on paper, then it isn't.
    • Gain concentrated in switchbacks — good place to check your turnaround time, since you can see your progress in chunks.

    Gain per mile over 500 feet, and you should plan on it being slow going. Your mileage may vary, but that's been true for me every time.

    ---

    The Afternoon Storm Clock (July-September)

    Thunderstorms build over our canyons almost on a schedule this time of year. My rule:

    • Start early. If it's a ridge or exposed hike, I want boots on the trail by 7 or 8 a.m.
    • Be off anything exposed by early afternoon. Watch for clouds stacking over the ridge starting around 1 p.m. That's your cue, not a maybe.
    • Don't argue with the sky. I've turned groups around and had people grumble. Twenty minutes later it was hailing where we would've been standing. Nobody grumbled after that.

    ---

    What Actually Matters (and What Doesn't)

    Worth spending on: - Good wool socks (blisters are avoidable and not worth the lesson) - Enough water - A real paper map - Setting an honest start time

    Doesn't matter as much as people think: - Expensive jackets or packs. Nice to have, not what keeps you safe.

    ---

    Training Before a Big Hike

    Skip the app. Walk your own neighborhood hills with a loaded pack before you attempt something bigger. Pay attention to what leaves you winded. That'll tell you more about where you actually are than any screen will.

    ---

    One Last Thing

    If you forget everything else on this sheet, remember the two big ones: water first, and don't be on the ridge when the clouds start stacking. Everything else you can improvise. Those two, you plan for ahead of time.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —wait, say that again, because I don't think people realize you can just do that.

    KELLI: The neighborhood hill thing?

    JESS: Yeah.

    KELLI: Oh. Okay. So the first summer I got serious about hiking, I downloaded one of those training apps. The kind that gives you a plan, tells you to do intervals, all that.

    JESS: How long did that last?

    KELLI: About a week. I didn't hate it exactly, I just never opened it. And meanwhile I was walking my own street before work anyway, because that's when I had time, and I started noticing which hills actually left me winded.

    JESS: So you just... used your own neighborhood as the gym.

    KELLI: Right. I loaded up a pack with some canned goods, walked the same three hills every morning, and paid attention. Which incline made my legs burn, how I felt on the way back down. That told me more than the app ever did.

    JESS: That's kind of the whole class in one story, honestly. Pay attention to what's actually happening instead of trusting the thing that's supposed to tell you.

    KELLI: That's fair.

    JESS: Okay, so today's episode, we're talking fitness prep specifically. Last week was gear and water. This week is: how do you actually get your body ready for a Wasatch day hike without joining a gym or buying a bunch of equipment.

    KELLI: Right, and my honest opinion is you don't need a gym. You need hills and a loaded pack.

    JESS: Say more.

    KELLI: So here's the thing. A treadmill is flat, or it's an incline that doesn't change, and hiking is neither of those things. Real trail is uneven, it's got grade changes, your pack shifts. The best training for that is just... walking uphill with weight on your back, outside, on real ground.

    JESS: And American Fork's got no shortage of hills.

    KELLI: None. If you're anywhere near the point of the mountain or up toward the bench, you've got grade right there. You don't need a trailhead to practice on a trailhead's worth of climbing.

    JESS: What's the actual tip here, though? Like if somebody's listening and they've got a hike planned in three weeks and they're not taking the class, what do they do today?

    KELLI: Today, pick a hill near your house. Walk it with a daypack loaded to roughly what you'll carry on the actual hike. Water bottles work fine for weight, you don't need anything fancy. Do that three, four times a week, and pay attention to how you feel on the way down, not just the way up.

    JESS: Why the way down?

    KELLI: Because that's where knees and ankles get the workout nobody thinks about. Descending is its own kind of tired. If you only train the uphill, the downhill on your actual hike is going to surprise you.

    JESS: I did not know that.

    KELLI: Most people don't until their quads tell them the next day.

    JESS: Okay, so, hills, loaded pack, pay attention to the descent. That's the takeaway. Anything else people get wrong on the fitness side?

    KELLI: The other thing is starting too close to the hike. You'll want a few weeks at minimum, not a few days. I'm not saying train for a marathon. I'm saying give your body some warning.

    JESS: Like a heads up.

    KELLI: Basically.

    JESS: Okay, before we wrap, next session is elevation profiles, right? That's the one I've heard you talk about a lot already.

    KELLI: That one's important to me. We're going to pull up a real trail together and actually read the profile, not just the mileage number. Because mileage lies. Four miles can be a stroll or it can wreck you, depending on the gain, and the number on the trailhead sign doesn't tell you which.

    JESS: You've got strong feelings about that.

    KELLI: I've got a story about that, actually, but I'm saving it for next time.

    JESS: Oh, now you have to.

    KELLI: Next session. I promise it's a good one.

    JESS: Fine, fine. Bring your water bottle full of something heavy, do a hill this week, and we'll see you at the next one.

    KELLI: Sounds good.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —okay wait, say that again, because I don't think I've ever thought about phone batteries dying in the cold.

    KELLI: They do. Especially up the canyon where it's already ten, fifteen degrees cooler than the valley. Cold drains a battery fast, and that's assuming you've got signal to begin with, which you often don't past the mouth of the canyon anyway.

    JESS: So the paper map isn't just a backup, it's the actual plan.

    KELLI: It's the actual plan. Phone's the backup.

    JESS: This is Hiking the Wasatch, I'm Jess, I produce these for Utah Community Learning, and this is Kelli Andersen, week three. We were supposed to be talking about pacing today.

    KELLI: We are. I just get on the map thing.

    JESS: You do. Tell the map story though, because I know you've got one.

    KELLI: Oh my heck, yes. Okay. This was maybe my second season. I'd gotten comfortable enough that I figured my phone was good enough, I'd done the trail before, I knew roughly where I was going. Left the paper map at home on purpose. Which, looking back, was a dumb kind of confident.

    JESS: What happened.

    KELLI: Lost signal about a mile and a half up. No big deal at first, I still had the map app cached. Then my phone decided to update itself, which, thanks, phone, and when it came back the cached map was gone. I'm standing at a fork I didn't remember being there, no bars, and I'm doing math in my head about which direction the sun's leaning.

    JESS: Were you scared?

    KELLI: I was annoyed at myself more than scared. I got down fine, picked the right fork, but I was quiet about it the rest of the day. Didn't tell anybody for like a day. It's embarrassing when the mistake is the one you'd have caught in about four seconds if you'd just done the boring thing.

    JESS: Which was.

    KELLI: Which was print the map, fold it, put it in the pack before anything else goes in. Before snacks, before the first-aid kit. It goes in first now. Every time.

    JESS: Okay, so here's a tip people can actually use tonight, they don't need to be in the class for this one.

    KELLI: Sure. Most of the trailheads around here have a paper map you can print off ahead of time, or there's a board at the trailhead you can photograph before you lose signal. Either way, do it before you start walking, not after you're wondering where you are. Costs you two minutes.

    JESS: Two minutes versus a bad afternoon.

    KELLI: Right. And it weighs nothing. That's the part people don't get, they think it's one more thing to carry. It's a folded piece of paper. It's not the two-hundred-dollar jacket, it's not gonna slow you down.

    JESS: Speaking of pacing though, since that was the actual plan for today —

    KELLI: — right, sorry, go ahead.

    JESS: No, it's fine, this is basically pacing. Knowing where you are is half of pacing.

    KELLI: That's true actually. Okay so the thing I want people to leave with today is: your turnaround time matters more than your pace. I can teach you to walk at a steady clip all day long, that's the easy part. The harder part is deciding, before you leave the house, what time you're turning around no matter what, and then actually doing it when you get there.

    JESS: Even if you're close.

    KELLI: Especially if you're close. That's when people talk themselves out of the rule. "We're only twenty minutes from the top." Fine, but twenty minutes up is twenty minutes back down plus whatever you do at the top, and if the sky's building that's twenty minutes you don't necessarily have in July.

    JESS: This feels like it's tying back to the storm-timing thing from week one.

    KELLI: It is, everything ties back to that eventually. Watch the clock like it's telling you something, because up here it kind of is.

    JESS: Okay. So next week.

    KELLI: Next week we're doing gear, finally, the thing everybody wants to talk about first and I make them wait for.

    JESS: On purpose.

    KELLI: On purpose. I want people thinking about water and timing before they're thinking about jackets. But next week, yeah — socks, layers, what's actually worth spending money on and what isn't. Short version, spend it on the socks.

    JESS: Not the jacket.

    KELLI: Not the jacket. We'll get there. Bring your own gear if you've got questions about specific stuff, I like when people bring the actual pack in.

    JESS: Good place to end. Kelli, thanks.

    KELLI: Thanks, Jess.

  • Worksheet```markdown

    ```markdown # Handout 3: Trail Planning Worksheet

    Fill this out for the trail you're actually planning to hike next. Not a hypothetical one. Bring it with you when you go.

    ---

    The Trail

    Trail name: ___________________________

    Trailhead location: ___________________________

    Total mileage (round trip): ___________________________

    Elevation gain: ___________________________

    Gain per mile (gain ÷ mileage): ___________________________

    Remember: mileage lies, gain per mile tells the truth. A 4-mile hike with 2,500 feet of gain is not a casual afternoon. If that number surprises you, go back and look at the elevation profile again, not just the trail description.

    ---

    Water

    How much would you normally guess you need? ___________________________

    Now add more. What are you actually bringing? ___________________________

    I'd rather you haul the extra weight down than run out on the way up. Our air is dry and you'll be thirstier than you plan for, especially above a mile or two of gain.

    ---

    Start Time and Turnaround

    Planned start time: ___________________________

    Planned turnaround time (by the clock, not by feeling): ___________________________

    From July into September, canyon thunderstorms build almost on a schedule. You'll want to be off any exposed ridge by early afternoon. If you're not sure, pick a turnaround time before you leave the house and don't argue with yourself about it once you're up there.

    ---

    What's in the Pack

    Check these off before you leave the driveway:

    - [ ] Water (the "more than you think" amount from above) - [ ] Paper map — not just your phone. Phones lose signal up the canyon and batteries die faster in the cold than you'd expect. - [ ] Wool or synthetic socks (not cotton) - [ ] Snacks - [ ] Basic first aid — wrap, ibuprofen, blister stuff - [ ] Sun protection - [ ] Extra layer - [ ] Something for weather (light rain shell, even in summer)

    ---

    Fitness Check

    How have you been training?

    • [ ] Walking neighborhood hills with a loaded pack
    • [ ] Regular walks, flat ground
    • [ ] Haven't started yet
    • [ ] Other: ___________________________

    An app never worked for me. Walking my own hills with a loaded pack before work told me a lot more about what I could handle. Your mileage may vary, but pay attention to what actually leaves you winded, not what a screen tells you should.

    ---

    Weather Watch

    Forecast for hike day: ___________________________

    What will you do if clouds start building before your turnaround time?

    ___________________________________________________________

    Write down your answer now, while you're calm and sitting at a table. It's a lot easier to stick to a decision you already made than to make a good one in the moment with a storm rolling in.

    ---

    One Last Thing

    Somebody in your group should know you're going, where, and when you expect to be back. Text it, write it on the fridge, doesn't matter how. Just do it before you leave.

    Bring this sheet with you. Fill in the blanks before the trailhead, not after. ```

  • HandoutHandout 4: When Things Go Wrong on the Trail

    Handout 4: When Things Go Wrong on the Trail

    Here's the thing about beginner mistakes. They're almost all the same nine or ten mistakes. I've made most of them myself. This is the list I wish someone had handed me before my third hike.

    1. You're out of water and you're only halfway. Turn around, or ration hard and slow your pace. This is why I say carry more than you think you need, every time. Our air is dry and you lose water faster than it feels like you're losing it. If you're regularly running out, add a liter next time and don't think twice about the weight.

    2. Blisters showing up around mile two. This is almost always socks. Cotton holds moisture and rubs. Wool or a synthetic hiking sock is worth the eight dollars. My own kid learned this one the hard way and I didn't say "I told you so" out loud, but I thought it.

    3. You're way more winded than the mileage suggested. Go back and check the elevation profile, not just the total miles. A four-mile hike with 2,500 feet of gain is a completely different hike than four flat miles. Mileage lies to you. Gain per mile tells the truth. I learned this one the hard way on a trail that felt like ten miles and was four.

    4. Clouds building over the ridge in the early afternoon. Head down. Don't wait to see what they do. Our canyons build thunderstorms on a pretty reliable schedule in summer, and by the time you can hear thunder you've waited too long. I've turned a group around at 1:15 with some grumbling, and twenty minutes later it was hailing on the switchbacks below us. Nobody grumbled after that.

    5. Your phone has no signal and you don't know where the trail forks. This is why the paper map goes in the pack before anything else, every hike, no exceptions. I got lazy about this once, lost signal up the canyon, and got down fine but felt sick about it for a day. Phones die and lose signal. A paper map just sits there working.

    6. Someone twists an ankle. Wrap it, give ibuprofen if they're comfortable with that, and reassess whether you keep going or head back. I carry a small wrap and ibuprofen on every hike for exactly this reason. It's not dramatic, it's just in the bag.

    7. You started at 11 a.m. and now you're racing the sky. Start earlier next time. I mean it. A late start on a mountain hike means you're making your turnaround decisions under pressure instead of by the clock, and that's when people push past the point they should have stopped. I made this mistake once and promised myself I wouldn't do it again on anything with real elevation.

    8. You're sore and stiff for days afterward. You probably need more hill training beforehand, not more stretching afterward. Walking your own neighborhood inclines with a loaded pack a few times before a big hike tells you more about your real fitness than any app will. I tried an app once. Gave up on it in a week.

    9. You bought a bunch of gear and still feel unprepared. Gear isn't usually the gap. Good socks, enough water, a real map, and an early start time matter far more than an expensive jacket. Spend the money on socks first.

    10. You genuinely don't know if you should turn back. If you're asking yourself that question, that's usually your answer. When in doubt, turn around. The trail will still be there next weekend. Oh my heck, it's not going anywhere.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —okay but she actually took a photo of the trailhead sign?

    KELLI: Every one. First big hike I did, out of habit, same as I photograph a finished jar of peaches. Now I've got a folder of every trailhead I've ever stood at.

    JESS: That's not a bad system.

    KELLI: My eight-year-old likes scrolling through it more than I do at this point.

    JESS: Okay. Welcome to the podcast for Hiking the Wasatch, by the way, for anyone who just joined us mid-sentence. I'm Jess, I run the podcast side of things for Utah Community Learning. This is Kelli, she's teaching the class.

    KELLI: Hi.

    JESS: So, session one is coming up. What are people actually going to do the first night?

    KELLI: We pull up a real trail on a screen and read it together. Not talk about reading a trail. Actually do it.

    JESS: What trail?

    KELLI: I'm not saying yet. I want people to see the profile cold, without knowing the name, and guess how hard it is just from the numbers.

    JESS: That feels like a trap.

    KELLI: It's a good trap. Because here's the thing. Mileage lies. A four-mile hike with twenty-five hundred feet of gain and a four-mile hike that's flat are not the same hike. People sign up for "four miles" and show up in tennis shoes.

    JESS: You've done that.

    KELLI: I've done exactly that. Early on I looked at a mileage number and nothing else. Four miles, easy Saturday. Didn't check the gain per mile. Felt like ten miles by the time I was done. I was cranky, my legs were shot, and it was entirely my own fault for not reading the whole page.

    JESS: So now you're a nag about it.

    KELLI: I'm a little bit of a nag about it, yes. First thing I check on any trail now, before mileage even registers. Gain per mile tells you the truth. Mileage just tells you a number.

    JESS: Okay, that's a good one people can use right now, they don't even have to be in the class for that.

    KELLI: They don't. Anybody listening — pull up whatever trail you're thinking about this summer, look at the elevation profile, not just the length. If it's climbing fifteen hundred feet in the first mile, plan like it's a hard hike, even if the sign at the bottom says something friendly.

    JESS: Love that. Okay, tell the water story. People ask me about it.

    KELLI: Oh, the half-liter one.

    JESS: The half-liter one.

    KELLI: Third real hike I ever did. Six miles round trip, and I brought half a liter of water like I was running an errand. Turned around at mile two with a headache starting. Just done. Had to walk back down thirsty and annoyed at myself.

    JESS: And now?

    KELLI: Now I carry more water than I think I'll need, every single time. I'd rather haul the extra weight back down the trail than run out going up. Our air up here is dry, you lose water faster than you think you're losing it, and by the time you're thirsty you're already behind.

    JESS: That's the whole opinion in one sentence.

    KELLI: That's most of my opinions in one sentence, honestly.

    JESS: Can I tell the one where your kid repeated your storm rule to a stranger?

    KELLI: Oh my heck, okay, go ahead.

    JESS: This is a good one. Set it up.

    KELLI: So we always turn around on cloudy days before the summit, no exceptions, because of how afternoon thunderstorms build up here, almost on a schedule, July through September. My eleven-year-old asked me why once, and I explained the timing, the way heat builds through the morning and the storms tend to stack up over the ridges by early afternoon. And later that same hike, some stranger's dad on the trail asked why we were heading down early, and my kid just recited the whole thing back to him. Like it was gospel.

    JESS: Did you correct anything?

    KELLI: Not a word. He had it right.

    JESS: That's the class in a nutshell, kind of. You're not trying to scare people about storms, you're just explaining the mechanics.

    KELLI: That's really all it is. I don't lecture on danger. I tell you what I'd do and why, and you decide for yourself once you know the reasoning.

    JESS: Okay, last thing. What's next session, so people know what to bring or think about.

    KELLI: Next time we build the actual pack list together, and we talk fitness, real quick, no apps involved.

    JESS: No apps?

    KELLI: I tried one once, training for a longer route. Gave it a week. What actually worked was walking my own neighborhood hills before work with a loaded pack. That told me more about my legs than any screen did.

    JESS: So bring your walking shoes and an opinion about your own neighborhood hills.

    KELLI: Basically. And bring water bottles if you've got them, we'll talk capacity.

    JESS: Perfect. That's episode one. See everybody at session one.

    KELLI: Bring the paper map eventually too. We'll get there.

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