I started taking my love for hiking seriously about 17 years ago, while living a few blocks from Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley, CA. Tilden was a dream hiking and biking training ground. But when I first started hiking some of the most beautiful trails of the Bay Area of California, I found myself unprepared and scared in the middle of some remote hikes. Whether running out of water, running out of energy without a snack to pick me up, getting devoured by insects, getting painfully sunburnt, blistering my feet... you name it, I've experienced it all. Now that I know how to prepare, I enjoy my hikes a lot more. All these years exploring nature trails in the western and now eastern Unite States, as well as in places where I've traveled to, earned me a wealth of experience that I now can share with beginner nature explorers. Here is a list that I compiled of what I consider the basic most important things to know to keep you safe and make your hikes more enjoyable. 1. Pick T