For anything less than a day I just dress appropriately and carry my camera backpack and my walking stick. In my backpack are my camera and some lenses, a few bags and containers for specimens, and some very basic emergency supplies.
Put on sunscreen, grab my hat, socks and running shoes (unless its mucky enough for boots). Water bottle in hip carrier.
Lately I’ve been doing almost all macro. So a charged Tg-5 in one pocket, my wallet and cell phone in the other. Keys in back pocket.
Biggest pain is my glasses. I need them to drive but take them off for macro hunting. I keep a spare SD card in my wallet in case I forgot the card in the reader (again) as well as a sawed off, clear metric ruler about 2 inches long…
Most drives are 10 minutes or less as the main trail (Bruce Trail) goes right through my town. I often park in the grocery store mall and walk to the trail entrance 5 minutes away, and do my grocery shopping afterwards.
I switch between phone camera for most things a couple centimetre or more as it’s so easy and quick and I love the ability to use a voice activated shutter while both hands are busy with framing or holding back a branch or something.
No flash. No extra batteries (though I’ve ordered more for the t5).
It’s pretty simple and basic and light. Seems to be working pretty well too. I like focussing on hunting for discoveries, not fussing with gear.
And I usually don’t use bug stuff. Unless it’s prime skeeter weather.
I’m with you - I like minimal gear. Although that does translate to Olympus T5 camera, extra batteries, binoculars, phone, ruler, index cards for notes if I need to take them, water, snacks, tissues/toilet paper, plastic bags, masks, and maybe a paper trail map. I put on sunscreen before I leave home and wear tick-repellant pants. Water shoes and my dragonfly net (I use the pole for balance) if I’m wading in a river.
I used to carry field guides, but these days I’m interested in so much that I 'd literally have to carry 8 or 9 books, and that’s not happening.
Sounds like a lot of people here take a lot more gear into the field than I do but I mostly focus on plants, so nothing special needed to capture them. Some magic device to turn off the wind would be helpful on some days, but I haven’t found that yet. :-)
My prep starts ahead of the trip with figuring out when and where to go. I often focus on documenting plants in bloom/fruit. Most of this I can do locally and don’t prep much, except always have my camera with me. For some rare species it means driving/hiking several hours to the target locations at the right time of year. I have some longer trips I do annually around spring break and in the summer.
I typically create a set of detailed driving directions, especially for some of the out-there-with-no-GPS places, and maps for both roads around the area and the trails (unless I’ve hiked there before and know it well). This includes a plan where to stop for gas and/or bathrooms on the way if needed. I once traumatized my mom by taking her through the Smokies in the middle of the night on the last drop of gas. We entered on the south end after sunset coming off the Blue Ridge Parkway (no gas stations) with the tank indicator light coming on. I assured her we’d be fine since it’s all downhill once we get past Clingman’s Dome and we can just let the car roll. True to my prediction, we made it to the first gas station in Gatlinburg with the light flashing “empty” and me wondering aloud that it’s the most expensive gas station in town and maybe we should try to find another. My mom wasn’t having any of that. I don’t think we still had that option though, given that the tank was pretty much empty at that point, haha. I don’t recommend cutting it this close, and maybe take an extra canister of gas when going places with no gas stations nearby.
The evening before the trip, I reformat my memory cards, make sure all camera batteries and backups are fully charged, and check the weather forecast to dress and pack accordingly. Temperatures here in the mountains can change a lot during a single day, so I tend to dress in layers to be able to adapt. I typically have at least another pair of socks and hiking boots, a large towel, and two fleece blankets in the car (and I have driven home swaddled in a blanket after getting soaking wet in a thundershower). If the forecast is calling for rain, I will now add a spare set of dry clothing to keep in the car just in case. Driving wet with the A/C on is a recipe for getting a nice summer cold. Rain gear only does so much, and in the summer the choice may be between getting wet from the rain or getting wet from your own sweat underneath your rain jacket. Having a good rain cover for my camera bag often is more important to me.
Be prepared to change hiking plans depending on local weather conditions and know where the next shelter is in case of lightning. I think of my car as a possible emergency shelter and on longer trips pack everything I might need to spend a night if necessary. We’ve had storms bad enough to close down roads until cleared of fallen trees etc. At the very least, I have extra food and drinks, packed in a cooler. For winter hikes, I may pack an extra warm blanket, a snow shovel and some cat litter to get traction if needed to get the car moving again. Let somebody know where you’re going, especially when going alone and to a more remote area.
I often pack a couple of field guides into the car as well, but rarely take them out on a hike. Too much stuff to carry comfortably, but if I do get stuck in the car for a while during a heavy thunderstorm, they are nice to have to pass the time.
All of this is just when I’m headed out on a longish trip though (3+ hours driving time away, planning to spend the day). If I go for a shorter hike at the local state parks, I often just rely on always having my camera and hiking boots with me. My camera bag contains pretty much everything I need, maybe add a snack and a bottle of water and grab my rain jacket and I’m ready to go explore at a moment’s notice.
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I’m somehow still in the process of learning how to prepare - I probably have quite a few stories about why you shouldn’t under-prepare. Permanently ruining clothes, getting lost, getting into the dark, getting into thunderstorms, getting into a flash flood, ending up very thirsty, getting very cold, getting eaten by ticks/chiggers/mosquitoes, getting scratches and bruises, running out of battery… and all of it probably in the past 2 years.
I think I can blame my parents, I grew up in a mountain village in Europe in the 1980s and spent all time running around in the woods as a little kid, so I just never developed a sense of danger - being in the wilderness just feels like home and when I’m done with work I just want to run off into the forest immediately and not think about anything. In practice nowadays there’s an hour of driving in between - but I may drive for an hour to a state forest and then only once I stop the car at the end of a dirt road I realize I forgot to change or to bring any water - and then it’s usually too late to drive back to the last gas station for water and I have to walk without…
And now that I think about it, when my parents took us hiking in the mountains as kids they would never prepare at all either and I have lots of childhood memories of the whole family being lost in the dark or with no water, or in a thunderstorm on a mountain top, etc.
Anyway, I tell myself every time I want to start preparing better and I am slowly getting better, when I do end up being fully prepared for a short hike I have: hiking pants, hiking shoes, a hat, a long sleeve fishing shirt, gaiters and up to 3 small water bottles stuffed into my pants pockets. For inat pictures I just have my phone. For a longer hike I add a small backpack with additional water, a headlamp, a rain jacket if cold weather, and a battery pack to recharge my phone.
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https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/whats-in-your-field-kit/1421
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/life-hacks-for-naturalists/4636
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Thank you for the links!
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Not a problem. There’s lots of good stuff in all these threads, including this one.
Southeast US
- Visor
- Neck gaiter
- LS sun shirt
- Sun gloves
- Nylon pants
- Permethrin
- Two bottles of ice
- Diluted salted coconut water (2.5 L)
- DSLR and iphone
- Trail snacks
Usually keeps me good for anything under a 100 F heat index.
If you can see a snake in time to pull and shoot, you had plenty of time and space to get away. Plus…shooting wildlife seems counter productive to nature observing?
Stray dogs, bear spray is going to be much more in your favor. Gel so it doesn’t blow back in your face.
Rabies is very uncommon in the US, your area may be different but most areas this is not a concern. And remember, Hollywood Rabies is not like how it often presents. Yes, the foaming aggressive animal can occur, but you’re far more likely to encounter a stumbling around like it’s had a stroke with some drool animal. But, lethargic stumbling over itself, totally out of it look, doesn’t sell in theatres. The “mad rabies” can and does occur, but a very tiny percentage of actual rabies cases. Bearspray here too. Or just, like, walk away. (Also: consider this a PSA to anyone rescuing that seemingly in trouble animal stumbling around awkwardly or moving/behaving in “off” ways - be aware that may well be rabies, take caution).
A weirdo guy following you, bear spray will work there too.
TLDR: bearspray. Far safer for you to carry, will do the trick in practically every case, and probably a lot easier to acquire than a gun.
The thread Lifechanging Upgrades has a lot of “what do you carry”.
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/lifechanging-upgrades/32893/69 is my reply that has some things less thought of that I carry.
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Vouch for the bear spray. If you really needed to deter something or someone bear spray will almost always be better then a firearm. No need to fumble around loading and aiming the gun, just a quick spray.
Also, snakes aren’t out to attack you. If you stumble upon one in the wild, just let it slither away. The vast majority of bites happen from people trying to kill the snake. Snakes aren’t out to attack you, if you leave them alone they’ll leave you alone aswell.
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Depends. A lot of hunters, anglers, and museum specimen collectors (i.e., those who don’t just take photos) are also excellent naturalists and committed conservationists. Some might find that incongruous with their perception of what a naturalist is but it’s the reality.
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Yeah but the whole 'Gotta be able to shoot a snake" is so common around here and so misguided. For all reasons stated and expanded on by aranamor. And if that worried about snakes, wear snakeboots. Everyone I know (3 people, i know a lot of folk who spend a ton of time in the woods!) who has been tagged by a snake stepped on said snake. Watching your step = you’ll be fine from snakes. Snake boots will prevent a mistake.
I have nothing against hunting as long as it isn’t a species at risk or such of course. That’s different. Heck I’ve hunted, white tail deer are basically invasive here at this point but also nice meat! But also remember a gunshot is going to scare every animal for miles around and you aren’t gonna observe much for a bit after firing one! Going out to hunt is a totally different from going out to observe animals. Never said you can’t do both, or can’t know about animals when you also hunt. But the purpose of the trips are different and will be set up differently; and the second the gun goes off you can observe fungi and plants that didn’t vacate the area but not much else.
My point is about intent and design of the trip into the wild, not that these things cannot overlap in the same individual. I’ll carry a gun when I intend to hunt. I do not when I intend to observe wildlife.
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All true. The last place I want to be when I’m trying to photo wildlife is near one or more hunters or anywhere that someone is driving an ATV/ORV (the two often go together). It’s a different outdoor experience and I like my quiet nature time. Incidentally, I have lots of experience with rattlesnakes and never felt the need to defend myself against one. More often I’m trying to get a clean photo of one as it’s trying to escape from me.
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I always keep at least one or two extra camera memory cards in my pack and/or car. I’ve forgotten memory cards at home far more times than I’d like to admit.
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Yes, and try to remember to delete photos off your memory card(s) before you head out to take a lot of pics. It’s frustrating when you don’t and then get halfway through the day and you run out of storage because the card is full of pics you’ve already downloaded (and you can’t just delete everything on the card).
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Do memory cards survive in a hot car?
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They seemed be fine in the glove box, but in general my car is in a garage most of the time and it doesn’t get too hot here in the Bay Area. YMMV and yeah, I wouldn’t completely trust ones that have been kept in vehicles. I mostly keep them in my backpack now, since I often carpool with friends.
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Most reputable brands do some type of temperature qualification. For example https://kb.sandisk.com/app/answersweb/detailweb/a_id/4687/~/sandisk-cards-environmental-tolerance-(waterproof,-temperature,-magnetic-and) says it supports up to 85C / 185F in operation.
You could store a small bag of grated caranuba wax with the memory cards, if it’s ever molten/fused it means the temperature reached near that limit.
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That reminds me of my closest encounter with a cottonmouth. In my perpheral vision, I noticed a white flicker against the dark ground – the cottonmouth’s way of warning me not to step on it, that is, flashing the white inside of its mouth. Hence the name cottonmouth. I get so tired of people’s stories about “water mocassin” encounters that any decent naturalist can tell were common water snakes.
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