Equipment to lure a reluctant partner hiking & camping

[emma_melbourne]

OK so this is only half-serious as a topic, but it came up the other day when talking to a friend who struggles to get his partner out hiking and camping due to the perceived discomfort.

What are all your thoughts, tips and anecdotes on luring a reluctant partner to go hiking and camping?

I'm thinking a particularly comfortable sleeping mat is a good start...

[Tortoise]

+1 for the mat. But I think more important than equipment is the choice of walk + weather. Start with a very speckie, easy walk in good weather - cancel or go with plan B if the forecast is yukky - too hot, too cold, too wet etc. Don't go somewhere popular on a long weekend. Maybe even pick somewhere to camp where there's a loo. Give reluctant partner every chance to enjoy being out there.
Oh, and go at their pace. Don't know how many people I've walked with who initially said they don't like bushwalking, based on one awful experience of walking some ridiculously long way with a ridiculously heavy pack, and a leader who was into forced marches. I managed to change their minds - "Oh, I like THIS sort of bushwalking!" Got 'em hooked.

[Stew63]

Great thread emma!
I think it should be a combination of the sleeping mat AND the pillow. I think it's good to experiment before you leave home. I'm still looking for the perfect combination but so far - for me - without giving specific mat brands - a half (or less) inflated sleeping mat, prop the head of the mat up slightly with something and a combination of a half inflated pillow and/OR just a stuff sack filled with clothes. It's still not perfect and I've tried every hiking pillow out there. A pillow 'X' is the closest to best for me but not by itself.

[wayno]

start with glamping, day walks, and stay somewhere with all the amenities available... grab them with the concept of walking through nature... if you can't grab them with that concept they are unlikely to swallow multi day bushwalks and put up with discomforts and restrictions involved.... either people feel like they benefit from being in nature or they don't , if they don't then they are not going to swallow multi day bush walks...
for us its worth it to be able to get out there for several days, for some, it's not... you have to "get" being in nature.

[ofuros]

My partner draws the line at actual in the bush bushwalking & camping but does enjoy car camping overnight with basic amenities,
most NP's have base camp areas with tracks starting & ending there.

Make sure the tent & sleep arrangements are waterproof, insectproof warm & comfy...relax in foldaway chairs around a glowing fire pit, with favourite food & a bottle o' wine. If you like, invite friends for a shared camping experience.

Keep the walks fairly short but interesting...to spectacular views, waterfalls, caves, barefoot beachwalks...don't just walk & look, have a refreshing swim, paddle, listen to bird calls, have a snack/lunch stop, frequent photo ops along the way, circuits if possible so your not walking over same ground, early morning walks usually result in more animal encounters, night walks around the camp area with headlamps is also a good opportunity for wildlife spotting. Gaze at the clear skies, the moon, twinkling & shooting stars, we tend to take them for granted living in the big city.

My wife may never take the next step & truly bushwalk/camp overnight, but I'm fine with that...everyone has their limits.

[Neo]

Glamping is a good way to start, could try one of those organised day walks where you end up at a B&B.

A few luxuries will help. I take them for myself! Nice mat, chair, fresh food, make sure they have dry fresh clothes.
After that, some people are just not into it

[emma_melbourne]

I'm so happy to see some replies and great thoughts so far...!

Although we're talking in general terms / ideas about luring a partner hiking and camping, I have some recommendations for comfortable equipment....

COMFY MAT - Go large (63-65 cm width) & thick

I think the problem with 50 cm wide mats for people who don't like discomfort is their arms are potentially falling off the mat and onto floor of tent which is uncomfortable and cold.

So I'd advocate the large size camping mats which are 63-65 cm wide.

Women with hip to waist ratio tend to do much better with thicker mats rather than those 2 cm thick mats.

I personally recommend the Sea to Summit Comfort Plus Self-Inflating mat. It's not the usual Sea to Summit mats that you're used to seeing, but actually a self-inflating type that's more like the Exped Megamats but it packs down relatively small - in the vicinity of actually being able to take on a short trip. It's 8 cm thick with foam and cut-outs which basically form long triangular tubes in cross-section view. The large size is 198 x 65 x 8 cm thick, and they're super-comfy. Like equivalent to Exped Megamat comfort. That large size packs down to 33 x 7 cm diameter, and it weighs a hefty 1.2 kg. So I know this is pushing it for hiking and for certainly not in the lightweight category, but as a measure to get a partner hiking and camping, it's perhaps worth lugging the bulk and weight, as I can't see them complaining on that mat about comfort. R value is 4.1, so it's also relatively warm. It has a soft stretchy top fabric - also nice.

There is also a lighter / thinner version which is the Sea to Summit Comfort Light Self Inflating, which is 5 cm thick (rather than 8 cm) and 900 grams for the Large size, and has that same foam with triangular tube cut-out in cross-section. Still pretty comfortable. Negative is lower R value of 2.7.

If car camping, I'd go the Exped Megamat Duo mat or similar comfortable double mat. (You can reportedly even comfortably have some loving time on it with relative ease.)

COMFY PILLOW

Totally agree a camp pillow can make a world of difference to a comfortable night's sleep. I have quite a collection of pillows as I can't personally sleep well without one - I wake up with a sore neck. So far the ones I've found good are:
1) Thermarest compressible pillow - main negative is that it's still quite bulky when packed up / compressed for hiking. Not TOO bad weight-wise at 200 grams for small, or 260 for medium.
2) Nemo Fillo backpacking pillow - has a layer of memory foam on top of an air blow-up pouch pillow. Packs up smaller than above Thermarest, but not as small as a straight air pillow. 260 grams.
3) Sea to Summit Aeros Premium pillow - packs up super-small, ergonomic shape particularly good for side-sleepers, and has a nice brushed fabric that doesn't feel like clammy polyesters of a lot of air pillows. About as good as it gets for an air pillow in terms of comfort. 79 g for regular, 105 g for large.

Which one of these I would pick would depend on how much pack room I have / hiking I'm doing. For car camping, I'd go option 1 or 2. For hiking I'd go option 2 or 3. Therefore if I was only getting one pillow for all options, I'd go option 2 - the Nemo Fillo backpacking pillow.

[Neo]

Yep the thicker the mat the more elbow-issues. Doesn't worry me though, or the leg drop, as long as its thick enough for my bony hips ñ shoulders.

My first was a Vango short (too thin at 2.5) next was a Nemo Tensor short (great but got holes) so now use an Exped Synmat UL S, twice the weight of the Nemo.
Used with a shortened Nike foam mat 60cm wide.

Could maybe just sleep on ccf but why..

[emma_melbourne]

CAFFEINE & ALCOHOL
Oh and making partner a hot coffee (for morning), and glass of wine at night served to them on some kind of camp chair looking up at the stars, will earn some brownie points. Assuming they like coffee and wine.

Any thoughts people have on coffee and alcohol packing?

CHAIR
I love that there are now camp chairs coming down in weight and pack-down size to get into the vicinity of possibility to take hiking. I have 2 cheap Naturehike chair which is similar in style to the Helinox Chair One, and weighs 900 grams. But now I see Helinox have a similar style Chair Zero that weighs just 510 grams which is incredible. At the other end of the scale, they do a high back style - the Sunset chair, which is just under 1.5 kg, but again if you're trying to really convince your partner that hiking camping trips can be civilized, it may be worth taking the weight and bulk.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE above ideas & contributions
- Fair weather hiking / camping
- Starting with glamping
- Selling the idea of walking in nature
- Going at their pace
- Choosing interesting walks with great scenery that are short"ish" and don't take too long, so they're getting the really positive nature reward without too much effort.
- Good snacks / yummy food
- Loo / privy (as it's another step-up to get them used to digging cat-holes and pooping in the woods)
- Dry clothes (roll-top drybag good for this)
- Fire pit (assuming it's not fire season / restrictions)
- The hiking enthusiast cooks dinner for the more reluctant hiker partner
- Adding "fun" / romance / novelty where possible - fairy lights I think can be nice on the tent poles at night, and help to find way back to tent
- Maybe also packing a light throw for your partner - and warm hat - to keep them warm and toasty sitting at night looking at stars

I'm sure I'm going to definitely be referring back to all this in the future...

[Neo]

Skip the booze, can (&do) get that easily in town anyday. Have 'erb teas and water.

Brew a morning coffee, add raw honey .

Hmm, and something unique
- insert gourmet damper recipe here -

[davidf]

Look them in the eye and say harden up

[Chezza]

Start with short trips that require little equipment. Let her pick the trips. Gauge her willingness to sleep in tents, use bush toilets and go without showers. These are the things that I gather put most women off. Oh, and snakes.

If he tries to lure her with equipment he might just find himself with a lot of gear that never gets used. Don't ask me how I know

[crollsurf]

Forget the hiking pillow, bring a real pillow.
Camp fire and compliments will go a long way. They'll know what you're up to but it will work anyway

[GBW]

No coffee, alcohol, chairs or fluffy pillow, just what you need and the promise of an unforgettable adventure with hills, rain, mud, cold, pain, tears and laughs included (and snakes, spiders, ants, flies and leeches). What more could you want?

[MrWalker]

No coffee, alcohol, chairs or fluffy pillow, just what you need and the promise of an unforgettable adventure with hills, rain, mud, cold, pain, tears and laughs included (and snakes, spiders, ants, flies and leeches). What more could you want?

I think It would be reasonable to demand a warm shower and a comfortable bed after a day like that. A thicker sleeping mat would be totally inadequate.

There are some people who prefer to spend 10 hrs walking 45 km in a day with a light pack, with a good clean up and rest at the end of it, rather than spend 3 days on the same trip carrying a heavy pack.

[emma_melbourne]

Very amusing replies.

I should have added "rent equipment", or "only buy equipment you'll also use anyway at a later date", to hedge of the possibility that a person goes and buys what they hope will be partner-friendly equipment to get them into hiking and camping - only to find their partner never takes to hiking and camping.

I know Bogong have a rental hire service on hiking gear: http://www.bogong.com.au/hire

And, if you buy the same type of item you hired within 14 days of the hire return, they'll deduct the cost of up the weekend hire rate you paid on the new item - if it's like for like. (ie hire a pack, buy a pack, etc)

There are likely other places that do that also?

[Moondog55]

The promise of kinky sex no longer works for me so I tried bribery and corruption and now just admit that if I want to go walking or camping I have to go on my own

[Warin]

No coffee, alcohol, chairs or fluffy pillow, just what you need and the promise of an unforgettable adventure with hills, rain, mud, cold, pain, tears and laughs included (and snakes, spiders, ants, flies and leeches). What more could you want?

heat, humidity, ticks, boot failure, flood, snow, ice, blisters .... the list is endless.

[stuie88]

I got my wife out for her first overnight hike recently, we 4wd and swag camp with the kids but she's only done a school hike as a kid that she hated
I made sure she had comfortable and warm sleeping gear, boight a new mat for her and let her use my bag, and I took the bigger heavier tent with a large vestibule for privacy. Picked a walk with toilets at the campsite, and I carried spaghetti Bolognese for dinner and a couple of beers for us both. Plenty of coffee.
I think that the way we tackled the walk was more important, walked as slow as she felt like, stopped whenever she liked, didn't rush or push her along, and I carried 3/4 of the combined weight.
It was a fairly heavy pack in but in food and drink I was probably packing 4kgs less on the way out, I had fun and got to take my wife out there and she is talking about going again.
Hopefully next time she will be happy to bivy and eat dehydrated meals

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[stry]

stuie88 is on the money.

Put simply - keep them warm, dry, comfortable and well fed. Flexible timetable so camp can be set up at whatever may turn out to be a comfortable time tiredness wise for the partner.

[threshold]

Look them in the eye and say harden up

Or just break up with them and TRY to find someone who does like it. Maybe thats why I am 33 and single haha

[Neo]

Look them in the eye and say harden up

Or just break up with them and TRY to find someone who does like it. Maybe thats why I am 33 and single haha

41 still too picky/shy/cautious & and now a bushwalker! ;(