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Hiking essentials, updated: a practical system for comfort, navigation, and backcountry safety. *Full Hiking Gear List (What I Use Now - Tested & Not Sponsored):* https://hikingguy.com/gear *Gear I'm Using Now:* * inReach: https://hkgy.co/inreach * Hiking App: https://hkgy.co/app * Watch: https://hkgy.co/watch * Shoes: https://hkgy.co/shoes * Pack: https://hkgy.co/backpack * Rescue Insurance: https://hkgy.co/insurance *Links:* * Website: https://hikingguy.com * Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/hikingguy * Monthly Hiking News (free): https://www.patreon.com/c/hikingguy/ * Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/Hikingguy Hiking essentials in this video are organized into a modern, practical system for day hiking and backcountry trips. Instead of following the original 10 essentials without context, the video groups gear into three buckets: staying comfortable, navigating confidently, and handling emergencies. This is geared toward hikers who want a clearer way to choose trail gear, plan routes, and build redundancy into their setup. It covers emergency communication, lighting, water filtration, repair items, medical gear, signaling tools, and pre-trip planning with trail reports, weather, summit forecasts, fire information, and map tools. Key navigation takeaways include using multiple layers of backup, such as a GPS watch, phone mapping app, handheld GPS, backup battery, and paper map. The video also mentions offline maps, route planning, topographic maps, and tools like AllTrails, CalTopo, Footpath, and Organic Maps for hiking navigation and trip planning. For comfort on the trail, the video covers hiking shoes, socks, backpacks, trekking poles, sun protection, layers, rain gear, insulation, hats, mittens, and trail food. It also notes practical tradeoffs and caveats: electronics can fail, phone use can be difficult in bad conditions, not every situation requires an SOS, and gear choices depend on weather, route, and hike length. 00:00 Modern Hiking Essentials 00:33 Emergency Gear 03:32 Navigation 05:42 Comfort --- *Disclaimer:* Some of these links are affiliate links where I’ll earn a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you. I only recommend gear I actually use and trust.