Things to know when we go hiking?
Hiking is not the same as a light forest walk. It has serious and important rules that can be easily ignored and may cause problems.
Principles to keep in mind
The first and most important principle is to respect nature and the forest in which we are hiking..
- Never be loud,
- Do not throw away the trashe,
- Do not hurt living creatures,
- Do not damage the forest objects created by others.
Existence of appropriate equipment
If we plan either a longer or a shorter tour, it is important to have the right equipment..
1. What to look for when choosing shoes?
When we are hiking, we use our feet, so the “use” is the most important part. The first step is to choose the right footwear for this purpose.
This can be short or high-stem hiking boots, walking or running shoes specially developed for forest terrain. We can also buy some of these in specialist stores, but we can also ask sellers for their specially tailored opportunities.
The casual, but in many cases even the training shoes are not suitable for a tour because they can easily break our feet, they will soon become uncomfortable and may be dangerous on stony, crumbly sections.
2. What to look for when choosing socks?
It is always worthwhile to choose socks, which are
- air permeable property, even during summer.
- So it should be easy to ventilate and
- always surpasses the shoe stem.
In winter time, besides the hiking boots, a snow shoe is also suitable for the purpose, but pay attention to choose thick socks, in which your toes can easily move.
3. What kind of tour clothes should we choose?
As with footwear, it is important what clothes we wear for hiking.
Always choose clothing that is
- made of flexible material and
- we can easily move with.
The key aspect is to feel well in the dress we are hiking in.
Hard, tight knit garments made of jeans are not suitable for this purpose. Always make sure that you dress in layers so that it is easier to ventilate your body.
- We recommend a slim top to wear as an underwear to easily channel the sweat towards the middle layer..
- The middle layer is a thermal insulation layer, so a polar or thermo-type sweater is recommended.
- The upper / outer layer also has minimal thermal insulation function, but here the wind, rain, and sunlight are the important factors.
It is always useful to have a raincoat, and an underwear if you have a longer tour.
Even in the summer, it is useful to take a plus sweater with us as the weather can change in the Mátra in moments, and suddenly the air can cool up to 10-15 degrees. In winter it is worth adding a winter hat, gloves, scarves, a ski mask or even a face shield to the hiking equipment.
For those who are uncertain, it is definitely recommended to use a tour stick.
What should I bring to the tour?
It’s important to always have
- the right amount of liquid (2 liters of water in summer, 1-1.5 l tea in winter),
- food (sandwiches, chocolate, glucose, fruit),
- bandages, disinfectants, stickers and medicines in a backpack.
Never go to the woods without a map and a battery without maximum battery power, and don’t overuse the phone’s power while surfing the Internet or other features.
Tip: If you do not have a map, you may want to download a phone application before the tour, or buy a local tour map at any tourist sites in Matra.
Golden rules that can save lives
- Do not go off the marked path. if you get lost or get an accident, you should immediately notify the 112 emergency service.
- If you meet a beast, stay calm, retreat, do not try to establish a relationship with the wild. Stay cool and quietly move away from the animal, or climb on a nearby tree until the wild animal leaves. Sometimes, however, it may help to make noise in order to scare away the beast.
- Before the tour, we should evaluate our skills and routine, find out about the weather, measure the time, and if it’s too late, do not plan a long hike or just choose a route that we think is capable of completing. If we are not sure about it, seek help from professionals.
General Forest Law
Everyone can use the forest until they acknowledge and respect of the general forest law, which informs the hikers about the rules of staying in the woods. Before you go to this tour, you should always read what and how long you can do in the woods, how long you can stay there, how to light a fire, and so on.
The full text of the forest law is available here: http://njt.hu/cgi_bin/njt_doc.cgi?docid=124614.314615