hiking gearOne of my most essential pieces of hiking gear is my walking stick. I had an eye trauma so my depth perception is off a little, and I use my trusty walking stick to negotiate the rocks, particularly when I go down hills on rocky trails. We have some pretty steep grades on the hiking trails around here, so it's not unusual to see even really young hikers sporting the hiking or walking sticks. My next most useful piece of hiking gear is my hydration device. I see a lot of hikers on the trail who use just bottles of water, but having a hydration pack is so much more convenient, and I can carry so much more water.

We live in a dry climate so we're used to carrying around a lot of water and I've found that these hydration packs are the best and most useful pieces of hiking gear for extended walks in the desert mountains. Many times we say that we are just going for a short hike, miss the turn and end up walking a few more miles than we intended. Dehydration is a serious problem, and these hydration packs are essential parts of our hiking gear.