Qianghu Column | Seven Essential Skills for Hiking and Camping
Mt. Tiger Column | Seven Essential Wilderness Camping Skills
Author: Neko Cheng
"Why should I learn wilderness camping skills?"
During a mountain hike, having a full night's rest is key. Is it better to sleep in a mountain hut, or enjoy the private space of your own tent?
If you want to explore the mountains more comfortably, imagine eating breakfast inside your tent while sitting in the front row of views overlooking lakes, mountains, sea of clouds, or water deer habitats. Women can wipe away the day's dust and sweat in the privacy of their tent, lounge as comfortably as they like, and never have to worry about being woken up by other hikers—you will truly fall in love with wilderness camping.
However, wilderness camping takes practice; not everyone gets the hang of it right away.
If you also want to visit the many beautiful, hidden deep-mountain spots in Taiwan, then these are skills you absolutely must possess!
Mt. Tiger empowers you with wilderness camping courses that focus on "skill development" and "practical training."
▋Become someone capable of taking care of yourself in the mountains
Having a goal provides the motivation to move forward, but for clarity, you need a training plan.
Therefore, we have established a watershed moment in our Independent Mountain Trekking curriculum called "Jiemousi to Jiaming Lake." During this four-day, three-night trek, we provide several challenges to help you test yourself and achieve personal milestones.
Through this independent style of trekking and independent thinking, you will realize where your shortcomings are, where you have improved compared to before, and what you can do in the future. Upon completion, a new chapter of your journey begins. (The Mountain Training Ground)
Of course, it is impossible to take everyone straight into the deep mountains for four days. You want a guide you can trust, and the guide also needs to get to know their team members first.
Thus, "Wilderness Camping" serves as our outpost.
Through camping sites with varying levels of difficulty—some suitable for total beginners or those with slight hiking experience, others more primitive or requiring greater physical endurance for long-distance travel, suitable for those with mountaineering experience trying wilderness camping for the first time—you will get to know yourself better, and instructors will provide observations and guidance throughout the course.
Head instructor Yaohe has selected 3 routes from his 18 planned trails: the Old Tengzhi Tribe, the Hehuan Cross-Ridge Ancient Trail, and Songluo Lake. Ranging from beginner-friendly to challenging, these allow students to assess themselves when choosing a course.
▋The Seven Goals of Wilderness Camping
To achieve the ability to independently complete the four-day, three-night Jiemousi to Jiaming Lake trek, you must first master the seven wilderness camping skills mentioned above and apply them in our final, field-based assessment. The hurdles arranged by instructors for the final include: carrying water in water-scarce areas, emergency survival bivouacs, water collection, traversing difficult terrain, practical navigation, self-reliance exercises, four-day heavy-pack trekking, four-day food planning, and high-altitude climate management.
These are undoubtedly many trials for a novice hiker. "Practical application" won't make you strong in a single attempt; it requires repeated practice in different mountain environments to master the fundamental framework and internalize it. That is true growth. Can you really absorb all of this in a two or three-day camping trip? It depends on each person's individual aptitude and foundation. Everyone starts their mountaineering journey from a different point, but as long as you start, you will certainly be better than you were yesterday! Keep going until you feel you are ready to move on.
The learning journey is not lonely; Mt. Tiger will accompany you step-by-step from zero. And we will see you at our final graduation trek, Jiemousi to Jiaming Lake.
Wilderness Camping Practical Sessions
"Mt. Tiger Cross-Domain Life: Combining mountaineering educational philosophy with rich practical courses and professional guidance to help hikers gradually build outdoor safety awareness and techniques, allowing everyone to confidently face the challenges of the mountains. We also advocate for the responsibility of environmental conservation, passing on our love and respect for the wilderness to more people to achieve a complete journey of cross-domain learning and experience."
