Welcome to my channel! I’m a thru hiker, illustrator and molecular biologist from Germany (but I live in Austria because mountains). I created this channel to share the beauty of the wilderness with you, my knowledge about gear and tips for the trails I have already hiked. Don’t hesitate to send me a message on Instagram @helena_hikes ! See you on trail ;-)
Hi Helena! Thanks so much for sharing and for making this video! I'm prepping to hike the SMT in 2 weeks and was wondering about some of your gear re: camping. My understanding was that you can't camp in Slovenia, making the SMT very different from through hiking in the U.S. I was wondering to what extent you used things like the stove / pot / tent and whether or not it was possible to cook yourself at the mountain huts. Secondly, I am getting mixed information regarding a sleeping bag liner vs. a sleeping bag. Is having just a sleeping bag okay, or do I really need the liner too?
@@audreyaberg3435 hey! Yeah camping is officially not allowed and it is really hard to find spots for camping anyways. If you get a subscription for the Slovenian or Austrian or German, whatever mountain club (which everyone should because it saves you lots of money) you can sleep there cheaper. I had sleeping bag and liner, because in some huts I found it very cold! Then in some places the liner would be enough. I used the stove quite a lot because I love cooking warm food but it’s definitely not necessary. Usually you can cook in front of the hut. Hope that helps :-)
hi i wanna do the trail in october when most of the huts are closed i guess. wild camping is prohibited in slovenia. do you think i will run into problems pitching up a tent next to a hut?
@@zdravkohorvat8522 what about a bivy? Any suggestions what to do if you can´t find a camping site or you are forced to spend the night in the mountains ?
@@Dampflanze that’s hard to say, I guess if you biwak directly in front of the hut that’s better than in the wild but I think for a lot of huts that’s impossible because it’s so rocky and hard ground. I did sleep in front of some huts and they always said it’s fine (I asked).
Hey :) I really love your videos. I wanted to ask (for a beginner ul hiker) if you can recommend any cheaper options for the tent and backpack (I am still a student, so my money is limited 😅)?
Hi! Glad to hear you like them! It depends a bit where you’re from. In Europe the 3F UL Lanshan is quite a lightweight and affordable tent if you want to have one that’s set up with trekking poles. Six moon designs also have some cheaper one. It really gets expensive when you want DCF but I think you don’t really need that. For the backpack you technically don’t need to go UL unless you really want to. If the rest of your kit is light, having a „traditional backpack“ could absolutely do it if you have one at home. You could also check out gossamer gear and liteway(in Europe).
I remember being so incredibly nervous before my start, feeling like I had to figure everything out and there was no way I'd be prepared enough. Now I'm 900 miles in and most things I'd prepared I've since changed anyways but I've found my own groove and comfort. You've got this and I hope we see each other in passing!
I went SOBO in 2021 and I'm going SOBO again this year (starting June 30). Some anxiety is natural. Given your alpine experience, I'm sure you'll love Washington. You seem very prepared. You've got this. Have an amazing adventure!
You can rent climbing gear at Triglav national park, I think in Mojstrana or maybe even at the hut kredarica. I wouldn’t recommend to do the whole trail without it but if you’re very experienced in the mountains of course it’s up to you! There’s some serious exposure.
@helena_hikes I did get a kit. Please everyone leave your egos at home don't do triglav without kit. It's only 100-200 euro from decathlon life is more worth then that. Thanks for convincing me!!! <3
I think almost everyone goes through "injury stages" and you'd have to be some kind of freak to totally avoid it. I've not done any massive thru hikes but have done a lot of multi-day trips and in the past found myself getting damaged in some annoying way. For me I found hiking EVERY DAY for about 2 hours to be a great help. Luckily I live in a very hilly city so this fairly rigorous daily activity I think has helped prevent injury. I probably do slightly less multi day trips now but actually enjoy them a lot more......everyone's a bit different tho so I hope what you're doing works out well.
Yeah! I used to go up our local mountain several times a week and felt like that was also great preparation for thru hikes. I completely agree with doing less multi day trips and enjoying them more. I’m not sure if this 6 months hiking thing suits me anymore because last year I was kinda ready to go home after one month and I also really enjoy 3-4 days of hiking in the mountains. There’s many other great things at home that I also like, so hiking 4-6 months feels like giving up a lot more. But I will try and see how I feel about it!
Hi Great video! If I start In Mojstrana Dovje and potentially don't summit the Triglav do I still need a via ferrata kit? The Mojstrana to Vrsic bit is what I wanna walk, is the special gear needs for this part or can I just walk/climb?
Hey, no via ferrata kit needed then. There’s short sections of steel cables but not true via ferrata. Be prepared for exposure and bring a helmet! Very beautiful section!!
@@helena_hikes Thanks for the quick response where did you sleep along this part? It's the first time for me planning a hiking trip alone and I find it difficult to plan my days. I always had a buddy planning my trips trough the pyrenees.
@@maxgrymonprez77 in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-19zuAiXGEhY.htmlsi=4Guks7puqLyI95Qj In the description are my exact stages and in which huts I stayed. Maybe that helps!
Hi, you can! If you want to avoid via ferrata you should definitely skip the Kamnik savinja section or skip Koroska rinka, skuta and grintovec meaning you would hike straight to ceska koča after kranjska koča. That would still include a very steep and exposed ascent to korošici. This climb is not classified as via ferrata but it is very steep and there are some steel cables. If you want to see what it looks like, it’s the first climb (after minute 2:00 in chapter 2 of my SMT series). If you want to avoid that completely I’d recommend skipping ahead from solcava to Zgornje jezersko. Later along the trail Jalovec is a very steep climb that could be seen as a via ferrata, you can skip the peak here. Same with prisojnik. That way you can still hike and see the Slovenian alps but skip the hardest parts. I would recommend getting a guide book, it’s written where you encounter via ferratas so you can plan accordingly. Hope that helps!
Water sources are rare after the first section (pohorje) due to the karst limestone mountains there’s very little surface water. I always bought it or filtered from the huts.
Danke fürs teilen! Bin ca. vor 9 Jahren auf den PCT gestoßen und dachte mir ich möchte ihn oder etwas ähnliches auch mal machen. Zu der Zeit war das Leben nicht gerade einfach für mich und der Trail war für mich so ein Zufluchtsort oder besser gesagt ein rettender Gedanke: "Wenn ich dort bin, wird sich alles regeln und ich kann meine Sorgen und Probleme hinter mir lassen''. Mit dieser Erwartung bin ich noch im gleichen Jahr auf meinem ersten Trail (11 Tage) unterwegs gewesen. Naiv wie das ganze erscheint, war es und ist es jedoch bis heute noch so ein wichtiger Schritt den ich in meinen Leben setzen will. Mein Studium und Covid und andere Lebensereignisse haben das ganze immer wieder nach hinten verschoben, aber jetzt ist es tatsächlich so weit! Ganz gegen meine Erwartungen hab ich bei meinem ersten Trail so viel andere schöne Dinge für mich gelernt. Ich habe zum Glück den richtigen Schritt gesetzt und vor einem Jahr eine Therapie angefangen und auch ausführlich darüber geredet. Mein Mindset ist jetzt den Trail einfach auf mich wirken zu lassen, keine Ansprüche darauf zu haben, zu finden anstatt zu suchen :) Das nimmt mir jetzt den Druck und die Angst aus der ganzen Sache. Es wird schlechte und gute Momente geben, aber so vieles ist selbst mit der besten Planung nicht in unserer Hand! Hoffe du kannst dich von deinen Sorgen loslösen und dich wieder so richtig auf den Trail freuen, wünsch dir eine schöne Zeit! PS: Vielleicht helfen die Übungsvideos von Chase Mountains, falls du sie noch nicht kennst Am HRP gings mir mit meinen Füßen auch ähnlich, Physiotherapie, nach 1-2 Tagen am Trail waren die Schmerzen jedoch wieder weg :)
Hey, danke fürs teilen deiner Story auch! Bei mir war’s genau gleich eigentlich, wollte den Trail auch schon viel früher machen und dann kamen Studium, COVID etc. Ich bin auch seit vielen Jahren bereits in Therapie aber irgendwie waren da gerade in letzter Zeit andere Dinge wichtiger, Arbeit etc. Aber seit der letzten Stunde haben wir den Fokus auch wieder mehr auf die Wanderung gelegt. Ich hab für mich selbst auch schon klar gemacht dass ich einfach starten möchte, und mal sehen wie weit es geht ohne Erwartungen etc. (ob man die jemals ganz los wird…) aber meine größte Sorge ist irgendwie, dass es körperlich zu viel ist, und genau deswegen sendet mein Körper mir aktuell auch diese Signale denke ich. Es ist eigentlich total absurd, weil es mir auf allen Wanderungen recht gut ging, jedenfalls hat mich noch nie eine Verletzung vom Trail gebracht, aber ich habe konstant so eine Angst, dass ich nicht gut genug vorbereitet bin. Die wird noch dadurch befeuert, dass ich 2 Jobs arbeite und eigentlich eh kaum mehr Zeit für Sport habe (war früher anders). Naja, ein bisschen mehr mentale Arbeit, wird’s vielleicht auch tun. Noch mal vielen Dank, dass du dir die Zeit genommen hast, das Video anzuschauen, und fürs teilen deiner Situation! Hope to see you out there! Ja chase kenne ich! Mache eh schon länger seine Programme! Finde die auch super, aber ich glaube aktuell ist viel von den Problemen auch psychosomatisch 😅 ein bisschen mehr Entspannung wäre wohl auch gut
@@helena_hikes Die Erwartungen schlummern wahrscheinlich immer ein bisschen, mit da hast du recht :D Habe zwar noch nie so eine lange Wanderung gemacht, deshalb weiß ich nicht wie sich der Körper langfristig verhält, habe aber gehört, dass die Verletzungen meistens am Anfang passieren (erstes Monat). Vielleicht hilft das ja: Hab gesehen, dass du den GR11 gemacht hast, bin ja am HRP teile davon gegangen. Der GR11 ist echt nicht ohne was die Höhenmeter auf die Distanzen angeht. Wills jetzt nicht klein reden, aber Washington hat auf die selbe Distanz fast halb so viele Höhenmeter. Also ein GR11 am Anfang, den du bereits gemacht hast, mit deutlich weniger Abstiege in die Täler/Anstiege und dann kommt Oregon mit nochmal 8.000 hm weniger im Vergleich zu WA und bis dahin hast du deine Traillegs. (Glaub in Deutschland is üblich die rauf und runter zu rechnen, hier bei mir in Österreich nur die nach oben :P) Ich glaube du packs das! :) Kleiner Tipp für eine schnelle Workoutidee Als ich weniger Zeit hatte bin ich entweder die Treppen in meinem Wohnhaus (11 Stockwerke) oder die Treppen vom Schlossberg ein paar mal hochgelaufen/gegangen
hej. from someone who regularly freaks out the last day before a hike: no matter how scared you are, you can absolutely do it and it will be magical in all its ups and downs.
Mach einfach einen Schritt nach dem anderen. Wenn du zwei gemacht hast, hast du zwei hinter dir. So einfach ist es eigentlich immer on Trail. Dein Kopf macht nur jetzt grad Schritte die eigentlich unnötig sind, nur kann man dem das proaktiv nicht so richtig verklickern und je mehr man es versucht desto mehr Schritte machg er. Das legt sich aber sofort bei den ersten richtigen Schritten auf dem Trail, weil man sofort spührt und was das es das richtige ist was man tut. Dann kommt der Kopf auch ganz schnell selbst wieder zu dem Punkt wo er merkt :"ach so das.. ja kenn ich... läuft." Ich kann dir da empfehlen dir mal sehr viel Zeit zu nehmen in Erinnerungen zu schwelgen. Also mal einen Abend Fotos gucken von alten Hikes, am besten mit Leuten die dabei waren zusammen... das man drüber spricht und lacht und sich bewusst dran erinnert wie toll es war.
Danke! Ich glaube auch, dass es besser wird, sobald man mal auf dem Trail ist, aber soweit muss ich echt einmal kommen. Das ist ein sehr guter Tipp, sich an vorherige Wanderungen zu erinnern, vielen vielen Dank! Very much appreciated!
I think one should be entirely out of their mind to NOT be scared even a little before such a long adventure in the wild. Thank you for sharing this! My experience with hiking anxiety is much more humble as I've only started recently (34yo) and what I have is pure undiluted impostor syndrome. That I've never done this as a child or in my 20s, never done it with a group of friends and therefore shouldn't even attempt to hike "seriously". That I don't belong on trails and should forget about any ambitions in that direction... but when on a hike, it all disappears. Along with my knee issues. Sitting all day? Nope, we crusty. Coastal hike for 36km, running out of water & barely making it to the only guesthouse in the area 10 min before the sunset? Nice, 10/10, didn't die, would go again.
Damn I feel you! My body feels like a wreck when I’m working but so good on a hike (not right now unfortunately). It’s crazy how much power our brain has over our body too. A lot of pain disappeared on my hikes for me as well. Somehow this year it seems more serious, or… I don’t know! I have imposter syndrome as well, so I really feel you. Thanks for your comment, you rock! When you can hike 36 km, you can definitely go on a long hike as well ;-)
@@helena_hikes guess it's just a sign to go on more hikes so all of that anxiety and body stress doesn't even have a chance to accumulate :D Btw, those 36km were a part of my first-ever multi-day trip on 136 km coastal trail (ended up doing 170 km with all the detours). Seemed like something impossible at the planning stage and now, a month later, seems like not a big deal at all. If you ever get tired of mountains (doubt it though), Baltic Coastal Trail is there to cover all year long ;)
@@disartster haha yeah, currently the hiking causes me a lot of pain (probably because I’m really stressed and my body is trying to convince me not to do it) but in general hiking really helped me to release stress. Just currently not haha! Thanks for the recommendation! I have planned the fisherman’s trail for next year so I definitely like hikes that are not in the mountains too! 136 km sounds nice for when you don’t want to quit your job all the time, I’ll keep it in mind :-)
@@helena_hikes ahaha, I've actually hiked this one after quitting my job, but not for hiking reasons xD Hope you recover soon and will be able to enjoy outdoors fully again. Can't wait for your PCT videos!
oh thank you Helena! thank you for sharing that experience, I wish you a successful start into the pct! What you just said maid me realise that I have also fears in me which need to get sorted out, my hiking plan is scaring me a lot. Feels get to realise that because now I can work on that myself Thank you and have a good time
Glad it helped you! I wish you all the best for your hiking plans as well. From what other people have told me it’s a good idea to think about what we expect from our hike and be open for it not being like we expect. Just showing up to the trailhead and starting is a big accomplishment. It’s scary, but we can do scary things.
I'm heavily traumatized by amount of people on Zakopane trails in Poland last August - which also happened to be my first mountain hiking experience. So Triglav national park sounds less appealing now. Would you happen to have any suggestions for hiking in Austria for a first-timer there? Wanted to visit Stausee Margaritze, but either than that can't decide where else exactly to go
Unfortunately, the most beautiful places are mostly the most crowded or if they’re not crowded, they’re hard to access (mountaineering, exposure, etc). In Austria I really like everything in Hohe Tauern national park, it’s super beautiful. I did the first 4 days of the Tauern high route (Höhenweg) last year and it was one of the most beautiful hikes in Austria. If you want more information, just ask :-) but this hike is also a bit more technical, so not as many people do it. I also really like the Dachstein area (there’s a loop hike around the main massive), not crowded but definitely some people in a few places. I honestly also didn’t meet many people in the kamnik savinja alps in Slovenia. Both times I was there it was not crowded. I think in general July is better than august!
Ja, das gebe ich nie dazu weil es nicht Teil von meinem base weight ist und immer variiert. Meistens linsen, Haferflocken, Ramen, tortillas und viel Nüsse, snickers, etc. immer je nach Verfügbarkeit im Supermarkt. Für die ersten 2 resupplies sende ich Pakete.
@@helena_hikes da du lighterpack nutzt solltest du das aber trotzdem angeben. Das wird ja nicht zum baseweight gerechnet aber trotzdem trägst du es und verfälscht so dein Gewicht um mehrere KG
I am also very excited to join the thru hiking community! This year I will do my first Thru-Hike: The GR11 :) I am quite late, so will get cold but I am ready !
Hey! Haven’t seen a shepherd dog, but my friend did. He barked but he didn’t attack or anything. No bears, just lots of cows and wild horses. I think you don’t need to worry about these. None of the people I met on trail encountered any problems :-)
Ha Ha, I completely agree about the OR Helium jacket it is the most useless jacket and definitely one of my most hated pieces of gear (I don't understand why it is recommended so often). I live in the Pacific Northwest and it wets out almost immediately in any kind of rain and worse yet it is the least breathable jacket I've ever owned so you are always wet if wearing that jacket! For backpacking I replaced it with a Montbell Versalite and I love that jacket, a major improvement in every way.
Thank you so much for your comment! I had my eye on the versalite but I didn’t want to spend money again on an UL rain jacket.. good to hear you’re happy with it, I’m currently just hoping I’ll get away with my helium on the PCT😅 heard there’s not so much rain… maybe I should uphrade
Altitude sickness. Researchers are still debating about the effectiveness but it has worked in some people: www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.200406-804OC www.apunts.org/en-can-sildenafil-improve-physical-performance-articulo-S1886658115000432#:~:text=The%20main%20conclusion%20was%20that,normal%20physiological%20processes%20of%20acclimatization.
Love the setup! Look forward to watching your trek. I just did a section hike from Big Bear (mile 266) to Silverwood Lake (mile 329). Great year to be hiking the PCT.
Hi helena, do you know where is the trekker office in maribor, i'm looking for it but i've got no adress. Please 😊 we are now in Ljubljana and tomorrow straight to maribor to start ,💪 enjoy your day
Hey! Unfortunately I don't know where it is or if that even exists. What do you need it for? If you have some questions maybe I can help. Guidebooks can be bought in the PZS office in Ljubljana maps.app.goo.gl/4PZt5tFttZaDtrXq7 there you can also buy the logbook for the stamps.
