Your First Night Will Be Weird. That’s Normal.

Let me just get this out of the way: your first night backcountry camping is going to be uncomfortable. Not physically (well, maybe that too), but mentally. Every snapping twig sounds like a grizzly. Every rustle in the bushes is definitely a cougar. That weird scratching noise? Probably a serial killer. Almost certainly a squirrel, but your brain doesn’t care about probability at 2 AM.

I remember my first backcountry trip in the Canadian Rockies. I was lying in my tent, wide awake, convinced that every sound was something that wanted to eat me. My buddy in the next tent was snoring like a chainsaw, completely unbothered. Meanwhile, I was mentally rehearsing my bear spray technique for the fifteenth time.

Here’s the thing though — that fear fades. Not all at once, but trip by trip, night by night. And what replaces it is one of the best feelings I’ve ever experienced: total comfort in the middle of nowhere.

The Fears (And Why They’re Mostly Overblown)

“What About Bears?”

This is the big one, especially if you’re hiking in western Canada or the northern US. And look, bears are real. I’ve seen them on the trail. But bear attacks on backcountry campers are incredibly rare, and almost always preventable.

The basics: carry bear spray and know how to use it (practice drawing it — you don’t want your first attempt to be during an actual encounter). Store your food in bear canisters or hang it from a tree at least 100 metres from your tent. Cook and eat away from where you sleep. Don’t sleep in the clothes you cooked in.

On the West Coast Trail, we spotted a black bear on the beach one afternoon. It looked at us, we looked at it, and it wandered off. That’s how 99% of bear encounters go. They don’t want anything to do with you.

”What If I Get Lost?”

Valid concern, easy to mitigate. Download offline maps before you go (I use Gaia GPS). Carry a physical map and compass as backup. Stay on marked trails. And if you’re doing something remote, carry a satellite communicator so you can call for help if things go sideways.

I’ll admit — I got briefly turned around on a trail in Kananaskis once. Missed a junction and walked about 20 minutes in the wrong direction before the terrain didn’t match my map. Checked my GPS, backtracked, found the junction. Total non-event, but it would’ve been stressful without navigation tools.

”What If Something Goes Wrong and I’m Far From Help?”

This is the one that kept me up at night before my first trip. The answer is preparation. Take a basic wilderness first aid course. Carry a proper first aid kit — not the tiny one from the dollar store, but one with bandages, tape, blister treatment, painkillers, and an emergency blanket. And again, a satellite communicator is worth every penny.

On multi-day trips, I also carry a small repair kit: duct tape wrapped around a pencil, some cord, a needle and thread, and a few safety pins. Gear breaks at the worst possible times.

”I’ll Be Bored / Lonely”

This one surprised me. I thought I’d be bored without my phone and Netflix. Turns out, when you’re physically exhausted from hiking all day, setting up camp, cooking dinner, and watching the sun set behind a mountain ridge… boredom isn’t really an issue. You’ll be asleep by 9 PM and perfectly happy about it.

As for loneliness — go with friends for your first few trips. Seriously. Having people to share the experience with makes everything better and takes the edge off the anxiety.

How to Actually Get Started

Start Close to Home

Your first backcountry trip doesn’t need to be a week-long expedition into the wilderness. Find a backcountry campsite that’s a 2-3 hour hike from a trailhead. Close enough that you could bail if you needed to, far enough that it feels like a real adventure.

In Alberta, places like the backcountry sites in Kananaskis or the easier routes in Banff are perfect for this. Short approach, well-maintained sites, bear lockers provided. It’s backcountry with training wheels, and there’s zero shame in that.

Do a Gear Shakedown

Before your first real trip, set up all your gear in your backyard or a local campground. Pitch your tent, fire up your stove, inflate your sleeping pad, test your water filter. Figure out what works and what doesn’t before you’re 15 kilometres from the nearest road.

I learned this the hard way when I discovered my stove’s igniter was broken on the first night of a 3-day trip. Cold dinner that night. Now I always carry a backup lighter.

Go With People Who Know What They’re Doing

My first serious backcountry trip was the West Coast Trail, and I went with friends who’d done it before. They knew the rhythm — when to start hiking, how far to push each day, where the good campsites were. I learned more in those five days than I could’ve from a year of YouTube videos.

If you don’t have experienced friends, look for local hiking groups or guided trips. No shame in learning from people who’ve been doing this longer than you.

The Payoff

Here’s why it’s worth pushing through the fear: there’s a moment on every backcountry trip — usually around day two or three — where something shifts. The anxiety fades. The outside world stops mattering. You’re just… there. Present in a way that’s really hard to achieve in normal life.

Last summer on a canoe trip on Maligne Lake in Jasper, I had one of those moments. We’d paddled to our campsite, set up, and I was sitting by the water watching the light change on the mountains across the lake. No phone, no schedule, no noise. Just the water and the mountains and the sound of my friends laughing around the campfire behind me.

That’s the feeling. And you can’t get it from a hotel room or a car camping spot next to the highway. You have to earn it. But once you do, you’ll understand why people keep going back.

Quick Checklist for Your First Trip

• Start with a 1-2 night trip on a well-marked trail
• Go with experienced friends or a guided group
• Test all your gear before you leave
• Carry bear spray and know how to use it
• Bring a satellite communicator (Garmin inReach, ZOLEO, etc.)
• Download offline maps and carry a physical backup
• Pack a real first aid kit and know basic wilderness first aid
• Tell someone your plan — route, campsites, return date
• Accept that you’ll be nervous — that’s normal and it passes