A safe and enjoyable hiking experience begins with careful planning well before your hiking boots hit the dirt.

Plan on pacing the hike to the slowest hiker.
Remember, if it's one of the first hikes of the season, even experienced hikers may be slower than later in the season when they've been hiking often. It's better to choose a more moderate hike and have time to enjoy it than to be overly ambitious and take the chance of putting the group at risk.

Get to know the trails you plan to take before you go.
There are dozens of maps and books on hikes in the Sierra Nevada. You will find them in book stores, at Ranger Stations and Visitor Centers. Friends who have hiked the area can be an excellent source of information. Many public libraries have extensive collections of maps and guidebooks.

Online resources are plentiful, too. Often, doing a search for the name of your destination will bring up websites where people have written about their trips. Many of the Management Agencies have links to their Interpretive Association Book Stores.

For the Eastern Sierra check the Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association website. An excellent source for Sierra Nevada maps and guide books is Wilderness Press www.wildernesspress.com

Familiarize yourself with your gear.
Learn how to use and repair each piece of equipment you are bringing with you.

Leave your plans.
Tell someone the trails you are hiking, the gear you are taking, when you will return and your emergency plans.

Check the weather before you set out.
Weather changes quickly in the mountains, and in higher elevations you can experience very different weather than in the valleys below. Know when to postpone your hike. The mountains will be there another day.

Plan for emergencies.
Have solid emergency plans and leave them along with your route plans.