Women+ Learn to Backpack

Learn to backpack. Find your confidence. Meet your trail community!

May 15-16, 2027
Shenandoah National Park

Please review our cancellation policy before booking.

If you’ve been dreaming about backpacking but aren’t quite sure where to start, you’ve come to the right place!

Blaze Adventure Tours and Girls Who Hike Virginia have partnered to offer a supportive, “learn to backpack” style trip designed specifically for women+.

Over the course of one weekend in Shenandoah National Park, you’ll learn the skills you need to feel more comfortable and confident outdoors with professional guides and a group of women+ learning right alongside you. No prior backpacking experience required.

The Learn to Backpack Lowdown

Think of this trip as a stepping stone to a whole new world of adventures.

Our guides will walk you through the things that can feel overwhelming when you’re starting out: how to pack, how to fit your backpack, what gear you actually need, what to eat, how to manage water, how to stay safe, and how to make camp feel like home. You’ll shoulder a backpack, hike through the Blue Ridge Mountains, and spend a night under the stars.

And because we stay at a developed campground, you’ll get the experience of carrying your gear and learning backpacking systems while still having a few frontcountry comforts nearby.

The goal isn’t simply to get you through one overnight. It’s to give you the foundation to start planning adventures of your own.

What You’ll Love

There’s something pretty special about your first backpacking trip.

It’s realizing that everything you need for the night is sitting on your back. Learning that you can hike farther than you thought while carrying more than you thought. Watching the sun drop behind layers of Blue Ridge mountains after earning the view on foot.

But on this trip, there’s another piece we love just as much: the community.

You’ll learn alongside other women+ who showed up for many of the same reasons you did. There is plenty of room for questions, mistakes, laughter, encouragement, and figuring things out together.

What You’ll Learn

Over the weekend, we’ll cover the skills that form the foundation of safe, enjoyable backpacking, including:

• Choosing and fitting a backpack
• What to pack and, just as importantly, what to leave at home
• Packing and organizing your gear
• Tent and sleep-system setup
• Backpacking food and meal planning
• Water treatment and hydration
• Food storage and wildlife considerations
• Trail pacing and hiking with a loaded pack
• Leave No Trace principles
• Backcountry safety and preparedness
• Breaking camp efficiently
• Planning your next backpacking trip

Before the trip, you’ll also join a group session with one of our guides to talk through preparation, packing, training, and what to expect – and to meet some of the people you’ll be sharing the trail with!

Is this “Learn to Backpack” Trip For You?

This trip is designed for first-time backpackers, but not necessarily first-time hikers.

Backpacking means carrying additional weight over rocky and uneven terrain for several hours. You don’t need to be the fastest hiker on the trail, and you certainly don’t need to fit any particular idea of what a backpacker “looks like. You should, however, arrive prepared for sustained hiking while carrying a loaded pack.

For this trip, participants should be comfortable with several hours of hiking on mountainous terrain and be prepared to carry a 25-30-pound pack for 4–6 hours.

If you’re excited about the trip but aren’t sure whether you’re ready, reach out. We’re happy to talk through your hiking experience and help you prepare. Training and conditioning guidance is also provided before the trip.

Backpacking belongs to people of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and experience levels. Our job is to give you the tools to approach it safely and confidently.

Inclusions

Here’s what’s included! Please note that use of our backpacking gear requires a $50 refundable deposit. As long as all gear is returned at the conclusion of the trip, your deposit will be refunded.

The Learn to Backpack Weekend

Day 1 | Welcome to Backpacking

We’ll meet in Shenandoah National Park, get acquainted, and start with one of the most important backpacking skills: getting your pack fitted and comfortable.

After a final gear check and safety talk, we’ll shoulder our packs and head onto the trail.

Throughout the hike, your guides will introduce trail pacing, pack management, hydration, navigation, and other skills in real time. Eventually we’ll make our way to camp, where you’ll learn how to choose and organize a campsite, set up your sleeping system, manage food and water, and settle into life outdoors.

And when conditions cooperate, we’ll cap off the day with one of our favorite parts of this trip: heading out for a sunset hike and watching the Blue Ridge fade into the evening.

Day 2 | Wake Up a Backpacker!

There are few things better than waking up in the mountains.

After breakfast, we’ll break down camp, repack our backpacks, and head back onto the trail.

We’ll continue building skills throughout the day while enjoying some of Shenandoah’s rocky ridgelines, forests, and sweeping mountain views – including a visit to Blackrock Summit.

By the time we reach the finish, you won’t know everything there is to know about backpacking. Nobody does. But you’ll understand the fundamentals, know what questions to ask, and, most importantly, have proof that you can do this.

Adventure is Better with Community

Our Partnership with Girls Who Hike Virginia

This trip is offered in partnership with Girls Who Hike Virginia, a volunteer-run nonprofit community dedicated to educating, connecting, and empowering women+ on and off the trail.

GWHVA brings together hikers across Virginia with an emphasis on creating welcoming spaces where people can learn, ask questions, find hiking partners, try new things, and build confidence outdoors.

Their community welcomes women of all identities, including trans women, non-binary and gender-nonconforming individuals, persons socialized as women, and anyone who identifies as a woman in a way that is meaningful to them.

Blaze Adventure Tours and GWHVA share a simple belief: the outdoors is better when more people feel like they belong there.

Our Learn to Backpack weekends are one way we’re helping make that happen.

Want to Join Girls Who Hike Virginia?

You don’t have to wait until the backpacking weekend to find your trail community.

Girls Who Hike Virginia has an active statewide community where members can find hikes, events, outdoor education, hiking partners, and plenty of people willing to answer questions.

The easiest way to get involved is to join the Girls Who Hike Virginia Facebook group, where upcoming community events and hikes are shared.

Don’t use Facebook? GWHVA also welcomes people to contact the organization directly. Send your name, general location, and favorite Virginia trail to hello@gwhva.org and their volunteer team can help get you connected.

Ready to Learn to Backpack?

You don’t need to have it all figured out before your first backpacking trip. You just need a place to start.

Come spend a weekend learning the skills, building the confidence, and finding the community that can turn “I’ve always wanted to try backpacking” into “Where should I go next?”

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