The first thing you need to know before you decide on where you want to go hiking is your level of fitness. What are you prepared to take on?

You may want to tackle the Appalachian Trail or even Everest but before you can do that you need to be prepared first. If you are a beginner, I would recommend some shorter, easier hikes (about 3 to 4 miles) with relatively level terrain. Working out in the gym will also help you to be prepared.

Any good outdoor store or any good book store will usually have an excellent collection of trail guides. Just about any good hiking trail that’s worth going for would have a guide for it.

What you want to look for in a good hiking trail guide is one that might have some maps of the area, trail descriptions and mileage counter. However, the maps on a trail guide is usually not suitable for navigating with a compass. Therefore a map is still an essential part of your hiking gear.

Another thing to consider when choosing a hiking trail is who you’re hiking with. This is much harder than choosing a trail for yourself simply because you need to consider what the individuals in the group might enjoy. But more importantly, you need to know the level of fitness of each one in the group.

To be safe, choose a hiking trail that is a little bit easier than you think the weakest in the group can handle. It’s a lot better to be on a trail that is on the easy side rather than on the right side because people are going to enjoy it more if you don’t have to over exert.

Conversely if you up for the challenge, you might want to take tough hikes like the Inca Trail, with high elevation and a very tough trail. It all depends on what you want or what the group wants.

Some questions you might want to think about:

• Do you want to watch wildlife?
• Do you want spectacular ocean vistas?
• Do you want see ancient ruins?
• Do you want to learn history?
• Do you want to take photographs?
• What kind of terrain would you like it to be?
• Do you want to hike in cold weather or hot weather?
• Do you want to experience the exhiliration of hiking the mountains?
• Do you want to test some cool hiking or camping gear you just purchased e.g. a bivvy or tent?

There are a lot of different areas to hike in. Just let your interest and level of physical fitness determine where you end up going.