Hikers and runners face lots of the identical dangers when venturing into the wilderness, however in keeping with new analysis, their ranges of preparedness differ vastly. A examine revealed in Wilderness & Environmental Drugs in March 2026 surveyed over 1,000 trailgoers. It assessed their expertise, gear, and preparation ranges to check how these teams method outside recreation.
The outcomes have been stunning in additional methods than one.
“The overwhelming majority of those teams thought they have been adequately ready,” John Lambert, the examine’s lead creator, informed GearJunkie. “However each teams vastly overestimated their degree of preparedness.”
As participation charges in each mountaineering and path working proceed to rise, this situation is turning into more and more essential to handle. Strain is mounting on search-and-rescue (SAR) crews who’re liable for saving lives when somebody will get into bother. Highlighting simple methods to assist folks enhance their leisure outside preparedness can go a good distance towards lowering the dangers they expose themselves to. At the very least, that’s what Lambert mentioned he hopes this info will assist to perform.
Who Is Extra Ready? Hikers vs. Path Runners
Lambert started this analysis after talking with rangers at Rocky Mountain Nationwide Park (RMNP) concerning the info gaps they confronted. Information particularly on path runners and path working was an enormous one, they mentioned.
So Lambert determined to check preparedness between path runners and hikers. He developed a cross-sectional survey, recognized 4 areas of RMNP the place he would work, and requested teams and people coming off the paths to take part. He spent 2 to 4 days every week all through the summer season of 2024 polling 1,714 hikers and runners. It was a large enterprise for one particular person, however for Lambert, filling this information hole made the hassle value it.
“That is the primary examine of its sort analyzing wilderness preparedness in leisure path runners,” he mentioned.
Variations in Wilderness Preparedness
The examine defines “Wilderness Preparedness” as having enough hydration for the hike or run, having the “10 Necessities of Mountaineering” with you, having the ability to orient your self (with both a bodily or digital map or compass), and being able to sign for assist and/or having some type of first-aid equipment.
Amongst different questions, how skilled they have been within the outside, what number of days a yr they spend on the path, whether or not they’d ever had a wilderness damage, and whether or not they had a first-aid equipment.
In accordance with the outcomes, hikers typically spend fewer days within the wilderness per yr than path runners do, although they’re extra more likely to spend consecutive days on the path. Path runners additionally reported larger charges of wilderness accidents and shut calls (narrowly avoiding an damage). Path runners have been, by and huge, youthful and touring in smaller teams than hikers, usually alone.
“One of many huge takeaways for me was that greater than 1 / 4 of path runners reported going considerably off-trail throughout their run,” Lambert mentioned. Lots of that’s chopping switchbacks or taking shortcuts. However a few of it was venturing manner off designated trails simply to discover RMNP’s alpine.
If you happen to fall, twist an ankle, or in any other case get injured away from the path, Lambert factors out, good Samaritans and useful bystanders are far much less more likely to discover you. Hopefully, in that case, you’d at the very least be ready with the precise gear.
What Folks Had been Carrying
The 10 Necessities of Mountaineering Gear range from supply to supply. Nevertheless, it’s typically thought of a baseline gear guidelines for wilderness preparedness. Lambert used this record (and added just a few further objects) for his survey of hiker and path runner gear.
Regardless of the overwhelming majority of hikers (87.7%) and path runners (88.2%) contemplating themselves “adequately ready,” by Lambert’s definitions, only a few truly have been. Simply 15.7% of hikers and 25% of path runners met the {qualifications}. Lambert mentioned that further layers have been one of the frequent objects that each teams carried.
The outcomes under evaluate the 2 teams and all the pieces they reported carrying.
Extra hikers have been ready with first-aid kits, Lambert identified, whereas path runners have been extra more likely to have GPS communication or SOS gadgets. Hikers have been additionally extra more likely to have navigation instruments and survival tools (firestarters, emergency shelters, and so forth.), whereas path runners have been typically higher outfitted to deal with altering climate situations.
In each teams, nearly all respondents reported having cellphones.
Takeaways
Lambert admits this examine isn’t complete or excellent. It’s restricted in that he solely checked out RMNP, and the pattern sizes for hikers and runners have been vastly completely different. His knowledge consists of responses from 712 day mountaineering teams and simply 89 path working teams.
Inform Somebody The place You’re Going
Nonetheless, he mentioned there was quite a bit to be taught from what he found. Most of it revolves round simple methods to enhance security and scale back danger.
“A few quarter of hikers hadn’t informed anyone the place they’re going or when to count on them again. For runners, it was about 16% hadn’t informed anyone,” he mentioned. “That’s one thing that doesn’t value something, and also you don’t have to hold something, nevertheless it makes a large distinction if search and rescue is required.”
He additionally famous that over half of the survey respondents didn’t have a map with them, not even one downloaded on their telephones. Certain, lots of people have been in all probability locals who knew the paths properly, he mentioned. However having no map in any respect looks like a pointless danger (particularly when nearly everybody had a cellphone).
“It’s very easy to enhance your security if one thing goes fallacious,” Lambert mentioned.
That was the one factor he needed folks to remove from his analysis. You’ll be able to usually enhance your preparedness for no value or cheaply by including easy survival instruments to your pack or working vest — as a result of how a lot is an emergency mirror or SOS whistle actually going to weigh you down in the long term?
If you happen to’re desirous about studying extra concerning the variations in preparedness between runners and hikers, or in digging deeper into the findings highlighted right here, you’ll find the complete paper, titled, “Know Earlier than You Go! A Area Survey of the Preparedness of Wilderness Day Hikers and Path Runners in Rocky Mountain Nationwide Park,” right here.
