This guide is intended for people who want to lead a moderate hike during daylight hours, on well-marked trails, with adequate equipment and supervision. These guides, templates, and sample documents that will help you to further craft your program. We also include videos and e-learning tools supplied by our partner organizations that will help you effectively get youth into the outdoors.

You can start with a video from our partner Sierra Club, which gives you an overview about how to lead a hike.

Before you get started make sure the day is planned and all of the required resources are in place. When preparing for your hike consider all aspects of proper planning such as safety, logistics, and supplies. Use the tools in the following section to help plan and prepare your hike.

On the day of the hike, you have already prepared everything that you need. You should have printouts of the Day at a Glance, Trip Log, and your Local Operation Plan with you. You can use the checklist below to make sure you have everything you need.

The sections above provide you with the tools you need to prepare and to run your hiking trip. Additionally, we have included resources from our partner organizations below that will give you further tools to develop your program.