Backpacking

Satisfy your wanderlust. Get close with the great outdoors. When you carry your home on your back, you realize how little you need — and how much you have.

CLICK HERE to build your own custom backpacking adventure!

Waterfalls, sunsets, mountaintops, beaches – need we say more? Sure Foot’s multi-day backpacking trips take adventurers to places inaccessible to cars, out of the reach of city life’s grime and noise.

Instead, we live like nomads during our adventure: carrying what we need in high-tech backpacks, setting up camp each night in a different scenic spot, and then meandering along each morning to explore what’s over the horizon. In between, there’s storytelling, gourmet camp cooking, relaxing on a mountainside overlook, and river swimming.

Our guides take care of details — like routes, gear, food, directions and safety — so you get to show up for a hassle-free adventure in some of Georgia’s most scenic locations.

If you’re looking for an adventure to tear you down (and then build you back up), this isn’t it. Our trips can be challenging, but our goal is to help participants feel comfortable, competent, and at home in the woods. GREAT!

CLICK HERE to build your own custom backpacking adventure!

For you detail-oriented folks, check out our FAQs page or read some of the nitty-gritty below:

Gear: Sure Foot provides all group gear (including all tents, water purification, stoves and cookware, maps, compass, rope, and first aid kit, etc.). Participants can rent backpacks, sleeping bags, and sleeping pads or bring your own. You’ll need to pack your own clothes and personal items, and we do ask that you have at least one full set of clothes made of synthetic fabrics (easily found in your closet or at discount stores – there is no need for you to break the bank at high end outdoors retailers). Sure Foot guides will help you pack appropriate clothing. For more specifics, see our sample gear list.

Food: We only serve gourmet trail-cooked meals on backpacking trip. We never use pre-prepared, freeze-dried meals or army-issue MREs. Examples of some dinners you might enjoy on a backpacking trip include:

  • Thai peanut stew
  • Backcountry shepherd’s pie
  • Tortillini with fresh vegetables and parma rosa sauce
  • Pasta and pesto
  • Cajun red beans and rice burritos
  • Fajita-style burritos
  • Curry-spiced (lentils)

For examples of Sure Foot trail meals, see our Food Ideas list.

Length: Our most popular backpacking trip is four-days and three-nights. This allows enough time for you to grow comfortable in the woods, but is short enough to feel doable, even for first-time hikers. By the third day, we see participants “lose themselves” in the woods, forgetting a lot of the trappings of civilization (Facebook, cell phones, microwaves, time) in our regular lives. And then on the fourth day we get to go home, take showers, and have a big meal. Sure Foot leads backpacking trips of any length—one night to multiple weeks. With the guide’s assistance, participants decide their route and daily mileage. On most trips, we hike 4-6 miles each day.

Entertainment: Waterfalls, sunsets, mountaintops–need we say more? Because our only tasks for the day are to reach our next camp, feed ourselves, and set up camp, your group of backpackers can set your agenda and timeframe. You can choose to spend an hour relaxing on a mountainside overlook and you can jump in any stream you see. In the evenings, where it is allowed, Sure Foot provides s’mores around the campfire. Also, Sure Foot guide and Southern Order of Storytellers board member, Jonah McDonald, offers evening storytelling.

Destinations: Some of our favorite backpacking routes are in the Cohutta Wilderness, the Appalachian Trail, the Bartram Trail, the Chatooga River Trail, Cumberland Island National Seashore, the Pinhoti Trail, Savage Gulf Natural Area, the Benton MacKaye Trail, etc. Our guides have hiked most trails in the southern Appalachians and design trips based on the interests of your group.

Leadership: Sure Foot provides two experienced, knowledgeable, confident guides for all overnight trips. At least one guide is trained as a Wilderness First Reponder, with Wilderness First Aid and Professional CPR certifications. On all co-ed trips, we ensure that there is a male and a female adult leader.