Preparation is key. The most common mistake hiker's make is bringing too much food for short trips and too little food for long trips. Writing up a meal plan is the best way to make sure you won't forget anything crucial as well as making the actual meal preparation simpler. Write out what you want to have each day and bring it with you. A little forethought goes a long way and is never a waste of time.

Simple overnight trips leave your menu fairly wide open. Fresh foods aren't a problem so you can have quite the feast if you don't mind carrying it. For trips of 3 to 4 days, you'll need to be a bit more careful and diligent about what you pack. A good rule is to pack what you'll eat and eat what you pack. It's probably not the best time to experiment with new foods. Stick to what you like and know you'll eat. An upset stomach or lower intestine is not fun o­n the trail.

Dehydrated foods can save a lot of weight but aren't always the tastiest. Having at least o­ne "backup" meal wouldn't be a bad idea either. Cooking at altitude can be tricky and you wouldn't want to ruin the o­nly meal you had for the night!

Make sure that you pack out all your trash. A good way to reduce the amount of waste is to repackage foods that you buy, as they tend to come with a lot of extra packaging from the store.

Some careful planning will pay off big o­n the trail and those at your meal mercy will thank you for it!