How to Entertain Yourself on the Trail: 10 Ways to Make Hiking (and Camp) More Fun

You hiked 15 miles. You set up camp. Dinner is done. It is 7 PM and the sun will not set for two more hours. Your phone is in airplane mode (battery conservation). There is no Netflix. No scrolling. No notifications. Just you, the mountains, and the long, beautiful emptiness of an evening in the wild. What now? This guide is about filling that space with things that make you glad you came — and making the trail itself more fun than just putting one foot in front of the other.

On the Trail: Making the Walk Itself Fun

1. Podcasts and Audiobooks (Pre-Downloaded)

Download before you leave — the trail has no Wi-Fi. A single earbud (leave one ear open for safety and nature sounds) transforms a monotonous 6-hour flat section into a journey through a story, a conversation, or a lecture. Keep the other ear free for birdsong and stream sounds.

Pro tip: Download at 2x length of your expected trail time. You will listen more than you think.

2. Nature Identification Games

Turn your hike into a scavenger hunt. Challenge yourself (or your hiking partner) to identify:

• 10 different bird species (by sight or call)
• 5 types of trees (by leaf or bark)
• 3 animal tracks
• 1 edible plant (only eat if you are 100% certain)

A pocket field guide or the iNaturalist app (works offline with downloaded data) turns every trail into a classroom.

3. Trail Photography Challenges

Give yourself a daily photo challenge to see the trail differently:

• Macro Monday: Photograph tiny details — dew on a spider web, moss texture, lichen patterns
• Golden Hour: Only shoot in the first and last hour of sunlight
• One Color: Find and photograph everything in a single color that day
• Strangers: Ask fellow hikers if you can take their portrait. Share it after.

4. Walking Meditation and Mindfulness

Not everything needs to be a distraction. Some of the best trail moments come from radical presence — walking in complete silence, noticing every sensation, and letting your mind settle into the rhythm of your steps. See our Nordic Walking for Mental Health guide for a structured walking meditation practice.

At Camp: Evening Entertainment

5. Music Around the Fire

A small instrument or a portable speaker transforms camp vibes from “survival mode” to “this is why we came.” Ukulele is the hiker’s instrument — small, light, easy to learn, and sounds good outdoors.

6. Reading

A Kindle weighs 7 oz and holds thousands of books. A paperback weighs the same but you can share it, leave it in a hiker box, and it never needs charging. Both have a place on the trail.

7. Card Games and Word Games

The best camp games are small, waterproof, and playable by headlamp with tired brains. These three are well-loved choices for tents, shelters, and picnic tables:

8. Journaling and Sketching

A trail journal is worth more than any photo ten years from now. Write the small things: what you ate, how the light looked, what the stranger at the shelter said, how your feet felt at mile 12. Future you will thank present you.

9. Stargazing

Most backcountry campsites are in Bortle 2-3 darkness — darker than 95% of the populated world. On a moonless night, you can see 3,000-5,000 stars, the Milky Way as a physical band of light, and satellites passing overhead every few minutes. A pair of binoculars reveals Jupiter’s moons, the Orion Nebula, and star clusters invisible to the naked eye.

Free stargazing apps (Stellarium, Sky Guide) work offline and use your phone’s gyroscope to identify what you are pointing at. For a deeper dive into night sky activities, see our Night Hiking Guide.

10. The Art of Doing Nothing

This is the skill most hikers never master — and it is the most valuable. Lie in your hammock. Watch clouds move. Listen to the river. Let your thoughts wander without reaching for a device. Boredom is the gateway to creativity, and the backcountry is one of the last places where true boredom is still possible.

Trail Entertainment Packing Guide

Bottom Line

The trail is not boring. You are just unprepared for quiet. Pack a Kindle, a deck of waterproof cards, and a journal — and then let the wilderness entertain you with its own programming: sunsets, stars, birdsong, and the sound of wind through trees. That is the content you came for.