Yellow River Backpacking Adventure for Beginners

Explore the stunning views, beautiful woodlands and meandering trout streams of Yellow River State Forest on this backpacking adventure designed for beginners! Named one of Outside magazine’s Top 50 hiking spots, Yellow River is a popular destination for hikers of all experience levels who want to explore scenic overlooks, mature timber and other natural wonders. On this weekend adventure, you will gain valuable hands-on experience and basic knowledge in backpacking, camping, cooking, Leave No Trace principles and other backcountry skills. 

We’ll meet at CrawDaddy Outdoors at 4pm and drive about two hours to our starting point. We plan to hike 1-3 miles on Friday evening to our first campsite, where we’ll set up camp for the evening. Saturday morning we’ll break camp and enjoy a 6 to 8 mile hike to our next campsite. Sunday we will break camp and hike about 4 miles to our vehicles, returning to Waverly in the evening.

We highly recommend participants take advantage of our Free Backpacking for Beginners Clinic on April 4th to learn the basics of planning, packing, gear, food, physical training, foot care and more.

This ever-popular trip is being offered TWICE in 2026! Choose the weekend that works for your schedule.

• May 15-17
• September 25-27

What’s Included: 

Transportation from Waverly, IA to Yellow River and back, professional instruction and guiding, freeze dried backpacking meals, trail pack lunch, backpacking style breakfast (oatmeal, granola, dried fruit), backpack, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, first aid kit, and safety gear. If you’d prefer to bring your own gear, you are welcome to do so, provided it is appropriate for our trip.

We do our best to accommodate all dietary restrictions and preferences. Upon sign-up, you will receive a short questionnaire, to share these needs with us.

Activities: 

Hiking, backpacking, tent camping

Skill Level:

Beginner attendees should be capable of carrying a 25-40 pound pack, on trails with hilly terrain, for at least 2 miles between rest breaks. Ability to use wilderness style bathroom practices. We plan to backpack in most weather conditions–rain or shine, hot or cold, windy or still.

Accommodations:

Tent camping in a wilderness setting, Wilderness style bathroom practices will apply

Not Included:

Optional guide gratuities, items of a personal nature.

Registration:

Limited to 10 people. A minimum of 3 registrants is required to offer the trip. 

We have intentionally limited the number of participants on our trips in order to provide a safe and rich outdoor experience. 

Cancellation:

Please read our full Trip Cancellation Policy here.