Hiking with a group means that there is always an advance party and a sweeper. This is because you will have to minimize the risks of getting lost and leaving someone behind. Furthermore, the advance party has to scout out potential hazards along the way. After all, you wouldn't want the main party and the sweepers to stumble off a precipice. And since it takes a lot of skill and experience to be able to detect those potential hazards, the advance party is made up of the most experienced hikers of the group.

The first thing that advance parties do is to scout out the easiest path to use. This is because they know that the main party has to conserve energy so that the hike and the destination can be enjoyed. Furthermore, they have to minimize the risks of suffering injuries due to unstable ground. What they do is they usually mark trees or plants indicating the direction of the path. However, they also use attention flags planted next to the trees that they marked so that inexperienced hikers can find their way.

Another duty that the advance party has to accomplish is to guide the main party through hazardous terrain. That means that they have to mark areas that are potentially harmful for the main party so that they can easily avoid the hazards. After all, some of these hazards might be fatal. The advance party plants danger flags in the areas that might be potentially dangerous. This offers a chance to avoid such areas. The sweeper team is then collects the flags once they pass by these areas so that they can be reused when they meet up at the destination.