I would like to thank…

[Desert Dweller]

This community! All of you whom contribute much needed information on how to, where to buy UL gear and the encouragement needed to get the job done!
When we were younger, my husband and I backpacked and enjoyed lots of wilderness and outdoor recreation and had jobs in the forest service (trail maintenance and fire fighting) and I was an endurance competitor for 20 years. As time has progressed our bodies have taken a lot of abuse. Packing a chain saw and gas, jumping out of helicopters and swinging a polaski can really tear a body up. Then came raising a family and having time consuming jobs and caring for elders, in other words life took over. So carrying the backpacking loads we used to was out of the question. Especially since DH had a spinal injury two years ago and I just recovered from plantar faciatis.

Discovering this UL site and links leading to others has enabled us to again take our packs into the backcountry and really, really enjoy what we love best, and that is traveling together and enjoying the beauty and spectacular environments we have here on foot.

This weekend we did 15 miles of the Arizona Trail, some of which we have long wanted to see but were unable to because we thought we could no longer do the miles and carry the loads. But we we wrong. About a year ago I started to get our kits together using only UL gear and slowly we began to train our bodies to climb the hills, take the heat and have fun pushing our physical limits AND shedding the pounds! That is an especially nice benefit!
So a big THANK YOU to all here from the both of us. Hope to see you on the trail!

[Daniel Pittman]

Glad to hear you're still getting out there. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! And cultivating feelings of gratitude for the good things in life is one of the best ways to 'travel light' in a metaphorical sense. Too often we're overburdened by blame and politics, struggling so hard with our own burdens that we're unable to help others with theirs. I'm as guilty of that as anyone. Thanks for the reminder!

I too, am extremely grateful to this community. The advice, encouragement and inspiration found here has helped me with much more than just backpacking. I'm learning to carry only the things I need for my journey, and to discard the things that hinder my progress.

[Kattt]

+1.

I am mindful as well of all that I have gained through this community. Inspiration, knowledge, friends, lots of laughter ( Idester one of the main contributors here). With all that there is some frustration as well, but I see that as part of the package and don't mind it, other than wishing I had a little more restraint at times.

Yes, feeling thankful just brings one even more reasons to be thankful.

Now how do you spell that …."kumbaya"?

[Luke Schmidt]

I've benefited a LOT from this community. Lets see in order of events

-Ryan Jordan's book gave me a rough idea how to go light, we used that to get pack loads light enough so we could take 6 troubled pre-teen boys on a backpacking trip. For those little guys it was a BIG deal.

-With help from forums here my weight got lighter. It once me a whole weekend to do 10 miles on the AT, down I can do 20 and occasionally do 30 in a day.

-We got lighter gear for my parents. Now that the kids are mostly grown and gone they are rediscovering a love for backpacking. They just did a 5 day trip in Rocky Mountain National Park that my mom said was her best experience ever other then family things like kids being born.

-Oh and I've taken a lot of trips on the recommendations of BPL members.

-Met folks like Landon, Leigh, Richard, Eric and James.

[Author]

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