What is the personality profile of a light weight backpacker?

[Aaron Sorensen]

Sex: Male
Age: 30's
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: US Coast Guard
Location: Bay area

Love making my own gear, SUL fastpacking, and ultra anything.

Crazy things I've done:

1. JMT Unsupported attempt. Started with sub 15 lbs pack.

2. Primal Quest Utah last year and doing PQ in Montana next year.

3. Have run 105 miles in 24 hours.

Future things to do:

1. Taho Rim Trail Unsupported Record next year.
2. Top 30 or even 20 in Primal Quest
3. Furnace Creek 508
4. Hardrock 100
5. Run Barkley 100
6. Deca-triathlon in Mexico

As you can tell from the list, it seems the older I get the stupier I get as well.

[Tom Clark]

Sex: Male

Age: 43

Marital Status: Married w/children (1-9 years old…2 pretty girls & 1 little devil)

Race: Caucasian

Occupation: Ph.D. Materials Scientist. I identify/develop new barrier packaging films for Kraft Foods to protect their food (Chips Ahoy cookies, Oscar Mayer, Cheese, coffee) from oxygen & moisture.

Location: Allentown, PA area (I'm ~15 miles from the AT).

Previous adventures: Moab area, Yosemite, Oregon's Cascades, Joshua Tree, and lots of hikes on the AT in TN/NC, VA, PA, & NY.

Hobbies/Interest: Family activities, Backpacking, Reading (mostly living vicariously through other people that get outdoors more than me)

Goals: Next year, take my 5 & 9 year old on overnighter hikes on the AT and introduce my family to Yosemite! In the next 5 years, I'd like to make time to hke the JMT. Longer term, I'd like to do other large sections of the PCT, CDT, and explore some of the national parks more.

[Roleigh Martin]

Sex: Male

Age: 58

Marital Status: Married to a Chinese immigrant (now a citizen) w/2 sons (20 and 24)

Race: Caucasian

Occupation: M.A., database architect, database system analyst, database programmer, for a major health insurance company.

Location: Edina, Minnesota

Previous adventures: High Sierra Trail (in Sequoia National Park), every summer 2000-2007, in 2007 did the HST round trip.

Hobbies/Interest: Audiobooks, long walks with my dog and audiobooks, avid Internet Researcher (news, research items, Backpack planning).

Goals: Next year, 160 miles of the JMT. Eventually I want to bribe or convince my sons to join me — the youngest did once in 2003 but does not want to do it again. Start a Catholic Hiking Club in the Twin Cities, MN. (in my parish, I offered my BP expertise and company on the JMT in exchange for a donation to the Church and a fellow parishioner donated the amount to the parish, so we'll have at least 3 memers on the JMT hike in 2008).

[EndoftheTrail]

Sex: Male

Age: 46

Marital Status: Blissfully Single

Race: Chinese

Occupation: Accountant

Location: Home of the Rose Bowl

Hobbies/Interest: Traveling, backpacking, wasting time surfing backpacking forums and gear sites, reading (love to read about history, economics, cultures)

Future thing to do: Travel around the world taking only trains and ships.

[John S.]

Gender: Male

Age: Early 40's

Personal Status: Single

Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, irish/cajun hybrid

Occupation: Physician

Location: North Texas, originally from Louisiana

Pre-Occupations: Many outdoor sports, physical fitness, funny movies, good music, simple living.

[Dustin Meyer]

Sex: Male

Age: 28

Marital Status: Single

Race: Caucasian

Occupation: Web Developer

Location: Kansas

Hobbies/Interest: Backpacking, Computers, watching sports

[Anitra Kass]

SWF
Age 29
I work as a substitute teacher.
I currently reside in SoCal.
I am a huge sports fan, in addition to hiking and backpacking. Sports, sports, sports.

[Gary McDaniel]

sex: male
age: 50
married no kids 3 cats
race: National Auto Sports Association National Competition License holder and white w/ freckles
Occupation: Pilot
Location: Kansas City MO
Hobbies: Building things, built an airplane in my basement and flew it to Alaska, built a 17'kevlar canoe and paddled it down the Bloodvein River, built a 4×5 view camera, built a Factory 5 race car and race it in NASA sanctioned competitions, backpacking, fly fishing, photography, radio controlled model airplanes

It is interesting to see what other folks here are doing.

[Graham Sims]

Male
twenty and one
Single, no kids, no goals
Scandinavian and Cherokee
ex-bike messenger, currently unemployed carpenter
South Carolina but moving to Amherst mass shortly
I like death/doom/black metal, rock climbing, bicycles, tinkering, horticulture ;-), and blowing things up

*edit* How could I forget that I like good beer? Porters and Bocks por favor

[dingle berrry]

My information:

Sex: Male

Age: 26

Marital Status: living with girlfriend

Race: English

Occupation: Outdoor Instructor

Location: White peak area of the peak district

Hobbies/Interest: Backpacking (ultralight of course!) Hiking, scrambling, bushcraft, making my own gear, canoeing, mountain biking, reading about the outdoors, movies!

[Laurie Ann March]

My information:

Sex: Female

Age: 39

Marital Status: Married w/children

Race: Scottish/Canadian

Occupation: Wilderness Cookbook Author and Website Designer

Location: near the Grand River, Ontario, Canada

Hobbies/Interest: Backpacking, Canoeing, Gardening, Cooking, Art, Reading, Writing, History, and Photography

edited to add: I also love to collect vintage and antique backpacking stoves but I don't use them – they weigh too much

[Doug Johnson]

My information:

Sex: Male

Age: 35

Marital Status: Married with one son- Henry!

Race: Euro American- Irish/English/German/Dutch/Apache ancestry

Occupation: Vice Principal of an Elementary School, President of a small non-profit (www.gfsf.org), BackpackingLight Editor

Location: Redmond, Washington- USA

Hobbies/Interest:
Major hobbies: Playing outside with my wife Amy and my son Henry, Backpacking, Mountain biking, snow shoeing, travelling, hanging with family, hording and weighing gear

Minor hobbies that I have all the gear for and enjoy occasionally: mountaineering, road biking, whitewater canoeing, scuba diving, off road motorcycling, snowmobiling, sledding, archery, cross country skiing, dj'ing parties, Alfa Romeos, photography, collecting music, computers and related gadgets, dancing, collecing and studying Mayan huipiles, and these days, working on my house. :-)

Give this guy another friggin hobby!

Oh yeah- I have an RC car too. And I sea kayak sometimes. And I can snowboard.

But I don't cook and I don't do crossword puzzles. :-)

Big backpacking goal:
I'm training for what I'm calling the Triple 50- 3 50 mile days back to back on the PCT in Oregon. I'm totally stoked on this and I think about it daily. I can't wait to see if I can do it!

[Ryan Faulkner]

my info:

Sex: Male

Age: 15

Race: english/scottish/irish/german

Location: D.C. suburbs

Favorite Hiking so far: SIERRAS, Uintas, shenendoah, dolly sods

Hobbies/Interests: Backpacking, Running, biking, Swimming, triathlon, snowshoeing, XC skiing, downhill skiing, photography, playing around with my spreadsheets, maps, and gear.

Goals: Sierra high route, Tuscarora trail, Triple crown thru-hikes, Skurka-sized expedition (I have a good Idea in mind :)) mini triple crown with a twist, Id like to try out some mountaineering, 7 summits depending on my situation in the future, training for a first Ironman length triathlon.

Current project: finishing my Eagle and Denali scout awards. (within a month of completion!) William T. Hornaday conservation Medal. (Im not so much in it for the award, just seems like a good excuse for doing 3 or for conservation projects)
and planning for this summers trek.. 260 mile stretch of CDT, south pass-old faithful, yellowstone

[David Lewis]

Wow… I'm amazed at how on-topic this thread stayed. I guess people like talking about themselves. Speaking of which… my turn… LOL…

Stats:
– Male
– 39
– Single
– Caucasian
– Web Designer & Developer
– Halifax, Canada

Hobbies:
– Surfing
– Yoga
– Running
– Bonsai
– Classical Guitar
– Mountain Banjo
– Architecture & Design

[Christopher Chupka]

Sex: Male

Age: 38

Marital Status: Married with two daughters age 9 and 6 months.

Race: Mom's family from UK, Dad's family from Canada and some pre-WWI Eastern European country that does not exist anymore.

Occupation: Tech Support for school district (hate it), getting a alternative teaching cert for 4-8th Generalist. Weekend warrior with 20th SFG(A) in Alabama.

Location: Wichita Falls, TX- USA

Hobbies/Interest: Paying off school loan and CC bills. Running, backpacking, climbing when I can, roller blading, spending time with my family, and Call of Duty 4. I wasn't gonna put the COD4 but my wife made me.

My type is:
ISTJ
Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging
Strength of the preferences %
78 25 31 6

[the avrock]

.

[Lynn Tramper]

Well, there seems to be a lot of males, and a lot of MBTI: INTJs, and most people have put backpacking as one of their hobbies!

Female
Age 47
Sorta attached, sorta 2 young adult offspring (Not mine and only part-time)
Mostly caucasian (Hungarian/Romanian/Irish/Chickasha)
Scientist/researcher who loves my work
INTJ
New Zealand based

Interests include gardening, reading, doggy, weight training and fine whiskeys…and backpacking or "tramping" as we call it. I am also a compulsive modifier and improver of just about every piece of gear that ever touches my hands.

[Iain Perkin]

Sex: Not lately
Age: Too close to 50 (help it's catching up fast)
Race: Anglo Saxon (UK mix)
Status: Soon to be single again(First time around) with one Kid in University and one still in High School.
Location: East of Toronto Canada
Occupation: Quality Checker for an Engineering Firm (I'm not an Engineer – surprised?)
Hobbies: Collecting old camping gear (all that stuff we're supposed to be getting rid of!!!!!!!!!!!
Goals: Discover that my bad hip joint will not inhibit me getting back into hiking. Build up the nerve to get out there for a long one.

[Ryan Gardner]

Sex: Male

Age: 23

Marital Status: Hitched, no kids

Race: Caucasian

Occupation: Student (pre-dental), also own a recording studio

Location: Salt Lake City, UT

Hobbies/Interests: Writing and producing music, photography, being outdoors, snomobiling, camping and hiking, dirtbiking, history, languages, books, philosophy

If anything, I've realized from going UL that I have an obsessive personality. I get wrapped up in one thing for a while and it consumes me (not to the point where I am disfunctional, luckily). If I can harness this personality trait I should make out well in life (I think).

[Kyle Berkompas]

Sex: Male

Age: 18 – Started lightweight backpacking two years ago…

Marital Status: Single and lookin…

Race: White

Occupation: Student

Location: Right now – Grand Rapids MI for college. I live in Seattle though.

Hobbies/Interests: Backpacking, Snow Camping, Making Movies, lifting, and right now I'm trying to learn how to pick locks…

[Mike Feldman]

Personal info:

Age-55-Male-residence -NW. Florida
marital-married, 2 kids, dog, 3 cats, Iguana
occupation-U.S. Probation Officer and semi pro musician
hobbies-music, harmonica, setting up tube amps for harp, running, hiking, BPing, gigs and jams

[Andrew Richardson]

Sex: Male
Age: 24
Marital Status: Taken
Race: Caucasian
Occupation: Research assistant on my way to Grad school for Psych Ph.D
Location: Boston, MA
Hobbies/Interests: Backpacking, Researching backpacking gear, cooking, I am obsessed with reading, learning outdoor skills (identifying plants, making fire, basically 'primitive' living) I never play anymore, but Mike reminded me that I DID play the some blues on the harp, I may add more later…

[Joseph Williams]

Sex: Male

Age: 24

Occupation: special needs education

Ethnicity: European Mongrel- fractionally German, Italian, English and possibly Jewish. Born rural, culturally urban.

Location: Bristol, (dis)United Kingdom

Hobbies/Interests: Music, Backpacking (always solo), writing, tea drinking, food (trying to cut down on that for the backpacking) time, space, trees, the way culture gets inside our bodies and glows, brews or festers there before passing on in a new form.

[Mike W]

…

[Steve B]

Sex: Male

Age: 37

Martial Status: long term relationship, no kids.

Race: White

Occupation: High School science teacher

Location: San Diego, CA

Hobbies/Interests: mtn biking, hiking, rock climbing, kites, kitesurfing, kite buggies, fighter kites, kite making, surfing.

Ryan said it, I too get wrapped up in one thing for a while and it consumes me. All my friends notice it. It is good to stay diverse.

[Author]

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