Did backpacking transform you?

> It showed me that there was something physical I could do that wasn't a team sport where I'd always be the last kid picked for the team.

Ain't that the truth! When I started hiking I found out I actually am an athlete and to some extent, nearly an elite one. (Sure those mean kids could chase a ball on the playground but at our age now can they walk a marathon every day for months in a row?)

"Weren't you the one singing the praises about cold dinners — leaving the stove at home? Here, have some of my beef stroganoff…"

I don't know that I was exactly praising them, but I will say they are gourmet fare compared to freeze dried beef stroganoff. Or just about anything freeze dried for that matter. ;)

I moved to California almost on a whim and went for a hike one day in Burbank because it sounded like a good idea. I thought it was a mountain (I'm from New Jersey). I saw yuccas, firecracker plants, cacti, poppies, enormous thistles; it might as well have been another planet.

I was hooked. I went through the Santa Monicas, I went through Los Padres, Big Sur, then I discovered the desert. I went back to places in the east I'd camped and hiked a dozen times and saw them in a completely new way. The wilderness is so teeming with life and geological beauty that sometimes I get overwhelmed. The more I backpack, the more I want to backpack.

"The more I backpack, the more I want to backpack."

Now, repeat after me: "My name is Joe and I'm a hikeaholic", and you'll be formally admitted into a very select group of lost souls.

Bah, it's not that select! All you need are time, money, health and a lack of interest in anything else. :)

Yeah, I admit it.

Benjamin you have a point, but I have a lot of stuff I really SHOULD be doing right now… but I'm not… I'm weighing sporks and looking at maps.

Ah well.

"but I have a lot of stuff I really SHOULD be doing right now… but I'm not… I'm weighing sporks and looking at maps."

There's almost certainly an HA chapter near you, Joe. Help is just a phone call away.

I would put it differently for myself – backpacking didn't transform me, it formed me. Backpacking trips that I took in my early teens, with other guys my age and no adults, had a big role in shaping who I am.

I was born with a bad hip. Spent years in some kind of brace or cast as a kid.
The doctor told me to avoid strenuous hikes and heavy lifting.
I was a military brat and lived many places. I did a lot of car and long distance kayak camping in lots of places.

Then medical technology made it possible for me to replace the bad hip.

So I'm in my 50's, getting ready to do the hip replacement and the doctor advised that I get a lot of exercise in before the surgery. He suggested long walks with a cane and try to ignore the pain.

I found that I could put in a lot of miles with the cane and when I saw hikers using trekking poles, I gave that a try and found that I could hike up 10 miles a day during mutli-day trips if I keep my pack light(important).
I learned how to keep it light from the usual books, following BPL and personal experience.

I do have an unusual hike style, I keep more weight on my poles than most and usually end up with a sore upper body instead of the sore knees and feet that others get.

I haven't felt rushed to replace the hip yet and will see if I can wear the old one out first.

Growing up I did not know anyone that camped so backpacking seemed exotic to me. I have always loved nature though and would spend a lot of time during summer standing in trout streams in SE MN. I have always been active and early in my life I became addicted to long distance running. When my cross country team would go on slow trail runs something would click in my head and I would just take off.

After I got out of the marines I got curious in a way. I eventually ended up getting some car camping equipment. On one trip to NE MN I was looking at a map and felt compelled to find out what this Superior Hiking Trail was. That hike woke me up in a major way.

Backpacking is always on my mind now. Since I started getting into UL backpacking I have turned into a major dork(according to my friends and family)

I have learned so much about myself in the wilderness even when I'm just sitting at an overlook doing nothing. I am a much more spiritual person these days.

Backpacking has served as a focus, a kind of organizing principle in my life, and has become more so each year.

A little history first. I grew up as an experienced camper, but not backpacker. Then, as I entered the stresses of adult life, I found hiking and walking as emotional and spiritual outlets. Even urban walking, sometimes to great distances, got me going, and still does, though not as much as wilderness.

Later, day hiking in the wilderness became the norm. By then I had a family and it was a Saturday morning escape that allowed me to handle everything else – work and family.

Finally, backpacking was a natural extension of the desire to experience things in a more real, genuine way. Hike all day, stay out all night: the best of everything.

At this point, I was in the process of simplifying everything in my life, cutting out excess where ever I found it. Hiking and backpacking were certainly catalysts for this process. What remained? Family, friends, hiking/backpacking. I also took to writing, and have grown there as well.

After having gone UL, the backpacking took on even greater prominence, everything seemed possible, and still does. Each year, I find more like-minded souls to hike with, and go farther on my own as well. I've done hikes I only dreamed about, but also dream about the even bigger hikes that are still not possible, but will be for me someday. Each year I try to do something better, something more, in the backcountry.

With respect to backpacking as an organizing principle, each time I endeavor to do something, I ask how it will further develop or affect my backpacking and life. For instance, I trail run heavily in the spring to get ready for the Sierra summer. I practice yoga to stay flexible. I eat well to stay in shape for backpacking. Each time I push any of these too far, I back off before it endangers my backpacking future. I plan trips for family and friends involving backpacking and hiking as often as possible, and have found that others have come to view me as a resource in that regard.

Now, today, backpacking is more than ever a spiritual, physical, emotional tonic. And having it has made me appreciate time more than money, friends and family more than status, and genuine happiness more than anything else.

I don't know if backpacking changed me, or if I changed and, as a result, backpacking became my focus. Either way, I feel gratitude to have found an activity, a way of life, that gives so much.

Jeremy,

Backpacking has transformed you and the UL principles that have affected the choices in your gear has also influenced your lifestyle- one of honestly with yourself and a simplicity of knowing what is important in your life: family & friends.

More so, I would add that your love of backpacking has been infectious and that in your journey to go lighter, simpler, further, and to share these adventures with other has a generous journey you have invited others to come along with you.

I have seen you share your passion with your family, taking them to the outdoors to spend time with them and to enrich their young minds with an appreciation of the outdoors. Sharing your joy of backpacking with your family/kids has made you a better parent and husband.

For myself, I can say that I am truly grateful that I have met you and that you have infected me with the same UL sickness you have. :)

It has been an amazing adventure to learn from you, with you, and to be privileged to accompany you on the adventures you so carefully plan.

I have discovered a joy of photography because of you, I have found moments of pure joy and peace that I find lacking in my daily life, and I have returned home from our shared adventures a better father and husband to my own family.

Yes, backpacking has changed you, but more importantly, your love of backpacking is something that you have graciously shared with others to make them better people too.

Thank you.

-Tony

Every time I go, I am sore, wet, tired and either cold or hot. I wonder why I do it. No one else I know does it and they wonder why I would. But then at the end of the day I feel that I am so lucky to get to be there. All the way home after every trip, I can just think for hours about what I can fix or improve for the next trip. I would not trade that for anything.