learned backpacking in the Boy Scouts, and got schooled at it 16 years later, after my first 30 miles on the AT. I truely enjoy the benefits that light weight hiking has brought to me these last 6 years. Now that I am no longer a young buck, the trips have taken on a different interest to me, and give me time to look inward while looking outward to the splendor that mother earth has to share.