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trlhiker
09-10-2006, 14:33
My first time backpacking, I had a miserable time(see community college thread for details) and swore I would never go again. 4 years later I found the Tidewater Appalachain Trail Club and went to a meeting. They had a bunch of trips ranging from day hikes to backpacking trips. I spent the first year taking day hike trips and got to know and became friends with the VP. he suggested that I try backpacking. i told him about my previous experience and he could not believe that as beginners we did Three Ridges. he suggested that I come on his beginner trip in the Saint Mary's Wilderness Area. He help me in getting new gear, what to buy and what not too but most of all told me to buy from a quality outdoor store over department store gear. So I went to Blue Ridge Mountain Sports and got a new pack, bag, filter, stove, sleeping bag, and tent. That first trip with the club was awesome and I have been hooked ever since. Knowing your fitness level, having good gear, and doing a trip within your skill level can make backpacking so enjoyable.

Mouse
09-10-2006, 14:51
Two female friends talked me into a three day trip up the Big Sur River. That got me hooked. Before the summer was out I had gathered equipment and ventured alone into the Sierras, then across the Ventana Wilderness and then on to thruhike the AT.

boarstone
09-10-2006, 15:03
The desire to see what lay beyond where the first 8 hours of daylight would take me....what the full moon looked like from a mountain top....what the sunrise/sunset looked like from an earth bounders point of view, at a higher elavation...where all that water comes from...and just-- what's up there?

Gecko
09-10-2006, 15:31
My parents have been backpacking forever...I climbed my first mountain at 3. As a kid did mostly camping, but then started going on more serious trips at summer camp. I won't lie, my backpacking experiance is limited, but I love it and something is drawing me to the AT.

Pacific Tortuga
09-10-2006, 16:05
Two female friends talked me into a three day trip up the Big Sur River. That got me hooked. Before the summer was out I had gathered equipment and ventured alone into the Sierras, then across the Ventana Wilderness and then on to thruhike the AT.

Big Sur River Inn with anirondack chairs & coctails in the water, Deetjen's for breakfast, Napenthe for dinner and the Ventana Wildernous :D I'll be up there for a three day trip in Nov.
My first real b.p. trip was on a bet from a friend in the scouts. I played team sports and thought scouting was........well............wimpy :o . I had been taught to love the outdoors from my grand-pa in MO. and my friends dad had all the gear, army surplus tents, down mummies and such Mt. San Jacento was our goal. Rain, huge multiple blisters., wind howeld, tents blew down and I was eating eveyone's dust and had the time of my life. The last night, dinner was crow and hes been feeding it to me since high school :) .
I thought a picket fence, life long career and family was the "right" thing to do but my heart was always on top of Half Dome looking down on Yosemite Valley (Church). There are a lot of places I still want to see, and the experience I'm looking for is with pack on my back.

Just Jeff
09-10-2006, 16:09
I got into backpacking b/c it was the easiest way to carry my stuff.

I was always running around the woods and usually didn't want to come home. Sometimes I'd throw a blanket and shower curtain to use as a tarp into whatever I had available and go for an overnight. I even used a 5 gallon bucket at times...which was nice b/c I had a place to put the crawdads that I caught for dinner.

Then I moved to the city and didn't have a place to camp for a while. Later, I was in a position to buy a backpack and get back to what I love...spending time in the woods away from the hassles of city folk. Still wish I had more time for it, though.

Frolicking Dinosaurs
09-10-2006, 16:31
I 'hiked' out into the wooded area along a creek near my home and camped with my best friend, her older brother and some of his friends when I was about six. I was hooked. It was about 12 years before I got a chance to really backpack, but I loved it.

Jack Tarlin
09-10-2006, 16:44
My dad was a great outdoorsperson. He loved the woods, especially New Hampshire and Maine. My best memories of him are from childhood trips. Everything I've done or accomplished as a backpacker is due to him.

squivens
09-10-2006, 18:34
I've been camping and hiking my whole life ... but it wasn't until college that I really got into long distance backpacking. My school paid for a trip to the grand canyon and other sites in that are for two weeks so after spending a week hiking in the grand canyon ... i've been hiking/backpacking whenever possible.

Hana_Hanger
09-10-2006, 18:46
To regain my sanity and private time away from the family:D
although at times the family or grandchildren do go with me.

Frog
09-10-2006, 19:13
Ah good question. I m not sure if it was me or my brother who started it. I know our first trip was in 1975 to Linville Falls area. We did the whole hike in one day with heavy gear and turned around and hiked back down for the night. Ever since we have been trying to lighten the load and enjoying the hiking so much better. For me it was the closenest of the AT from where we live i think.

Topcat
09-10-2006, 20:03
I went on my first trip at age 11 in the boy scouts and after that, it was always my favorite thing to do. I married a woman who just doesnt like camping but i was blessed with 3 sons who do. So i now get out at least once a month somewhere and those weekends are the finest times we have together. as soon as my youngest gets out of school (in 6 years) i am stepping off Springer mountain and starting the next part of my life with a long walk.

twosticks
09-10-2006, 20:53
I'd always gone car camping with the family growing up, but I too found the hike ended too early. I'd want to keep walking, see what up next ,see which new animals I could discover, but had to get back before dark. When I finally got on my own, I planned with a couple of friends and my first backpacking trip was to Mnt. Rogers. We attempted 52 miles but only did 25, but that was all I needed. Now, it's section hike until the kids are on their own, and then ......

Tamarack
09-10-2006, 21:39
I was a Girl Guide in Canada for a long time as a kid. Doing car camping 6-7 times a year. Which was a lot for the area that I lived in. Later as a teenager I heard about the Duke of Edinburgh Award (www.dukeofed.org (http://www.dukeofed.org)) signed up and thought what the hell I'll give it a try. Did some 'mickey mouse' hikes, along roads, rail trails and just being out there. I've had a short sample of the AT and want to do more. Just need to tell work that I live to hike, not live to be treated like a slave to work.

hopefulhiker
09-10-2006, 22:04
I started on day hikes with the Boy Scouts, as a 13 year old went on a supported section hike through parts of the Shendendoah National Park, including parts of the AT, It was then that I promised myself that one day I would hike the whole thing.. 37 years later.....

Tin Man
09-10-2006, 22:41
I started with family car camping and joined the scouts so I could do more camping. When I went to the scout recruiting night, they put on a slide show of backpacking at Philmont, NM and I was hooked. Around the same time, I had a teacher who described his summer on the AT and I was even more hooked. My only regret was not thru-hiking after graduating college. Then I had a 10 year career building/marriage building gap before I set foot on a trail again. Once I convinced my boy scout dropout brother that backpacking was cool I had a real partner and did some of the Adirondacks. Then by some strange quirk we read Bryson's book and decided to section hike, not knowing at the time that BB didn't quite have the AT right. WB has been very educational in many ways and helped me appreciate the real AT and the people who make up the community. Anyway, it has been a long trail and I love every minute of it. Thank you fellow WB members for helping me grow my trail legs.

BradMT
09-11-2006, 11:10
I picked up The Complete Walker in 1974... I was undone.

kyhiker1
09-11-2006, 11:24
I started hiking and camping at the age of 13 in the Boy Scouts.My wife doesnt enjoy the backpacking as my sons do,but likes to go camping.
Started out mostly day hikes and then ventured out on multi-day hikes.It wasn,t until the last five years that I have taken hiking seriously and now I cant wait to get on the trail!

Footslogger
09-11-2006, 11:36
I guess I was about 7 - 8 and I found my dad's old "butt pack" from WWII out in the garage. It was the perfect size thing for a kid my size so I rigged some shoulder straps for it. I used to pack it up on Saturday morning with a banana, a couple boxes of sunmaid raisins and a rain poncho and head down to the park at the corner of our street. By today's standards that park was pretty tiny but it had a "rough" uncleared area with tall trees that ran along the railroad tracks. I would bushwhack my way around through that area all day and then come back home for dinner. After dinner I would head out to the back yard where I had my "pup tent" pitched under the old maple tree and sleep out.

At 11, I joined the Boy Scouts and I couldn't wait for the chance to actually hike on a trail and then pitch a tent and sleep out in the woods. Course back then our packs were canvass non-framed ones and our tents were old military surplus canvass "shelter halves".

That desire never wore off (well almost, after 3 years of dragging a ruck sack around in the army '68 - '71) and to this very day some of my fondest memories are from hikes/backpacking trips, both the weekenders and the long distance ones.

'Slogger

Hammerhead
09-11-2006, 12:44
Love of nature, hatred of wife?

the goat
09-11-2006, 12:58
a two week trip through southern va & the grayson highlands when i was 10 yrs old. been hooked ever since.

SGT Rock
09-11-2006, 13:18
Family got me into it. Especially my grandfather who would take older aunts and family friends hiking the AT in the Nantahalas every summer. When I got old enough we got to go too. It is just something my family does. Now my sons do it, and my daughter did - I would love to get her out again and I am really looking forward to taking grandchildren out too.

Valmet
09-11-2006, 13:34
I was riding through North Georgia way back in 1973, stopped at neels gap and found the trail. Asked some questions and July of 1974 I graduated from college and had a month off. Hit the trail at Amicolla Falls and came out in New Found gap. Had the time of my life, had equipment from Sears, no ground pad until I bought one at Wesser. I had no idea what I was doing, no map, canned food, a 20 dollar tent and 10 dollar sleeping bag. I did pay 30 bucks for my pack (still have it). Cut off jeans and t-shirts, round canteen and cooked over a fire. My shoes were keds high top tennis shoes. Had hair down to my shoulders and a huge red beard. I met some of the most amazing people that month. Saw sights that were breath taking. I came off the trail a changed person both physically and espcially mentally. I knew it would be something I would do the rest of my life. Now 32 years later still at it. I have had some great hikes but nothing like that first one. I still cherish every moment of that month.

Tha Wookie
09-11-2006, 13:42
My family started to take me me when I was 4.

My dad's gear chest was the ark of the covenant. He had a room devoted to backpacking. I always wondered what everything did.

Then I started going on my own in high school. Never looked back.

bigben
09-11-2006, 13:43
Another big vote for Boy Scouts and Philmont. Went in 1986 and 1988, earned Eagle Scout in 1988. Now, I just have 3 1/2 years until my son is old enough for Cub Scouts and can't wait to get back involved. The Boy Scouts get a lot of bad pub(and I'm not saying some of it isn't deserved) but out of all the positive things I've had going for me at various points in my life, Scouting did more to make me the man I am today than anything else. Hopefully he'll like it(not going to force him into anything) and hopefully I'll make it back to Philmont, this time as a dad.

Bigben

Footslogger
09-11-2006, 13:59
Hopefully he'll like it(not going to force him into anything) and hopefully I'll make it back to Philmont, this time as a dad.

Bigben
=======================================

Philmont was something we just read about as youth scouts back in Ohio. But I got to lead 3 treks to Philmont as an adult leader ('95, '97 and '99) and my son was there with me on the first one. He made Eagle later that year.

Priceless experience

Hope you get to make that trip with your son !!

'Slogger

Creek Dancer
09-11-2006, 14:26
=======================================

Philmont was something we just read about as youth scouts back in Ohio. But I got to lead 3 treks to Philmont as an adult leader ('95, '97 and '99) and my son was there with me on the first one. He made Eagle later that year.

Priceless experience

Hope you get to make that trip with your son !!

'Slogger

Congrats to your sons for reaching the rank of Eagle! My son got his Eagle last year. I was an adult leader for our Philmont trek last summer. We had the time of our lives. I am so grateful that I was able to spend that time with my son. Our service project was to work on a big erosion problem that developed after they pulled out old railroad ties that had been used for logging. The scarring created very deep crevasses (20 feet or more) in the the land which the scouts are now helping to improve. My son made the comment that he hopes to bring his son back there one day to see the results and to work on other conservation project.

Creek Dancer
09-11-2006, 14:28
My first time backpacking, I had a miserable time(see community college thread for details) and swore I would never go again. 4 years later I found the Tidewater Appalachain Trail Club and went to a meeting. They had a bunch of trips ranging from day hikes to backpacking trips. I spent the first year taking day hike trips and got to know and became friends with the VP. he suggested that I try backpacking. i told him about my previous experience and he could not believe that as beginners we did Three Ridges. he suggested that I come on his beginner trip in the Saint Mary's Wilderness Area. He help me in getting new gear, what to buy and what not too but most of all told me to buy from a quality outdoor store over department store gear. So I went to Blue Ridge Mountain Sports and got a new pack, bag, filter, stove, sleeping bag, and tent. That first trip with the club was awesome and I have been hooked ever since. Knowing your fitness level, having good gear, and doing a trip within your skill level can make backpacking so enjoyable.

Hey, do you know Vision Quest (AT class of 2005) (aka Katrina) from the club. I hiked with her last spring.

Shade
09-11-2006, 15:53
While car camping in Yellowstone, I listened to a Backcountry Ranger Presentation. The ranger said that more than 95% of the visitors venture less than 100 yards from thier car. That night I read Bryson's book.
The next day I couldn't wait to go where only a few have gone.

Ewker
09-11-2006, 15:55
a crappy marriage

general
09-11-2006, 16:34
as a teenager, i was looking for a way to get wasted and not get arrested. went camping up on cowrock and had a blast. after a couple more trips out, someone in the group had a map, and holy sht, this trail goes all the way to Maine.

Time To Fly 97
09-11-2006, 16:35
Cub Scouts
BSA, Lexington, KY
Aldersgate Camp, backpacking camp
Camp Nejeda - many seasons
New Dominion School of Maryland

All these contributed to my interest in the AT and gave me different levels of hiking/camping experience.

I was just lucky enough to have some stars line up in life where I found myself thinking, "Wow..I am actually free to do anything I want to...what do I want to do?" Like divine intervention, the thought of hiking the AT popped into my mind. I found Wingfoot's website (which used to be a lot like WB) and read everything. The more I learned, the more dialed in on thru-hiking to Katahdin I became.

I got everything together in three months and the next thing I knew, I was one of the blessed flying to the Atlanta airport with a backpack and a big smile.

Happy hiking!

TTF

Tinker
09-11-2006, 16:45
No, really, I've always loved the woods. That's where I ran away every time my dad beat me. I used to climb up in a big white pine tree and wonder what life would be like if there weren't any other people.
A friend who went to Untiy College in Maine had been doing some peak bagging in the White Mountains and he invited me along once. That's all it took. I went from being a day tripping peak bagger to a weekend hiker to a week long hiker in a few years. Problem is, a week isn't long enough anymore. Other problems are that I have an elderly mother, a wife, and a 21 year old son who can't figure out what he wants to do with his life. Those things, plus being the music director for a small church, keep me from hiking more. I'd do more, honestly, if I didn't believe that God has called me to do other things.
So there's my life story, Reader's Digest version. :rolleyes:

landcruzr
09-11-2006, 16:46
Wanting to see things that most people dont see
Going places that most people dont go
Sleeping where no one has slept
Spending true quality time with those close enough to come along
And learning to really enjoy the luxuries we take for granted, while surviving on bare necessities.
And being able to teach all this to my children-so that one day they can do the same if they so choose

Alligator
09-11-2006, 17:11
I always enjoyed a nearby state parks trail system. It had Red, Blue, and Green blazes. I once tricked my dad into letting me walk the green one by myself. I had only been on it once, but I told him it only took a little over 45 minutes. It was 3 miles and supposed to take 1.5 hours. I nearly ran it so I would get back in time. When I was 18, I read a newspaper article about the Appalachian Trail. Been hooked ever since.

StarLyte
09-11-2006, 17:32
I can't get started on a thread like this because I need a few hours----so maybe if yall sit around the campfire with me at the Gathering....we can really get down.

I remember standing up in the front seat of my father's Chevy when I was little kid.....hauling butt to get to the Appalachian Trail. I couldn't even say the word "AT", but I knew how to spell it because I read it constantly on the map. I had Appalachian Trail maps all over my room taped and glued to the wall. When it was time to go hiking, I had my heavy canvas military pack ready a week ahead of time. I was so excited for days prior to hiking that I couldn't sleep. NO kidding.

To this day, when I anticipate hiking or EVEN a hiker event, I'm packed ahead of time and still can't sleep. I've learned to live that like.

And I like it.

spandau
09-12-2006, 10:40
My father was an avid outsdoorsman, and he taught me to hunt, fish, and love the outdoors. I owe much of my love for hiking and nature to him. I spent many hours as a child in the woods behind the house, and exploring the woods on horseback at our farm on the weekends. Later, as an adult, I did a lot of day hiking whenever I got the opportunity.

I first saw the AT in 1997, as it bridged the interstate I was driving on. A small blue sign on the bridge proclaimed "Appalachian Trail." I was immediately interested in this mysterious trail; where it had come from, and where it was going. When I found out that the trail ran from Georgia to Maine, I was hooked. Later, on another trip, driving in the Blue Ridge mountains, I saw another sign, for a trailhead. We parked the car, and I walked on the trail in my jeans and running shoes for maybe a mile, until it threatened rain and we had to head back to the car. I put the idea of hiking the AT on my mental list of things I wanted to do in my lifetime. There it stayed until July of this year, when it resurfaced with a vengeance.

Dad's gone now, but I'll be thinking about him plenty when I'm on the trail in 2007.

SouthMark
09-12-2006, 15:54
I picked up The Complete Walker in 1974... I was undone.
Ditto except in 1976.

RockyTrail
09-12-2006, 17:21
Boy Scouts got me into backpacking about age 12. My parents didn't do the camping thing, but I was determined to be different!
Then I took various trips on my own and with a hiking buddy during college breaks. And coming full circle, in 2003 I too was an adult advisor for a Philmont trip with my son's troop, we had a blast!

mweinstone
09-12-2006, 17:32
made me wanna do it. cause when i saw there gear , i lied and said i knew how to climb and then had to learn in secret to keep up the lie.

Skidsteer
09-12-2006, 17:35
Grew up on an Ohio farm. Outside all the time hunting ,fishing, camping, and working.

I read 'My Side of the Mountain' by Jean Craighead George as a third grader and it was like throwing gas on a fire.

I started backpacking with a vengence in my late thirties after waking up one day and realizing that work is just a way to finance what really matters.

Topcat
09-12-2006, 18:22
Another big vote for Boy Scouts and Philmont. Went in 1986 and 1988, earned Eagle Scout in 1988. Now, I just have 3 1/2 years until my son is old enough for Cub Scouts and can't wait to get back involved. The Boy Scouts get a lot of bad pub(and I'm not saying some of it isn't deserved) but out of all the positive things I've had going for me at various points in my life, Scouting did more to make me the man I am today than anything else. Hopefully he'll like it(not going to force him into anything) and hopefully I'll make it back to Philmont, this time as a dad.

Bigben
2 years ago, i did that with my oldest son and dont think that we will have better memories than those 10 days in the backcountry of Philmont. I have 2 more boys and hopefully, 2 more trips in me.

Litefoot
09-13-2006, 14:45
I was out for a day-hike on the Long Trail, and I stopped at Theron Dean Shelter for a break. There was a Sports Illustrated in the shelter, and I saw the following article about Brian Robinson.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/siadventure/4/walking_the_walk/

Six months later I was thru-hiking. :sun