What got you into backpacking?

[trlhiker]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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 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 . 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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

To regain my sanity and private time away from the family
although at times the family or grandchildren do go with me.

[Frog]

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]

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]

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]

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) 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]

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]

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]

I picked up The Complete Walker in 1974... I was undone.

[kyhiker1]

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]

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]

Love of nature, hatred of wife?