A backpacking thread: who would have thu nk it?

“We invite our friends, and plan for months. The perfect itinerary, the perfect menu, the perfect gear. Often the route is challenging, and often it is the route less-taken. Finally the day arrives that we drive to the trailhead, pull out our equipment, and begin our long awaited adventure. Two days on the trail, three, maybe even four; collections of memories and conversations documented with pictures and trail journals.

With all the said, I don’t remember a single “bad” backpacking trip. Never. I’m not even sure that I know which trip I’d have to nominate as my “best” trip. The fact is that even this very moment I look forward to being able to go again. It’s true, I’m addicted. It seems to be the one activity that clears the brain, my heart, and my soul.

Wouldn’t it be grand if we could all get paid for doing what we love.”

“Hell yeah!!!”

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

“I agree, I haven't been on one single bad trip and the minute I get back, I'm already looking for my next trip. Paid or not, I will keep on going.”

“I had to cut a trip way short cause the first night out I was helping folks get set up and sliced my hand open with a nylon rope burn across the inside knuckles of my right hand. That was a bad trip.”

“Oh, being paid to backpack would be nice -- but obviously I go for sheer enjoyment.

I'm one of those if I plan a trip, and everyone bails out on me, I still go anyway.

If the weather turns bad, I still go anyway.

I only wish I could afford (time and money) to go more often.”

“I lost a boot (difficult stream crossing) 6 miles into a 50 mile (winter) trip, and hiked the rest of it in flip flops (and socks wrapped in duct tape).

And I say that to say.. one of the best trips.
last edited: 7/01/07 9:13:58 PM”

“Like one of my partners use to say...It's a lot like sex....ain't no bad sex, somes just better than others is all.

Over the years I've been caught in avalanches, broken bones, needed stitches, been hypothermic (often), trapped by rising water for 3 days, went into anaphylactic shock, had sleeping bag (down) get totally soaked, left stove home on a 5 day trip, had my tent blow down and been stuck for 4 days due to an unexpected blizzard.....and I cant think of a single bad trip.

Somes just better than others ;-)

I have been blessed with being paid to backpack, but the best trips were usually with buds.
last edited: 7/01/07 10:10:01 PM”

“Like one of my partners use to say...It's a lot like sex....ain't no bad sex, somes just better than others is all.

I faked an "O" once. That was bad sex. Period. And yes, I've had bad pizza too. I had to throw it out. Same with the bad sex - had to throw it out.”

“How sad for you ;-)”

“I know. Especially since I tipped the pizza dude so well.”

“A bad day on the trail always beats a good day indoors.”

“A bad day backpacking always is better than a good day doing yard work.

There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.

I'd rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”

“you would think that the time you go out in the woods in winter and you forget the pump for your gas can....and the damn wet wood won't light...and its dark and you're cold and contemplating having NO food and having to sleep HUNGRY...you would think THIS surely this would be the WORST backpacking trip ever. But then you realize, you're only a few miles from your car, no wild animals have mauled you or your partner yet, and you have not run in to the mysterious porcupine from the North that is the size of a mini refrigerator. It is then you reliaze it could be much worse. It is at this moment the wet wood lights and you are able to cook your homely little meal over an open fire (and get this, the fire doesnt even burn a whole in the bottm of your pan!) WOW what luck.”

“The only BAD trip is the trip you CAN'T remember....”

““A bad day on the trail always beats a good day indoors.”
chili
6:43:40 AM
7/02/07

i agree - EVEN when you wind up bushwhacking thru a ginourmous patch of fruminous brandersnatch and find that you forgot the peanut butter!”

“LOL..Roam, we had our "food bag" visited in Colorado. The next evening we meet up with some other backpackers who had suffered the same fate.

We combined our stuff...made a HUGE pot of WHATCHAGOTSTEW. It was KILLER.”

“Even bushwhacking through impenetrable and spiny devils club and alder thickets in the north cascades while being eaten alive by biting flies serves as a source of great hilarity years later, and you appreciate your good friend who toughed it out with you.”

“i agree - EVEN when you wind up bushwhacking thru a ginourmous patch of fruminous brandersnatch and find that you forgot the peanut butter!

I hate when that happens.”

“I heard you enjoyed it last time.”

“I was in the moment.”

“Time spent in the mountains is not deducted from the rest of your life.”

“There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. ”
idaho bob
11:50:15 AM
7/02/07
ignore this user

So true! I go hiking around the lake in the worst possible weather and am always comfy as can be--rain, sleet, snow, wind, whatnever, and everyone thinks i'm nuts. Really though, the clothes determine your comfort level :)
Oh, and the sex is good too:) ;) Especially lakeside.
last edited: 7/02/07 6:49:00 PM”

“"Over the years I've been caught in avalanches, broken bones, needed stitches ..... etc. etc.."

I'm willing to bet these (seemingly horrible events) were some of your BEST and long remembered trips.”

“A bad day backpacking is still better than a good day at work.”

“Go out and walk in the dirt and get smelly socks and 'tocks, when you can learn the secrets of the universe on TT?”

“"I'm willing to bet these (seemingly horrible events) were some of your BEST and long remembered trips."
towndawg

Absolutely! I would never call them horrible, just more lessons to learn. A few, not all, but a few, were some of the best trips I've had :-)

One of my favorite quotes too towndawg....

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."
Helen Keller
last edited: 7/04/07 11:09:03 PM”