Hi, Im a new member of the forum, and I thought I'd let you know a little about myself.

I live in Minnesota, and have BP'd for about 20 years (Im 37 now).

My favorite trail right now is the Superior Hiking Trail on the North Shore of Lake Superior, of which I have probably seen about half. This summer, I have made it a goal to see the rest, and explore the lesser known Border Route Trail.

I have hiked Isle Royale, sections of the AT in Tenn and Maine, Base Camp in Nepal, various trails in China, Philmont (BSA camp in New Mexico), and a few other places.

I have done a lot of trial and error camping to learn what things work and what things don't for me. You could probably ask if I really needed to try doing a 3 day trip in N Minnesota w/o a sleeping bag, and i will say that there was definitely a lesson learned there (picture a bivy sack opening up, and a very sleepy guy emerging with a sweater on over his pants, wool socks for gloves and nose warmer, and a mini mag lite with dying batteries because he thought that he was getting a little warmer at 3am with it on and shoved down his shirt). Learning can be fun.

My experimenting has led to the "weight2funratio" concept: The less you carry, the less you need to carry, and the more fun you have. That knowledge finally hit home when last year i had a 4 day pack weight of under 20#, and learned that the weight skimping on everything, even food, was really effective. I went further, was less fatigued, needed less food, and fully enjoyed every part of the trail.

I especially love trying to make a better, lighter, homemade meal. I use modified recipes from "The Hungry Hikers Book of Good Cooking," a few from "Backcountry Gourmet," and now some great ones from this forum. The dehydrator is a very good thing.

Not into Winter BPing, but like cabin camping when it hits the deep freeze up here. Seriously, Winter in MN is beautiful, but very cold in the woods (subzero is the rule), so i like the indoor option after Xc skiing.

There ya have it.

Nice to meet y'all, and I look forward to having something useful to report or comment on in the future.
_________________________
If a robot could carry my stuff, I'd make him carry me with my Osprey on my back any way.