Several threads recently focused my thinking on what seems to me to be a fairly important point. Does one hike to camp or camp to hike? We've discussed this several times before, but in slightly different contexts. And I'd somehow never really applied it to myself. Suddenly, it answers questions.

With a few exceptions when I carried my working gear ("mission hardware") on the trail, I've always travelled pretty light. First because I couldn't afford gear, then because I just never felt like I needed much.

I've often bitten my typing fingers when reading "newbie" posts, thinking, "quit worrying about gear. Take a light fleece blanket, a small pot, some water bottles, maybe a mil surplus poncho, maybe a nylon windbreaker, and go." For most of the US (and even my area of Canada), that will get you through several overnighters in the kind of weather newbies are likely to hike in, and after a few, you will have a pretty good idea of what you want.

But I've realized that this impatience actually reflects what I like to do, and seen that way a number of things make sense. I camp because it allows me to keep hiking which is what I really like to do. I generally go alone. Often I don't really camp at all, just bivouac. If I'm going to take a zero day, I usually make a town stop. I only remember staying a day in camp once in my hiking career, and that was very severe weather (tornados, as it turned out).

It's been said before, but I think this issue deserves more than we've given it. Especially in the context of "newbies".

best, jcp