Less than 2 weeks until my first overnight!

Hey there everyone, I am brand new to backpacking, but I have been in the outdoor scene for a long time now.

My post is two fold, 1 do you have any advice that I would not normally find by the traditional forms of research? And second, I have started a new blog with the 5 other people in my group (we are all beginners) If you have a few seconds to check it out I would appreciate feed back from people who have some experience to see if what we are doing may help other beginners

You can check it out here http://thebackpackingjournal.wordpress.com/

I am not trolling around trying to increase traffic, there are no ads and I do not make money from the site. I really just want more input and feedback!

There is more great advice on these boards than you could possible read in the two weeks before your trip. WHy not take the time to peruse them and see?

And many of us have website that also offer tons of advice, which may or may not be applicable, depending on where you live, where you are planning to hike, and when you are planning on doing it.

poke around, please!

I have started to for sure! It probably sounds crazy, but I have been researching and learning for about 3 months now. I have absolutely zero experience with "backpacking". But between my years and years of hiking, camping, military, etc. I feel as if I already know what I am doing.

I am almost more excited to see what stuff happens that I was not prepared for at this point.

Thanks for the welcome!

6 friends, backpacks, and no clue. It could be the title for a great book. I laughed when I read that on your webpage.

Looking forward to hearing about your first adventure.

Nicely done, I think it's a great idea to document "from ground zero" starting out at something like this.

I think a real challenge for people starting out is getting (or finding online) various bits of advice from people who have different "styles" of backpacking. And often different personal preferences that aren't always based on something obvious. Until you hike a while, it's difficult to sort out what "kind" of backpacker you want to be. Meanwhile, many people will earnestly --- in effect --- suggest to you that their personal biases are the one true way, the way their deity of choice intended backpacking to be when the universe coalesced in the beginning.

There is truly no topic in backpacking that can't form the basis for argument between two experienced backpackers. So take with a grain of salt any claims that a particular piece of gear or approach to things is the "only" valid way.

I note on your site discussion of a soda pop alcohol stove. I personally suggest to folks starting out with an alcohol stove to try the fancy feast stove. Much easier to make, and easy to make "well", i.e., works well the very first time. Some years ago my wife and I tried pressurized soda pop stoves and didn't have very good results. So anyone that finds such a stove difficult to get right, have them try the cat food can approach.

Nice ,Post. I was out there as a young kid in early 80s. Sister lived in south Phoenix. My Brother was in Prescot az. Brother and I summited Thumb Butte In Prescot before they baned hiking it. My brother is sill in Chino Valley. Aunt and uncle in Buckeye! I plan to return to AZ. Maybe next winter, to hike from south rim into the Grand canyon? All things and god willing? Time will tell. Awsome post, my sister talked of the superstitions etc. Touches home so to speak. Thanks

That is no lie!

Thank you to everyone who has checked out the site and enjoyed what they saw. If you "follow" it from wordpress you will get notifications as I update things. It is brand new so there is not a lot of content yet, but I am trying to add daily.

Its a rainy day in AZ, this does not happen often, I think I should take advantage of it and do some hiking in the mud!

That's one option.

The other option is to take advantage of it to learn that it's a good idea to check the weather before you commit to a hike, and spare yourself unnecessary discomfort.

That gets more important the longer the hike and the higher the mountains.

It was by choice for me, no discomfort here! With most of my hikes being in AZ weather is not usually an issue, I would say 90% of our days are sunshine here. When the clouds were rolling in over the mountains I was ready to roll!

I put up some pics and video of the storm from yesterdays hike you can check it out here if you want.
http://thebackpackingjournal.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/hail-storm-hiking/

Storms are spectacular and offer some fine photography. BUT, you need to educate yourself on lightning safety. Bottom line is that there are many areas that are never safe to be in a lightning storm, both due to the direct lightning and flash floods caused by subsequent downpours. It is not just a metter of your being "comfortable" hiking in storms.

Agreed! I have been hiking, primarily in Arizona, for about 20 years give or take. Back 10 years ago, before the city got so big, Arizona had some of the most amazing lightning displays anywhere. I would like to believe I am well versed in the safety area, If you check out the video you will see that I took cover when things got sketchy. There was still at least a few miles between myself and the active lighting, but no reason to risk it.

I am not one of the ones out hiking with lightning rod umbrellas, shorts, and flip flops