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#181173 - 12/06/13 11:08 AM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: footmobile]
bluefish Offline
member

Registered: 06/05/13
Posts: 680
Originally Posted By footmobile
I'm waiting to apply the Grand Canyon for May. We want to go from the South Rim to the North and back. Even if we don't get the complete trip, we'll take what we can get.


Good luck! We got to a fax machine 12/1, very shortly after midnight Az. time. We had our reply back within 4 days. It was a Sunday so that may have helped. If you can find a fax machine you can use New Year's morning, you should get what you want. They accept faxes at any time. It would give you a real leg up, just as it did for us having access to a fax on a Sun. Our trip actually included Bright Angel and Indian Garden Cmgds., on one of the most heavily requested weeks of the year, so I think it would help you to do the early as possible application.


Edited by bluefish (12/06/13 11:13 AM)
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#181175 - 12/06/13 12:44 PM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: billstephenson]
skcreidc Offline
member

Registered: 08/16/10
Posts: 1590
Loc: San Diego CA
Quote:
When I go solo I just soak up the forest. The Japanese actually have a term for this, they call it “Shinrin-yoku ” or "Forest bathing". That's what I love most about going solo, I just immerse myself completely in the forest experience and I feel perfectly comfortable there. It does make me feel better too. I've made that connection since I was a little kid.

When backpacking with friends I still get to soak up the forest but that's not my main focus. I focus more on the companionship and adventure. Depending on who's all along this can be more stressful than day to day living but it can also be a lot of fun and result in great stories to tell, and I do sometimes really love those adventures.

I also love the idea of being self contained, completely free, and closer to the earth as it was intended to be experienced. I know none of that is entirely true, but there are bits of truth in it that are worth searching for and I find them most every time I go backpacking.


from billstephenson on the previous page


This is pretty much my experience too. I love that feeling of simplicity and self sufficiency that backpacking (particularly solo cross-country) gives you. The added bonus is that (for me) backpacking strips life down to the real and essential aspects of life; none of this extra baggage we pile on in our modern life (except for that SPOT my wife has me carry...). I come back refreshed, refocused, and ready to deal with the man made environment we live in.

Bill! I see you've gone (Mr) Natural! Hope Lewis and Clark are still doing well, along with the rest of the family of course.


Edited by skcreidc (12/06/13 12:46 PM)

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#181180 - 12/06/13 04:14 PM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: skcreidc]
billstephenson Offline
Moderator

Registered: 02/07/07
Posts: 3917
Loc: Ozark Mountains in SW Missouri
Quote:
Bill! I see you've gone (Mr) Natural! Hope Lewis and Clark are still doing well, along with the rest of the family of course.


grin

Yeah, me and that old guy go way back...

I was going through my Junior High School Yearbook and that drawing was done by a friend on the inside cover back in 1974. I thought I'd put it up there for grins. I was reminded of Mr. Natural and those olden days because my hair was getting pretty long again and I started hearing that local acquaintances were referring to me as "That old long haired Hippy guy".

I've never cut my hair very often, and it always grows long before I do, but this time I let it grow longer than it has been in a long time, about since that drawing was done. I suppose I was starting to resemble him wink

The hair was driving me pretty much nuts way before I had it cut this time because I wanted to try and stick it out long enough to donate it. I did, and I'm glad I did because even though my hair is always pretty shaggy the woman who chopped it off said the Locks of Love organization would be glad to have it. I wasn't at all sure they'd want it. It was well used with little care, that's for sure.

And Lewis and Clark are quite fat and happy. Thank you for asking.

Well, today they're not as happy as most. We've got about 10" of snow since yesterday and it's still snowing, so they're kind of hanging out in their stall waiting for me to come give them some grain at sundown.

I laid down a real thick layer of straw in their stall before the snowstorm, about 18 inches thick, and they're not lying in it, they're eating it. They've got an 800 lb round bale of hay a few feet away outside but the wheat straw is a treat they love to munch on, so they're not entirely bummed out.

I might be getting closer to bringing those two on a backpacking trip. One of my neighbors has a son in law who's parked a trailer at his place that'd be perfect for hauling the burros behind my Ranger pickup. I'm going to try and convince that guy that he needs to sell it to me. I don't have any super powers of persuasion so I'm going to rely on cash, and I don't have a lot of that so I'm also counting on some luck too, but sometimes these things have a way of working out if you just ask and get the ball rolling... laugh
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#181181 - 12/06/13 04:26 PM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: bluefish]
footmobile Offline
member

Registered: 02/05/11
Posts: 20
Originally Posted By bluefish
Good luck! We got to a fax machine 12/1, very shortly after midnight Az. time. We had our reply back within 4 days. It was a Sunday so that may have helped. If you can find a fax machine you can use New Year's morning, you should get what you want. They accept faxes at any time. It would give you a real leg up, just as it did for us having access to a fax on a Sun. Our trip actually included Bright Angel and Indian Garden Cmgds., on one of the most heavily requested weeks of the year, so I think it would help you to do the early as possible application.


It looks like I will have to figure out the fax part. I don't have a land line and was hopping I could find a email fax program for a mac that works.
We were planning on the six day, hit most of the camps, pack our butts off trip, but I hear May is the most busy time of the year.

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#181201 - 12/09/13 10:39 AM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: jimmyb]
PEARL DRUMS Offline
member

Registered: 09/18/13
Posts: 42
Loc: Central Michigan
I love playing with and testing my new gear. Camp fires are a close second.

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#181223 - 12/10/13 01:14 PM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: billstephenson]
skcreidc Offline
member

Registered: 08/16/10
Posts: 1590
Loc: San Diego CA
Well, I'm glad all is well for your clan back there Bill. It was cold enough to have ice on my windshield the other day here in San Diego; I can only imagine what it has been like in the midwest and back east.

IF you do get out with Lewis and Clark, that would be a TR I'd LOVE to see. grin

chris

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#181328 - 12/15/13 03:49 PM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: billstephenson]
bobito9 Offline
member

Registered: 01/25/08
Posts: 408
Bill,
That is very well put. From now on I'll just tell people I'm "forest-bathing" smile It is definitely an utterly different and wonderful feeling to be there alone.

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#185021 - 05/12/14 04:33 AM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: smmaddox]
ZAPH Offline
newbie

Registered: 05/12/14
Posts: 3
I just love getting out for a long hike. makes me feel great

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#185452 - 05/29/14 03:33 AM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: smmaddox]
Harshal Offline
newbie

Registered: 05/19/14
Posts: 8
Loc: Delhi
Backpacking is an art to carry maximum of stuff for trekking or hiking. My backpacking experience is very good for my last 2-3 trips. I also have discussion with some other trekker and come to know very interesting factor for backpacking, like make your backpack as much as light you can, ventilated back, nice chest straps and many more.

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#185465 - 05/29/14 02:41 PM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: Harshal]
OregonMouse Online   content
member

Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6799
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
I'd say more nearly a minimum (depending on conditions) rather than a maximum! This is, after all, a lightweight backpacking site.
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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey

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#185489 - 05/31/14 09:48 PM Re: What do you love most about backpacking? [Re: OregonMouse]
djtrekker Offline
member

Registered: 02/02/13
Posts: 43
Loc: Virginia
It's the one thing I do that completely restores me mind soul and spirit, and it isn't important that anyone else understand why that is so.

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