From age 17 until age 30, I took as many backpacks as I could manage and often went out for extended periods.

Then I married and had a child and life changed considerably after that. I still backpacked as often as I could, for as long as I could, but the realm of the possible had shrunk considerably.

At age 47 I learned how to lighten my pack, my obligations to my daughter slackened, and I began to arrange my life so that I could backpack again as I did when I was a young man. That was about a decade ago.

My wife now understands that I will be backpacking for a two week period every summer, with a few other short trips tucked in as opportunity presents. So, I am not cutting back, yet. I am out there as much as I ever was before and I hope to keep it up for another decade at least, or even two decades, if I can.