Well, not necessarily entirely new to this stuff...I spent nine years in the military and spent quite a bit of time in the field and I am also a very avid outdoorsman. All that being said, my oldest daughter is now old enough that I can get out and enjoy this with her. I have to brush up on some things and catch up on latest and greatest also. We have been to two local state parks and primitive camped once using a tent and just this past weekend hammock camping with food we dehydrated ourselves. She is really enjoying it...so kinda a crawl, walk, run deal here and it's time to move on to the walk phase and find a 2-3 day through hike nearby. Well enough for now just wanted to introduce myself and look forward to drawing from the wealth of information here. I have also set a goal to hike a portion of the AT next year...I wish I could do it this year but we have already planned to do a family vacation. Oh and we live near Dallas, TX but I have lived all my life in northeast Louisiana, hence my handle 'Redneck1'