Oh wow! Thank you all for such detailed replies! I can tell this forum has lots of friendly helpful folks in it. I'm really glad to have found all of you!

I probably won't be able to reply to all of you in detail, even though I'd like to. I will touch on some common things that were said though.

I suppose my thought process on what backpacking was like was a bit flawed. I suppose I imagined it being more intense. That's not a bad thing by the way. I'm not disappointed to hear that it is a much safer activity than I first imagined. I have to say that I did even wonder if I would need to know how to hunt for food along the way. *blush* After reading a bit on here about what to pack and reading your replies, I'm now realizing that it's not quite like going out into the wild and living off the land for 7 days. lol. So, I'm starting to realize that this may not be all that difficult to get up to speed on.

The topic of solitude is an important one for me to cover. I love solitude. Part of the reason I want to take this trip is just to kind of get away from it all (including the hectic family life). I just want to be able to get lost in my thoughts for a few days. At first, I really felt like I wanted to not see a person ...at all ... during the full hike. Now that I think about it though, I wouldn't mind if I saw the occasional fellow backpacker or group along the way. I wouldn't be inclined to strike up a conversation with them or anything but a friendly hello here and there along the way wouldn't ruin the solitude aspect of the trip for me. ...and as some mentioned, it may actually be nice to have some peace of mind knowing that others are nearby or likely to be nearby in case of an emergency situation.

Thank you very much for all of the park recommendations with shade by the way. I'm going to check them out in more detail.

I'm also going to fill out my profile as other's have suggested.

Keep the replies coming! They are very helpful! Thank you all!