Life lessons in backpacking: 4 things I've learned from the trail

I've come a long long way in my "trail smarts" from the first bushwhacking, backpacking trip (if you can call it that) my brother and I took to the Land Between the Lakes in southwestern Kentucky.  Sitting on the banks of Kentucky Lake with our campfire two feet from my brother's Walmart tent, we thought it didn't get much better than that.  We were hikers, no better than that, we were backpackers.  Along the way I've learned just how clueless I was then and I've picked up some valuable life lessons and morsels of advice since.  Here are four things I've learned from the trail.    

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My brother preps to start a hike in Great Smoky Mountain National Park in 2007.  We hiked the Big Creek Loop in the western portion of the park.  Some of the steep trail has since been abandoned due to erosion and mud slides from heavy rainfall. 

1. Take it one step at a time: It might sound cliche' and predictable but it's one of the most important things I've learned from the trail.  In our lives often times we make a habit of looking way up the road, squinting, even straining to see what's around the bend when really what we should be focusing on is that root right in front of us that we're about to trip over.  I've been on several trips where you get so exhausted you can't do anything but think about putting one foot in front of the other.  Twenty one miles, in one day, on the Buffalo River Trail in Northern Arkansas was excruciating but I had to take it just one step at a time, because each step got me closer to camp that night.    

2. Say hello to every hiker you come in contact with: You never know when you might call upon that fellow hiker to save your butt way out in the backcountry.  I can remember doing a 22 mile loop in the western part of Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  My brother and I, still green horns in the backpacking scene, each one of us carrying about 50 pounds of gear on that overnight trek... to a shelter.  Almost none of the gear essential and we had the grand idea that we were going to boil our water over an open camp fire... it had rained hard the night before and everything was doused.  If it hadn't been for the kindness of a small group of hikers we had met earlier that day we would have been very thirsty or sick.  Instead they let us filter water with their pump and even offered us some amazing dinner they cooked up that night at camp.  Hiking and backpacking is a community and we're all at different stages of the journey.  I only hope I can return the favor to some newbie one day.

3.  Get up to watch the sunrise: It's a must do for me on every trip.  It doesn't matter if I'm in the densely wooded mountains or the wide open desert I want to be up to greet the sun and enjoy the awe inspiring view.  Too often in our lives we don't stop to take in the little things, the formalities that occur around us everyday.  We're too plugged in, too unaware to realize that we're just a small cog in this big blue spaceship orbiting the sun.  

4. Don't shower while on the trail: There are few better pleasures in life than that first shower after five days and four nights hiking in the hot desert.  Endure the smell, disregard the stickiness and dirt caked in your hair until you hit the hotel room and it's all worth the wait.  In addition, few things taste better than that first big, greasy burger once getting off the trail.  It's the small things... 

What are some things you've learned from your backpacking and hiking experiences?   

Living the Dream

Last night, I had a great opportunity to be a guest speaker on BACKPACKER magazine's Gear & Go Tour.  The tour is designed to give locals advice about gear to use for trips in their area and then give them local trail ideas and beta so they can get out their and do the hikes.  Me giving advice... wow... that's a scary thought.  I met a lot of awesome people who are at different stages of their hiking and backpacking lives.  Some were planning their first outing while others had been backpacking longer than I had even been breathing.   

I also met Justin and Patrice La Vigne.  They are the ambassadors for BACKPACKER traveling around the country in a decked out Sprinter van, hiking trails and talking about the gear they used and the experiences they had.  Man that's gotta be a cool job.  Before Justin and Patrice started this tour they ran a backpacker hostel on the Appalachian Trail.  Yeah... also up there on the really cool jobs list in my book.  While talking to them I mentioned

"You all are living the dream" and Patrice repied, "We wake up and pinch ourselves everyday to make sure this is real".  

They are living the dream and they didn't hesitate to make a change in their lives when an opportunity presents itself.  I think we all need to seize on these opportunities, no matter how big or small they might seem.  Talking to another friend of mine yesterday, he was at a crossroads.  Does he keep working at a factory making a steady income punching a clock or does he start writing and take an opportunity as radio DJ to pursue his passion?  

My response was telling him he will never look back and say "man I wish I had kept that job at the factory".  Most likely he'll think "whoa what an epic journey my life is taking".  

We all need to live our dreams and take advantage of doors that may be opening in our lives.  If the doors aren't opening for your passion.  Pull out the crowbar and start prying it open!   

Awesome hike... awful roads

Do you know where Thayer, Missouri is?  Yeah, neither did I before this past weekend.  When you’re stuck in the backwoods of far southeast Missouri between a “town” full of abandon buildings with a population of 200 people and a swollen creek with class two rapids flowing over the “major” highway Thayer is an oasis.  They have a gas station, the smallest Walmart I’ve ever seen and a surprisingly nice McDonalds.  Twice we were turned around by rushing water over the highway.  Twice we ended up in Thayer.  We got around one of the creeks by taking a detour onto some country roads.  Lesson learned, if water is flowing over the state highway that tells you the quality of the road system.  Clearly SE Missouri has been forgotten about by the Department of Transportation.  County roads in this part of the state equal dirt roads.  

“Turn left at this next road,” Meg says.  

“Where are you taking me?” “Are you using Google maps or Apple maps?” I respond.

I’m thinking the entire time we’re about to become one of those unfortunate accidents of Apple maps poor programing where the road actually drives right off a cliff.  Five minutes later we’re staring at another road with water cascading over it.  I’m done with this as I hit the gas and drive straight through the water, spraying it everywhere, like something out of a Ford truck commercial (except I’m not driving a Ford truck... I’ve got a Subaru, which sits quite a bit lower to the ground and is a lot lighter).  That was just the trip home, only part of the weekend that included driving eight hours, hiking 36 hours and then driving back 10 hours.  

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​The Buffalo River Trail as it winds through northern Arkansas.

Meg and I did a 36 mile weekend hike of the Buffalo River Trail in northern Arkansas.  It was an itenirary that left people looking at us as if we had just murdered somebody and were planning to take them out into the woods to bury them.  

“20 miles a day, that’s real optimistic,” said the guy that looked like an ex-navy seal who rides a road bike 50 miles a day.  “You know they’re calling for rain tomorrow.”

Excellent, I’m thinking, are there also rabid dogs along the trail that are going to try and eat us when we sleep tonight? 

“You know there are rabid dogs along the trail,” he said.  “They like to eat hikers when they bed down for the night.”

Ok... so he didn’t really say that second part but he might as well have because at this point Meg is thinking... I WOULD kill Stuart and leave him in the woods if I didn’t need him to carry half the tent.  

We did the hike (more to come on that in a future edition of Backpacker) and set a personal high mileage day of 20.4 miles.  We had amazing weather for early March on the first day and then a deluge for part of the second.  The nice thing about the rain was it made all the waterfalls more magnificent.  The trail was actually very nice and very rugged, a great challenge for anyone into backpacking.

So in the end the lesson we learned was southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas have some beautiful scenery... but really horrendously, awful roads.      

It's 22 degrees and you want to sleep outside?

It was pretty much the same from everyone I told about my plans this past Friday, a confused look accompanied by “Why?”.  I asked my wife if she wanted to go.  “You go have fun... I’ll stay here” was her response.  I was planning to head out for a little overnight hike in the woods.  Nothing huge, just an eight mile loop in a nearby national forest.  That wasn’t the part everyone was getting hung up on, it was the idea I had about camping... in the woods... in winter... when it was just 22 degrees outside.  No I'm not homeless.  

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If you’re an avid backpacker chances are you know where I’m coming from?  We have to face the fact that a lot of our friends don’t understand how we can take enjoyment from walking around for days, in the wilderness, with all our necessities on our back and in some cases, without taking a shower.  It just doesn’t seem natural or... maybe it’s a little too natural.  When Meg and I came back from our Grand Canyon trip last year we got the same reaction over and over again.  “You didn’t shower for five days?  I don’t understand how you can do that.”  Well it’s easy, you just don’t take a shower when you get up in the morning.  Instead you walk 10 to 12 miles with your house, bed and kitchen on your back to another secluded location where you camp.  Sound fun?  Yeah, it does to me too.  

We derive excitement and adventure from the places we go, the isolation we find and from the elements.  One of the things I enjoy most about a backpacking trip is a little rain or chilly temperatures.  It adds to the sense of adventure and survival.  When you’re backpacking, isn’t it true that we say hello to most everyone we pass?  Why is that?  Because they’re one of us... they understand what we’re doing and why we’re out there doing it.  And they find it refreshing to stop and talk to someone who shares their same interest.    

I hiked my loop and yes, it was cold that night.  Would I do it again... absolutely.  Will I get lots of confused looks and questions... probably.  It’s all just par for the course.

Take off... in the off season.

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Bundle up and brave the cold for empty trails and excellent vistas!

Here we are... it’s cold... it’s dark... it’s January.  Most hikers wouldn’t think this is the ideal time to get out and hit the trail.  Temperatures are barely reaching into the 30’s during the day here in Kentucky and they dip down into the low 20’s at night.  So most sane people run for the warmth of indoors.  That’s when you should take to the trail!

Cabin fever has set in and I’m dying to get out and test out the new Christmas gear!  So why not go now?  What I’ve found from my experience is the best time to get out on the trail is the few weeks before or after the shoulder seasons (late March to early May & late September to early November).  Head out a couple weeks before the wild flowers are fully bloomed or maybe before all the leaves have changed and avoid the crowds of day hikers sporting Canon Rebels and stopping at every trail side flower for a shot.  Also, head out RIGHT NOW to be completely on your own.  Want to hike in some of the most popular spots in the country... Grand Canyon sound nice?  Smokey Mountains anyone?  Take advantage of ghost town resorts and empty roadside pull offs as no one cares to dare the snow and chill.