Inspired by the REI C/NC:

Heading into the wilderness for 1 to 6 or more nights, with nothing more than you can carry and your wits.

(None of this carrying all your stuff around Europe on your back when you're not travelling by train crap)

NC. Waffles for taking a tent, ha.

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote:Waffles for taking a tent, ha.

A friend I regularly backpack with does the cowboy camping thing. Big sheet of Tyvek and a 20-degree rated bag is all he needs.

I haven’t been that confident yet. I’ve done a hammock instead of a tent, which is cool, unless you’re heading to an area with no trees.

I was in Boy Scouts and went to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico one summer, where we hiked for about 10 days in the backcountry. It was a good experience, but I haven't done anything like that since then. I guess I'd do something like that again if I had a group of friends who really wanted to.

Not crap, but I've done enough camping in my life.

Not crap! Haven’t done it in awhile, but I have nice memories of backcountry pack trips. I often have fantasies of hiking the Arizona Trail.

It’s getting harder for me to sleep on the ground, so I don’t get as excited about it as I once did. Still, not crap.

Dave N. wrote: Sun Aug 08, 2021 6:45 am Not crap! Haven’t done it in awhile, but I have nice memories of backcountry pack trips. I often have fantasies of hiking the Arizona Trail.

I have fantasies of hiking the Washington section of the PNW trail.

It’s getting harder for me to sleep on the ground, so I don’t get as excited about it as I once did. Still, not crap.

I was having the same issue with my 1” Thermarest pad, and then I got a Big Agnes Insulated Q-Core SLX Pad and my quality of sleep changed much for the better. It’s an insulated 3.5” pad that you only inflate enough to keep your hip from touching the ground when on your side (most people overinflate them, like they would a Thermarest). Like sleeping on a cloud. Total game changer.

I'm aiming to be doing some of this in the near future, though the climate where I live makes this misery for most of the year. It'll be fun as long as you can keep the mosquitos away. Or the bears.
Combine this with fishing for extra Fun Points.

jason from volo wrote: Sat Aug 07, 2021 12:26 am I am so far from being able to handle something like that, both physically and mentally. It’d be nice to get there.

Every spring I go through this dilemma, particularly this year after not bike commuting or getting out as much during COVID. I just need to start small in spring and work my way up to longer and more strenuous day hikes by early to mid-summer.

But for now, let me be there during the day but get me a nice dinner and nice bed at night.

All my favorite experiences have been in places where you’re at least a full days hike from the trailhead and civilization. That’s not to say there aren’t amazing places that can be seen on a day hike, but the majority of pictures and memories I’m most moved by have been in some pretty remote areas.

Man, I love backpacking so much. I should do it more.

In Appalachia, if you're after trout you have to walk to where the fish are, so it's worth it.

Seems like the thing to do, since we're going back into plague times.

jason from volo wrote: I really enjoy hiking and have had a vision of one day being able to hike at least several days of something like the Appalachian Trail. That's at least do-able, but I'm a long ways from that even. And while I've said I would love to hike the whole Appalachian Trail, I realize the likelihood of that ever happening is probably just barely above zero.

If Appalachia is in your region/distance, then I can’t recommend Red River Gorge in eastern Kentucky enough for a beginner backpacking destination. Plenty of places to hike and camp, under 2-5 miles total distance per day is entirely doable, and ample car camping if you wish to break up multiple days or call it quits on backpacking early, plus a small taste of real wilderness and impressive ridge line views. The most elevation gain you can have is about 450-500’ in any section, which is great for a beginner (especially compared to the 2,000-4,500’ cumulative gain one might do per day on most PNW hikes).