Just the beginning!

So the Rosie, my lovely wife of 8 years, and I have decided, that since we love the outdoors and enjoy hiking we would start something together. We are going backpacking! I did some backpacking when I was scouts a while back and the wife has not. So, this will be a learning adventure for her and rebirth for me.

We have been discussing and looking at gear, places to hike, as well as a future anniversary trip to Montana (more on that later). So it has been fun just looking at everything. I pulled out my old pack from the attic to make sure it was still good. It will be interesting to see if it can get me through this year. With backpacks still in mind we head over to REI in St. Louis to get her a backpack. We tried finding something on sale but after carefully trying on a couple packs we found one. As for trying them on, we had some really good help from a staff member at REI that already hiked the Appalachian Trail, or AT, for 6 months from start to finish. He was very helpful and agreed with some of my recommendations based on fit. For one we started with a ladies pack and found that the shoulder straps were too narrow for the wife's shoulders, so I recommended a guy's bag instead. With a quick recommendation on a pack from the staff, we added some weight and made the appropriate adjustments and had her walk the store including the stairs. When she came back she was surprised how comfortable and how she could hardly tell there was twenty pounds on her back. Now she is ready.

We have been looking at tents and sleeping bags to help keep weight down. There are so many options that my mind is going crazy trying to absorb it all. But, we found a couple I will be researching to determine quality, pack ability, as well as how long will they last with proper care. Along with that, I have been looking at camping stoves, so we can boil water if need be or use it for what ever purpose we may have.

Along with this we are going to pack Rosie's bag and mine with what we would take on a normal backpacking trip and do some small day hikes for the next couple weeks with an overnight trip in July.  And continue from there till we work up to our anniversary trip next year. That trip will be fun as we are looking to do a 10 day round trip. First driving too Glacier National Park in Montana from Illinois, then backpacking the park for 5 days and 4 nights. From there it will be visit with family and friends for a day or two, then drive back home. I am looking forward to it but it will be a lot of work leading up to it.

So stay tuned as I detail our Adventures In Backpacking!

Danno