Simplicity of Backpacking
Backpacking causes you to simple day, see what is so great about a day on the earth.
When you are backpacking you shed all the technology, lights, business, and distraction of your normal life, and see how beautiful a day on this earth really is.
Backpacking is so great for two reasons - it makes you strong and it keeps you simple.
It is not easy to carry 40 pounds or more up a mountain trail.You have to be fit, or you risk having a miserable time.Backpacking fitness means strengthening your back and legs.There are few shortcuts to this.To be prepared for carrying heavy loads, you must carry heavy loads.
My way of doing this is to take frequent walks, always with 37 pounds of dumbbells in a stuff sack in my frame backpack.I do this throughout the year, even in the off season.I have seen my body strengthen to the point that it feels odd not to have my weighted pack on. While a few years ago I would get sore legs from walking with the weight, it now feels totally normal.
What I love about backpacking more than anything is the simplicity - of foregoing all the luxuries of city and domestic life for the ability to pay close attention to what a day is really like - the mystery of sunset and night, the awakening and uplift of dawn and morning, the beauty of a mountain day.
That is probably why my days in the wilderness always seem like the best of my life. It is as if I coast along until I get to be up in the high country,\n where I really start to live.
The copyright of the article Simplicity of Backpacking in Backpacking, Hiking & Camping is owned by James E. Ratzloff. Permission to republish Simplicity of Backpacking in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
