Wilderness backpacking blog, adventure and Real camping.

Within the last few years my family and I have discovered that wilderness backpacking trips are a wonderful activity. We are by no means expect outdoorsman but with some careful planning and appropriate supplies we have gone on quit a few adventures already and look forward to what the future holds. I plan on going into greater detail of each trip so far in future posts. For now I'm just giving an overview.

When I first started talking of our camping trips to people I quickly realized that I have to use the term backpacking. Peoples idea of camping around here seems to be setting up a tent 15 feet from your car in an RV park. While there may be good reason for some people to do this I just don't see it, for a number of reasons.

The first reason is cost. though it's cheaper than a hotel room, there is still a cost to stay. For a little bit more I would rather have a soft bed, my own bathroom to use and a television.

The second reason is really a question... Why? Why would anyone want to sleep in an uncomfortable place, with shared restrooms, no view, and a thin walled tent that allows you to hear every drunken bellow of your fellow "campers" til the early morning.

Lastly is location. While I have seen many RV parks near the locations we start our trips the actual park for camping is nothing great.

I could go on but I think you see my point. Of course many people don't like camping if they think this is what camping is.

What do I think camping is? Easy, getting out into nature away from other people and hopefully seeing something you haven't seen before and many other people will never see. This is what makes it worth it. This is why we carry 5 days worth of supplies on our backs to sleep on a tiny mat in whatever weather may come. Because we are somewhere unique, because around every turn is a new surprise and because every step leads to adventure. This is what makes camping fun. This is what the people at the RV parks are missing.

When my family goes on a backpacking adventure there are some key thing we bring.

First, every one carries a backpack. Yes even the children. They don't carry as much but I think it's important for them to help and for them to feel important. They may carry a part of the tent, or our water.

Our supplies include food, a tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, cooking supplies, water purifier, tarp, medical kit , light, firemaking supplies and and emergency becon. It sounds like a lot but this allows us to go as far into the woods as our food supply will let us or as far as we want. Which brings me to my next point.

As I said earlier we aren't super outdoorsman. We aren't trying to set any distance record. When we take a backpacking trip the moment we step into our woods we are at our destination. That's worth saying again once the trip starts we are were we want to be the whole time. There is no reason to get sore legs by hiking the whole day. Take time for pictures. Take time to run in a stream (upvote if you catch the reference). Take time to enjoy just being at a beautiful campsite. Take some pictures. I don't think we have ever traveled more than 5 miles in a day

Throughout the next few months I'll go into to detail of our various trips with pictures and descriptions. Last year we went to North Carolina to see the eclipse and brought our 8 week old baby. We are still planning our trip for this year.

I leave you with some pictures from some previous trips.