Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Grab your bear can or camp chair, kick your feet up and chew the fat about anything Sierra Nevada related that doesn't quite fit in any of the other forums. Within reason, (and the HST rules and guidelines) this is also an anything goes forum. Tell stories, discuss wilderness issues, music, or whatever else the High Sierra stirs up in your mind.
User avatar
bobby49
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1225
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2017 4:17 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Post by bobby49 »

I got into the outdoors as a fresh U.S. Army draftee. We ran around in Basic Training, slept out in the woods, and got started outdoors. Then in Advanced Infantry Training, the outdoors experience became more natural, especially during Escape and Evasion practice. Overseas, we had to spend a lot of time out there. Once I finished my Army years, I didn't want anything to do with the outdoors. Then it came back, and I started seeking outdoor experiences of all kinds.
User avatar
rightstar76
Topix Expert
Posts: 776
Joined: Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:22 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Post by rightstar76 »

AlmostThere wrote: Wed Mar 20, 2019 8:18 am One of the better things my family did for me, though they didn't think about it that way, was spend our summers out there - created a norm that included a feeling of "home" for us that connected us to the outdoors. You need to go and KEEP GOING to have that feeling. You have to train the part of the brain that keeps us on edge while we are in a new place that this is a safe place, it's ok, to have the full measure of peace.
AlmostThere, wow! You outdid yourself. This is so amazing. So candid. Vivid. Real.
You developed a sense of home in your mind so being outside in the wilderness felt safe and peaceful. That is incredible!

Thanks so much for sharing this with us. :)
User avatar
AlmostThere
Topix Addict
Posts: 2724
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:38 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Post by AlmostThere »

rightstar76 wrote: Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:35 pm
AlmostThere wrote: Wed Mar 20, 2019 8:18 am One of the better things my family did for me, though they didn't think about it that way, was spend our summers out there - created a norm that included a feeling of "home" for us that connected us to the outdoors. You need to go and KEEP GOING to have that feeling. You have to train the part of the brain that keeps us on edge while we are in a new place that this is a safe place, it's ok, to have the full measure of peace.
AlmostThere, wow! You outdid yourself. This is so amazing. So candid. Vivid. Real.
You developed a sense of home in your mind so being outside in the wilderness felt safe and peaceful. That is incredible!

Thanks so much for sharing this with us. :)
People do this all the time. I am not at all unique in this... we all do this. It's why we have soldiers, EMTs and police, pilots and big wall climbers. The human brain is trainable. No surprise there.

Also, the wilderness often does not contain the triggers for trauma that society inflicts. That is another path to peace. So being cold and uncomfortable but free from the demons that chase you is another piece of a bigger puzzle for many. Have had clients who are on edge all their lives, until they are outdoors in the trees, far from ... people.
User avatar
limpingcrab
Topix Regular
Posts: 368
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:38 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Minkler, CA
Contact:

Re: Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Post by limpingcrab »

For instagram!
User avatar
Jimr
Forums Moderator
Forums Moderator
Posts: 2175
Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2009 2:14 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Torrance

Re: Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Post by Jimr »

AlmostThere wrote: Wed Mar 20, 2019 8:18 am There is, as I explain ad infinitum to clients, a difference between the healthy sort of concern one should generally have in certain situations, and FEAR. Fear is a BAD thing to have in a complex sort of situation and a good thing to have when it's very straightforward, ie a predator is chasing you. If you are sitting there with someone having some sort of medical crisis, OTOH, you need the opposite, you need calm and rational. The chemistry of fear shuts down calm and rational and leads to mistakes.
This is the difference between reasonable fear and bare fear. Reasonable fear is the body's response to the realization that something either is about to happen or is, in fact, happening. Bare fear is the body's response to "Oh my God, what if...." and has no basis in reality. One can save your life and one can end your life.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
User avatar
creekfeet
Topix Regular
Posts: 155
Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2014 11:54 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Post by creekfeet »

My two biggest hobbies are surfing and backpacking. If someone had been living under a rock and saw someone surfing for the first the time, I don't see how they could think it looked liked anything less than the most fun thing in the world. If that same person saw someone backpacking, I don't see how they could think it looked like anything less than a living hell.
User avatar
mrphil
Topix Regular
Posts: 309
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 12:04 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Post by mrphil »

We just got out there because it was the best and only way to see more. It soothes my soul, and I really need that. My "bucket list" does not include thousands of others around me jockeying for advantage or position, and if strapping on a pack is how I can make that happen, so be it. I just want my own little slice of the world for a little while.
User avatar
rightstar76
Topix Expert
Posts: 776
Joined: Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:22 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Post by rightstar76 »

Nice article about why some people thru-hike the JMT. But could also be why some people go backpacking anyplace and regardless of length. A religious and/or spiritual experience:

Thru-hiking the John Muir Trail as a modern pilgrimage: implications for natural resource management
https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/201 ... as_002.pdf

This passage from Jeffrey Schaffer's Hiking the Big Sur Country: The Ventana Wilderness (Page 19) came to my mind when thinking about this:
...walking through a stand of these lofty pines was a pleasant, almost religious, experience.
User avatar
balzaccom
Topix Addict
Posts: 2952
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:22 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Post by balzaccom »

I'm a bit like AT on this one. My dad was a schoolteacher who loved the outdoors. And when I was little he (and we) were spending each summer up in the mountains at a state park, where he worked as a ranger. It was heaven. Took my first long hike on my mother's hip when I was less than one year old. Took my first backpacking trip with my older sister and a friend of hers when I was 12 and she was 16. We grew up thinking that the rest of the year was what we did so that we could spend summers in the mountains. I still think that way--but I'm retired, so I get to go there any time I want.

BTW--I loved creekfeet's comment about surfing and backpacking---although since I grew up in Northern California, surfing has always seemed like a really fun way to go hypothermic really fast...
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-R ... 0984884963
User avatar
oldranger
Topix Addict
Posts: 2861
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:18 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Bend, Oregon

Re: Why Do You Want To Backpack Then?

Post by oldranger »

because that is when I am most comfortable.
Mike

Who can't do everything he used to and what he can do takes a hell of a lot longer!
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 49 guests