Your first backpacking trip

[longri]

What was your first ever backpacking trip?
What got you into it all?
Where you pushed by parents or friends?
Did you make any huge mistakes that first time?
What was dumbest thing you took?
Imagine that I care more about your response than you do.

[Jimr]

I was 13 and I went to Blue Lake out of Sabrina Basin with my uncle and his roommate. I loved fishing since I was 5, so when my uncle approached my dad for permission to take me, I was in. His roommate packed an inflatable raft and we divied up most of his gear so he could carry the 3 man raft. We camped on the island. It was not restricted at that time. We spent 2 days floating around the lake catching fish. I still remember we caught 33 trout in 2 days on a worm and flasher combo. Rainbow and brookies. I didn't need to be pushed. At 13 on the first trip where you know nothing, there are no mistakes that I could make. I was following what I was being taught. One thing that I thought was a mistake was this; it was around the time that the permit system was being established. When we got to the TH, there was a sign that said we needed a permit, so roommate and I waited at the TH while my uncle went back down to Bishop to secure a permit. While waiting, a group of hippies (typical 20ish of the time) passed us and one went on about the wild currant and they harvested and ate some on the way by. I was curious, so I picked 3 and ate them. During the trip, I would get nauseous and throw up once during the evening. For decades, I thought it was because of the berries. It wasn't until 2014 when I took my son to Paiute pass and he suffered from AMS that I realized that my symptoms were more likely due to altitude than to berries. My gear was all packed for me, so I had what I had. My biggest nemesis was the waist strap on the old boy scout back pack. It was miserable.

[markskor]

Second oldest of 5 kids, sweltering in the San Fernando Valley, and I knew absolutely nothing about backpacking. (Back in the Middle Ages now), then a junior in a Catholic High School, one of the outdoor-type teacher-brothers arranged a summer, ersatz, 5-leg, segmented, JMT, group hike thing. It cost $100 a week and only provide your own boots. Food pre-paid and pre-packaged, weeks chosen, organized...Kelty backpacks, tube tents, and cheap sleeping bags passed on each week, parents arguing over shuttle schedules ...there were to be 10 kids and 3 adults on each leg. Sounded cool. Starting in the Valley, my very first backpacking steps were up the Mist...did the Half Dome cables the next day.

Week two, the second leg, the Reds Meadow hand-off - plan provided one layover day where 10 new hikers were to be shuttled up from LA/ trade backpacks/ continue on while the first 10 kids went home...but only 8 new kids showed. (Go Figure!)

"Anybody want to go on the next leg for free?" Long story short, 4 weeks later was having a Portal Burger.

[balzaccom]

I was 12, and my family was camped with another family in Kings Canyon. My 16 year old sister and a friend or hers wanted to go backpacking to Paradise Valley, and I tagged along---maybe as the "protector" but more likely to get me out of camp. My dad by then had stopped working as a State Park Ranger, but rigged up a pretty primitive kit for us---my backpack was a pair of his jeans, legs looped through the belt loops, and the torso held my sleeping bag and clothes. It was a simple overnight, and we had a great time. We slept in a tent my sister carried, built a fire, cooked dinner and breakfast, and hiked back to the campground the next day. Didn't see another soul, even though this would have been in August. But August of about 1963...

[cloudlesssky]

I was about 13. A good friend's family and the family next door backpacked regularly and I always thought it would be cool. My family camped infrequently and never went hiking. I saved money from my paper route and bought a backpack, sleeping bag and assorted gear. My friend and I (he was a year older) planned the trip thoroughly and our parents let us go, just the two of us. We were out for 4 days near lake 6 of the Big Pine lakes (it had fish not frogs back then). Today it would be considered parental neglect but times were different in so many ways. Our biggest mistake was taking too much stuff. I think our packs weighed something like 55+ lbs. I remember getting really bad blisters so it was a good thing I'd packed thongs and we had a few days to let them heal a bit. I don't remember regretting anything I took, but it's funny to recall that we brought fresh eggs, frozen hamburger loafs wrapped in foil to stick in the fire, etc. We ate like kings. A couple years ago I went back to the spot we'd camped in for those nights.

[maverick]

http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... art#p39352

[tlsharb]

I grew up in the shadow of the Sierra (Hanford), and as a family we camped often in Yosemite and Sequoia. Having an older brother who was an Explorer Scout, I watched him head out every summer to do the 100 mile backpacking trip. When I was 12 I got invited to join my brother, dad, and a friend to do my first trip. We headed into Heather Lake in Sequoia. My motivation was one thing-- fishing. At that age I had no appreciation for scenery, wilderness, etc. I just wanted to catch fish. So, how was the fishing? Terrible. I caught one fish in three days. But that began a lifelong love of throwing on a pack and heading into the woods. Did we make mistakes on that trip? How would I know? I had nothing to compare it to. Looking back on those early years, we sure did take way more stuff than I do now. The weekend 45+Lb. pack has now been replaced by the 30 lb weeklong pack. Quite a difference.

[longri]

http://www.highsierratopix.com/communit ... art#p39352

Before posting I searched the site as I expected to find a thread (probably started by you) on this subject. But my search keywords weren't well enough chosen to unearth a thread named "When, and where did it all start?".

Maybe I should try a different tack:

"When, and where, do you think it will all end?"

[Wandering Daisy]

Longri- I think your question is very specific- "first" backpack trip. Mav's thread is more general. So I will answer your specific question.

My first backpack was (when I was 16) a weekend snow practice that was part of the 6-week Spokane Mountaineers climbing school (which you were required to attend and pass before you could go on any club trips). Our "textbook" was "Mountaineering Freedom of the Hills". We did a lot of class time learning everything about backpacking and day trips for technical climbing stuff. But this was my first overnight backpack. I used my brother's old boy scout pack, Redwing work boots that were re-soled in Vibrum, my Mom sewed a rain jacket and knit wool socks for me, got wool pants shirt and sweater at Goodwill, and someone from the club loaned me a sleeping bag and pad, ice axe and crampons. I tented with an older woman who was very kind to me. We built a platform on snow so my first backpack was snow camping! The location was up near Lookout Pass in the Idaho panhandle. The days were spent practicing falling and self arrest, roped climbing with boot-axe belay, crampon use, etc. My pack was not that heavy because we students were not allowed to take any extras. Climbers were pretty minimalist on their backpack gear in those days, because you needed to carry lots of heavy climbing gear. We were still using the old braided nylon ropes. After I "passed" Mountain School, my second backpack was climbing Mt. Rainier! Nothing like jumping in the deep end head first.

[AlmostThere]

My first trip was when I was 12, accompanied by the whiny kid brother and my parents, into the Emigrant Wilderness. Eaten by mosquitoes, awakened by skinny-dipping boyscouts at midnight, lost off the trail and found it again, wandered through all the lakes and came back out sunburnt, bugbit and tired.

My second first trip, with a gap of about 15 years between the first round of trips and the second, I wore a new backpack, new shoes, took a hammock and quilt, took an alcohol stove, skipped the filter cause I hadn't bought one yet, and tackled the 10 hot miles to Sykes with the idea that a well traveled route would be safer. The shoes and pack were the wrong size. I ran out of stove fuel. It was freezing cold at night, but I slept well enough - the hammock worked great. I used a blue foam pad. My back was killing me, I failed to hydrate properly, and my feet were covered with blisters. When I got home (miraculously, I was still severely dehydrated and never remembered the actual drive after stumbling, crying, weaving and then collapsing in the parking lot next to the car) I discovered an embedded tick and went to the ER. No insurance, it took a couple years to pay for the visit. 24 hours later I was back in an urgent care with a rapidly spreading rash, for IV antibiotics and a doxycycline scrip.

I learned that people won't stop to ask you if you're ok. I learned what I shouldn't do, and that even if you day hike with full backpacks, it isn't real until you have all the gear and go more than five miles and spend the night. I learned to drink more water and plan better. I learned to ignore salespeople who think they know what fits you -- it took three more (wrong) pack fittings to figure out that EVERYONE thought I needed a medium pack, and most brands I require a small if not an extra small - one whole inch can make a difference! I learned to know what correctly sized shoes feel like on my feet, and ignore gender-branded gear if the men's works better. SO many things other people told me was wrong... So I don't mind a bit if someone wants to ignore my advice. EVERYONE is an "experienced backpacker." You'll know when you are one... you are the only one who needs to know that.