My Beginner Trail Lessons: Part 1

Intro

Almost 10 years ago, back in August 2010, my brother and I did a day hike to Table Mountain in the Teton Range in Wyoming. Little did I know what that would lead to a few years later. It took a few years due to my job situation, but in July of 2014 my brother and I did our first true backpacking trip. We have done a backpacking trip each year since, and each of the last couple years I have been able to do a solo trip as well. Back in early May a thought crossed my mind that it would be fun to put together a blog series about lessons learned on trips so far as I get ready for my two big trips this year, and thus this blog series was born. There have been lots and lots of lessons learned, but this series just tries to capture the main ones from each trip. I hope you enjoy, and hopefully at least one of these will help you out on your backpacking journeys. 

August 2010 – Table Mountain – Teton Range, WY

This was a pretty straightforward and short day hike that went off without any big problems. I have since learned to be very thankful when hikes go to plan, as I have had several that have not. My main takeaway from this trip: a simple day hike may very well plant the seed that eventually grows into the desire to get into backpacking. I don’t think I had given backpacking a whole lot of thought before this trip, but I credit this trip for being a big part of getting me into backpacking. It is similar to what happened to me with running. I started out doing sprints for track, got convinced to do cross country in high school, ended up eventually doing a half marathon, and then finally did a full marathon. Haha. If you are interested in backpacking, day hikes can be a great way to “get your feet wet” and see if it’s something you would like to pursue. 

Also, if I remember correctly, I gave my brother grief about how he was crossing a creek on this trip, and then I ended up being the one to fall in. Haha. So be careful about what kind of advice you dish out.