Tell me what's great about Backpacking?

[LivingToCamp]

I've been camping a lot over the years but never backpacking. I was wondering if all you backpacking enthusiast could tell me what you find great about it? I'm thinking of giving it a try.

[steves]

Freedom,solitude,serenity.
(It's kinda like that guy who said I can't define pornography, but I know it when I see it)

Give it a try, what do you have to loose besides a week in the rat race!!

[Lorax]

Going places the crowds can't get to.
Solitude if you want it, or it's great with a few friends.
It hones the skills of adaptability and awareness.
It forces you to slow it down and take it all in.
It allows you to get out in all seasons.
Tweaking your gear to fit situations is fun.
You can hammock, tent or tarp....switch it up for different types of trips.
It's cheap and healthy.
You can bring fishing equipment and get way back in where others won't go.
and most of all..................

Is there anything better than a walk in the woods?

[gregkthompson]

Think of hiking, how much do you love it. Its like an overnight hike trip with sleep.

[IndianaHiker]

All of the above. Plus imagine camping someplace without the crowd and noise of a camp ground.

Plus see if this give you a better idea.
Red River Gorge Eastern Ky

[Lamebeaver]

Great comments so far. One more thing, it's easier. Less stuff to pack, less laundry when you get home.

[ghostdog]

The man who goes afoot, prepared to camp anywhere and in any weather, is the most independent fellow on earth. He can follow his bent, obey the whim of the hour, do what he pleases whenever he pleases, without deference to anybody, or care for any beast of burden or obedience to the course of any current. He is footloose and free. Where neither horse nor boat can go, he can go, seeing country that no other kind of traveler ever sees. And it is just these otherwise inaccessible places that have the strongest lure for anyone who delights in new discovery, in unspoiled nature, and in the charms of primitive society. –Horace Kephart 1906

Horace said it well over 100 years ago.

I simply revel in the desert earth and its own kind of solitude. Off the beaten path, I have stood beneath lost 3000 year old ancient works of art with no footprints below, gone in the eerie, beautiful vast spaces where ravens speak to each other in strange languages while beak to beak and burning meteors singe the sky. I have seen pronghorn antelope sweep the desert at 60 mph, a thing that seems impossible even when one does see it. I have placed my hands and fingers in three toed dinosaur tracks, lost since time immortal and have felt where their rounded toes pushed down into the mud. I know strange landscapes littered with painted pottery shards, projectile points and the enigmatic moki marbles. None of these things appeared near a trail or a road and none had water sources nearby. Though I am not some brave super hiker and know these places can kill, they provide a space for me to explore and simply breathe.


I like the Spartan minimal lifestyle too.

[Grandpa]

All the above. How would you like to take a 50 mile walk on a trail that sees maybe 10 people a year, through virgin forests along crystal clear creeks and rivers, with the possibility of meeting a bear, or moose, or elk, or any number of other critters?

[HikerJoe]

Killer views, solitude, great exercise, sunsets, sunrises, wondering if that noise was the wind, a rogue bear or the guys from Deliverance. Priceless.

[IndianaHiker]

Originally Posted by HikerJoe

if that noise was the wind, a rogue bear or the guys from Deliverance. Priceless.

"Walker faster I hear banjos!!"