The Modern Backpacker’s Handbook

When reading the book The Modern Backpacker’s Handbook I believed the author had perfectly described for me the appealing side of hiking and camping. “Backpacking offers an abundance of life’s most repeatable pleasures, the ones that never grow stale: resting when you’re tired, eating when you’re hungry, drinking when you’re thirsty.” When I read this, it seemed exactly what drew me to the outdoors. Maybe it is the act of being deprived of these basic needs, that make them that much more rewarding to get. However, I realized that this was not truly the reason I liked hiking. When I think back to my favorite hikes, there are two things that I remember first: who I hiked with, and what I got to witness. When I look back on all the hikes I’ve been on, I realize the ones that are my favorite are the ones in which I was able to share the experience, or when I was able to witness something truly unexpected.

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