WHO IS A BACKPACKER?

The second trip out this season was short, but sweet....but before I do a summary of that trip (got back from it yesterday evening) I want to share some of the insights that I had in a separate entry.

While walking along steadily behind my middle son, Ben, I started to think about all the different people I have backpacked with over the past five or six years.

Ben is a saunter-er. He isn't interested in high mileage days. This Son is a quality, not quantity backpacker (which makes him the perfect hiking partner for me...because I could not be a high mileage person even if I wanted to). The interesting thing about Ben though, is his "saunter" is a fast pace running for me. So I know that he holds back a lot...A LOT....for his dear old mother. But every so often he will become caught up in the beauty of the trail, or he gets sick of my silly chatter, and he will pull ahead. With in a couple of minutes he is out of sight, several bends in the path ahead of me....all without even breaking a sweat.

My Daughter Joleen is a sprinter. She has been graced with the trail name "Sea Biscuit" because she has the habit of going at a fairly steady pace all day...until she gets within a mile of where we are going to make camp for the night. Then it is off to the races! I could be laying in the trail, ripped to shreds from a bear attack, but all that would be there to help me would be Joleen's dust.

My Daughter-in-Law, Mandi, hikes in spurts. Mandi was blessed with long, beautiful, strong, legs. When she stretches out those babies....she is gone. But it isn't long before you come upon her sitting by the trail on top of her pack. I will stop and chat for a few seconds, but than I am off putting one boot in front of the other. Not too much time will go by, and then here is Mandi asking if she can pass by on the trail. Off she goes with those long legs pumping only to be passed again in a few more bends sitting on her pack.

My youngest Son, Jay, is sort of hard to describe. It all depends on what kind of a mood he is in, on how he will hike that day. If he is tired he will lag behind everyone. If he is feeling good he is out front burning up the miles. If he is troubled he hangs behind me, letting me set the pace, and we talk for hours about not much of anything. But if Jay is hungry, then everyone had better watch the hell out! He will trample you flat in the dirt to get to camp and eat.

My oldest Son, Jared, is easy going on and off the trail. Mile after mile, even if his bad knees are hurting and he is out of water, he just walks along as if he doesn't have a care in the world. I have only been on one long death march (we got lost and had to back track) with Jared....but he is someone that I would be glad to walk along with any day. The thing about Jared is: once the sun goes down he gets sort of freaky. Every sound is a threat. A hoot owl just about gave him a heart attack. As we sat around the fire he couldn't stop talking about how he was going to get a gun to hike with next time.

My husband, Jim, does not like to backpack....but we made a deal last year that if I let him buy a 50" flat screen TV he would go on a short backpack trip with me. So we now have a 50" flat screen TV hanging on our family room wall, and he has been out ONCE backpacking with me.

Jim actually did better then I thought he would, and he even admitted that he enjoyed it more then he thought he would. But than of course you need to know that I picked one of the most beautiful, and easy hikes, in all of Oregon to take him on. There was no "up" to hike....all down hill. And to top that off, there were several world class waterfalls all along the trail. So yea, I think you would have to be insane not to have have a good time on a trip like I took him on.

My Sister Betty Jo has backpacked twice with me in the past few years. Betty Jo is a great gal to hike with. Her pace is just about my pace, and she is like the Ever Ready battery bunny. She just keeps going, and going, and going. Betty Jo has a bum knee that she has to baby down the trail, but this does not keep her from putting on her boots and peeing in the bushes.

I think that completes the list of all the people I have backpacked with so far.....well there is me.

I am steady, but slow. I often think of myself as "The Little Engine That Could". I chug, chug, chug, up the grades. Steady but slow. I don't rest often because it is just too hard to get my momentum going again, so I just keep walking.

One thing I have noticed about myself, and I think perhaps this is true for a lot of backpackers:

When I first start out on a hike I think to myself, "Gosh I love this! This pack is not a problem!" Than after about two miles I am thinking, "Holy hell! Why do I like doing this? Why am I doing this?" But then something happens and I feel like a horse that settles into it's saddle..I can hike for hours, mile after mile until I finally pull into camp. I might be the last one, but I pull into camp just everyone else.

My trail name? "Tortoise"

Later this month I have planned an "all girl hike." My Daughter in Law, Jillian and her daughter Erin plus My second oldest Daughter, Jewel and her daughter Ivy, will be joining us for the first time. I am looking forward to adding them to my list of backpacking partners!

If YOU are ever willing, and able, come and join the list of my backpack buddies.