One year ago today I had just graduated from college, done a decent job of packing my possessions into a storage unit, and boarded a plane to Texas with Jeff to start our incredible backpacking-road trip around the Western United States.
I wasn't sure what to expect, having never been to Texas, having been bowled over with the simultaneity of life-changing events, and having not actually planned out much of the coming 8 weeks. We knew a few things: we had permits to hike in Paria Canyon June 1-4; we wanted to come down the Zion narrows; we wanted to go to Idaho, Yellowstone, and Montana; and we knew where friends and relatives with open stretches of bed/couch/floor/patio were located.
At the time, the extent of my backpacking was limited to five 4-day, 3-night trips through our college outdoor orientation program (2 more trips done on the planning side) in New York's Catskill Mountains, and one 3-day, 2-night trip in Haleakala Crater on Maui four months prior. I had been camping literally since before I could remember, but either car-camping or having my dad carry all our family's stuff. This trip, I knew, would require me to combine any and all outdoor know-how I had acquired and apply it firsthand as I was about to more than double my backpacking experience.
I wasn't sure what to expect, having never been to Texas, having been bowled over with the simultaneity of life-changing events, and having not actually planned out much of the coming 8 weeks. We knew a few things: we had permits to hike in Paria Canyon June 1-4; we wanted to come down the Zion narrows; we wanted to go to Idaho, Yellowstone, and Montana; and we knew where friends and relatives with open stretches of bed/couch/floor/patio were located.
At the time, the extent of my backpacking was limited to five 4-day, 3-night trips through our college outdoor orientation program (2 more trips done on the planning side) in New York's Catskill Mountains, and one 3-day, 2-night trip in Haleakala Crater on Maui four months prior. I had been camping literally since before I could remember, but either car-camping or having my dad carry all our family's stuff. This trip, I knew, would require me to combine any and all outdoor know-how I had acquired and apply it firsthand as I was about to more than double my backpacking experience.
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