Origin Stories of Backcountrypost.com

Ben

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I liked the Careers of... thread so much, it made me want to do an other.

How did you first come to the outdoors?
How did you get started.
Or, alternatively, how did you come to the interest that you now have in it? What led you to outdoor recreation being big enough in your life that you spend your time not in the backcountry frequenting a forum about the backcountry.


I remember the first time that i ever went to the wilderness. I must have been about four years old, because i remember that I hadn't started school yet, but i was old enough to walk a mile or more on my own. My Dad walked with me just to the Sawtooth wilderness boundary. There was a sign there, marking it. And I remember that he told me what wilderness was. A place without motors, etc. I thought it was a cool idea. There was also a giant rock there that i climbed on top of. And i remember that i had a box of raisins as a snack. It's more detailed than most of my memories from that long ago. My Dad might be entirely responsible for my relationship with the outdoors. When i was a little older he started taking me and my brothers backpacking. It's difficult to say if i would have come to it without him.
After high school there were a few years that i didn't get out as much. Distracted by having a girlfriend, or a job, or what ever. I didn't realize what was really important. Then one year, i payed off my car, and had some time that i didn't have to work. So i did a two week backpacking trip. And it was really that trip that led me to realize how much i loved backpacking, and took me to where i am now, where all i'm really working toward is getting out more. That made it a focus in my life.

Any way. I know that not every one grew up with this like i did. I've talked to some people, and their stories always interest me, either way. Lets hear some others?
 
Grew up taking walks through mid-nowhere with my Dad and the rest of the fam. Spent tons of time in national parks and other points of interest, but Dad taught us to appreciate the places in between. The majority of empty open land isn't a destination for travelers and doesn't get many visitors. There is plenty of interesting stuff to find that doesn't get seen often. Dad knew all the local old timers and was always taking us out to find something cool on an unknown hill somewhere behind over there; something that an old cowboy or miner had told him about. I'd have to say I relate to @Udink trip reports the most... similar to our old adventures in spirit and execution.

I find time to do the same kind of excursions these days with my family. I live far away from where I grew up, but I've still made it a point to find the old time locals and make friends, get to know the history. It's been very rewarding.
 
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As a kid my grandparents had a cabin on a wilderness lake in northern Wisconsin. We would spend a few weeks there a year, fishing, hiking and exploring. So I grew up learning about nature and wildlife and just was happiest when in it. We would also drive out and camp in the BWCA of northern Minnesota and I remember just falling in love with the solitude and silence. Sadly when I was 18 my grandparents sold the cabin as it was becoming a bit of a chore for them to keep up and running as they got older. They got to do a bunch of world traveling after that too so I understand why they did it. Anyway I had to look to other means to get out into the middle of the woods. First started car camping in Wisconsin and Michigan and at some point in college decided I wanted to give backpacking a try. Got some super cheap gear for Christmas and was able to talk some friends into going with me to the smokies the weekend after we graduated. The trip didn't go great, it rained a ton and was so much harder than we were expecting but I was hooked. The next year I went west of Minnesota for the first time, to Glacier NP and was absolutely amazed by the beauty there is out west and I haven't been able to stop going since.

Four years later I'm still going but I am only really able to get out on a nice long trip once a year as there aren't many great places around Chicago to go. So to pass the time I spend a lot of time reading on here and watching videos on youtube, mostly Joey's awesome trips. Looks like this year I'll be able to go on two trips out west so pretty pumped for that!
 
Growing up in SW Montana, I totally took for granted how great we have it. We have wilderness and national forest completely surrounding us. My dad would take us camping and hunting when we were kids, but I just never really enjoyed it all that much. To this day, I still don't like hunting. I have nothing against people that do like to hunt, it was just never my "thing", you know? So, I would go camping with my family, and every now and then would do some fly fishing, but just never really saw myself as that "outdoorsy" person.

Then, I got a job out of college in Southern California and moved there for almost 4 years. It was like all of a sudden I realized what I was missing once I was away from it. I couldn't wait to come back to Montana and really appreciate everything we have out our back door.

So, when my daughter was born we moved back to Montana and have been here since. It started with me really getting into fly fishing and has evolved from there. Every chance I had, I would be on the river fishing. Then, I picked up a few guide books that gave me some mountain lakes to hike to and fish. Then, I got to the point where I would get to the lake and decide to not even fish, but instead to try climbing a peak nearby. Now, it seems most of my trips have a summit as a destination, although not all. It is definitely an ever-evolving obsession, being in the outdoors. :)
 
Such a great idea, Ben. Loving these threads. Lots of interesting people on here with interesting experiences.

Mine is less of a single experience. I was born and raised in central Indiana, so there wasn't much hiking to do nearby. My parents weren't big on hiking, and they reeeally didn't like camping, so my outdoors experiences from then were self-instigated or planned with friends. I ran cross country in high school, and sometimes a few friends and I would skip practice and go float and swim down the river north of town. I also had a road bike and liked to get out to the country alone and ride, so I think these kinds of activities helped give me an appreciation for solitude and nature, even though it wasn't wilderness by any means. One experience from Indiana that really had an effect on me was one time camping with friends. We were in the hills of southern Indiana on a friend of a friend's undeveloped forest property, and we had gone for a long ride on the road bikes that day. We slept outside on some picnic tables at the edge of the woods. A hard frost fell overnight, so we were freezing, and we were awoken at 3 a.m. by coyotes very nearby, yipping, barking, and howling. It was spooky, but we loved it. Made me feel alive. Here's a picture from one of those cycling/camping trips in the hills:
P5280165.JPG

Another factor was that half of my extended family lived and continues to live in Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. My maternal grandmother's family ran an inn in West Yellowstone in the mid to late 1950s, and my maternal grandfather spent decades hiking and camping in the mountains in that area. As a result, my mom's family has always had a close tie with the Yellowstone region, and that has naturally extended to me. I brought 2 friends out to Montana from Indiana after graduating from high school, and we stayed with my grandparents at their cabin in the Madison Valley. My grandfather took us around and gave us the trip of a lifetime. We saw the Little Bighorn Battlefield, built fence with ranchers out in the Centennial Valley, hiked up Beaver Creek, spent a day in Yellowstone, went horseback riding in the hills outside West Yellowstone, and visited Virginia City and Lewis and Clark Caverns.

A couple photos from that trip to MT:
P6290292.JPG P6230063.JPG

Since moving to Utah in 2010, I've tried to get out and hike as often as I can, probably thanks to those experiences above. Only within the last few years did I take up backpacking though. I was hesitant to because I wasn't sure I liked camping. That's all changed now, of course.
 
Such a great idea, Ben. Loving these threads. Lots of interesting people on here with interesting experiences.

Mine is less of a single experience. I was born and raised in central Indiana, so there wasn't much hiking to do nearby. My parents weren't big on hiking, and they reeeally didn't like camping, so my outdoors experiences from then were self-instigated or planned with friends. I ran cross country in high school, and sometimes a few friends and I would skip practice and go float and swim down the river north of town. I also had a road bike and liked to get out to the country alone and ride, so I think these kinds of activities helped give me an appreciation for solitude and nature, even though it wasn't wilderness by any means. One experience from Indiana that really had an effect on me was one time camping with friends. We were in the hills of southern Indiana on a friend of a friend's undeveloped forest property, and we had gone for a long ride on the road bikes that day. We slept outside on some picnic tables at the edge of the woods. A hard frost fell overnight, so we were freezing, and we were awoken at 3 a.m. by coyotes very nearby, yipping, barking, and howling. It was spooky, but we loved it. Made me feel alive. Here's a picture from one of those cycling/camping trips in the hills:
View attachment 61589

Another factor was that half of my extended family lived and continues to live in Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. My maternal grandmother's family ran an inn in West Yellowstone in the mid to late 1950s, and my maternal grandfather spent decades hiking and camping in the mountains in that area. As a result, my mom's family has always had a close tie with the Yellowstone region, and that has naturally extended to me. I brought 2 friends out to Montana from Indiana after graduating from high school, and we stayed with my grandparents at their cabin in the Madison Valley. My grandfather took us around and gave us the trip of a lifetime. We saw the Little Bighorn Battlefield, built fence with ranchers out in the Centennial Valley, hiked up Beaver Creek, spent a day in Yellowstone, went horseback riding in the hills outside West Yellowstone, and visited Virginia City and Lewis and Clark Caverns.

A couple photos from that trip to MT:
View attachment 61601 View attachment 61602

Since moving to Utah in 2010, I've tried to get out and hike as often as I can, probably thanks to those experiences above. Only within the last few years did I take up backpacking though. I was hesitant to because I wasn't sure I liked camping. That's all changed now, of course.

I love these stories, of people who found the outdoors, more than growing up in it.
 
I had a couple different things that got me outdoors. One of the first ones was scouts. I enjoyed all the different things that I got to experience there. Second would have to be going camping with friends in high school. My family moved to a smaller town when I was in high school, and my new friends were always camping. It seemed like every weekend we would head off into the mountains and go explore. Then when I went to Southern Utah University I was exposed to a whole lot more of the outdoors. I took a backpacking class and I was hooked. In that class I met people who introduced me to climbing and canyoneering. Now every chance I get I am trying to get outside. It's funny because my parents would never go camping. They took us to the National Parks, but their version of camping was a KOA or a hotel.
 
Ben, what a Great Idea! Am loving these threads.

Now as for myself, guess you might say I was born with the mountains in my blood. I was born in Denver, Colorado within sight of the Rockies back in 1956. But Colorado back then was not how it is today but was like another state without all the ski areas and resorts cluttering the mountains. And Denver back then was like a large town then the big city it is today. And when I was a kid, my family was always going up into the mountains camping. My father loved loved to fly fish. So we were always somewhere up in the mountains camping, then eating the fresh trout right out of the streams into the frying pan at night. The main place we went to for years and years was in the Glenwood Springs area. I can still remember Colorado as it was without Vail, without Lake Dillon, No I-70 and such. My father worked for Shell and some years later my father was transferred to Houston, Texas. I never got the fishing bug as much of my family did. When camping I was always out exploring, watching the birds and catching snakes. Now once we got to Texas, there was a nice patch of woods right up the street. And whenever not in school was up there wandering around in the woods and of course ... catching snakes. And also my family whenever the summer vacation time came around, the car would be packed up and then off to Colorado to camp and fish. And my mother also was from idaho, so at times we would end up there in Idaho also.

But in Houston, as the years past, I got caught up in a local church down in Houston. So by the time the mid 70s came around, I ended up helping a missionary down deep in Mexico for awhile. But at times would go out hiking and birdwatching. Now my brother became the first actual backpacker in the family. Back in the mid 70s, my brother had attended several NOLS courses out of Lander, Wyoming. Something happened with me during the winter of 1977 -1978. It came to be that all I could think about was going back up to Colorado and hike / wander all summer long all by my lonesome. So the summer of 1978 came and off I went to Colorado. The trip lasted for 3 months hiking and traveling all around Colorado. In this first summer hiking, i was only 21 years old. I hiked and traveled all over included also in the Uinta's in Utah. My longest actual hike was a 10 day hike between towns in the Weminuche in Southwest Colorado. And I loved Telluride! I Absolutely Loved IT! Then it came to be the next summer in 1979. And it just had to be with all I could think of was back off to Colorado for the summer to hike and wander. This time I spent 4 months in Colorado and some in nearby Utah. Again I absolutely loved it! In this summer spent days in the San Juans, the Gore Range, the Indian Peaks area, Mt. of the Holy Cross area, the Flat Tops and so much more. Guess after this second summer was hooked for life! I went back to Colorado in 1980, then Yellowstone and the Wind Rivers in 1981, Yellowstone with the Absarokas and the Thorofare in 1982, Glacier and the Bob Marshall wilds in 1983 and on. And now 40 years later am still heading out. It has been a most amazing adventure bigtime. There is just sooooo much country out there. As now as I get older, am now 61, it is not what I have seen and experienced .... but what I have not seen and experienced. And it all began on that first summer of 1978 with heading to Colorado. Also am eternally grateful to my parents who raised me right for when I was just a small small kid, taking me camping up in the Colorado Rockies and eating those fish straight out of those creeks.

Hope this is not too long. Wishing Everyone the best!
 
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Sounds like many of you were introduced to the outdoors at an early age. That was not the case for me. Here's the brief story on how I ended up here. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and my parents never took me camping or to National Parks or anything like that, and to honest, if they had I probably would have hated it and made it miserable for them. In the end, I'm actually glad I found that I enjoyed the outdoors on my own without any outside influences pushing me that way. My story actually starts in my early 20's when I wanted and purchased a Jeep Cherokee. I did a lot of four-wheeling and rock-crawling all over the country with it and fell in love with the area around Moab (that's why I ended up living in Grand Junction). When I was tired of constantly breaking and fixing my Jeep on difficult trails, I purchased another Jeep Cherokee and kept it mild so I could explore the easier and scenic backcountry roads. Driving these roads led me to camping more, photography, hiking, backpacking, etc... Now I prefer to hike and backpack, but still enjoy a scenic backcountry drive.
 
As a kid, I loved camping and being in the outdoors. The summer of 1980
I slept outside in the backyard every single night from the first day of summer
until school started and my mother made me come back inside.

Then I moved into my teenage years and lost the love of the outdoors.

Fast forward to 2012. I was invited to go on a 50-mile backpacking trip
through the Wind Rivers. It ended up I was unable to go due to personal
reasons and I was pretty upset about it. That November I thought, I'll
just plan my own backpacking trip. I'll take my kids and we'll have a
family adventure.

So early part of 2013 I started outfitting the family with all the gear I
thought we would need. With more experience now I laugh at some
of the things I bought. In the route research phase, I stumbled across BCP.
I signed up and sent Nick a question about some locations and he answered
me, pretty quickly if I remember right. I was so impressed with his knowledge
and how personal he was. BCP became my favorite place on the web.

I mention the BCP part because, for me, it was instrumental in falling in love with
backpacking and outdoor adventures. I fell in love with the planning and
anticipation of a trip. I fell in love with seeing the beautiful pictures and
reading the amazing adventures. I wanted to do all the great stuff I saw here.
Over the last 4 summers I've got 20 something nights in the Uintas and as
many or more nights in the Utah deserts.

It's become a part of my identity.

Now I take a group of teenagers on an adventure every year. I love the
life lessons that the kids learn. I got together with some of them recently
and it didn't take long for someone to say, "remember when we . . . "

My kids are growing up and starting their own families. My motivation
now is to be able to take my future grandchildren backpacking and share
with them the same experiences.

Thanks to Nick and all of you have shared your experience with me. You
have shaped the course of the McArthur family, hopefully for generations
to come.
 
I was lucky enough to have been raised in one of the more remote parts of the country, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in a little town at the head of Keweenaw Bay. My home was about a quarter mile from Lake Superior, itself fed by the Ralls River, also about a quarter mile from my house. Most of my childhood summers were spent either in the lake or the woods, and just as often on bikes, but there were two fields close to my house where could run around with my dog.

When I was in fifth grace I had a reading assignment where I first remember reading about Old Faithful and Yellowstone National Park, and I told myself that I would one day go there. As an adult I hesitated to travel, because I was single and thought that travel by myself would be lonely. Others did it, and always seemed to enjoy themselves so I finally decided to fulfill that goal of seeing Yellowstone. This was in August 2010.

I stopped at Wind Caver National Park, Mt. Rushmore, and Devil's Tower along the way, and when I got to Yellowstone, I fell in love with it and had a great two weeks. It was there that I got bit by the travel bug and since then have seen 30 states, about 20 national parks, and other sites. One year, as I was planning o travel out west, I heard about Canyonlands and built a trip there into my itinerary. That's when I fell for Canyonlands and Moab, and it was in the planning for that trip that I cam across BCP, which I have followed since then. I love to hike and have taken a few Jeep trips as well, such as on the White Rim an into Orange Cliffs and The Maze.

Now people tell me that I never show more passion for anything than my travels, which always focus on the outdoors and a national park, and it is easily the most important part of my life. Not as outdoorsy as some guys here, but I want to improve my skills and add bigger adventures in the future. My bucket list includes camping trips to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Isle Royale in Lake Superior.

Love the inspiration and ideas all of you give.
 
Spent part of my childhood living in the Ozarks area of Missouri. There was a church equivalent of boy scouts, the name of which I can't remember, and they would do various outdoor trips from time to time. Some of them were actually a lot more than straight camping. I remember learning how to tan a hide, some basic orientation stuff, catching and killing frogs for dinner... I enjoyed it.

Then for about 30 years I focused on other things like drinking, smoking, eating horribly, getting fat, and trading health for career.

At 38 or 39 something just clicked and I figured I should probably make a pretty radical change. Quit smoking, dropped a hundred pounds, started running, working out, etc. Found a job that didn't require 10-12 hour days plus weekend harassment. Basically got mind and body in order.

At that point I started doing things because I was fit enough to do them and really started getting amped up at the prospect of a new challenge to tackle, whatever it might be. Marathons, various adrenaline junky excursions, etc. Somehow a return to the camping/outdoor experiences of my youth just sort of felt like a natural thing to do. I don't even remember making a conscious decision to 'do' it. I just remember going to REI and buying a bunch of stuff and then basically picking a place to go and see if I could hack it. I didn't die, it was as fun as I remembered, and so I keep doing it lol.
 
First campout: Cub scout campout at Lithia Springs near Tampa, Florida at the age of 8 or 9. Most everyone in the group were military families from MacDill AFB, including our leaders, so our tents were big green canvas tents with green canvas cots and green army-issue bed rolls. I also vividly remember having a rectangular flashlight in my hand standing around the campfire. After having thrown in several similar shaped blocks of wood into the fire, the excitement got the best of me and I mistakenly threw in the flashlight as well because of its shape. Kids and fire. Fun stuff.

First "backcountry" trip
: 12? mile canoe trip along the Alafia River in central Florida with my dad as a grade-schooler as part of school field trip. It may have been more like a 7 mile trip, but for some reason 12 is the number that I remember, though that seems like a long distance for a canoe and a kid.

First known hike
: Lake Mary up SLC's Big Cottonwood Canyon as an 11 year old not long after moving back to Utah. It was June. With the lush green and flower covered slopes down low and the snow covered peaks up high and the calm reflections in the lake, it was then and there that I really fell in love with hiking in the mountains. I now love the Southwestern desert equally as much!

First backcountry(ish) campout
: 1999 - Beth Lake in Uintas for a couple of nights with high school buddy just before senior year

First backpacking trip
: 2000 - Silver Lake up AF Canyon with another high school buddy, shortly after graduating high school.

That first backpacking troop happened because I had been dying to experience true backpacking after getting hooked on PBS Trailside through the 90's growing up and always got giddy about browsing through each new issue of Backpacker Magazine that hit the racks at the store each month. Once I graduated high school, I took up my first "real" job, working at JCW's restaurant. I used my first paycheck to outfit myself with some backpacking gear, cheap budget - heavy gear. And then, my friend and I drove on up AF Canyon on a Friday night and made it happen.

I had actually grown up in a scout trip that never did more than car camping and week long merit badge camps up at New Fork Lakes in Wyoming's Wind Rivers (which was still an awesome setting by the way). Our scoutmaster at the time was in his late 60's or early 70's, so that was probably a big reason why we didn't go on any backpacking trips in looking back. My parents didn't have much money to spend on things like camping gear and what not anyways, nor were either of them brought up with it themselves, so it never took off as a thing for them. However, I still got lots of trail time in as a teenager because throughout high school, my cross country friends and I would often go out and hit the local trails in the summer for some training runs, and sometimes just to play in ponds and waterfalls in addition to a "high altitude" training camp we'd do every summer with our coaches and parents up in Payson Canyon. Other times, we'd slow it down and just go out and hike any nearby trail that sounded good at the time, usually somewhere up in Alpine, AF Canyon, or on Mount Timpanogos. My first time hiking Timp's summit itself was all by myself when I left a church youth group behind one early A.M. Labor Day morning, racing ahead in the parade of all the other hikers and their flashlights zig-zagging up the mountain in order to beat the sunrise. I was in a hurry to meet my cross country team down at the trailhead on the other side of the mountain I'd join them on a loop run from Sundance to Aspen Grove to Stewart Falls and back down to Sundance. Another fond trip I have from my teens was with a church youth group of 16/17 year olds where our leaders took us down to Lake Powell's Hite marina for a few days of camping and wake boarding (one of them owned a nice boat). We also spent the better part of a day taking on White Canyon and its infamous Black Hole slot, with nothing but our sandals, swim shorts, t-shirts, daypacks, and life jacket for the swimmers. That was my first exposure to slot canyons and the red rock landscape of Southern Utah and needless to say, I became fascinated with slots and was blown away with all the scenery down there after that.

Back to backpacking trips thereafter, it was actually a 2009 trip into Coyote Gulch with my wife (before social media, i.e. Instagram, blew it up) and a 2013 trip up to Kings Peak that really elevated my pursuit to get lighter gear and since then, my love of backpacking has grown all the more ever since.

Also for fun, I'm going to throw in my first experiences with BCP. I discovered it while looking up some ideas for some additional backpacking trips into the Uintas here in Utah. Here's my Noob Post from 2013: https://backcountrypost.com/threads/noobs-introduce-yourself.16/page-25#post-26199
Wow! Looks like I get to celebrate my 5 year membership anniversary here come this July. :dance:

Oh, and why not dig up my first TR here: https://backcountrypost.com/threads/mount-timpanogos-august-2013.2356/
 
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... Driving these roads led me to camping more, photography, hiking, backpacking, etc... Now I prefer to hike and backpack, but still enjoy a scenic backcountry drive.

I'm glad you found a passion for photography. Many of your beautiful mountain and desert landscape photos make for great eye candy, but your rock art and ruin pics and the way you know how to work with the light upon them are simply incredible. You really have an eye for it and I can sense the special fascination, reverence, and connection you have with these historic sites and cultures. I think the ancients would be honored with how well you present their handiwork.
 
I'm glad you found a passion for photography. Many of your beautiful mountain and desert landscape photos make for great eye candy, but your rock art and ruin pics and the way you know how to work with the light upon them are simply incredible. You really have an eye for it and I can sense the special fascination, reverence, and connection you have with these historic sites and cultures. I think the ancients would be honored with how well you present their handiwork.

Thanks Will...I really appreciate that!
 
Anyone ever see "Wild" with Reese Witherspoon? Regardless if you liked it or not, it pretty much defines my experience I saw this movie after I started hiking, but still very personal. I didn't do drugs or cheat on my husband though. Everyone has good things and bad things happen. My bad things just got me to a breaking point.

I have never camped or hiked as a child or teenager or adult. My folks didn't take me to national parks. We just weren't outdoorsy. I am scared of bugs, etc etc.

May 2016, I got to my darkest point. I got off work and just left for Oregon. It called to me. I drove in a daze and I think I even hallucinated LOL.

I didn't know where I was going, but I pulled over around 5:30 in the morning at a trail. I don't think it could have been more than 4 miles, but there was a waterfall at the end. The first waterfall I had ever seen. It was life changing and I have been hooked ever since. I started hiking that summer and learn something new everytime.

That is why this site has been so great. I do my research, but obviously still learned a lot of things the hard way. I don't have family or friends into this who can guide me.
 
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...That is why this site has been so great. I do my research, but obviously still learned a lot of things the hard way. I don't have family or friends into this who can guide me.

Great story, and it's kind of neat to have a "greenie" here because it'll be exciting to see your growth as you continue to gain more experience with the outdoors and all that.

Between this site and watching countless numbers of very informational and instructional youtube videos over the years (and many that weren't so helpful), I learned a lot more about backpacking tips and tricks and the variety of gear and styles out there than I ever had known before. Many of them are from those who built their channels around doing long trail hikes like the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails, but a lot of the techniques they would demo or gear they used are obviously usable to weekend warriors like myself. Of course, I've adapted much of that knowledge to my own little methods after tinkering and experimenting around a lot too. Seriously, you can learn a lot on just about any topic out there on YouTube.
 
Extremely green is me.

So true about Youtube!
I only just started using Youtube as a tool a few weeks ago! I love the Wanderlust girl. I enjoy seeing gear comparisons too. That is how I picked my future sleeping pad. :)
 
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I could not find if I had shared this story here or not.
Growing up we originally had a house boat on Lake Powell. We would sleep out on the sand under the stars from before I could remember. Then the boat was sold and we started vacationing. My dad loved driving, byways, national parks... and since he had conventions across the USA and Canada and we had year round school, we were on vacation multiple times a year. I can count at least 40 states and 6 provinces we went through. However, despite those summers on Powell, we were never camping. We would go to places like Jasper, or Flathead lake, Sleeping Bear dunes, etc and be in a hotel. I remember always wanting to see the day go to night, to be out under the stars as I had been since a little kid. So I asked my parents why we did not camp like all my friends? My mom and dad admitted to really disliking it.

One June one of us 4 kids still left at home, convinced my parents to go and camp at Fruita, Capitol Reef. That first night the wind howled so hard and so cold that it collapsed one side of the springbar tent. My mom was already in our old gold, Dodge van with my little brother, but we were out in the tent with my dad when the tent came down. My older sister asked my dad if he was going to fix the tent. It was like 2am. He just rolled over and grunted. I also think at some point that night he said, "This is the last time we are going camping."
We slept all night under the collapsed tent.
Before the sun was up my dad was up and packing everything into the van. Never saying a word.
We were all put in the van and he drove I think up to Grand Wash, dropped all of us off and drove off.
A while later he caught up to us. He had gone and checked us into a motel in Torrey.

This is not to say my parents hated the outdoors. We hiked all over, all the time. I may have previously mentioned my dad was fanatical for many years about going down Orderville Canyon for example.
My first backpack at age 12 with the scouts was to Red Pine up Little Cottonwood canyon and it was a disaster. I hated it.
Two summers later I went to Philmont Scout Ranch and was sent off backpacking. There was a great leader there who challenged me and I learned a lot.
The next scout backpack I went on was somewhere here in Utah. I only remember taking a wool blanket, sweatshirt, 2 sixpacks of soda and a bag of stew for dinner. I sold the soda for $2 each and slept under the stars.
From there I have never looked back. Although my gear and preparedness have vastly improved. I still feel like a newby compared to just about everyone else.
Which is why I love this site. I can learn things all the time and get a fix by reading reports when I am stuck inside.

The call of the wilderness drives me crazy if it is not answered. Even at home I find myself outside before sunrise or putting things down and walking outside at sunset or before going to bed I will be out in my backyard or the trails near home.
 
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