Beautiful account of your adventure with Viv! I borrowed that same pack for my first backpacking trip in December 2000 to the Smokies! Makes you wonder how many people took that pack on their first trek?
Adventure indeed. I'm impressed by your list of travels around the world with your old backpack. That's quite an achievement. That said, Josh, I can't understand why your would listen to Adele on the hike instead of the forest songs. Oh well, to each his own.
Well, I wasn't hiking by myself. :) When your 11 year old is at the end of a long climb up 2500 feet and she's carrying a pack for the first time in her life and she asks to play some Adele for some motivation to finish strong, you play some Adele. And don't worry, there was plenty of birdsong.
I remember my first good pack. That was still in the era when packs with internal frames were relatively exotic. My dad had used some saggy canvas monstrosity, growing up -- probably Army surplus. Imagine the horror show of lugging that thing around with 40+ pounds of stuff. I got my blue aluminum frame pack when I was 13 and heading to Philmont Scout Ranch in NM. It wasn't fancy but it was pretty light and had webbing that kept the bulk off my back by a couple inches. I jammed a lot of stuff in that pack and a decade later it went with me on my first adult trip to Europe -- a few weeks with a Eurail Pass and no clue what I was doing.
What a great story, Josh. So glad you had such an experience with your daughter. She’ll always remember that you took the time to be with her in this way.
Beautiful account of your adventure with Viv! I borrowed that same pack for my first backpacking trip in December 2000 to the Smokies! Makes you wonder how many people took that pack on their first trek?
You're a smart dad! Way to go.
Adventure indeed. I'm impressed by your list of travels around the world with your old backpack. That's quite an achievement. That said, Josh, I can't understand why your would listen to Adele on the hike instead of the forest songs. Oh well, to each his own.
Well, I wasn't hiking by myself. :) When your 11 year old is at the end of a long climb up 2500 feet and she's carrying a pack for the first time in her life and she asks to play some Adele for some motivation to finish strong, you play some Adele. And don't worry, there was plenty of birdsong.
Ah. Yes, the pre-teen hiker. Point taken.
Oh man. Phew.
I remember my first good pack. That was still in the era when packs with internal frames were relatively exotic. My dad had used some saggy canvas monstrosity, growing up -- probably Army surplus. Imagine the horror show of lugging that thing around with 40+ pounds of stuff. I got my blue aluminum frame pack when I was 13 and heading to Philmont Scout Ranch in NM. It wasn't fancy but it was pretty light and had webbing that kept the bulk off my back by a couple inches. I jammed a lot of stuff in that pack and a decade later it went with me on my first adult trip to Europe -- a few weeks with a Eurail Pass and no clue what I was doing.
What an adventure! Lucky Vivian! And 3 (maybe 4) kinds of buckwheat!
This is lovely.
What a great story, Josh. So glad you had such an experience with your daughter. She’ll always remember that you took the time to be with her in this way.
Lovely. Lucky girl!
Lucky dad!