The Most Important Rule I Learned About Backpacking

Field Notes

Sep 26

Before I knew a lot about backpacking, I had this idea in my head of what a “real” backpacking trip was supposed to look like. I pictured big miles, remote places, and someone who knew exactly what they were doing.

That picture made it easy to dismiss the trips I was actually going on. And that feeling sucked.

There’s a phrase you’ll hear among long-distance hikers: hike your own hike. It sounds obvious and straightforward, but when someone else is moving faster, carrying less, or heading farther into the mountains than you are, it can be hard to remember why you came out there in the first place.

My first big backpacking trip — Me on my first big backpacking trip a few miles away misery town. This trip nearly broke me.

A short trip still counts

The reality is, there’s no minimum distance that makes a backpacking trip legitimate. If you carry your camp into the woods and spend the night, you've officially gone backpacking. You don’t have to earn that title by reaching a certain lake or putting in a certain number of miles. It’s the act, not the measurement.

Maybe your first few trips are a mile from the trailhead. Maybe you camp close to your truck because you want an easy way out. Maybe you hike in, realize you’re uncomfortable, and head home. You can learn something from each of those trips, and that is what backpacking is all about.

As you gain more and more experience, you may end up going further, but you might also realize that you’re happiest when you leave plenty of time to sit beside a creek for a few hours without the pressure to keep moving. Both are great backpacking experiences.

I had to start somewhere, too

When I started, I couldn’t imagine hiking more than 15 miles in a day without being miserable. Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico toward Canada seemed even further out of reach. I didn’t know how to plan for something like that, let alone do it.

I started with shorter trips. I learned the basics, made mistakes, changed my gear, and went again. A few years later, I hiked more than 2,000 miles of the PCT in a single summer.

And while I’m very proud of those miles and what happened out there, I don’t think it was any more meaningful than those first few trips into the backcountry. Those first nights in the woods taught me what I eventually needed to know to get myself up the PCT. Without them, I wouldn’t have made it to Canada.

Miles are miles, regardless of how many you’re doing and where. Again, it’s the act of backpacking that counts, not the “how far.”

Make the trip yours

If you want to hike your face off all day and fall asleep tired, go do that. If you want to find a quiet place, make camp early, and spend the afternoon watching the light change while reading a book, do that instead.

Your trips will change over time. The point is to pay attention to what you enjoy and what you’re learning, rather than measuring your experience against somebody else’s.

Start with the trip you can take today. Let it be enough for now. Then see where it leads.