Westy
Trail Wise!
Diagnosed w/Post-Trail Transition Syndrome
Posts: 1,955
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Post by Westy on Jul 2, 2019 8:51:58 GMT -8
When I was a kid in elementary school growing up in New Hampshire, there were no organized kid activities as there are today. So along with ringing door bells, riding bikes etc. we played in the woods all the time. At age ten I spent the summer camped out in the backyard dreaming of outdoor adventures sleeping in a Boy Scout Forester tent. At night read comic books and listened Red Sox games. After being bounced out of high school I went the wrong way fast. Kevin Leonard, a neighborhood pal, took me for a 3-day hike in the White Mountains. I remember the view of the Pemi from the summit of Mount Hale like it was yesterday. Then commenced to join him peakbagging 4,000 footers. Since I sucked at sports, I found I could hike pretty good and did not mind the associated discomforts. Finally, when I got out of the Army, was in college and broke, realized hiking can be very inexpensive so I adopted it as my sport.
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ErnieW
Trail Wise!
I want to backpack
Posts: 9,876
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Post by ErnieW on Jul 2, 2019 9:26:03 GMT -8
My parents were into boating. I grew up on them during the season. That was the environment part.
But I am pretty sure that there is a very strong genetic part for me. I have the wanderlust gene.
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Post by Michael on Jul 2, 2019 9:46:54 GMT -8
When I was a kid in West Virginia my parents would send me to a 2 week summer camp. One night of the two weeks was an overnight hike. Sleeping out under the stars has since been a favorite past time my whole life.
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Post by autumnmist on Jul 2, 2019 9:54:24 GMT -8
I have the wanderlust gene. And to the benefit of humans all over the planet, that helped propel our civilization forward and to heights our cave dwelling ancestors probably could never have envisioned.
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jazzmom
Trail Wise!
a.k.a. TigerFan
Posts: 3,059
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Post by jazzmom on Jul 2, 2019 10:01:17 GMT -8
The joke in my family is that it must have been the milkman. :D
My mother was a great walker, just not the backcountry trail kind. I'm an only child of two very nerdy research scientists. Our family time consisted of great food, museums, classical music, and "the outdoors" meant gardening. But they did like walking in town, major cities like Boston (where we lived without a car), Washington DC (many trips to the Smithsonian), Paris (where I lived for a bit), Tokyo. I used take my mother to NYC to see plays and we'd walk from downtown to the Met when she was in her 70's.
The camping and backcountry part was the milkman.
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ErnieW
Trail Wise!
I want to backpack
Posts: 9,876
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Post by ErnieW on Jul 2, 2019 12:22:46 GMT -8
Be careful if you do one of those genetic test kits. A lot of people are finding out it was actually the milkman.
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Post by cweston on Jul 2, 2019 12:59:05 GMT -8
Be careful if you do one of those genetic test kits. A lot of people are finding out it was actually the milkman. My daughter-in-law found out that way that her grandfather was not her mother's biological father. Apparently, it was already known to her mother, but not among the rest of the family. Oops.
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Post by bluefish on Jul 2, 2019 18:18:22 GMT -8
I have no idea. Maybe because it felt like an adventure and was peaceful. I started road walking long distances when I was around 13. We lived not far from a lake that was 26 road milea around. I walked it in a snowstorm. My wife and I train in the winter road walking, but I really prefer the wilderness, now. I did when I was young, but NJ didn't have many long stretches of woods available to me without a car. I did walk 15 miles just to get to a trailhead.
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Post by hikerjer on Jul 2, 2019 19:16:54 GMT -8
Like others, no one in particular inspired me to hike. I guess my mother came closest in that she was always supportive of us kids wandering the hills outside of town. She even sewed my first backpack. It was just a small day pack just big enough for a jacket and lunch - hardly a technical wonder, but it did the job. Wish I knew what I did with it but that ws along time ago. When our family moved west when I was 10, we did some car camping but my dad, while a good dad, was never really into walking so my opportunities were pretty limited. I just sort developed an interest in it up after reading articles about camping and hiking while I wandered through, but never buying anything, local outdoor shops. I really didn't have the time or money to property backpack or hike util after I graduated from college. After that, once I had the means, and that meant a decent car as well as equipment, it became a more and more frequent activity, indeed almost an obsession. I've slowed down lately but still try to get out fairly often although my day hikes far outnumber my backpacking trips these days.
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geosp
Trail Wise!
Posts: 495
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Post by geosp on Jul 5, 2019 20:50:37 GMT -8
My earlier years were all focused on the sea with no interest at all in 'pickin 'em up puttin 'em down'. But as an adult, reading Stephen Pern's 'The Great Divide' kickstarted my hiking. Something I still get great satisfaction out of.
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RumiDude
Trail Wise!
Marmota olympus
Posts: 2,361
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Post by RumiDude on Jul 7, 2019 16:21:41 GMT -8
Truthfully, I did. Neither my father, mother, nor anyone else in my family hiked. I read about it and thought it sounded cool. The rest is history.
Rumi <~~~~~motivated
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foxalo
Trail Wise!
Life is infinitely stranger than anything the mind could invent.---Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Posts: 2,359
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Post by foxalo on Jul 8, 2019 15:40:09 GMT -8
Nobody inspired me to hike, but I did grow up with a mom that taught me to appreciate nature. I also used to play in the woods with neighborhood kids. One girl that I grew up with probably had the same love of nature that I do, and that's exactly what she's doing with her life, working at a nature center.
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Post by plaidman on Jul 9, 2019 9:26:16 GMT -8
Mom and Dad moved the family to Boulder from San Jose in the summer of 1965 when I was four years old. They immediately started taking me and my older brother day hiking and car camping. I was overcome with the beauty of the Rockies and have never lost the longing. I am grateful for that, and for so many other experiences my parents gave me, but I also think I'm just wired to need and love nature, and would have found my way to the mountains no matter what.
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Post by johntpenca on Jul 9, 2019 11:14:49 GMT -8
Colin Fletcher. As a kid my family camped a lot. Once I got a drivers license, it was travel and backpack time. From there I got into climbing, ski mountaineering, BC skiing, etc. But gotta say reading the Complete Walker was the push that drove me.
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Post by gumby05 on Jul 13, 2019 6:27:35 GMT -8
I can't say anyone in particular inspired me to hike. I spent 15 years in Boy Scouts and just kind of gradually learned everything I know from there. The pinnacle was in 2003 when I had the chance to go on my first backpacking trek. I loved it and have been doing it ever since (though to be fair, I am currently in an almost 10-year gap. Life got in the way)
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