Brian Beffort - Joy of Backpacking: Your complete guide to attaining pure happiness in the outdoors

Advance praise for Joy of Backpacking

Joy of Backpacking will supply you with everything you need to know to be comfortable, feel safe, and have fun on your next backcountry adventure.

Sheri and Randy Propster,
Appalachian Trail thru-hikers (2168.2 miles, 1999),
American Discovery Trail (4200 miles, 2006),
Get Out More 07 Ambassadors

Like the ideal backpack, the Joy of Backpacking holds all the essentials in one efficient package.

John Sterling, Executive Director,
Conservation Alliance

The Joy of Backpacking cuts through the current dogma that says you have to have a Ph.D. in gear and outdoors techniques and encourages you to discover the true joy of backpacking.

Scott Williamson,
backpacking educator
and nine-time hiker of the Pacific Crest Trail

Joy of Backpacking reminds me why I began exploring the wilderness many decades ago; backpacking forces you to abandon the hectic pace of the rat race and focus on the true essentials of life.

Stuart Bourdon,
Editor/Associate Publisher,
Camping Life Magazine

Joy of Backpacking: Your complete guide to attaining pure happiness in the outdoors

1st EDITION 2007

3rd printing 2015

Copyright 2007 by Brian Beffort

Front cover photo copyright 2007 by Gregg Adams

Back cover photos copyright 2007 by Brian Beffort, except second from top, by Eva Dienel

, except where noted, by Brian Beffort

by Paul Purcell

Cover design: Lisa Pletka/Larry B. Van Dyke

Book design: Larry B. Van Dyke

Book editor: Eva Dienel

ISBN: 978-0-89997-405-7

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations used in reviews.

SAFETY NOTICE: Although Wilderness Press and the author have made every attempt to ensure that the information in this book is accurate at press time, they are not responsible for any loss, damage, injury, or inconvenience that may occur to anyone while using this book. You are responsible for your own safety and health while in the wilderness.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Beffort, Brian.

Joy of backpacking: your complete guide to attaining pure happiness in the outdoors / Brian Beffort.1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-89997-405-7 (pbk.)

1. Backpacking. I. Title.

GV199.6.B45 2007

796.51dc22

2006103513

PREFACE

I remember my first backpacking trip as though it happened last summer. I was 7 years old, standing knee deep in clear, cold Summit Lake in Californias Hoover Wilderness, trying to build up the courage to move deeper into the icy water. I must have been thinking about it for a long time, because while I stood there, a large trout swam slowly out of the depths toward me. I watched as it slid lazily between my legsits back shimmering in dancing shades of green and redand back toward the depths. I considered reaching down and trying to grab it, but I was transfixed by my close encounter of the gilled kind.

The whole trip was new and funcarrying my pack up and over the pass, setting up the tent, climbing trees and rocks, and watching my mom cook dinner over our little green camp stove. But seeing that darn fish was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It gave me a glimpse of the excitement, surprises, lessons, beauty, and joy waiting in wildernessshining moments of magic and wonder we can rarely predict, which we can witness only by being there. But we cant drive to these experiences. We have to park our cars and travel by other means. Some do it by horse packing; others by canoe, kayak, or raft. I backpack.

Carrying all of your provisions into rugged and inhospitable landscapes can be hard work. It can even be dangerous. But if you plan and prepare well, and make safe decisions while youre out there, you stand a good chance of finding a joy as grand as life itself.

Years of making good and bad decisions while backpacking, of tinkering, fussing, experimenting with systems, and playing with recipes, Ive learned to enjoy backpacking in a variety of landscapes and seasons. I wrote this book to offer helpful tips and advice you can use to find the joys of backpacking without having to make too many avoidable mistakes. After all, theres no need to reinvent the wheel er, hiking boot.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The information presented here has been gathered from decades of experience, reading, writing, researching, and learning from and with others. My appreciation goes out to all of the following people, and more. First to Mom, for taking me backpacking that first time and getting me hooked. To great outdoor writers, who have helped me learn and explore through wordsEdward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, John Muir, Dave Foreman, Doug Peacock, Farley Mowat, Jon Krakauer, and othersas well as outdoor journalists, such as Buck Tilton, Michael Hodgson, Kristen Hostetter, Alan Kesselheim, and others. To the wonderful information and resources in Backpacker and Outside magazines, as well as the excellent resources contained in the many websites listed throughout this book. To John Hiatt, Kurt Kuznicki, Blake Tresan, Pete Dronkers, Brian Murdock, James Sippel, Robert Lyon, Sarah Perrault, Craig Deutsche, Darlene and Joey Kitterman, and others for their advice and recommendations. I appreciate Roslyn Bullas, Mary Chambers, James Dziezynski, Barbara Egbert, Scott Graham, Mathew Grimm, Kurt Kuznicki, Laurie Ann March, John Vonhof, and Michelle Waitzman for contributing their My System expertise into these pages. Thank you, Kurt, Brian, Blake, James, and others, for contributing your photographs to this project. Thanks to the fine crew at Wilderness Press for working with me. And finally, thank you, Laura and Logan, for patiently enduring the writing of this book. Thank you all! Now, lets go backpacking!

PHOTO CREDITS

Thanks to the following for the use of their photos in this book:

Adventure Medical Kits: Photos on page 230

Howard Booth: Photo on page 16

Laura Brigham: Photos on pages 36, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, and 162

Roslyn Bullas: Photos on pages 6, 80, 95 (lower right), 105, 112, 115, 124, 143, 183, 187, 190, and 243

Eva Dienel: Photos on pages 57, 156, 159, and 244

Pete Dronkers: Photos on pages 1 and 2

Barbara Egbert: Photo on page 28

Exped: Photos on page 83

Terry Ferg: Photo on page 250

Scott Graham: Photo on page 56

Mathew Grimm: Photos on pages 58, 72, 75, 188, 207, and 220

MSR: Photos on pages 79 (lower right), 86, 87, 90, 91, 92, 93 (upper left), and 95 (upper left)