Keep posts like that coming, gang! Justin and I both need the encouragement!
Seriously, I've wanted to go backpacking since day 1 (which, given our early misadventures just on dayhikes, it's a good thing we didn't!
) because it'd put us that much more in the element of what we love to photograph -- wildlife, birds, unspoiled (more or less) nature. Justin loves the outdoors as much as I do, but I clearly love the camping/hiking thing a little more than he does -- if we ever have a spat outdoors, it's usually because I'm being a brat and begging to extend our camping trip by a day!
However, when the time between trips gets so elongated that even an overnighter at a local park to car camp seems "adventurous, it's hard to graduate to that next level. That's where we've been for a long while now, for many reasons (time, mostly). I work from home now (have since August) and am in small business startup mode, so I haven't been working the outdoors into my routine as much as I would like, but the opportunity's there more than it once was.
It's rather telling that the two things on my Christmas list this year dealt with this. Vasque Sundowner boots, my first "real" pair of backpacking/hiking boots (well, my 3+ year old LL Bean Knife Edge's were OK, but too clunky and had surprisingly awful traction when I most-needed it...) and a new tent. I almost went for a lightweight backpacking tent, to add to our existing 2/3 person tent (Sierra Designs Meteor Light CD--love this tent; have had it since '95 or so!) In the end, I chose another 2/3 person tent since most of my trips won't be solo and I like the extra room, weight-be-damned. I'll carry the tent when we backpack, anyway; Justin gets stuck with the heavy Bogen tripod...til we can afford a lightweight carbon fiber one!
OK, OK, I gotta wrap this up. Justin's all packed to head out and I'm still sitting here with wet hair.
Thanks for the encouragement and advice. We do mean to graduate and enjoy backpacking. Right now, we need to reintroduce ourselves to hiking, first. :ribbit: