SHANE'S HIKING JOURNAL
Welcome to my Hiking Journal. I don't document every trip, but this gives me a way to share some pictures and experiences with everyone. If you have any questions or comments, you can use the form at the bottom of any page.
While I have been hiking almost my entire life, I only started keeping an online journal in 2002. This section is strictly for wilderness hiking. If you're looking for Family Photos, click here. If you're looking for the Navarre Beach Diaries, click here. If you have no idea how you got here and aren't sure where to begin, then click here.
A lot of people wonder what this backpacking thing is all about. Backpacking is essentially two different 'sports' combined into one. Hiking and camping. Backpacking lets you experience the best of both worlds. Sometimes it's nice to walk.
Sometimes it's nice to make new friends.
Sometimes it's nice to just relax.
Sometimes it's nice to have a campfire.
And, of course, it's sometimes nice to stop and take a nap.
That's what backpacking is all about. It's about walking around in the middle of nowhere, where there aren't too many people to bother you while you eat junk food, take long naps, swim, burn stuff, and look at pretty scenery. It's about going back to Eden in a way to rediscover your natural humanity and your natural habitat.
Of course, it's also an opportunity to be attacked by swarms of bloodthirsty insects, get atrocious sunburns, break a leg, accumulate various cuts, bruises, sprains, and strains while suffering from heat, cold, hunger, thirst, and demonic trail maintainers that like to route trails up and down every little hill.
On top of that is the added benefit that you could possibly experience snakebite, bee stings, ticks, fleas, ants, and possibly even be consumed by wild beasts.
In the end, though, the sunsets, sunrises, trees, rain, flowers, birds, and assorted other pleasantries outweigh all the troublesome things. Going to nature is going home. I recommend it.
Shane
