Jul 12
24
Favorite outdoor experiences
We posted on our Facebook page:
What is your favorite outdoor experience? Could be all the way back to your childhood even.
Some comments we received:
Comment#1: Hiking the AT last year alone at 24 
greatest thing ive ever done!!
Comment#2: First backpacking excursion with one of my best friends in the smokey mountain nat. Forest. Think i was 14, the trail we were following ran straight into fontana lake, very long story short; we ended up being dropped on a peninsula by some guy in a boat that said there would be an old logging road about a half mile through all the thick brush and steep cliffs. There was no road, trail, walk way, nothing. We had to use a compass to get our baring, then use our combat knife and machette to hack through a clusterfu*k of briers and brush. Roughly 9 miles later we stumbled upon a main road and were given a ride to our pick up location by a highway patrol officer. Turns out the trail we needed to follow had been remarked and it wasnt updated on the park map. After completing that nightmare of a trip, i quickly decided that backpacking would forever be my most prized hobby. I was so amazed at what I, just a little 14 y/o, was able to conquer.
Comment#3: Several years ago I winter camped in an isolated area during a snow storm with cold temperatures and high winds. I out down my pad and laid out my bag, got in and listened to the wind howl till I fell asleep. I don’t know how long I slept but when I awoke and peered out the moon was out, the sky was clear. It was dead slent and the stars were like little diamond chips in the sky. I went back to sleep feeling the safest i have ever been in my life. Best sleep I ever had.
Comment#4: I think my favorite outdoor experience was and still is walking through the woods/swamps in the rain. There is something so peaceful about the sound of rain hitting the leaves, ground, and water around you. Plus, here in Florida it helps bring the temperature down and keeps the bugs at bay.
Comment#5: While backpacking in north central Pennsylvania I came across a beautiful jet-black Black Bear sow with a single little cub. I was only 14 but that was what I had hoped to see on every backpacking/camping trip I ever went on. One of the best memories of my life.
