Daily Prompt: 30 Things That Make Me Happy About Backpacking

For those who don’t use WordPress, every day WordPress comes out with a “prompt of the day” for bloggers to answer and share. Typically, the word prompts aren’t very relevant to my blog, but when I logged in today and saw what the prompt was, I couldn’t help but answer (with a little creative liberty to the prompt, of course)!

And so, without further adieu, here is my list of 30 things about backpacking that make me happy!

1. My all-time favorite sound in the whole world – the sound of wind moving through pine trees.
2. An excuse to eat a first and second dinner.
3. Summiting peaks and feeling like you are on top of the world.
4. The first jump into an icy lake after a long, hot climb.
5. Early summits that require you to hike before sunrise – specifically when the adrenaline kicks in and you feel like you are flying up the trail.
6. The feeling of accomplishment when you arrive at your destination.
7. The feeling of satisfaction when you finally find a perfect campsite.
8. The feeling of solitude when no one else camps around that perfect campsite.
9. The feeling of serendipity when you get a whole lake to yourself for the night!
10. Hammock naps.
11. Enjoying a box of wine after a grueling day on the trail.
12. Finishing packing your backpack, weighing it, and being pleasantly surprised with the weight.
13. Getting excited about researching and upgrading your kit.
14. Pouring over paper maps and learning the names of the peaks that surround you.
15. Seeing the Milky Way on a summer’s night.
16. Finally getting past the traffic on a Friday night and out onto the open road for a weekend trip.
17. The crispness in the mountain air that first hits you when you open your car door after finally arriving in the mountains.
18. Meeting like-minded people on the trail and hearing their stories and tips.
19. Unexpected trail magic.
20. The first sip of ice-cold water that you’ve just pumped from a high-altitude stream.
21. Playing card games at your campsite while you wait for dinner to cook.
22. Being higher than the tree line.
23. The almost-unnatural color of glacier-fed lakes.
24. The freedom that comes from being able to camp wherever you want.
25. Getting off trail and doing a bit of cross-country – and then having that cross-country both be a) successful and b) worth it!
26. Someone picking out a trail name for you.
27. Reading a book in the shade of the trees after a long, hot day.
28. Alpenglow.
29. Finally taking off your hiking boots and switching to camp shoes.
30. Getting back to your car and sitting down after a long weekend on the trail.

I had so much fun creating this list, and am pumped for my next trip… although, when am I not? I honestly feel like I could have listed 50 things (how could I not list the feeling of making it up to a pass and knowing that the rest of your day is downhill??), but here we are. Comment your favorite things about backpacking below – I want to hear them!

As always, happy trails.