Who got you started?

[Umsaskis]

Just now I read through a thread which started simply enough but ended up talking about the humorous comment, "your mother doesn't live here anymore." Which made me think - it's awfully nice to have had a mother and father who got me interested in the outdoors and hiking. They took my sister and I up South Branch Mountain when I was small and round-faced, and I have 3rd- or 4th-grade pictures from the top of Katahdin with my dad. Canoe trips with old-fashioned gear left over from my parents' youth, their patience as I repeatedly toppled over on my short little kid skis, learning to paddle stern from my dad, learning the names of birds and flowers from my mother, and she later teaching me the complete reliability of a compass. My older sister and her intense love for bushwhacking added to the mix, and I'm very grateful for it all. I have very few pictures in my album of my family inside a building - most are gathered around a campfire, on the top of a mountain or smiling from the seat of a canoe. And still when we get together,we invariably climb something or paddle somewhere or strap on the skis.

It would be fun (and encouraging) to hear other people's stories about who got them started - particularly if there are any memorable trips or events that really made a difference in how you do things in the woods.

(oops, I just realized I posted this in "Q/A" instead of "General Backcountry" - whoever is responsible for moving it can do so, because I don't know how. )

 

[Mr. X]

For me, the props go to my uncle. Nothing special sticks out, but he was the man that got me into not hiking that much vs. not at all.

 

[jmegillon149]

the initial interest can be traced to being in Boy Scouts, we'd camp a lot in CT/Western MA, and also came up north for some hiking, backpacking, climbing, canoe camping trips a couple times a year.

During college(what can I say I was bogged with schoolwork, wrestling, and was in RI), I took a few years off from doing much outdoor stuff, outside of local mountain biking in CT during my summers home. At my cousin's wedding in VT in 2000, my other cousins came up with an out of nowhere idea (I was one of two of those who went who had ever hiked in the Whites at all) to drive over the border to climb Mt. Washington the next day. That reignited the hiking bug and led to me making trips up north on a semi regular basis. We did a Presi-traverse backpack the next summer, and Fraconia ridge the summer after that, along with a few other one night and dayhike trips, I caught the peakbagging bug (as I have said before, when you realize you're at number 10, it begins!)

When I finished school in 2003, I moved to NH, and started hiking more than ever. I have been bagging 4K peaks (two trips to go) I am at the point now where I go all the time in the summer, and here and there in the winter.

I also have gotten into much longer trips, thanks in part to losing 50 punds my first year in NH, and in a larger part to getting in with the AMCNH young member group (atually where I found out about VFTT), some of who may end up getting me into bushwhacking(actually we aborted one trip, which was to be my first bushwahack, Double Bow worte all about it), we will see.

So I guess Boy Scouts, my cousins, and AMC friends I have met in the last few years for helping to get me to the point I am at now with my hiking interests.

 

[DougPaul]

There was a similar thread "Why did you start hiking?" in July and August.
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7991

Doug

 

[Jay H]

Nobody to blame but myself. Neither of my parents hiked, neither did any of my older sisters, neither did the cub scouts I was in, at least not to any degree. I started to hike because I couldn't mountain bike everywhere. There were certain places that were either off limits or not feasible so I started to hike. A lot of my friends biked for the sake of biking, to race, etc. etc. I kind of always biked to explore the wilderness, to get to more remote places... Hiking was just an extension to my biking...

Jay

 

[redcloud]

I have always loved the outdoors, and as my kids were growing up, we went on outdoorsy vacations every year. Everglades NP; Smoky Mtn. NP; Rocky Mtn. NP. We have always come back to the Whites though. Nothing serious in the hiking department, just some of the more popular trails.
I have tried to instill my love for the outdoors, which I have always had, in them.
My most memorable event was all four of us hiking the Oliverian Brook trail, and coming upon a momma bear and two cubs. One cub was clinging onto a tree trunk. They looked over at us and we got out of there right away. I'll never forget that moment.
Now that my daughter is twenty and my son will be eighteen soon, things are so different. We are hardly ever together now. I miss those young days tremendously. There's nothing better than being a young dad with young kids.
See you, Eric

 

[percious]

I too am a self-made hiker. One day I decided it would be cool to try some backpacking, so I went to EMS, bought enough stuff for me and 1 other person, and just started doing it. Never looked back.

-percious

 

[sli74]

I answered this in the thread DougPaul has posted the link for . . . but I will copy and paste that here also.

My boyfriend in college got me hiking and my first hike was a disaster up Tumbledown Mountain in Maine . . .

I was 18 at the time and he was from Maine and had hiked most of his life and he really overestimated my abilities. Because I was a petite 107 pound girl he thought I would just about fly up the Mountain but with starting at 4:30 pm on a late August day and carrying no flashlight and no water, we were already in trouble. He insisted we'd get up there and back in 2 hours and didn't need anything. He had hiked the same trail with his guy friends when they were 16. Needless to say, 4 hours later, the sun had mostly set and we were at the top for what should've been a beautiful sunset but the dark clouds had rolled in and we had no light source. I was parched and frightened out of my wits. Then the rain began pouring and with the thunder and lightening we slipped and fell our way back down the mountain in the dark. About a half mile from the bottom (we didn't know at the time how close we were to the end), with 2 or 3 near mishaps, a backpacker who was out for the night with his 2 year old son heard me crying and found us. He gave me water and his extra flashlight and my boyfriend and made it safely to our car at about midnight. We left the nice man his flashlight and a 20 dollar bill in his pick-up truck.

Anyway, that was my first hiking trip.
I didn't hike again for a while but eventually I began going again with the outing club from college and eventually as I learned to hike safely I grew to LOVE it.

So, why I started hiking is not so much because I loved it or thought it added anything to my life or anything glamourous, it was merely because the boy in my life at the time wanted to take me hiking . . . the why I keep hiking is a much more spiritual thing and was also kicked into high gear by the same boy but this time when he ended our 6+ year relationship. So, I guess in a way I owe him for getting me started hiking and in a strange way for keeping me hiking though now after all these years it has more to do with me and less and less to do with him.

sli74

 

[cbcbd]

I guess it would be me and possibly my ex. Together we started camping more and that's when I was introduced to the AT. The size and accessability of such long trails amazed me and just made me want to be out in the woods even more.
My grandparents were farmers and I spent plenty of time at their farm, but when I was young I didn't appreciate the trips to the farm as much as I do now, and now they are rare because of the distance.

 

[REK]

My father got me started at about five years old with a trip up Ridge o' Caps. (he started in the late 1920's) I remember looking down on an airplane and being totally amazed! Later, my mother had a girl scout troop and I got to go on all the hikes and camping trips. We did a bunch of peaks. Even as a ten year old I thought hanging out with high school girls was pretty cool.
Both my parents are in their 80's now so they don't hike anymore (They still XC ski, though) So I show them my pictures of their favorite places.

As soon as I got a drivers license I was gone. We would work on fishing boats for most of the summer to get enough money to support a couple weeks in the mountains.

I just kept going from there and now I take my kids both winter and summer. Crag Camp is the favored spot. I guess you could say I'm working on my 4K's but I'm on the 40 year plan as I still have several to go. Don't want to rush into these things ya' know!
Bob

 

[Sean]

My grandfather used to take my cousins and I hiking and backpacking. I did my first weeklong trip with him in the Bigelow Preserve and Flagstaff Lake. I learned to carry a backpack that was way to heavy for me and developed a lifelong aversion to grapenuts.
I hated hiking and backpacking. But I went with him again because it meant so much to him. Now I couldn't quit if I wanted to.

 

[sierra]

needed something

My Mom through her infinate wisdom, decided, that a drug using, rabble rousing, law breaking, little son of a gun like me, needed a 14 day trip into the mountains where I couldnt get in truoble, kind of funny ,she was right and wrong about that one.

 

[brianW]

When I was 3yrs old my parents took my older sister and me to hike Monadnock. I remeber two things, the hike ended in the dark and I was upset because I wanted to carry the rope and my dad wouldn't let me take any.

Never hiked again intill I got into Boy Scouts, so I would have to thank (or my wife would say blame) Troop 35

 

[Neil]

A canoe trip in 1974 in Northwestern Ontario.

My buddy and I got it into our heads that we would try it out so off we went. All of our stuff was in green garbage bags, including a Coleman stove. This was the 70's so of course our state of mind was permantly enhanced. For some reason I was driven to explore the most far-flung tributaries of the lake we were canoeing on. One afternoon found us "hiking" up a very narrow (ie. 3 feet wide) meandering creek up to our waists in the middle of a grassy wetland. The sun baked our shoulders and the red winged blackbirds scolded us ("konk-a-tweee") as we explored. Every cell in my body was screaming out in pure, electrified delight and I knew my life was heading permanantly in a new, horizonless direction.
That same night, crazy kids that we were, we decided to drink 2 huge pots of coffee in order to further augment our heightened state of conciousness. Later on, while we were lying completely wired in our tent, a four legged visitor invaded our campsite and knocked over some pots and pans. Talk about freaking out and then laughing and laughing hysterically.

So, that's how I got started.

 

[frytz]

Curiosity!

Nobody to blame but myself. Neither of my parents hiked, neither did any of my older sisters, neither did the cub scouts I was in, at least not to any degree. I started to hike because I couldn't mountain bike everywhere. There were certain places that were either off limits or not feasible so I started to hike. A lot of my friends biked for the sake of biking, to race, etc. etc. I kind of always biked to explore the wilderness, to get to more remote places... Hiking was just an extension to my biking...

Jay

No one started me hiking! It was my own curiousity as a kid - where does that go - how far can I go - that got me into hiking! This was in areas with no maps, so I drew my own!

Fred

 

[cp2000]

my pa........... No bout ah dout it........

He told me the other day about how we went up to hi canon from lonesome lake when i was a wee lad.... i was so small that he had to pick me up onto many of the steep parts. i dont remember it but ill take his word

 

[Howack]

8 years old bagged my first 4K (Mt Moosilauke) with my parents. I thank them for it everday!

 

[alpinista]

I wish my family was into hiking ... or anything outdoors ... but most of them are mall rats. In some ways, like Jay H, it was mountain biking. It also was x-c skiing. Basically, I'd done some outdoorsy stuff but nothing as arduous as hiking or backpacking, and I wanted to get even deeper into the forest for extended periods of time.

It still amazes me what we all see routinely on our mountain adventures. I wish more people "got it," but then again, there are enough folks out there already!

 

[Pete_Hickey]

I only hike for the money. If they wouldn't pay me this insane amount, I'd stop in a heartbeat. Yes, I feel cheap, but the money is just soo good!

 

[coldfeet]

I saw a slide show presented by Jonathan Dorn from the Backpacker magazine at the North Face store in Manhattan around 2 years ago. It was just a stroke of luck that i was there that night (my wife probably wishes we weren't there). I was 43 at the time and wondered why i never got to go out and have fun. The pictures were beautiful. My first trip was with a scout Venture group 2 months later into Harriman Park. Loved it and I feel that I am hooked.