I have been out in the wilderness ever since I can remember. My dad would take me out on adventures in the Adirondack Mountains, and we would get lost in their enchanting sounds, sights, and aromas of pine, maple, and birch trees. I can safely say that the wilderness has ingrained itself in my being, and me who i am in many ways. It’s never too late to start exploring the wilderness, and I often find myself trying to get my friends to go on trips with me so i can get show them the wonders of the wild. Recently I went on a solo backpacking trip up in North Georgia, and I brought along a friend with me who had never before been hiking. He was a little hesitant of the idea at first, but as we continued along the trail I could see him getting lost in a world he had never before experienced. He said he had never been out in nature or the mountains before, and it was a different and exciting change of pace. I never remember that sensation of getting lost in nature for the first time, and in many ways I wish I could feel that. I think that everyone should get out into the wilderness at some point in their life, sooner rather than later, to see for themselves what so many people never see other than in pictures on Instagram or Facebook.

Hiking and backpacking can also be a good hobby to get into if you enjoy traveling, and in many ways can cut the costs. It will take you to areas you never thought of yourself going, an example of this for me would be when i went on an extended trip out in New Mexico. Before that trip i had never left the East Coast, and the difference in wildlife and weather was something cool to experience. If you go backpacking you can also cut standard travel costs, because if you bring a tent and plan on camping out in the wilderness you wouldn’t need to pay for a hotel room. A tip if you go on a hiking trip to somewhere you’ve never been before would be to look for places that are obscure, and not popular. I find myself having more fun on trips planned like that, as you get to find many things that aren’t featured online or in guidebooks. When i went on the trip in New Mexico, we went on a trail that didn’t have a huge amount of info for it, and was very lightly traveled. We found horseshoes and cans on the side of the trail, with dates going back to the late 1800s. It was quite a neat experience, seeing as most of the stuff was left by miners who had left the region over 100 years ago.