Sometimes we have things happen to us in life that completely change our outlook. Sometimes we go through things that seem to create a fear inside of us where we get up on the couch, get busy, and change our lives for the better. That happened to me this year. The fear was put inside of me that if I did not change habits and hobbies I would not be around much longer to enjoy this beautiful earth, friends and family.

On May 17, 2022, I came to work and felt like my eyes were about to pop out of my head. Yes, I was under a significant amount of stress, but mainly I was completely overweight, did not exercise, and had no desire to exercise at the time. This day would be the day that would change my life. I went into the nurse’s office and checked my blood pressure. I can usually feel when my BP is high and this day was no exception. 177/117 was the reading on the machine. I immediately called my doctor and set up an appointment. Fortunately, for me, they had an immediate opening and I left work to get there as quickly as possible. After a few minutes, he looked me dead in the eye and told me that if I did not change some things in my life immediately, I would not be around much longer. A Stroke or heart attack was in my near future. Since all of the males in my family history have either had or died of heart attacks between 50 and 60 years old (and I was now in this age range), this hit me like a ton of bricks. I cannot put into words the fear that now had been bestowed upon me. I had to make a decision and I needed to make a decision quick.

I left that office with a renewed vision for myself. I can do this. I can be better. I can live a better, healthier life. This life means something to me. I love my family and want to spend as much time with them as possible. I love my job and want to finish out my career here and retire with a lot of time to enjoy afterwards. I love my friends and my hobbies and nature and the outdoors and there are so many things I have not seen yet… these thoughts ran through my mind and I had to take this seriously. Long story short, I changed my eating habits immediately and started going to the gym. I pushed myself harder than ever, losing 62 lbs in 2 months. I did it. After a visit back to my doctor for a wellness check, he took me off all my medicine and now I am in the best shape of my life. I overcame the fear with progress and change.

NOW, I am able to do things I have not been able to do for many years. I have not weighed what I weigh now since High School. I am able to incorporate different new hobbies in my life where I can exercise and workout, while doing things I love to do and being in the outdoors. I have not been on a backpacking trip in 15 years. I have not mountain biked in almost 20 years. I have not even been on a bicycle in 10 years plus and kayaking has been off and on but really have not done much — it was just too much trouble and lots of work. Now my mindset had completely changed. I love pushing myself to my limits. I love sweating and seeing what my new body can do. I want to do more. I want to experience more and I want to see more of this amazing planet.

The opportunity came at a basketball game in September of this year. The husband of one of my co-workers came to me, noticed my weight loss and asked about what I was doing. I explained to him that I was now able to get outside, hike, bike and do things I have not been able to do for years. It was at this moment, I was presented with an opportunity I had been dreaming about for some time now. He asked if I would be interested in joining his little group of men on a backpacking trip they were planning next month. I was elated. Overcome with excitement, fear, and all of the other descriptive words you could name at this point, I told him I would be more than excited to go. He stated he would let me in on the details soon.

As week or so went by and he presented me with the dates of the trip. I was able to take a day off and secure the vacation time from work and let him know I was IN. I would not miss this trip for the world. Now what? I needed to go through my gear. Did I have everything I need? Did I need to upgrade some gear? Do I need to purchase anything? I need a checklist. I need some advice. My mind started racing. I am someone who over prepares for trips, especially adventure trips, because I do not want to be out in the middle of nowhere with something I forgot to pack or just left at home. Prep starts now.

I went into the garage, went through storage totes and retrieved all of my backpacking items. Bringing them into the house, I sorted them out to see what I had, needed and needed to upgrade. It was a mess. I was sadly ill prepared for any adventure into the woods with no resources available nearby. For the past several years, I had spoiled myself to Overlanding. I am now in the mindset where my vehicle is built and equipped with everything I need. It has the tent, the full kitchen, shower, bedding, heater, fans, toilet, toiletries, and everything else you need to live off-grid. Now I am committed to going out for days with only what I can carry on my back. I am not prepared for this. I need to research, ask advice and see what gear I need for this trip and many more to come. It will be an investment. It will be an investment in a lifestyle I desire. It is worth it to me for my joy and my health.

My backpack was small. It would not hold everything I needed it to hold for this length of trip. It is a Mountain Hardwear and a nice pack (I have had it for years and have carried it to multiple countries), but it is small. I began to research packs to see how they have improved over the years since I purchased my last one and came across brands I have never even heard of. Apparently, backpacking gear has come a long way since I have purchased my last gear. I came across a pack that I fell in love with which checked all of the boxes for what I needed for this trip and for future trips. I got on www.moosejaw.com and found a 65L pack from Mystery Ranch. This was the one. I hit the button. It would be there by the end of the week. Man, packs are expensive, but this is an investment in my well-being and quality of life. It is worth it to me. The first thing on my list is checked off and I am on my way to having exactly everything I need.

I have had my sleeping bag for years. Mummy bags have always been the going thing for backpacking. They are small, light and pack down to the size of a Nalgene Bottle. The problem is that I like to stretch and flip flop around. I do not like being constrained like a mummy, so several years ago, I purchased my bag (made by MontBell), which is a stretchy bag and I love it. I really hope it holds up and does not unravel or disintegrate on the trip. I think I will take my chances and save this expense.

It has not rained in Arkansas but once in the last few months. This could create a problem with us finding water. Water is crucial in that it is all we have to drink and use it to cook our dehydrated meals. Dehydrated meals are the best when it comes to packing small and being lightweight, but herein lies the problem if you do not have enough water with which to cook. We plan to camp beside water so that we can refill after our sources are depleted. Some of the guys state they are not worried about water, but we can stage a five-gallon bucket and filter from that at our half way point when we cross the highway to the second part of our trip. I decided to go ahead and purchase some extra water bottles to take. I purchased three smaller bottles made by Camelback and a bladder to fit inside my pack. The only problem with this will be that I will have to carry the extra weight of the extra water with me at all times, making my pack heavier than I had anticipated. Although that is not ideal, it is best, as I would rather carry the weight rather than run out of water.

I take the time to print out a checklist for backpacking off the internet. I take everything I have and spread it out on my bed. I want to check off each item to ensure that I have all the necessities. I have the dehydrated food I had stocked up on for such a trip as this. It goes in its own container. I have my clothes packed. I generally take one less set of clothes than how many days I will be gone. I have wipes to wipe myself down and stay clean. I sweat a lot so I have a towel, which can also be used to wipe things down if there is a heavy due and help clean kitchen items. I have my Spork (a long one that can reach into the bottom of the meal pouches). I have purchased a small pill organizer, travel items such as deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, and a few items for first aid. I have my sleeping bag and my sleeping pad I upgraded to. A packable pillow from Amazon and a Jetboil Stash to boil water and it seemed as if I had everything I needed. Am I ready?

My tent…will I take my tent or a hammock?

Several years ago, 23zero (which I use for my rooftop tents in Overlanding) had a clearance sale on their swag. This is a small, one-person tent, which is compact and generally lightweight. They had them marked down from $160 to $49 so I bought two. I was sure I could use them while kayaking or on the adventure motorcycle trips, but would they work for backpacking as well. I took it out in the front yard and set it up. It was somewhat complicated and came with way too many parts. I whittled down the parts to shed weight and was able to take out the two poles it came with and use my trekking poles instead. I would be taking those anyway so that would save most of the weight. I also decided to change out the heavy stakes and order some lightweight titanium stakes to replace and lighten the load. I took it out of the crappy sack it came with and packed it inside a compression sack to be able to shape it the way I wanted. With just a little time, some thinking, and some “getting rid of unneeded weight items” the tent was ready.

Back to the drawing board. I ran down through the list again. Did I have everything? Toilet paper…I do not have any toilet paper. I immediately got on Amazon and found biodegradable backpacking toilet paper (without the inner hole) and it would be here in a day or so. While on a trip to northwest Arkansas, I was able to swing by the local Moosejaw store and picked up some energy gummies, waffles, and bars. I also thought that without water, I need to be able to carry food that does not require water. I ran down to the local store and picked up some meal bars. I do not like carrying these meal bars as I they are very heavy and take up unwanted space, but they were necessary on this trip for the fear of not having enough water.

We are now late into October, so what about clothes? Will it be hot or cold? I needed to prepare for both, as all I would have would be what I would be taking with me. I can always take clothes off, but I will definitely need to be prepared to put more on if needed. Being cold is not my favorite thing in the world. I found a puffy jacket and vest second hand on Ebay so I ordered them both. The new style puffy outer shells are very compact, lightweight and do a good job of keeping you warm. The vest was North Face and the Jacket was Mountain Hardwear so both good quality and both could be trusted to do the job. I would pack a pair of shorts and lightweight hiking pants in order to cover the pants part of my outfit.

My leisure item. I am allowed one leisure item. I want a chair. I had spoken with a friend I work with who is an avid backpacker and he had told me about a chair he had found that weighed right at one pound made by Helinox. I looked it up on Moosejaw, entered my code, and it should be here in a day or two. I really have a hard time getting comfortable on rocks or just sitting on the ground, so a chair would definitely provide me with some comfort especially after a long day of hiking. This chair packs down so nice and small that it will fit in the pack and not take up too much room.

I had worked quite a lot at my day job the week of the trip so I felt kind of rushed to get everything in order. We were leaving on Friday morning and it was Tuesday before I knew it. Tuesday evening I got everything and started packing my pack. The chair fit perfectly in the vertical pouches on the outside. My new puffy jacket along with my water filter packed in the other so both were easily accessible. The top held my pill/bathroom/first aid bag, Spork, matches and lighter and sunglasses. In the main part of the pack I started with the bulky stuff at the bottom. First, the tent, then the sleeping bag and the pillow. On top of that were my clothing items, then the food, Jetboil and vest on the top so it was easily accessible. It would not fit. Oh no…this is not good. I pulled it all back out and decided to see what I could live without.

I always pack too much food. I have this insatiable fear of starving to death (I guess), so I always over pack food. I took all the food out and went through the schedule in my head. I was able to get rid of a few freeze-dried meals. I reorganized the meal bars and snacks into a more compact setup. I took out a pair of clothes and decided to take 2 less changes of clothes than the days we would be gone. Three days and two nights had me finally packing two extra shirts, a pair of shorts and then three each of socks and underwear. Once I did all this reorganizing, I put it all back in the pack and it all fit perfectly. Now for the decisive moment, the weigh test. I took the pack into the bathroom and put it on the scale. It felt somewhat heavy. Coming in at a whopping 29 lbs, the pack was exactly what I expected. I can do that. With the extra water, it most likely would stay under 35 lbs. and the more I ate, the lighter it would get. I was happy with that. Yes, it would be a challenge, but I was up for it. I had been training with a 29 lb. weighted vest and that would be close to what I was used to.

I am ready. I am confident I am ready. Maybe…I do know. I guess we will find out in the morning. Here we go!