BACKPACKING THROUGH YOUR CAREER

I was fortunate to go on a backpacking trip over the New Years break. I went on a five-day hike in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park along 35 miles of the Appalachian Trail with my brother and some friends.

I was the newbie in the group. I had been camping before, but I had never been backpacking. All of the other guys in the group had been backpacking before. I was also the oldest in the group at 48 years old. The youngest was 24, three were in their early 30s, and my brother, my friend Mart and I were all in our 40s. It was quite a diverse group.

My brother invited me to go with him on the trip in mid-October. At first, I said no because I didn’t have any gear and, more importantly, didn’t feel I was in good enough shape to tackle a five-day backpacking excursion that would take us to over 5,500 feet in elevation. My brother eventually convinced me to go, so I started planning.

The first thing I did was buy a good pair of hiking boots. I wanted to be sure that my feet would be comfortable along the hike. I didn’t want to find out halfway through the trip at 5,500 feet elevation that my feet were miserable. The boots fit great, and they were nice and broken in by the time we went backpacking.

Next, I started to lean on my brother and friends who had prior backpacking experience. I soaked up as much information as I could to prepare what I needed. I heard it time and time again – pack as light as you can. I heeded that advice as I started to gather my gear together.

A month before our trip, I had all my gear and supplies assembled. I had made a checklist. I went through that list almost daily, refining it along the way. “Do I really need that?” I would often ask myself. I packed, unpacked and repacked everything to make sure it fit and the heavy weight items were centered low and close to my body.

Then, several weeks before the trip, at the advice of my brother, I started walking 3 ½ miles every other day with ankle weights and my backpack fully-loaded. I wanted to get used to the backpack and make sure it was adjusted properly. I wanted to get my body used to lugging over 30 pounds of gear around. It couldn’t prepare me for the rigors of climbing up a steep grade at high-elevation, but it was better than nothing.

The trip was memorable. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done physically. My friend Mart says it is the second hardest thing he has ever done (the hardest being Army boot camp). The experience and the pristine scenery made up for the strenuous hikes and sore muscles. I learned a lot before the trip, and I took home some lessons to help better prepare myself for the next adventure. We are already planning a return trip to a different segment of the Appalachian Trail next winter!

While I am thankful for the advice I was given to help prepare me for the trip, I couldn’t help but be baffled at the youngest in the group. He is 24 years old and is a fireman. On his days off, he installs AC ductwork in houses and works for a lawn care service. He works out with P90X religiously. To say he is in great shape is an understatement. This was his third (maybe fourth) time backpacking with the group. But you wouldn’t know it. He packed over 55 pounds of gear in his bag. He bought a new pair of boots the day before the trip! He packed way too much food and ended up carrying a lot of it back out with him. One of his brothers tried giving him advice on reducing his load weight, but he didn’t listen. He knew what he wanted to take with him, and he took it.

By the second day, he started to complain about the blisters on one of his feet. By the last day, his limp was so bad I truly felt sorry for him. He is a great guy, and I enjoyed the company of him and everyone on the trip, but I couldn’t help but wonder why, on his third time backpacking, he was still making newbie mistakes.

And so it goes in aviation, doesn’t it? Some of us have great mentors, and take every opportunity to learn as much as we can from our peers when we first start out. I had some great mentors when I first started wrenching that helped me along the way.

Then you have some that have an “I know it all” mentality when they start off. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to seem stupid, but they are hesitant to ask questions or lean on the advice of others. They have a harder time getting proficient at their craft, and often stumble along the way.

Sure, we all make mistakes. It has been said that a smart man learns from his mistakes. A smarter man learns from the mistakes of others.

In the end, the important thing is to never stop learning!

Thanks for reading, and we welcome your feedback. – Joe

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Joe Escobar (jescobar@dommagazine.com)
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