This past year I am happy to report that I have spent almost an entire month in my sleeping bag on the trail. I have a total of 28 bag nights logged. This is especially high for me since I have a full time job.

Sadly I only got out for around one weekend a month so I'm at between 24 and 28.

On trail... 1

while climbing... 50 maybe more

will be fixing that this year.

Maybe 35 on the trail, 30 more at the trailhead next to the car

This was the first year in over a decade that I got.....

Zero.


But I am OK with it. Considering how many nights I have racked up over the past umpteen years I figure it evens out ;-) While waiting for the stupid snow to finally melt (in August don't ya know!) I got pregnant again and I just don't like sleeping on the ground when preggo. But hey spring is just right around the corner (or really the baby coming is) so I am all wired suddenly about 2012!

Do you go backpacking with young ones, Sarah?

Yes!! I started Ford young car camping and with Ford being 14 and over 6 feet tall it shouldn't be an issue this coming year - I will carry the new baby on my front, pack on back, Ford can carry his brother (who will be 2) and Kirk can carry the family gear. We won't be doing super miles but I plan on a couple of trips this year! Just a few more weeks :-D

Had to get the calendar. Got 30 nights in the bag - some on top in the summer - this year.

I made a real commitment to go on one backcountry SAR per month. I also had three fun trips of 4 days in length. Can you tell my kids are in college now?


Enjoy,

Dave

I only had 12, which is a new record for me, I guess, but I feel like I'm not doing enough to earn my reputation among my non-hiking friends as a "super-hiker".

However, I did do several new things, like set a sequential nights out record (5) and do my first ever overnight hiking in the lower-48, two nights on the TRT.

About 100. Between the PCT and all my prehike hikes it was a very good year. Now, if 2012 could only be that good.

Only about 6 weeks this year. But, scout camp cut into my time.

This was a book release year... and I have a baby to deal with now. Our total bag nights in the wilderness were nominal at a mere.... wait for it....

10 nights. And this was all by canoe (sadly no backpacking in 2011).

There have been years where we've had 80 nights. The year our home burned down we had 3 nights and in 2010 it was a whopping big fat 0 (in my defense I was very pregnant - lol).

We are planning for about 20 nights in 2012 and at least double that for 2013. As baby girl gets bigger we'll be doing a lot more.

Here are photos of the kids on baby girl's first wilderness trip.





and shortly after her wading...

her first leech (good thing it was a wee one)





We were testing the carrier Kaia is in for Vaude.

I should mention there was about 15 km of portaging to get to our destination and only a little bit of paddling across 3 lakes. This was done in one day. We try to go as light as possible because of space in the canoe and portaging distance (that and we have to portage a canoe and baby as well). Some people have the illusion that all we do is sit in a canoe and paddle and that canoe gear is very heavy. Not so on some parts of the Canadian Shield. It's rock and rugged only to reveal a hidden gem like this lake. We did stay there for more than one day just because of the baby.

Edited by Laurie_Ann on 12/31/2011 05:13:46 MST.

I got 20 or so nights of camping in this year (mostly with my scouts), including 8 on the trail! After 4 years of NO backpacking due to back injuries, this year has been a breakthrough for me.

As we prep for a mid-summer Philmont trek (10 trail-nights), I expect at least 25 trail-nights in 2012, plus another 15 or so camping nights that don't involve backpacking. Good to get back to the things I enjoy the most!