Welcome to episode one of the first 40 miles. I'm your host Heather Legler.

And I'm Josh Legler.

You know, podcasts are usually done by people who are experts in their field.

They know a lot and they have a lot to say. This is a

backpacking podcast. However, I'm not an expert. I'm a beginner backpacker.

I haven't solo hiked the Pacific Crest Trail or sawed off a frostbitten limb with a credit card.

I have never eaten raw squirrel meat or slept under a blanket of pine needles and steaming bear dung.

I haven't been stranded for weeks in the woods with only a knife and a camera crew.

But I have discovered a simple love for hiking and backpacking and it all happened in the first 40 miles.

So I want to approach this podcast with creativity because there are a few things that require as much

creative thinking, imagination, inventiveness, improvisation, insight and intuition as the act of strapping 30 pounds to your back and

disappearing into the thick woods.

Or strapping 40 pounds onto your back.

But it happened for me in the first 40 miles too. I grew up in the North

Cascades and I still remember my first week-long backpacking trip as a 12-year-old Boy Scout.. It was awesome and I was hooked. I've been

backpacking a lot longer than Heather has but after I grew up family and career

got in the way and my backpacking gear spent more time in the storage

closet, less time on my back.

So when I recently started prepping for my first long trip in a long while, I realized that I had to purchase a lot of new stuff,

and I had to learn a lot too.

But here's a cool thing about backpacking.

A lot of sports are pretty intimidating for beginners, but backpacking isn't.

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