Welcome to episode 111 of the first 40 miles.

If you're new to backpacking, or if you're hopelessly in love with someone who wants you to

love backpacking, then this podcast is for you. We'll talk about the essentials,

how to lighten your load, and how to make the most of your time on the trail. I'm your

host, Heather Legler. And I'm Josh Legler and this is the first 40 miles

Today on the first 40 miles hiking and backpacking go together like Lewis and Clark. But is it okay to have a day in the

wilderness where you don't hike at all? Absolutely! For today's summit gear review, a pack that is Absolutely. is a soul-filling pot of beans that can only be made on a zero day.

All this and that's about it.

Today on the first 40 miles.

Well, on my first backpacking trip,

we hiked every single day of that trip, and each day we covered between six and ten miles a day.

It was a really intense trip very challenging.

But as I continued backpacking and going on more trips, I was introduced to the idea of a zero day.

And this idea really appealed to me. A zero a day is a day in which you don't move

camp. Doesn't mean you necessarily go zero miles, it just means that you don't

take down your tent and you kind of keep your stuff in camp but you can

definitely go off and put on the miles but you just end up coming back to your

base camp that you've set up. Whenever I did multi-day trips when I was in scouts,

it was always that style of hiking every day

and stopping at a new place every night to set up camp.

And so when we did our Mount Hood trip,

you know, that seemed natural to me.

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