Welcome to episode 149 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 if you want to be a friend of the forest, get to know the flora.

We'll share some ways to make your next trip more rich as you get to know the plants that surround you.

Then we'll review a new ultra durable refillable

lighter. For today's backpack hack of the week you'll learn a plant geek approved way to bring forest samples home for further study.

All this and that's about it.

Today on the first 40 miles.

I think a lot of people approach plant identification in kind of a negative way.

Maybe the very first plant that you learn to identify is

poison ivy, poison oak, stinging nettle, and yet plant identification can really

add to the richness of your experience on the trail.

And it's great when you can move on from just identifying the harmful plants, the ones that

you need to stay away from, and start identifying the other harmless plants that are

surrounding you every day. Well, not just harmless, but beneficial plants. There are plants out

there that Native Americans have been using for hundreds of years,

and they're all these native species that surround us on every trail that we go on.

Of course, the task is a little trickier nowadays because there are also a bunch of non-native

plants that may surround us on the trails that we hike on.

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