Welcome to episode 151 of the first 40 miles.

If you're new to backpacking or if your parents want 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, Hannah Legler. And I'm Isaac Legler.

And this is the first 40 miles.

Today on the first 40 miles we've hijacked the show to provide the kids perspective on

backpacking. Then we'll share some fun and not so fun memories from past trips.

For today's gear review, we will be reviewing our youngest sibling's favorite pack.

Then some friends will join us and share their experience backpacking, and'll wrap up the show with little trail wisdom from the far east.

All this and that's about it on the first 40 miles.

Our first backpacking trip was not miserable.

Yeah, I think our first trip was probably our worst.

Yeah, we had a broken tent.

We probably didn't look at the weather, so we got rained out, it was freezing, didn't prepare enough, and couldn't start a fire.

I think we looked at the weather, but our trip guide with air quotes thought that the weather didn't matter that much so

Kind of overlooked that part yeah So what surprised you guys when you first started?

I was surprised by how hard it can be to stay dry with all the umbrellas and all those layers packed up.

Not only can it get through that sometimes, also the sweat just stays there and it's

miserable and you just have to push through it. What surprised me that I didn't

realize until now is how hard it is to start a fire in a very moist environment.

One time I accidentally set our yard on fire with lighter fluid,

just a little bit of the yard like a one foot by one foot area,

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