Welcome to episode 201 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, you don't have to own a pair of spurs and a horse to cowboy camp. All you need is a clear night and a sense of adventure.

Then we'll share a listener's story as she introduced her kid to backpacking.

Next, a backpack hack that flies in the face of the Cotton is Rotten

adage. And we'll wrap up with a little trail wisdom from someone who believed in answering life's call for adventure with a hearty yes.

All this and that's about it.

Today on the first 40 miles.

We're so excited from our Pacific Crest Trail hike that we did a couple weeks ago.

We had a fantastic time now that we're back in the comfort of our own home, we can say we had a fantastic time. We can say we had a fantastic time. It was so amazing. It was also

grueling and difficult and yet we want to do it again. Yeah, there were some

blistery moments, some uncomfortable moments and some, yeah,

real moments that pushed us. But yeah, it's type 2 fun. We want to do it again, and it was totally worth every ounce of energy that we put into it.

And one of the big changes that we made on this hike was cowboy camping.

We've done tents, we've done tarints, we've done hammocks, and this time we ditched all of them.

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