About Blogger Bruce Lewis
I’m a 62-year-old public relations consultant living on the rugged north coast of California, not far from the Lost Coast. I’m in my 14th year of backpacking and try to get in the wilderness several times each year from March to November. I have hiked in most of the major wilderness areas in California.
Currently, I hike with several good friends: ” Dino”, a retired Cal Fire Captain who reads maps and the forest equally well, “The Duke” (his last name is Ellington), a 77-year-old renaissance man and medical miracle who takes no medications, can curl 150 pounds more than 10 times in the gym and moves on his long legs and 6-foot-1 inch frame like a gazelle. When our pal, “Wild Bill” retired after 20 trips and moved away, we added “Big John”, a semi-retired doctor of osteopathic medicine, whose first love is mountain biking, but thrives in the wilderness as well.
I grew up in the big suburb city of Long Beach in Southern California where were we hung out on beaches and surfed. I never met anyone who backpacked. The desire to backpack emerged from 10 years of summer car camps in the 1990′s near Red’s Meadow in the Eastern Sierra, meeting backpackers on their 212-mile trek along the John Muir Trail. My first backpack was just a few weeks shy of my 48th birthday, making me somewhat of a late backpack bloomer. Has my age colored my approach to backpacking? Sure. When you’re young and powerful, a thing like weight barely fazes you. Age, however, makes you aware of your weaknesses and forces you to compensate. If anything, however, age has fueled my love of the go-light philosophy. I am very comfortable with my “heavy” pack, big “downmat 7″ pad, tent and sleeping bag, totaling about 9 pounds. With my lighter pack and pad, I in at around 7 pounds. A good place to start.
Ultimately, LightBackpacking.com is about hiking lightly and safely and being one with the pack as you glide quietly and effortless through the wilderness enjoying the sights, sounds and smells, unburdened by such things as big packs and heavy boots.
