People ask us, how did you get into backpacking? During one of our trips out west I got to thinking. If we do a 10 mile hike, we hike out 5 miles and typically come back the same way, seeing the same things. Then we go and stay in our tent. Why not just hike out 10 miles, take our tent with us and set up camp. Going farther opened up loop possibilities which would eliminate backtracking, allowing us to cover more ground and see more scenery. And this was how my obsession began. I had to convince Leann since she was concerned about the carrying that much weight. I was relentless convincing her to give it a try. She finally agreed and backpacking is now an obsession for both of us.
