Quick Summary
Carl "Professor" Stanfield opens this series by tracing his path from a grueling, underprepared first backpacking trip at 18 to completing over 17,000 miles including a calendar-year triple crown. He argues that the true "key currency" separating struggling beginners from successful hikers isn't gear, endurance, or experience alone, but genuine, skill-based confidence — distinct from ego-driven overconfidence, which can be dangerous in the backcountry. He closes by previewing that the series will dig into three pillars for building that confidence: logistics, gear, and food.
Words and Photos by Carl “Professor” Stanfield @prof_carl
I took my first backpacking trip 15 years ago. I had been collecting gear for nearly two years at the time and was excited to finally get to see how this collection of multifunctional gizmos would keep me safe and comfortable in what I used to simply reference as “the woods.” My dad had also never been backpacking, but he was able to borrow a backpack from a friend at work and even put together an itinerary for us. At 18, I had no idea where to start and was grateful that Dad was able to take away the most stressful barrier to entry.
The trip was, as most first forays into the backcountry are, much more difficult than necessary. We’d guessed mostly in the dark about how much gear and food to bring and how many miles to attempt each day. Our packs were painfully heavy, and I remember being faced with a gut-wrenching reality: maybe backpacking is too hard for me to ever be able to enjoy very much.
I started college that fall, studying a major called ‘Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education.’ Two years later, I secured a certification as a Wilderness First Responder. Seven years later, I’d completed my first thru hike. Eleven years later, I joined the fortunate few to have completed the calendar year triple crown. I have now had the pleasure of backpacking over 17,000 miles, 16,968 more than I’d once thought possible. How is this leap in achievement possible? What is the key piece, the x-factor that made my backpacking career possible?
I was recently chatting with a friend of mine from HMG headquarters when this topic came up. I was asked what I thought was “the key currency of backpackers.” Right away, several answers began to circulate. Perhaps the answer was some combination of mental and physical endurance? Maybe a wealth of experience to draw from? A well tested gear closet? An iron gut? As I thought back on my own experiences over the past 15 years of backpacking, I thought about my developmental years establishing my relationship with what is now my favorite sport. When I did, I thought of one primary difference between myself on that first trip and where I stand now: one ultimate, all encapsulating factor that sets me apart from my mindset and skillset as a beginner. That factor is confidence.
Confidence on trail is a simple concept that encapsulates so much of what leads to success as a hiker. It dispels fears, increases endurance, provides (relative) comfortability, and at the end of the day, makes the entire experience smoother, from the concept of the hike all the way to cleaning up gear after its completion.
For confidence to be helpful, it needs to be real, and it needs to be based on experience to back itself up. There is a fine line between confidence based on ego, and confidence based on skill. In developing this essential tool, one needs a healthy supply of the right kind of confidence. The wrong kind of confidence in the backcountry can be extremely dangerous.
While some people struggle with having too big of egos, I find that many can also be overly timid when it comes to confidence. Some experience is necessary, yes, but it’s important to realize that at some point, you really do have enough experience to trust what you’re doing out there. This is who this crash course in confidence is really targeted towards.
With this series, I hope to guide backpackers developing their skills towards the practices that I think will most successfully grow the right kind of confidence in the backcountry. At the end of the day though, there is only so much a person can read on the matter: you just gotta get out there and hike. The best way to develop proper confidence in the backcountry is, of course, spending time in the backcountry.
Now that I’ve made my case for the necessity of developing confidence in order to master backpacking, I will go in depth on developing three key components of any backpacker’s skillset: logistics, gear, and food. I will go on to cover each of these three primary backpacking components in upcoming installments.
Stay tuned and stay hiking!
