>>221048824, and I always liked roaming around the woods and railroad tracks near my house. That got boring and honestly the "woods" there sucked, so I decided to head up to a spot my parents took me when I was a kid, a mountainous area called Albert Pike in the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas. I found a random hiking trail and went down it without having a clue where it went or how long it was. I hiked a couple miles (with all the wrong gear, mind you,) and came to a magical spot known as the Winding Stairs. My friends and I stopped here to enjoy the scenery and met a backpacker. He told us that we were on a three day backpacking trail and probably shouldn't go further. I went back home, researched a bit on that trail, and decided I'd try this out. I went back to the spot later (still with the wrong gear, including a really heavy sleeping bag and a two man tent I fucking carried,) and set up camp by myself a bit further down the trail. That was my first night solo camping, and it was terrifying. After that, it wasn't scary at all, and I started doing it regularly as I bought the right gear. Fast forward more than three years later, and I've completed that 27 mile trail four times (three times solo,) and have done countless hikes from day trips to multi-day trails. Hiking has not only become ingrained in my personality, but it's led me either directly or indirectly to most of the friendships I have now, and it's become very spiritual for me. Now I also geocache and forage as sort of side quests, and I'm getting more and more into those hobbies. I've been canoeing, and plan on buying a kayak and a mountain bike soon. When I say that hiking has not only built me up into the person I am today but also saved me from definite suicide several times over, I am not being dramatic.
