Backpacking requires an initial investment to get enough equipment to be self sufficient on the trail. With a little care the costs of getting started can be reduced however.

I would say that that the three essentials in getting started backpacking are a good pack, a dry sleeping bag, and a dependable stove. Money can be saved by acquiring a simple A frame pup tent, which usually costs no more than 25 dollars.

Taking a 6 by 8 feet tarp to rope over the tent gives usually as much protection as almost any three season tent (a tent designed for spring through fall weather).

Don't overlook the equipment for sale at your local discount store, and watch the web for specials on backpacking equipment. Campmor has frequent online specials on packs, footwear, sleeping bags, and tents, and other online retailers have frequent specials, and are worth checking out.

It is important to have enough equipment to be prepared in wild country, but at the same time not take so much equipment that the weight of your pack is barely manageable. You will find it is a struggle each time you head out to minimize the weight of your pack. The simple act of weighing the pack, so that you know how many pounds of equipment you will have on your back, has a way of bringing the weight down. (if the weight surpasses 50 pounds on a summertime excursion, it is time to reassess what your are taking along).

Since backpacking is mostly walking, try to prepare for your trip by becoming a daily walker. Some people also shoulder a pack the week or two before your trip so that your back and shoulder muscles get somewhat adjusted to the load.

Always have a topographic map of the area you will be hiking in, and don't forget a compass. Other essentials are bug juice and suntan lotion. Plenty of lightweight nylon rope comes in handy for securing your food from critters or tying up a tarp over your tent or cooking area. A backpacking checklist can be found at backpacking.net. Check this over to make sure you don't find you have forgotten to pack some essential item when you are 6 miles up the trail and setting up camp.

Be prepared mentally that much of backpacking is very hard work. Minimize the distance you plan to travel on the first day or so, to give your body time to adjust to this new regime of strenuous labor.

Most of us are city people, and the silence of the wilderness is inspiring but also an adjustment. Some backpackers take along a small AM radio to maintain some sort of connection to the world where they spend most of their lives. We are not all Mountain Men or Women who instantly adjust to wilderness life, but move into this new world slowly and with caution. The reception of Am radio stations improves at night; I have picked up KOMA, the oldies station from Oklahoma City while lying in my sleeping bag in several western states, including Wyoming.

Some lightweight reading material is nice to have along, in case you find yourself slow to drift off to sleep or waiting out a rainstorm in your tent.

It is a pleasure to prepare good meals in the peace of an evening camp, beneath towering spruce or pine or poplars, next to a meadow with the music of a small stream in the background and the yellow rays of the last sunlight hitting the granite cliffs across the valley. Many companies prepare very good lightweight backpacking meals, but don't overlook what you can find in most grocery stories that doesn't weigh too much. I like to vary my menu somewhat from trip to trip, so as not to get bored with the same camp food. Many food mixes require only adding boiling water, such as rice, oatmeal, even some pancake mixes.

Much can be said about the logistics of getting yourself up to the wilderness with the capability to safely sustain yourself for a few days. Too little is said about what a life-changing experience this can be. The wilderness is healing, plain and simple. From the lone bird whose song echoes through the tall spruce at dusk, the distant elk bugling in the late summer evening, the shooting stars that streak through a sky filled with more stars than you have ever seen, to the first sun rays reflecting off those cliffs on the mountain above camp, you may return home with images and stories that make those wilderness days seem as among the best of your life.