Oh, you’re going to love this. There is nothing — and I mean nothing — quite like being outside, properly outside, with everything you need on your back. Just you, and the trail, and the trees, and whatever the trees are doing.
I have, in my time, observed a great many people set out on day hikes. Some come prepared. Others come — well. Let us just say I have seen what happens when a person ten miles in realizes their backpack does not fit them. It is not, as they say, ideal. The trail does not, generally, care. The trees do not, generally, care. But I care, and so I would like you to be comfortable.
The three packs below are ones I would actually recommend to anyone setting off for a day in the woods. They differ in their intent. The first is for the gentle hiker — the person whose hike is, by most standards, a walk with snacks. The second is for the more serious walker, the person who looks at a map and plans their elevation gain. The third is for those of us — and I include myself in this category, in a manner of speaking — who prefer to move lightly through the world, taking only what we need and leaving, in our wake, only what we leave.
You will not regret going. The trees will welcome you. The trees always do.
