Well, the preparation phase has begun. “Preparation for what,” you might ask. Why the Zombie Apocalypse, of course. The end of the world as we know it. No, we are preparing for our first great adventure into overnight backpacking in the backcountry of Utah.

Randi and I took the boys to Utah for the first time back in 2012. We took our truck and travel trailer and spent two weeks exploring the southern half of Utah. We thoroughly enjoyed camping with the RV and our day hikes into the national parks and monuments that make up so much of southern Utah. At the same time, there was an undeniable force drawing us to go deeper than day hikes would allow. Since that time, we have talked repeatedly about taking up backpacking. Well, enough talk. It’s time for action.

This fall, Justin will start his senior year of college. Honestly, once he graduates, our family has the potential to begin to change rapidly. This summer could possibly be the last chance we have to take a trip like this with our family as it has been for the last 18 years—dad, mom, and the three boys. We decided last year that May 2017 would be our grand adventure into backpacking in the backcountry of The Beehive State.

Over the next few months we will share with you what we are planning to do and what we are doing to prepare. Suggestions are welcome. We want to share what we learn as we go and also learn from those who have already been there and done that and have the blisters to prove it.

I don’t know about you, but I get hungry doing all this planning and prepping. No better way to take the edge off that hunger than with a good trail mix. Enjoy our second trail mix recipe—Justin’s Cracker Spectacular. Download the pdf and enjoy the video.

Happily planning,

Mike