It has come to my attention that we have some younger readers of our blog, who would like to learn more about through hiking.  First and most important is:  leave no trace.  Try to enjoy the outdoors so it will look the same for the next person behind you, as if you where never there. 
•Plan ahead and prepare
•Travel and campon durable surfaces
•Dispose of trash and waste properly
•Leave what you find
•Minimize fire impact
•Respect wildlife
•Be considerate of others
Lu talked about her turtle shell, or back pack. how we carry everything we need. I will break it down as if it were rooms of your house and talk about what we do different in the outdoors.

This is the whole house all spread out.

First room (I’ll get the gross part out of the way)  the bathroom or toilet.

So when you have to go,  find a place off trail a hundred feet or more, this can be tricky because the ground may be too steep and you don’t want to fall off the hillside. When you’re done you don’t get to flush it,  you use the little shovel and dig a hole  (don’t use the shovel to put in the hole find a stick) put all paper and any thing you use in the hole and cover it. The hole should be 8 inches deep.  Be careful you my not have water to wash your hands, just hand sanitizer.
The bag in the picture is my shower kit really only used when in a campground or town with showers.

Next is your bedroom.  If you’re like me you hate making your bed.. imagine building your bed and bedroom every night, taking it apart and putting it in bags you can carry every morning.  The  bag that says eureka! Is my bedroom or tent, the little green one is my bed or air mattress, the big gray thing is my sleeping bag.  Remember everything as to fit in our backpacks.

Next up is the kitchen, the bottles and funny shaped bag are our sink or water storage.  At home you turn on the tap, outdoors we have to filter the water before we drink it or cook with it.  Which takes time so we like to conserve, or save it till we really need or want it.  Well for cooking we really just eat as much stuff as we can hold. You need to carry fuel to heat things up, I use the black thing with the orange bottom that’s my stove if I need to boil water to cook. Remember your carrying everything.  If I don’t need to cook it we do what’s called cold soaking, I use the container with the blue lid, put my food in it (like rice, beans, or oatmeal) add water and let it sit for a of couple hours, mix it before you leave camp carry it in you pack when you stop for lunch its ready, not hot but still tasty.   The big bag is all of my food for five days.

Last is my clothes they all fit in the yellow bag.  You will wear the same clothes eveyday when hiking, only at night do I change in to something, that’s kinda clean to sleep in.  I have extra socks when they get really funky, and will wash them when we get to rivers or streams.  Also we wash everything when we get to a town.  It’s really important  to have layers, or warmer clothes to put on when it does get cold.  My sleeping clothes are what I will put on under my hiking colthes, when it is cold.
Any questions please comment
Phil