hi - We’re The backpacking Beginners
About us
Hi friends! I am sure you are wondering who we are and why we wanted to start this blog 😄
One of our first photos together. Yes, Kate is a marshmallow and Kat is a minion.
Our friendship started when we both joined a sorority at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. We first bonded over the thought that ‘sorority life’ wasn’t for us but ended up making some of our best friends to this day (including each other!). Fast forward 8 years later and we both live and work in Charlotte, North Carolina.
We love getting outdoors, but as you will read below, we first ventured out to go backpacking at two very different times in our lives. In October 2017, we decided to go on our first backpacking trip together. Kat’s manager at the time took a group of girls on a beginner's trip to show them the ropes. Afterwards, we were hooked.
This inspired us to create a platform for people who are interested in backpacking, but have no idea where to begin. Over the years, we have gone on numerous backpacking trips and have had MANY lessons learned along the way.
Our hope with this blog is to help people get started backpacking and encourage them to get outdoors. We are by no means experts, but we want to share our experiences (and failures) in a relatable way to help others start their backpacking adventure.
On our favorite backpacking trip in Zion National Park.
Meet Kate
Hi - I’m Kate. A native Texan who has been living in NC for the past 8 years! I’m so pumped you are here and hopefully learning from all our failures on the trail!
My love of the outdoors started in the ripe years of elementary school through a YMCA Daddy/Daughter camping program called Indian Princesses (shout out to the Sweet Sioux Tribe!). Shortly after, my whole family caught the bug and we bought our first RV to start road tripping for ALL our family vacations! Cue a variety of young camper Kate photos :)
My first true backpacking experience wasn't until college at UNCW. I was having some serious withdrawals from camping and the outdoors when I came across our campus “Seahawk Adventures” program which was all about taking students out on backpacking and camping excursions. After my first backpacking trip with them (to the ever classy Myrtle Beach), I was hooked! Thankfully I had a boyfriend at the time and a best friend back in Texas who shared my interests, which took me on backpacking trips to Grayson Highlands and ultimately Peru.
Now enter into the life of 9-5 corporate america. I’m a Consultant for Merger & Acquisitions during the day who is constantly thinking of what next adventure I can take. It wasn't until Kat caught the backpacking bug that we started making backpacking a regular thing! Now we are escaping for weekend trips and even exploring some National Parks on long weekends.
Every backpacking trip is teaching us something new! Even coming with years of camping background, I still am in awe of the experiences and what we learn from each backpacking trip.
Meet Kat
Hi there - I’m Kat. I have lived in North Carolina for almost my whole life. I love this beautiful state and if you haven’t been here before, you should come to visit!
My getting started story is drastically different from Kate’s. I honestly have never been camping until my first car camping experience in 2017, and I took my first backpacking trip (Art Loeb) one week later. My earliest memories of being outdoors are going on hikes with my family near Grandfather Mountain and getting lost. Fast-forward almost two decade later I am still getting lost on the trail 🙃
I never thought I would like camping let alone backpacking. To be frank, my friends couldn’t wrap their heads around me being in the woods, sleeping in a tent outside. I am so happy I gave it a try because it led me here, writing this blog and trying to encourage others to get outdoors too.
I work for a bank (shocker) as a UX Designer. Since I am inside most of the day, I find myself daydreaming of the next time I can get outdoors. I enjoy traveling and trying new things to get outside. And with backpacking, it allows me to do both.
Our goal with this blog is to help others who want to start backpacking by making it accessible and relatable. You will never hear Kate or I claim that we are experts, we continue to learn on each trip we go on. I hope our articles give you guidance to take your next backpacking adventure!