After backpacking with my Sunday school teacher a second  time, I was ready to head out on my own...but not by myself, so I did the unthinkable...I invited my younger brother to join me backpacking. Normally I didn’t enjoy him tagging along with me, but I wasn’t confident enough to go solo, so he became my hiking partner. We backpacked a few times together and I remember with fondness the times we spent making campfires, cooking over an open fire, braving rain, snow and black ice, hiking cross country to find a remote lakes, and to my pleasant surprise, enjoying each other company. It all ended abruptly when I left home to attend college and I put backpacking on hold for the next six years.