In my teenage years, I had a Sunday school teacher who offered to take the students in his class on a backpacking trip. I had been camping, fishing, and even hunting with my father, but backpacking was something new and I remember my excitement checking out backpacking books at the library and spending lots of time at the local sporting goods store. My first backpacking trip was to the Mineral King area and I still remember with fondness the day we scrambled to the top of a ridge on the Great Western Divide and looked east across the high sierra towards Mt. Whitney. It was a breath taking view and reminds me of a comment from the first successful ascent of Mt. McKinley in Alaska. Upon reaching the summit one of the climbers said, "It was as if we were looking out of the windows of heaven." I took one more backpacking trip with my Sunday school teacher and I was officially hooked!