Our Team: Brian of Brian’s Backpacking Blog

Me on the Mt. Whitney Trail in California

My love of the outdoors started at a very early age, almost as far back as I can remember. I was born in the south of England at a time when spending all day outdoors as a small kid was considered perfectly normal.

I was the youngest of four children and loved tagging along with my older brother on all his adventures in the woods that surrounded our house.

I loved climbing trees and was pretty good at it from a very early age. My brother and I had a favorite we nicknamed the “Army Tree”because we could see the local army field strip from it and watch planes taking off and landing.  Despite being good at climbing trees and having little fear of heights, I still managed to fall out of my fair share of them!

There's just something about knives and being outdoors.

My dad gave me my first real knife when I was about 6 or 7 years old. It was a small fixed-blade sheath knife with a 3-inch blade and the classic bone-and-leather-disc handle. I loved that knife and used it to death — I wish I still had it, or at least that I knew what happened to it.

I’m very fortunate that I grew up being shown how to do things like tie a sheepshank, a bowline, reef knot or splice a loop into the end of a length of rope.

My dad has always been very good with his hands and had a lot of experience from his time in the merchant navy with all types of knots and rope skills. It used to fascinate me to watch him show us how to tie knots. Now I spend as much time outdoors as my work schedule and family life will allow. I’m equally happy going on hardcore multi-night backpacking trips with my hiking buddies, as I am camping out in my backyard with my two small kids.

My sub-1lb tarp and bivy combo! Fast and flexible.

I’m always trying to improve my bushcraft skills and constantly learning better ways to do things.  My kids have inherited my love of and respect for the outdoors and they are slowly building up their knowledge and gear lists.

I enjoy passing my knowledge on to my children and anyone else who is interested. One of the driving factors behind my blog was to share my experiences with anyone else who found the articles useful or helpful.

I hope my posts and those of my fellow Trail Sherpas encourage you to get outside and experience it for yourself. I encourage you to provide your feedback via the comments, or social channels, or to email me if you have any questions.