Backpacking Story Contest
April, 2010

* Winners Announced! *

During the contest entry period, 7 people sent in wonderful stories about what they learned about themselves during backpacking trips.

To all of the people who took time to write a story and enter the contest, we say, "Thank you so much!"

Your inspiring collection of stories will be permanently archived here on this page so future visitors to this site can enjoy them, too. You can read all of the backpacking stories at the bottom of this page.

Here are our two prize winners:

The two backpacking stories below were judged most compelling and each have won a valuable VISA Gift Card prize, which we will send to the winners from GiftCards.com.

GRAND PRIZE - $50 GIFT CARD: Big by Molly, Birmingham, AL

EXCERPT: "It was at that moment that I realized how insignificant I am. I have never felt that small in my life. Not only did I realize how small I am, but I also realized how big the world is. I realized how much of it I have not seen. And it was in that moment that a desire was kindled in me to learn more about this huge world that we live in."

RUNNER UP - $25 GIFT CARD: Climbing Mt. Washington by Jeannette D., Stoughton, MA

EXCERPT: "What I learned from this experience was, the best person to rely on was myself. I was able to turn an uncomfortable situation around. Inner strength and determination emerged just when I needed it."

Congratulations to both of our prize winners and thanks again to everyone who entered stories in the contest!

ENJOY READING ALL THE STORIES!

Contest Entry Stories So Far...

Click below to see contest entry stories from other visitors to this page...

Climbing Mt. Washington
One of the most exciting and challenging hikes I ever went on took place about twenty five years ago. My boyfriend of six months asked me if I wanted ...

Big
Two summers ago I had the opportunity to go backpacking in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado with my summer camp. At camp, we got to choose three activities ...

Backpacking through Australia
Two years ago, I went backpacking through Australia. I stayed in the mountains with a group of other college students.

While camping, we had very little ...

Fair Weather Friends Not rated yet
Went hiking with two of my girlfriends -- one "knew" the mountains and the trails. We had a map, too. I followed and when we knew we were lost still followed....

Flash Back! Not rated yet
While preparing to hike back to a waterfall, I had a flashback. It was August of 2007. I was a normal 12 year old girl with nothing on my mind but thoughts ...

Learning the Hard Way Not rated yet
My feet crunch the green grass, bending it over forcing it to bow in my presence. I place one foot in front of the other, leaning forward a bit from the ...

Girls Who Cry Alligator Not rated yet
While backpacking across my friend's hometown in Florida, we were enjoying ourselves with some funny thoughts of alligators. We kept thinking of how funny ...

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