My usual backpacking preference is going solo. I’m not anti-social; it just works out better. It is easy for me to just take off alone. No advance planning, no comparing schedules with hiking partners, no discussion of potential destinations.
Having said the above, there are three people who I have hiked with a few times over the past several years. Each of them is a great hiking partner and every trip with them has been excellent. It had been almost 3 years since I had gone backpacking with Ojas, longer than the other two partners, so it was time for another adventure. Our last trip had been a cold one with lots of snow. So with temperatures forecasted in the high 70’s and lows in the high 40’s (F), Anza Borrego State Park was a perfect destination.
I don’t read magazines or newspapers. I don’t read much on the Internet, unless I am researching something and most of the time you can’t trust what you read. I do, as time permits, read a few backpacking blogs, mostly those based in the UK, and especially a few Scottish hill walkers (apparently they don’t call themselves backpackers). What appeals to me about these UK walkers is the usually dreadful weather they walk in, their propensity to ignore bad weather, and their blog posts seem to focus more on their trips; not their gear.
