Upon returning home from a backpacking trip, I’m often asked if I had fun. Maybe you’ve been asked a similar question and found it similarly difficult to answer: is backpacking ever fun? Satisfying? Sure. Fulfilling in a deep, soul-cleansing way? Absolutely. But fun? Nothing that causes this many blisters should ever be called fun. My point is, backpacking is hard work, and even those of us who love it to our very core will freely admit that most of the time, it’s no picnic.