It had been a long,hard,wonderful day.The two of us had walked from the sea's edge through the length of a beautiful valley,climbed a superb mountain,travelled its narrow,rocky ridge ,and now stood on its final peak,tired,happy and looking for the perfect campsite. The experienced backpacker has a natural feeling for such things,and our eyes were drawn to a small blue circle on the map,like an eye winking at us.We could not see _ from where we were,but we followed our judgement and went down steeply until it came into view. We were right.It was a calm pool,with flat grass beside it.Gently taking our packs off,we made the first of many cups of tea before pulling up our tent.Later that evening,over another cup of tea and after a good meal,we sat outside the tent watching the sunset over a sea dotted with islands,towards one of which a ferry was slowly moving.It is not always so perfect,of course.On another trip,with a different companion,a thoroughly wet day had ended at a lonely farm.Depressed at the thought of camping,we had knocked and asked if we could use a barn  as a shelter. Backpacking could be defined as the art of comfortable,selfsufficient  travel on foot.Everything you need is in the pack on your back,and you become _ .I once left my pack hidden in some rocks while I made a long trip to a peak I particularly wanted to climb.I was away for nearly three hours and ended up running the last stretch in fear that my precious pack would not be there.It was,of course. The speed at which the backpacker travels makes this the perfect way to see any country.You experience the landscape as a slow unfolding scene,almost in the way it was made;and you find time to stop and talk to people you meet.I've learned much local history from simply chatting to people I met while walking through an area.At the end of a trip,whether three days or three weeks,there's a feeling of achievement,of having got somewhere under your own power. After years of going out walking just for the day,many people start backpacking simply through wanting to stay out rather than cut short a trip. How did the writer and his companion feel at the end of the day?
They were too tired to put up their tent. They wished they could have found a farm. They were anxious about the coming weather. They were delighted with the spot they'd found.