New to the sport, but not new to adventure.

[John.A]

Hello everyone.  My name is John.  I am just beginning to get into the backpacking sport.  This is something I've always thought about doing and I would love for this hobby to become something I can teach my daughters to do, and something we can enjoy many adventures together for years to come.  I am 43 and my girls are 16, 16, and 18.  My hope is to restore some of the real wonderful things in life to my girls... outside of cell phones and social media... Uggh!   I would really love if my wife would take interest too, but I'm not sure if that will happen...LOL.   I am from Louisiana but I work in the west TX area....So I'm not far from the canyons and mountains!   I have plenty of outdoor experience as a kid and young adult so I'm not completely new to outdoors so to speak...and I did a lot of camping out in random wooded country around home as a kid and have spent countless hours in a canoe on different rivers. 

So I have planned a family trip with my wife and girls to Rocky Mountain National Park in September with some small day hikes planned..... hopefully to spark everyone's interest before investing in too much gear for everyone.  I am very excited about this trip! 

I hope to engage in much discussion with you all and learn as much as possible.  I have so many questions about boots, and gear, and maps, and using a compass, and MRE's and on, and on, and on........Beginner trails, Intermediate trails, advanced... etc.. I am sure this forum will answer many of these questions for me so thank you all ahead of time for any help and advise you give.   I have hopes that this may even be a place to connect with folks to go on a trip ......we'll see.