When your smartphone never stops lighting up with notifications, your work/life balance is anything but, and you find yourself checking your inbox every hour of the day, it’s time to get away. Really get away. Unwind, reconnect with the world outside your office, and see the best of what nature has to offer. It’s time to go backpacking.

Granted, backpacking isn’t a walk in the park. You’ll have to carry all your food and equipment on your own two shoulders. But that’s also the challenge of it. The simple act of filling your pack with supplies becomes a way of paring down, of setting aside all the things you don’t need. Backpacking is a way of discovering self-sufficiency and self-reliance.

Backpackers are able to go beyond the limits of day hikers and campers: farther into the wilderness, past the boundaries of trailhead parking lots and crowded campsites. Instead of heading out halfway and returning to your starting point, you can keep going to wherever the trail takes you, as long as there’s space to pitch your tent.

More often than not, backpackers have the path ahead all to themselves, except for wildlife. With fewer hikers making noise to scare critters off, you’re more likely to catch rare glimpses of moose, elk, or bighorn sheep in their natural habitats (just be cautious, read up on safety, and always pack bear spray and a first-aid kit). Check out our online shop on destinationdeals.com and use that great deal with Sun and Ski!

Some of the best backpacking trails in the United States include the states of Colorado, Tennesee, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska, and Washington. If you are a Yellowstone Lover check out the Thorofare Trailhead, in one of the most remote places of Yellowstone this trail is 68 miles long and will take you about 7-14 days to complete. The Smoky Mountains in Tennesee has the Mount Sterling Loop it is 28 miles and will take you about 4 days to complete. For a great trail in the Rocky Mountains check out The Grand Loop, cross the continental divide in 3-7 days in just 45 miles. Looking for something so remote that you’ll need an air shuttle? Alaska can provide you with just that on the Alatna River to Noatak River in the gates of the Arctic. Just go 30 miles one way and experience some truly wild lands. All you need to do is a little research on where you are and you’ll find a great trail to explore.

Hiking is simple. All you need to do is put one foot in front of the other. And again. And again. That gives you time to think and reflect, time in your own head that might be hard to find racing back and forth from work to home to errands. In backpacking, you might find rejuvenation in that distance from everyday problems and distractions– and a way to work through them when your trip is over.