Thank you @mountainscalling.me! I’m really excited to get up there with my boys 🏕️👨🏻👦🏼🧒🏻

Thank you for sharing—I really appreciate it. Yes, I feel the same way and I know it will help them both cultivate lifelong growth mindsets.

So, I’m routing each day on Gaia, and cross-referencing #jmt & #pct trip reports. The nerd in me wants to dig up historical weather data + trail conditions & run simulations 🤓 Hope for the best, plan for the worst… #backpacking

This #thruhiker tried something similar, but lower stakes, 2 months ago. I agree that #AI can be a great start to giving you ideas, but everything needs to be cross checked & validated by your own research / due diligence. She also makes the point that her #chatgpt inputs should have been better.

Brain laundry—I love that 🧺

Thank you @beckyjlomax.bsky.social 🙏🏕️ It’s going to be wild! These guys have never backpacked before, but they have camped.

I used #AI and #chatgpt to build a rough draft of a backpacking itinerary. It was a decent starting point, but some parts of the plan would have gotten us dead. Cross-checking everything AI says, and doing a sanity-check is critical. AI learned from humans and humans are fallible. Thus, so is AI.

For ➕ 3, the answer to making it meaningful & positive is to curate as little as possible. To only plan for essential #survival & preventing catastrophic bodily injury. The question isn’t nature vs nurture. The question is, how to make #nature nurturing? It’s #parenting in an extreme environment.

For ☠️ 2., this is a rugged, wild backcountry #thruhike of the #jmt & #pct. A lot can go wrong. I asked #chatgpt to help again with planning daily calories & macros, which got me to a 70% first draft of our meal plan. I’m using my old packing lists to make sure we have the essentials for survival.

#chatgpt did an ok job, but I needed to rely on my experience to flag some of the #ai nonsense. For example, we must resupply our food at the halfway mark. ChatGPT recommended a resupply 20 miles off the #jmt on Day 10 of 14. ChatGPT will only get you so far and must be fact checked…

For 📍1, route + logistics, I used #chatgpt to generate a first draft of the 14d proposed itinerary. My inputs were:

🪄Duration and dates
🪄Hiker ability
🪄Possible start and exit trailheads

🤖 Output was a detailed day-by-day plan with daily mileage optimized for a sedentary teen & tween

Kids should be given age-appropriate independence, but steering them away from their natural instincts and discomfort is wrong. #Kids need to learn to push & fail. To get back up & #persist. To #explore & #wander with their bodies rather than just their eyes & thumbs. To go outside the algorithm.

I am a lifelong #backpacker and #fitness enthusiast, yet my kids choose smartphones over nature & exercise. I let them off the hook too easily with the defense of “Let them do their own thing.”

The direction is radical: a 14d #backpacking trip into the rugged Sierra Nevada wilderness 🏔️🏕️🏔️. My sons have experienced a cushy, privileged, and easy life. They are entitled. Being half of a co #parenting unit means that I’m half responsible for their experience. It’s time for a new experience 🧭