My love for the great outdoors was kindled at an early age.  As a child my father carried the family into the mountains of southern California for our vacations.  This was back in the days when one could drive to a secluded spot in the mountains, set up camp near a stream and not see another sole over the next several days.  I can remember being lulled to sleep by the flowing water of a mountain stream and waking up early in the morning to deer grazing in and around our campsite.   

At age 10 my parents divorced and separated leaving my mother, sister and me in Tennessee.  A few years later, my mother remarried an avid fisherman.  He helped to strengthen my love of the outdoors by taking me fishing on a weekly basis. 

As a young adult, I added regular camping to my outdoor regimen.  Later I bought a small boat, which I used to access secluded fishing and camping spots in and around the middle Tennessee area.  Occasionally, I hunted small game and practiced target shooting.  However, something was still missing.   I longed for more. 

One day at work, a handicapped coworker passed out pictures he had taken while backpacking.  I was amazed by the sights he witnessed.  I could not hear enough of his exploits.  As a child and young adult, my outdoor activities were limited to some degree by my struggles with obesity. 

Then at age 23 after falling in love for the first time, I began on a stringent diet and began what would amount to losing half my body weight—157 ½ pounds.  I looked and felt great.  Shortly after starting this diet in 1985, I embarked on my first hiking excursion, a backpacking trip to Fall Creek Falls State Park.  Though Jeremy, my young partner, and I became lost during the trip, the experience was still exhilarating.  The next year, Jeremy and I re-backpacked the trail at Fall Creek Falls in addition to its other overnight trail and day hiked all of its remaining trails.  And thus, my love for hiking began. 

In the 1990’s Jeremy’s mother, Jennie, became my primary hiking partner.  At one point we hiked every other weekend resulting in problems with our spouses.  We wore out most of Tennessee and also hiked some trails in Kentucky and Georgia.  I have gone through many hiking partners over the years including the Tennessee Trails Association and the Sierra Club. 

During this time my weight oscillated up and down.  However, I continued hiking and backpacking until 2002 when a disability temporarily put a halt to my hiking adventures.  Two years later I resumed hiking, which along with landscape and waterscape photography remain my favorite outdoor activities. 

Jim Byler

The Happy Hiker