Hikers or Backpackers?
Jetmech_63
Posts: 3,451 ✭✭✭
I'm nearing the end of a good bit of leave from work and just got back in town. Wife and I went on a massive backpacking/trip in Redwoods National Park, then Zion NP. Zion is friggin amazing if anyone's gets the chance to go. All together we logged about 24 miles in each place. Angels landing in Zion(YouTube it) is no friggin joke! I though I had balls and this one gut checked me! We were going to go up the Narrows but the park had it closed because the water was too high...Still waiting on a Halfdome permit for Yosemite.... Any other backpackers out there?
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I still do lots of hiking, mostly in the winter because summer is boating season. Every year my friends and I hike into Baxter State Park in Maine for a little winter hiking/skiing:
Baxter is one of the most obscure, under-rated parks in the country. It is set up for the environment first and people second so there is very little access to anything but the perimeter of the park from your vehicle, you must hike to get anywhere. In the winter, the hike in alone is 16.3 miles. I love it.
I assume you're referring to Glacier Natl. Park. Just an interesting side note... The area of Washington where I last lived was said to have more glaciers than Glacier Natl. Park. Not sure how true it is..... Maybe just chamber of commerce propaganda, but we DID have a lot of glaciers......
For anyone who hasn't been to the Pacific NW that cedar tree is just one example of how HUGE things are out there. If it didn't rain every single day I'd still be living out there. The weather on the Ocean side of the ridge is just dismal.
Yes it was Glacier NP, and that wouldn't surprise me. There weren't that many glaciers, and frankly, the ones that we saw would have been seen as just another area of snowpack had they not been pointed out to us.
We'd go out for 10 to 16+ days, and bust a$$ on the John Muir trail and all it's side trails, etc., and a few other spots in the Sierras
In those days, there were hardly any people, seriously. After we had hiked in for 4 or 5 days, it was quite common for us not see anyone for the next 4 or 5 days.
We traveled lite, and he factored in fish in the diet plan. I swear, fishing those lakes at that time was almost criminal, I literally could catch trout all day long if I wanted to.....just used salmon eggs, and I'd have 4 good sized fish for dinner within 10-15 minutes (after throwing at least that many back!)
The daily plan was as follows:
We'd get up well before sunrise, and hit the trail hard and fast as soon as we could see.
Then around 1pm, we get to our designated location, and he would go off and climb some peak! I would fart around, and go catch fish for dinner. He'd show up, we'd eat, go to bed, repeat.
One time, he didn't show up until after dark...............I had been crying for about an hour, thought he fell, or got hurt, etc. I finally regrouped, and started planning my strategy for the next day to go look for him, or look for some help (we hadn't seen anyone for a few days by this point) when he finally comes marching in to camp .......I was not happy.
Now?? Motorhome, camp fire, scotch and cigars, and good food..............I'm done back packing.
Aw, c'mon now, it doesn't rain every single day.....it just seems like it. LOL. And I'm surprised to hear an ex-Oregonian complaining about rain.
I've lived in Washington numerous times and have learned that if you don't figure out how to comfortably do things in the rain you might as well just shrivel up and die. It's almost never a heavy downpour and it's glorious to just throw a poncho over you and your pack and just go. I've hunted, fished, camped, and whatever in the rain. People make it sound worse than it really is. And that rain is why the western half of Washington is so beautiful compared to the eastern half.