Plans for 2011? where are people going?

OK, so start sharing. I'm sick of winter.

I may be trying another west coast trail yoyo on vancouver island at the very start of june.

I'm probably going to be in the rockies the second week of july somewhere, then I'm off to ireland and I'm walking the 210 km of the kerry way - as this doesn't involve tenting, my darling cfo will be accompanying me on that one.

I have plans to hit limestone lakes again, and I'm pondering
doing rockwall in bc, or skoki or assiniboine. but that'll be for august/september.

Of course for my canadian rockies trips I'll probably have a newbie decide to come with me and change all my plans at some point.. but that's ok too.

I'm trying to find someone to drop me off at the trail head at one end of Ohlone Wilderness next Saturday.

I'm doing a week in the Rae Lakes loop with side trips to Gardiner, Sixty Lakes, and Lake Reflection, so help me dog. I keep planning it and not going. Done pieces of the loop but not the whole thing with fishing pole and camera.

Got a couple trips to Henry Coe, and heading over Harrington Pass into the Gorge of Despair later this year.

And some other stuff as it comes up. Want to do the Lost Coast too, not sure if a second week long trip will work out.

Today we hiked up to the top of Mt. St. Helena in the Napa Valley, which was covered with snow...so that's the first hike of the year.

later this spring we'll be in Peru to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

And then, if this snow EVER lets us....we have some plans to do North Lake trainhead over Lamarck Col...and a couple of nice hikes in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness...

I'm sick of winter as well. Plans for 2011, this will be my first full year after retiring. Have replenished camping and hiking equipment. Bought a new Jeep Rubicon and I'm ready to go.

March 2011, stay local in Ohio and West Virginia. Trails: River View Trail, OH, Dolly Sods, WV, and Lower Otter Creek, WV.

April 2011, Fly Fishing and backpacking. Encampment River, WY, North Platte River, WY, and Miracle Mile, WY.

May 2011, Savage Run Wilderness, WY. Return to Ohio to pick up wife.

June 2011, backpacking and fishing. Misty Moon Lake, WY. Mirror Lake, WY. Cloud Peak, WY. Tongue River, WY.

July 2011, flyfishing and backpacking. Aero Lakes, MT. Pine Creek Lake, MT. Rainbow Lake, MT. Fish Lakes Canyon, MT. Ten Lakes, MT.

August 2011, backpacking and flyfishing. Trout and Bigfisher Lakes, ID. Beehive Lakes, ID. Independence Creek, ID. Mallard and Fawn Lakes, ID. Boulder and Chain Lakes, ID. Rainbow Lakes, ID. Take wife back to Ohio, hopefully for her last year of teaching.

September into October, repeat of April.

Plans are subject to change. Hope to hit the trails on Mondays and come out on Fridays and spend a night or two in a motel.

Next year hope to have Steelhead fishing gear and will start exploring the Steelhead rivers in British Columbia, Canada.

Man am I green with envy! Going to Smokies first week of April. Most likley back to work second week of April then more work etc! I am a seasonal road construction worker, so taking off summer is when I have to make hay!I have 7 or 8 more seasons, then will retire at 55. I hope to be in good enough health to hike the AT then? I hope my knees and back hold out!
Wife and I are looking at property in Maine. I am glad she likes four seasons! I am going to try and hike some sections of Ice Age trail this summer, long weekends etc. Best I can do here in Illinois!

I've got a few car camping trips planned to some Central Texas State Parks to get my wife into the outdoors. Then I'll probably take her and the kids for a short backpacking trip to Lost Maples State Natural Area.

I'd like to do a trip with my kids and my dad to the Guadalupe Mountains. I've got a three day trip preliminarily mapped out. The having to carry lots of water is the thing I'm trying to figure right now. I'll have to see how much weight my son will be comfortable carrying and how much stuff I really won't need so I can carry more water.

Phat said:


Please post a report about the Kerry way trip when you're done. My wife had similar criteria, so we hiked from hut-to-hut a bit in Austria and then hiked the Wainwright (aka Coast-to-Coast) trail in England in September, with nary a night spent outdoors. We heard about a lot of great similar hiking along the way (for example, in England things like Offa's Dike, Pennine Way, etc etc), but I'm sure my wife would be interested in hikes in Ireland too.

Me for this year: day-hike scrambles & snowshoe trips, training hikes of various ilk and then the Continental Divide Trail, southbound starting in Montana in June.

FWIW, I'm not sick of winter at all, but perhaps it helps that I don't actually live in snow --- so it's always a treat to spend some time in it when I go.

I'm going to do some early-season backpacks in places like the lower Deschutes River, Badger Creek (east of Mt. Hood), the Wenaha River (NE Oregon) and the Tucannon River-Oregon Butte area of SE Washington (the last normally accessible by early June, the others in March to May). In past years, I've waited until July (when the higher mountains are accessible) for most backpacks, and that's just too far away! That's in addition to weekly dayhikes in the Columbia River Gorge.

If these trips go well, I hope to spend about 4 weeks in Wyoming doing several backpacks in the Wind Rivers, late July through late August. With me at the 3/4 century mark and Hysson now classified by the vet as a "senior" dog (almost 9), this might be my last chance for longer high-altitude backpacks! I've gotten my gear weight down so that I can go out for 10 days starting at 26 lbs. full pack weight, so hopefully that will help.

I have a few fall trips in mind, but I'll wait to see how the summer trips work out before getting too excited!

I'm sick and tired of winter here, too, especially with an arctic cold front forecast to arrive in the middle of the week with snow possibly to sea level, when normally we'd begin seeing crocus in our flower beds and the first early-season wildflowers at low elevations.

I'll mostly be grabbing one and two nighters close to home til Spring. Mostly in the Ava District of the Mark Twain NF, but I'll get at least another one or two trips to the Leatherwood Wilderness before the bugs and heat return.

I have already done one yurt trip and one hut trip. I have one more yurt trip before spring.

May I have a permit for 3 nights below the rim of the Grand Canyon.

June I would like to do a two night Kenosha Ridge hike.

July I want to be available to hike with phat. Hint, hint.

August we have planned a 50 mile hike on the Colorado Trail from Spring Creek Pass to the Animas River.

September I want to do a 2 night Gore Range hike.

November I want to do a four to six night Grand Canyon hike.

I will probably get out for a half dozen overnighters as I can fit them in.

With gas prices rising, I will likely just poke around the Sierra. I hope to do a few trips early season on the coastal ranges- Marble Mountain Wilderness and Trinity Alps. Then off to the east side approaches to White Mountains (CA-Nevada border desert range), while there still is snow for water. Mid summer I hope to do several off-trail exploration trips north of Tioga Pass and a few 10-12 day fishing trips in the central Sierra. An August peak-bagging trip with climbing friends. Some climbing unfinished business - three more 14'ers and a few more county high points. My goal is to spend more nights out in my sleeping bag than nights at home from May through September! I also want to focus a bit more on fishing. Will buy a seasons license this year. I never reserve permits, just get the "first-come" permits so my "plans" are ever changing. Each trip is planned in detail, but when I do them and exactly which ones I do, is always up in the air.

I get to do little local trips all year long. Winter time is desert trek time in San Diego. There are some very nice trips for winter and spring in Baja, but I'm not willing to go down there right now. Currently planned;

My first planned trip is early June in the White Mountains east of Bishop. I am planing to hike the road to White Mt. then take the ridge north to do a five-mile walk along Pellisier Flats and then drop down to the east. Much of the area is above 12,000 ft. Getting the dog across the class 3 ridge will be fun...

Going exploring and fishing for a week (with the dog of course) in August in the Sierra's. Merriam Lake and then off trail as much as possible to Royce Lakes and then north towards Italy. Still putting this one together and it will keep changing until I apply for the permit.

I'll list this one just for the heck of it. I am trying to put together a trip to the Wind River Range. Right now its looking 50/50, but I am always the optimist (with my trips). I have scored a righteous guidebook to the "off-trail" written by Wandering_daisy and have ordered a few others as well. This is another one of those place that caught my imagination in the 80's and would like to get around to getting there. As of now, estimated time is late August through September.

Tahoe Rim Trail in June, JMT S-N in August if I get my permit, Sespe Creek in May plus multiple overnighters. Plus a bike tour of Saline Valley next month, plus kayaking the Colorado River, on top of my racing activity. I like to stay busy.

I kinda like winter better then summer, but then I live in the mostly dry so cal desert. Looking forward to a 10 day trip out of Mammoths Cold water Creek Trail head. Planning on doing a loop by going over Duck Pass, over to Purple lake, down to fish creek, over to Beetle bug lake, then Olive, Peter Pande Lake, Wilber May, hopefully Hortense, Izak Walton, Lake Virginia, and then back over Duck Pass. So many lakes to choose from on this hike, so I free to explore. I'm very familiar with this area and more then likely will do it solo this time arround.

Well, as a scoutmaster, I have scheduled a very ambitious year. We want to try and earn the hiking merit badge and the backpacking merit badge this year. The hiking merit badge requires 5X 10 mile hikes and one 20 mile hike. They are suppose to be day hikes, in other words, the mileage should be finished in a day. The backpacking merit badge requires 3X 3 day hikes of 15 miles minimum, and one 5 day hike of 30 miles minimum. We have never done anything this intense before, so we will see how it goes. One thing is that we cannot combine hikes, in other words if we count a certain hike for one badge, we can't count it for the other.

On top of that, I also plan to take my own boys on a father-son trip for a few days. I am thinking of taking them to the High Uintas sometime in July or August. It will be my 4 yr old son's first time backpacking. I want to try and get my dad to come as well.

Not sick of snow yet here in wonderful Minnesota. Of course it helps that I XC ski and get out as often as possible.

Europe in June with my better half. No hiking but plenty of walking. Thru the SHT two weeks in August. Hope it isn't hot and buggy.

As many one nighters as I can get in and lots of hiking and biking to be ready for August.

Awwww man. The Uintas. Nice...the only east-west trending uplift in the whole Laramide event. That is another one on my (before I kick the) bucket list.

sk

ps nice lists showing up on this thread

I don't even want to look at the gas prices! I am trying to save up enough for these trips by cutting back my driving elsewhere and skimping in other areas. As I mentioned, this might be the last year I can do longer backpacks, so I don't want to postpone the trips for financial reasons.

Two of my three projected Winds trips are out of Wandering_Daisy's book, too!

WD, if you are interested in walking around the lakes up the trail from Courtright (Post Corral, Goddard, Evolution) with me this year, let me know... I'm getting my fishing license renewed too.

I almost did that a few years ago when I was in reno, decided I didn't have the time.. still kind of annoyed I decided that

So far for 2011 I have very little scheduled:

-I have one more winter backpack and hopefully a couple of winter overnighters left of this winter season.

For the summer, I know that my wife, FIL and myself will be heading to the Lost Creek Wilderness for a few nights. The three of us will also have one more car camping trip together which ends up being more about fly-fishing than camping anyway.

I really plan to spend most of my free weekends peak bagging (13ers/14ers) with a couple of overnighters thrown in.

Yeah, my itinerary is rather empty-- so if anyone in the Denver area want a hiking/camping/backpacking partner then send me a message.

I have one winter trip scheduled for early April (http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aktrails/ats/int/chenadome.htm).

I also have a one/two night planned for the Yosemite area in June.

Hoping to do the Chilkoot Trail (finally) this year (August) - I plan this every year though...

Husband and I are also discussing a pac-raft excursion in the Denali Park.

Most of my summer will be spent building though...

I'm hoping if I make this upcoming winter trip nice enough, the hubby will be more willing for more winter trips next year.

Wondering Daisey has a book???

Yes she has produced a book...a rather good one as well. I would even call it bordering on being a back country reference for the range its about because it has so much information. It takes a lot of work to compile even a poor guide book; this book has an incredible amount of work poured into it. It's called Beyond Trails in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. R U supposed to underline a book title?...I forget, anyway it's about off-trial routes (not rock climbing but some mountaineering) in that range .

Odds of me going to the Wind River Range for about 2 weeks end of summer just jumped up! I might see OM there (I will recognize her by her dog Hynson, so don't forget to bring him ).

sk

Yes, and it's a nice one.

http://www.mcreynoldscpa.com/BeyondTrails

I finally ordered WD's book and am looking forward to it. I had tried ordering it when it first came out but had a problem (likely excuse), but now it was a snap.

And now to just get there someday. (WD, if u see this can you sign the book -- I'll understand if you can't if you've got someone else doing your fullfilment while you're out hiking.)

This summer I've got 3 days off a week (Tu-Th), so will do several shorter 2-night backpacks in the Rockies, with a week trip in Sep. somewhere. And I'll enjoy (vicariously) everyone else's adventures.

I have always wondered how the classification works. Is a 13er 13000 ft and a 14er 14000 ft?

That is correct, a 13er is any peak between 13,000ft and 13,999ft and a 14er is any peak between 14,00ft and 14,999ft.

Another condition which must be met to make it an "official" 13er or 14er is that the peak must rise a minimum of 200 feet from its saddle. Personally, I don't care about this little "rule" and just hike whatever peak that I feel like hiking on any given day.

Some people then get really finiky and will only do a peak if it meets the conditions above *and* the total elevation gain is no less than 3,000 ft.

Hoping to take my 4 year old on a couple day hikes in the cascades this summer, then a 2 or 3 dayer in the area. After that up to Stevens Lakes in BC (Wells Gray Park back country).

Thanks ChrisFol. I took the scouts to a 11er last year. But, we only did a 1500ft elevation gain, so maybe it didn't count. This year we are going to try for Kings Peak, which is a 13er and the highest point in Utah. I guess I will have to go east for a 14er.

So, I was looking for 14ers outside of Colorado. California has one, Mt Whitney, and Washington has one, Mt Rainier. Are there any others in the lower 48 outside of Colorado, other than those two? Does BC have any 14ers? Are all the 15 and aboves in Alaska? By the way, the highest point in the state of Florida is 345 ft.

There are other 14ers in the Sierra Nevada. I would consider more than mere altitude. The implicit concept seems to be that the higher the mountain, the more difficult it is. That is simply not true. Consider El Diente in the San Juans (Colorado). Many 14er peak baggers can thank their lucky stars that ED did not make into the 14er ranks, because it requires real mountaineering skills.

Think of profile, isolation, length of approach, climbing difficulty (do you need a rope or not? - and all that that involves), and wilderness qualities as worthwhile attributes to consider, among others, when selecting an objective.

The sheer numbers heading up Whitney will demonstrate that nicely.

As will Mt Dana, which I have managed to summit via a short 3 miles of walking upright, but is the second highest peak in Yosemite - a 13er.

California has 13 "official" fourteeners plus many more peaks over 14K'.

LIST

The Palisades in the Sierra have a couple of 14ers. Great area. But if you just want to see how you will do going up to 14k, do White Mountain just north east of Bishop. Its a class 1 hike in along an access road that is easily done in a day (after appropriate acclimatization). Relatively easy access in general and it has a great panoramic view of the Serrias to the west.

Definitely concur Oldranger. Everything is relative. I was up a 21er in Bolivia (got to 19.6) without any previous ice experience and while a challenge, it was probably a lot easier (minus the altitude) than many other shorter peaks in the USA.

"Peak baggers" simply want to do the easiest route up a 14'er. Mountaineers usually want to do a more challenging and aesthetic route than the easiest. I hope to do White Mountain this spring from the east side flats - a challenging 9000-foot elevation gain going up steep ridges. I've already done the standard "drive to 12,000 feet and walk up the road". For big west coast snowcones- the easiest route on Rainier is harder than the easiest route on Mt Shasta. The easiest route on North Palisade is a lot harder than the easiest route on Whitney. One of the hardest 14'ers simply to get to in the Sierra is Mt. Williamson. I am still working on my California 14'ers -have yet to do Polemonium, Mt Muir and Mt Russell. Hope to get two of these done this summer.

As for Canada - most of the highest peaks in the Canadian Rockies do not get near 14,000 feet but are significantly harder than most of the Colorado 14'ers. And in the Canadian Coast Range it is downright grueling to even get to the base of the mountains.

Phat and All-
I wish all of you very happy trails this summer! Phat-You and I should should swap symbolic waves as we fly across the Atlantic. My mother found a 2-for-1 deal for Viking River Cruises and decided to take her 3 daughters to Russia, fulfilling her long-time dream of seeing the Hermitage. I can't imagine another chance to spend 2 weeks with my mom and sisters again, as I just turned 61 and the others are in their appropriate age ranges. The trails will be there other years. I do hope to hike most of the NY/NJ AT this year. We will see. Time and the recession will impact pretty much everyone that I know. I wish I could retire tomorrow...
Cheers!
CamperMom

Well so far looking to hike......

Grafton Loop, in Grafton State Park Maine. Its a 4 or 5 day trip with a friend, should be fun!

Will try to do some of the Fundy Trail, in Fundy National Park New Brunswick Canada. Have done some different stretches of it and its just an awesome place. Not sure on the details, but have a friend who lives close to Fundy and he might go for a few days with me.

Will do Katahdin I'm sure......I mean I live in Maine:P Guess it doesn't really count as I'll do it in a day.

I live in Northern Maine and I go out 2 or 3 times a month for the weekend and hike some favorite places or bolt into the woods and explore for a couple days.

Got the ball rolling on my Yosemite trip in August, so I'm pretty excited about that (as long as fuel doesn't get too expensive, it's an 8+ hour drive). Acquired the wilderness permit already, now I just have to recruit dependable friends to help fill it. Looking to be 4 days/3 nights in the "back country" and three nights car camping, so it should be a blast.

I'll probably get a late July trip in the Trinity Alps going, like I do at least once a year.

I'm getting extremely antsy and want to do a quick over nighter somewhere close (read cheap) but not a huge fan of backpacking in relatively flat redwood forests... and that's what surrounds my area.

I hoping to get out for 8 or 9 days on the Superior hiking trail I'm aming to get the bottom 70 miles or so. I do have to get out on a couple of short hikes before then to debug my new hammock. I second the worry about gas prices its an 8 hour drive for me and most of my other favorites are 4 to 6 hour drives. the added expense of gas will cut down the lengths of any trips.

I go the other way. I figure if the gas is expensive, I'd better spend enough time there to really make the drive worth it.

luckly the crappy company I work for has to extend its full time benefits to all employees not just the handfull who work in the main office. So I get 2 weeks paid time off this year which barely makes taking a trip possible if I didn't have PTO I could never afford to take more then a day off and still afford rent and food. It took me better then a year to save up to afford a used hammock I picked up. If it wasn't for christmas I wouldn't have 3/4's of the gear I have now. so even having to spend $10 extra on gas round trip cuts off a day of food or a day of trail fees and you can't do one with out the other.

That sucks! Hope your work conditions and income vs expense situation will improve.

Ooooh I am so excited for the snow to melt!

This weekend (May 21-23) Lake Minnewanka to Mt. Costigan in Banff NP. A bit boring, with a few grizzlies here and there, and it's going to rain, but not much else is open around here and I NEED TO GET OUT!

June - I would like to do Glacier Lake and Egypt Lake Circuit, both in Banff. If things get a-meltin' here, possible The Skyline in Jasper at the end of the month (likely this will be mid-July though).

July - 2-3 weekenders in Kananaskis, Banff, or the east Kootenays. Want to paddle a few days too if I can.

August - am going to the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake, so I would like to do a few hikes in the area while I'm there. Also, a ramble in Grasslands NP in Saskatchewan, and another weekender.

September - I'm turning 30! I'm celebrating with the West Coast Trail and the Juan de Fuca Trail linked together. I've hiked both before and fell in love, so I'd like to extend my birthday trip to cover the whole 125km.

I'm lucky I work in the outdoor gear industry, not only do I get to travel lots, but I can always claim a "gear testing" day

The better half and I went up to maligne, last week and even as low as the hot springs we were postholing - the upper elevations still has lots of snow.




Egypt might be doable early, but as of as week ago there was still a *lot* of snow at least in the Jasper region. Skyline is
still completely snow covered. We did maligne canyon from bottom to top, and on sunday did valley of the 5 lakes around them all. The drive in has a good view of signal mountain and tekkara and both were completely snow covered. Amber mountain (the nice ridge after the notch) still has full snow.

So if you're gonna try skyline early, take snowshoes - and maybe an ice axe for the notch - judging by what's up there now it might be a bit touch and go. (I have a skyline trip
planned for mid july) I think we are in for a late melt.



Youngster..

I'm going June 10 - only one way this time because I'm taking
a newbie along. Personally I'd rather yo-yo (go to the top and back down) West Coast Trail than combine it with Juan De Fuca - I think it's a better 150 KM. plus the looks from the clueless who say what you're doing is kinda fun If you're
up to 125 km, consider 150 km from gordon river, touch the
trailhead at pachena bay, then turn around and walk back - it's fun!

Do bear in mind if water is low in september things like Tsusiat falls may be dry! (they were late last year)