Backpacking from NY to California

Hi I'm new here, first post:) My name is Melissa, I have 2 dogs, a mutt named Lloyd and a working line german shepherd named Nash. Next spring I want to walk from Rochester NY to California (haven't decided exactly where, Santa Cruz is currently topping the list). I have not gone anything longer than an overnight at this point, so need to get some longer trips in before next spring, need to get all my equipment (only have a small pack, not big enough for more than a day trip really) and need to plan my trip! I guess this is mostly an introduction, but I will have tons of questions while I get ready over the next year.

My advice is book an airline ticket on a NY/CA flight... once the "fasten seat belt" sign is off, get up. Put on your backpack and pace back and forth in the cabin. You'll eventually land in CA and you'll have backpacked all the way there. Simple.

We talk about wilderness backpacking on the forum. What you're describing is walking on roads, and there are other threads in which folks list all the risks involved and the expense you will be undertaking. Chief among them the long (hundreds of miles) stretches of road between towns in the southwest, without water or services. Also being arrested for hitchhiking, if you are forced to that.

Then there are the challenges of where to stay. Hotels, campsites - there are lots and lots of places where you're not going to find anything but private land for miles.

Hope you can manage without breaking the law or getting lost/hurt out there.

Welcome from another Rochester native.

That is an aggressive trip. While Lori is probably correct that you are planning on road walking, if you wanted to do more "wilderness" trails, from Rochester you could take the Genesee Greenway Trail to Mt Morris, and then pick up the Letchworth Branch of the FLT, connect to the FingerLakesTrail which is part of the NCT and then take that all the way to North Dakota. I am not familiar with out west, but I am positive there are lots of trails through Montana etc... and you could get to the Pacific Crest Trail and then head South to CA. even with this, there will be some roads but that is inevitable in a trip like this. Enjoy!

I'm absolutely positive that it will be impossible to get to Santa Cruz on trail. There are no east-west trails in California that will get you there.

Whether the Pacific Crest Trail is accessible depends on time of year. Unless you are a dedicated mountaineer with snow gear it would be folly to attempt a trans-sierra passage on foot between November - April, unless one is walking over Tehachapi Pass. Majority of the trails over mountains will be under snow for a large part of the year. As will all the high passes with roads. Crossing the Rockies anywhere but roads would be a real adventure for sure, unless timed correctly.

Hiking on the trails would be a wilderness permitting headache, too. Too many jurisdictions, got to sort them all out, some places you have to apply for permits months in advance and need specific dates, which are probably not possible for such a trip. Not to mention proper food storage in the Sierra Nevada. Other parks and wilderness areas across the country have varying food storage regulations as well.

Unless you're going to do this journey in shorter legs, timed to work with the seasons/weather patterns, it's just not gonna be possible, IMO. Timing it so the crossing of the mountains doesn't happen in midwinter but the desert crossings don't happen in summer sounds like a few airplane tickets back and forth. Specially if you can't maintain a good pace.

2 mph for 5,000 miles? Yikes.

Get your head out of the sand and start learning the skills you will need and study maps (Google maps, Maptech, etc - lots of free maps available). Start walking. Do you even know what walking 20 miles along a road is like with a backpack? People who hike the major trails such as the PCT spend almost a year planning the trip and most already have several years of experience. Do you have a clue as what your proposed travel will cost per day? Are you day dreaming or do you really want to succeed? If you simply want to hitch across the country, this is not the topic of this forum. If you really want to "backpack" you are way too inexpierenced to even begin this trip and unlikely will succeed, let alone be safe. A better goal for you is the Appalacian Trail. With that experience, you can then think about walking across the country.

One fellow devised quite a route.

Skurka's Sea to Sea trip

As you'll see, it's quite an undertaking by an elite hiker. Yes, it can be done. Not as a first trip. No way, no how.

Cheers,

If you've read the replies up to here, you should understand that the residents of this forum are extremely skeptical that you could accomplish this trip, based on your own description of your prior experience, and they are trying to warn you about undertaking something so far beyond your apparent depth. I agree with them, although I don't agree entirely with the tone of the answers so far. The substance of the replies seems entirely correct to me.

The first thing I think you fail to grasp is the enormity of the trip you are planning. In this day and age it is easy to forget just how vast the North American continent really is. Lori's estimate of 5000 miles may be a bit high, but isn't unreasonable, since you won't be traveling in a straight line.

The second thing I think you fail to grasp is how big the american west is, or how sparsely populated and dry the intermountian west is (between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada or Cascades). There would be many stretches where simple access to water would be a huge problem, requiring careful planning.

The third thing I think you fail to grasp is how your canine companions would affect your trip. Dogs are not built for walking long distances on pavement every day. Even trail walking for 20 or 25 miles a day would be more than almost any dog's feet could stand. And if you pace your trip to their needs (as any good owner should) you'll find your flexibility and daily mileage range will be restricted in ways that will affect the odds of your success (which are already very, very slim).

The very best advice I could give you has already been given, above. Try something shorter first. Learn from your success (or failure) on that trip. Then, if you feel strong enough, and adventurous enough, try something longer.

I don't want to discourage you from dreaming, but whatever it is you expect to gain from this cross-continent trip, you need to know going in that your imagination is not nearly educated enough by reality, yet. What it is telling you at present is based almost entirely on fantasy. Get some experience under your belt.

There are plenty of worthwhile adventures within your grasp that would stretch you, teach you, amaze you and temper you. Setting off on what you expect will be the adventure of a lifetime, woefully underprepared, is not a good formula for a happy ending.

Good luck, but remember that luck favors the well-prepared.

One factor to consider is the road vs. trail walking aspect. You can certainly do more miles per day walking on roads, but the consensus among those who do long distance trips is that road walking is to be avoided, at least in terms of long stretches. For whatever reason it seems harder on the body, and it's monotonous and insofar as the biggest dangers (with experience) are often human-related, I generally consider road walking to be less safe overall than trail walking.

That said, I'll have a lot of road walking on the trip I plan for this year, but it's not my first time around the block. I do agree with the consensus that it would be wise to try a more conventional trail before striking out on "a road less traveled". Since you're based out east, consider jumping on to the AT for a month or so, ideally at a point (and direction) where a reasonable number of thru-hikers are already walking. Long distance hikers learn from each other, so you can hopefully tune up your gear, your process/skills, and also your expectations (to include what's reasonable for your canines) in so doing.

Best wishes and happy trails whatever you end up doing!

It seems the site is down right now, but once you do get the experience needed for such a trip (and that won't happen by next year), you might check out the American Discovery Trail which goes coast to coast. There have been a few people that have done it (one on foot and a couple on bikes). It combines a lot of trails and roadways.

Until the site for the American Discovery Trail is up again, you could read Ken and Marcia Powers' ADT journal in 2005 and "Lion King's" journal of his ADT hike in 2007-2008.

I don't think that you want to take your dogs there, though. I wouldn't take mine on that strenuous a trip. Roadwalking is even less safe for the dogs than for you!