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.
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"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." Shunryu Suzuki
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!
Registered: 10/29/10
Posts: 185
Loc: Central Texas
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.
Registered: 02/26/07
Posts: 1149
Loc: Washington State, King County
Phat said:
Quote:
"... 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."
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.
Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6800
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
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.
Edited by OregonMouse (02/21/1104:19 PM)
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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey
Registered: 02/07/07
Posts: 3917
Loc: Ozark Mountains in SW Missouri
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.
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.
Registered: 08/16/10
Posts: 1590
Loc: San Diego CA
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.
Edited by skcreidc (02/21/1108:09 PM) Edit Reason: spelling
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.
_________________________ If you only travel on sunny days you will never reach your destination.*
* May not apply at certain latitudes in Canada and elsewhere.
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.
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I've taken a vow of poverty. To annoy me, send money.
Registered: 08/16/10
Posts: 1590
Loc: San Diego CA
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.
Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6800
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
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!
Edited by OregonMouse (02/23/1105:39 PM)
_________________________
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey
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.
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"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." Shunryu Suzuki
-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.
Registered: 08/16/10
Posts: 1590
Loc: San Diego CA
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 ).
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