Hi guys,

I am looking for a medium length trail to do that is "Off the beaten path" mostly (need to resupply somewhere along the trail). Looking for trails between 30 - 60days. The trails/areas I am currently considering are:

- Sierra High Route
- Australian Alpine Hiking Trail
- Pyrenees (G10)

Also looking for any options either in Alaska, Canada or Montana if they exist as I do like the alpine scenery the best.

Thanks in advance for your input.

The Sierra High Route ain't a trail, and there are no resupply points. You go off route significantly to get a resupply.

If you do the SHR you need excellent route finding skills, because while the route itself is class 2 - mild class 3-ish, it can easily become class 4-5ish if you get yourself off route.

The entire point of the SHR is that unlike the JMT, it's high, high, and remote. Map and compass (finding a bearing, etc) don't have to be expert level but are recommended. And it will not take 30-60 days if you are doing a moderate number of miles per day.

Can't speak to the other options on your list. You may mean the High Sierra TRAIL which is not a 30-60 day trail, but has one resupply point.

Thanks for the input.

Yeah I was meaning the Sierra High Route. As I do prefer to walk places where there is a lack of people.

In regards to my 30-60 day time limit that is purely the longest hikes I am looking at.

Do you know of any longish distance hikes (with or without trails) in either Alaska or Montana? min of 2 weeks? Cheers.

You could do a significant chunk of the Pacific Crest Trail or Appalachian Trail. Lots of information and support for both, and you can match the distance covered to the time available.

Cheers,

Hopefully resident expert Wandering Daisy stops by with some suggestions for the Winds. I seem to recall her doing 30+ days in the Wind River Range last year as research for her book: http://www.graydogpress.com/bookstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8

I would be surprised in Europe offered you the solitude you are looking for.

Quote:

"Do you know of any longish distance hikes (with or without trails) in either Alaska or Montana? min of 2 weeks?"

For Montana you could just hike as much of the CDT as your time and inclination allow; get the Ley maps and have at it.
http://www.phlumf.com/travels/cdt/cdtmaps.shtml

There are really so many options. I'm hiking about a month of the AT starting a month from now with a friend who is thru-hiking it. On this trail too, just (as someone already suggested), cherry pick a piece you would like, pick a likely looking town stop to exit.

In July I'm thinking that I'll hike about half of the PNT (Pacific NW Trail). The eastern end of this is in Montana so that hits one of your criteria. Total length is about 1200 miles; I'm thinking I and possibly a friend might start on the WA coast and hike to Oroville, then do the other half another year.

Similarly, my friend just finished hiking just under half of the Florida trail, and I might hike the other half+ of it with him next January.

Lots and lots of options, and not even counting those outside of the U.S.

You might consider the Colorado trail, as a definable "thing" if you don't want to "just hike part of something". Or the Long Trail back east. Or, or ...

Given your criteria of length, alpine terrain, and few people, I'd say doing a long section of the Continental Divide Trail (the 'CDT' mentioned already) probably fits the bill about as well as anything out there. It may not be all alpine or entirely empty of people, but it has enough reality you won't need to invent it, and it is long enough, wild enough, alpine enough and parts of it are lightly-used enough that you should be able to identify a section that you'll enjoy hiking. If you are looking for a challenge, you can find it there.

Just ask this guy..
http://andrewskurka.com/

I'd second Wyoming's Wind River Range--my idea of the most beautiful place on earth. Having grown up in Wyoming, I'm of course prejudiced. I would have gone back there to live after retirement except for the winters!

The Highline/Fremont trail is about 80 miles from Green River Lakes to Big Sandy Opening. (It's also part of the Continental Divide Trail.) Most of it is at or above timberline, so very Alpine. However, there are so many wonderful side trips to take that you could spend 2-3 months there (which is about all you can spend there anyway without being heavily involved with winter.) Those are all in the book that BZH linked to! There's also a High Route, although it requires some climbing/glacier skills (up to Class 3 in a few spots). A few areas have a lot of people (Titcomb Basin, Cirque of the Towers, and close to the main trailheads), but mostly you'll find the Winds delightfully uncrowded, especially if you get even a short way off the main trails.

If you have the $$$, you can have a horse packer bring supplies in (quite possible on the west side of the mountains). Otherwise, you can hike out to Elkhart Park and hitch into Pinedale for resupply, which a lot of folks also do. There is a shuttle service through the Great Outdoors Shop in Pinedale.

My plan, which I was prevented from doing by injuries and family issues the past 3 years, was to take three separate 8-9 day trips from three separate trailheads, keeping most of the food resupply in my car and taking a night in town between each to indulge in fresh food, a beer and a shower. I might still do it, if I can!

Now that I have answered your question as best I could on its own terms, I feel the need to ask a couple of questions myself. You seem to know your mind about what you want -- and what you want appears to be reasonable for a hiker with solid experience, good skills, and a mature approach to risk, but very unsuitable for a novice.

Since you've revealed nothing about your background, let me ask you what sort of experience do you have that leads you to think this sort of hike is within your capabilities? Have you hiked in the mountains of the western USA? Or in Alaska? Have you been out for anything approaching 30-60 days before?

I'd feel lots better about sending you out onto a remote section of the CDT if I knew you weren't trying to consume a slice of pie-in-the-sky.

Very true, Aimless, thanks for the reminder!

TJ, if you don't have good class 3 (at least) mountaineering skills and experience, or if you don't know what these involve, please, please stick to trails and don't attempt the Sierra or Wind River high routes mentioned here, both of which require such skills. The Winds (but not the Sierra) also require glacier skills for the High Route. Excellent navigation skills are extremely important, too, since both these routes are almost entirely off-trail and not marked. We don't want to have to send the SAR folks after you (if you're on the Sierra High Route, the SAR group will include one of our members!).

Some of the routes in Wandering_Daisy's Wind Rivers guide are easy off-trail (if you have the navigation skills) with no mountaineering required. Others are strictly for the highly equipped and experienced, and she is careful to state that in her book. In my trip planning I was careful to ask her about a few gray areas, since I can't go beyond very easy Class 2 and I would have had a dog with me so needed to avoid talus.

If you have the needed skills and experience, go for it! Otherwise, you may want to consider perhaps a section of one of the several long distance trails or several back-to-back loop trips in the same general area.

I'd recommend the Colorado Trail. They just added a new 70 mile alpine section.

With Alpine Trails, the season changes each year. Last year the Colorado Trail was free of snow in about June. A couple of years ago it wasn't passable until August. This means your travel plans have to be flexible.

The combination of altitude and elevation change makes Alpine Trails more difficult. Because of the difference in pace going uphill and downhill, you will probably spend about 2/3 of the time going uphill.

How much "off the beaten path" experience do you have?

30 days can mean 100 miles or 400 miles depending on how fast
you travel, elevation gain etc.

"off the beaten path" means different things to different people. Do you want to go off-trail or just less used trails?

Please better define your criteria and give more details on your experience. It appears you want to be in high mountains. What is your budget? How much gnarly weather do you want to deal with. Snow? Glaciers? Grizzly bears?

The post, as it is written, seems to indicate that you have not "done your homework". If this is not the case, I apologize.

Any "named" trail or route is going to be more crowded than something you simply put together yourself by looking at maps. Many people do those "named" trails for bragging rights (yes if you do the PCT you DESERVE bragging rights!) or the social experience. Nothing wrong with that, but I am not sure that is what you are looking for. I can put together a 30-50 day trip in the Sierra, or Wind Rivers, and pretty much guarantee seeing only a handful of people with a mix of less used trails and off-trail travel.

I personally do not have the resources to hire a resupply (cost of about $500) so usually do "legs" of 10-14 days and walk out to resupply. I have used commercial shuttle services ($100-$150) to transport you from trailhead to town and back or drive you from your parked car to the start of your trip. Usually if you can resupply along the trail with little effort, the route/trail is not very "off the beaten path".

My experience is that for a "wilderness" trip of 30+ days, you need an area that has a large enough wilderness block - Sierra, Wind Rivers, some ranges in Colorado (I am not too familiar with these), Canadian Rockies, Selkirks or BC, Brooks Range Alaska, etc. The Cascades, although very stunning may be a bit small for this (but I may be wrong). If on the other hand, you do not mind being back in civilization often, sections of some of the named trails are fine- such as PCT, AT or CDT through one state.

Horse packer resupply at Island Lake in the Winds was $375 last summer. This per a trip report by some Seattle folks out for 10 days. They were a group of 5, which made the per-person amount fairly reasonable. The group did your Indian Basin to Cook Lakes trip in reverse but hiked out to the New Fork Lakes trailhead from Summit Lake. Of course the resupply point was only 14 miles from the trailhead. For a solo trip, I'd carry the 10 days' food and forgo the resupply, but it is an option for those with the $$$.

Thanks for that information OM! Do you know if they paid for a one-day turnaround or two days? Also, did they combine their load with anther group? I ask because $375 is really a reasonable price - less than I would expect IF it were a 2-day turn-around resupply. 14 miles is on the outer edge of what most packers would do for a one-day turn-around. I think most commercial packers are willing to negotiate with backpackers who's required weight is so much less than what the average drop-camp client brings.

Oops, double posted when I edited????

I really don't know, but when I asked last summer after reading the trip report, the trip reporter said the packhorse was carrying only 70 lbs., which I assume was the resupply for the group of 5. You're right, 28 miles roundtrip is a pretty long day trip even for a lightly laden (or unladen, on the way back) pack horse, since they have to go at a relatively slow walk (4 mph) most of the way. I once rode a 25 mile day and was exhausted (the horses were less tired than I was, and I'd been doing a lot of riding).

Different part of the CDT --- you're thinking of Pie Town in New Mexico ! :-)


Separately, Wandering Daisy said:

Quote:

"Any "named" trail or route is going to be more crowded than something you simply put together yourself by looking at maps."

Apart from the AT, unless you're near the start of the PCT in April/May, most (even 'named') trails are in my experience empty most of the time. You see few people for days, and then you hike to/through a trailhead relatively near a population center on a weekend and then the trail is temporarily just stuffed with people. But mostly trails are empty. That's particularly true on the CDT; you can hike for hundreds of miles and typically see no one, apart from the popular destinations along the way --- Glacier N.P., the Winds, Yellowstone, and to a lesser degree the Bob Marshall wilderness and the Colorado Trail. Stay away from those parts and the CDT is a wonderfully lonely trail.

OTOH, those places are popular for a reason! Depending on when you go will impact things too of course.

I think it is a matter of timing. PCT hikers start before the normal backpack season, so the lack of people may have more to do with time of year. I agree the CDT is less crowded. Especially those long walks between wilderness areas. And the parts of the PCT that link the more mountainous scenic parts tend not to get used. PCT hikers are mostly out of the Sierra on their way north by the time the busy season starts.

"Crowded" is another relative term! The JMT during busy season is down right crowded by anyone's definition. As the Sierra High Route gets more internet exposure and thus more use, it is also getting crowded (relative to what it was 5 years ago). You would expect to see nobody for days on this route - not the case when I did it in 2010. 2012 in the Wind Rivers on three separate 12-14 day routes, when off-trail,I went 8 days and saw nobody - total of about 5 people (and about 50 cows at the trailhead) the entire 14 day trip. Next trip for just one day on the Highline Trail (part of the CDT), I saw about 20 people (and about 200 domestic sheep). Once I left the Highline Trail - zero people. Compare that to one day on the JMT which typically I see up to 50 people. Go during shoulder season and maybe see 5-10 per day. Still "crowded", in my book.

I think it is a truism that during backpack season, in the continental US, on any given 30-day route, you cannot have all four: spectacular scenery, maintained trail, no people, remote.

And you are right - the less used parts of any long named trail are going to probably be the less scenic. The more scenic regions are more crowded for a reason! I think if you want scenic and not crowded, during the peak of backpack season, you have to get off the trail entirely. Due to the number of roads in the continental US, "remote" is relatively less remote than in northern Alaska.

I also think a lot of people who do long trails like their "remote" in smaller packets between pretty regular stops back to civilization. And they can do this logistically because of the number of miles they are willing to do each day.

Brian - what was the longest (days and miles) that you went on the CDT without seeing any person at all?

I'm going to sound a bit like Bill Clinton here, but what's your definition of "seeing" a person? I assume airplanes don't count. A car seen driving on the horizon? Only talking about on-trail?

Even on the CDT the longest carry I had between resupply points was 8 days, and barring a prepared food cache (which thru-hikers almost never use) you always see people when resupplying.

I think the longest stretch where you have the best chance of seeing no one is about 115 miles between Atlantic City and Rawlins, in WY. I.e., the closest you get to the "Great Basin". Cool place to see lizards and wild horses, but little water and just nothing in between.

There were many couple-day stretches when I saw no one at all, and probably a few 3-day stretches. I hiked southbound, lost my starting partner in southern Montana, hiked Wyoming and Colorado entirely alone, met up and hiked with another thru from northern NM to Mexico.

On the AT in contrast there was just not possibly even a single day, and I had an early start, a relatively low crowd. On the PCT I remember one single "saw no one at all" day in the Sierras (we're talking early June here on a normal snow year). Until the very very end of the day I was just about to pitch my tent and I saw someone else's tent in the distance. "Damn", I said to myself, "that sort of spoils my one really solo day!" But certainly there was plenty of alone time on the PCT if you wanted it, just virtually no days where you didn't see anyone --- that was starting with "the herd" going northbound.

Hiking in the general vicinity of the thru-hiker pack on the PCT probably influenced the number of days you saw another hiker. I've hiked about six days on the PCT in southern Oregon and not seen a soul in mid-July. However, I'm sure the mosquitos had a lot to do with that. They were in full bloom during that six day stretch.

As for mileage, I wasn't hiking at anything like thru-hike speed, so the distance was from Mt. Thielsen to Mt Yoran near Diamond Peak, or about 55 miles, if I'm remembering correctly.