Hiking 2.0

[HUSKER HOT SAUCE]

Take a hike.

Take you're own advice you damn dirty ape. :O O:

 

[KleinTxHusker]

This is an excellent article with some great hikes. Ones that I've had some experience on:

For the Yosemite Hike, would recommend hiking up the Mist Trail and back down the John Muir Trail. Or, better yet, carry a tent and spend the night overlooking Little Yosemite Valley. I did it that way the first time. The second time, my wife started along Tioga Road and went over the top of Clouds Rest to get to the same overlook. Came down John Muir. Both times, I couldn't muster the courage to do the cables on the back side of Half Dome.

Bright Angel. Do NOT try to go all the way to the river and back as a day hike. We reserved a campsite at the bottom and then spent two nights down there. Or try to get into Phantom Ranch, reservations are by lottery a year in advance. Even as campers, you can join the Phantom Ranch people for meals. There is also a campground halfway to the river (4.5 miles from the top), people who had camped near us reserved a night there do they didn't have to make the 9 mile hike out all in one day (4500' elevation gain from river to rim). I am in only average shape and we made it out in about 7.5-8 hours.

Glacier Highline Trail. Had total strangers come up to us in the Many Glacier campground looking for a shared car shuttle. They seemed safe enough, so we went with them up to Logan Pass, hiked the Highline, over Swiftcurrent Pass, and back down to the campground. Was something like 12-15 miles of hiking. This is one of my top 5 favorite hikes, maybe #1 in the United States (Canadian Rockies has several of my top 5).

Arches. Was there in late June...hot, hot, and more hot. We didn't do much hiking. Have taken 3 trips to Canyonlands south of Moab at other times of the year and loved it there. One trip was a 3 mile backpack the first day, set up camp in Chesler Park and did day hikes from there for a couple of full days before hiking back out. On a separate trip, we did a 3 day rafting trip and camped along the shore. Day 2 was filled with 20+ Class III-V rapids.

Denali. "Make sure you stay alert for wildlife as there have been bear encounters in the park". Understatement...we did ranger-led hikes to take advantage of a larger group, and still had to circle around a momma and two cubs.

Acadia. We cobbled together several trails and summited six different peaks. Would recommend staying on the the quieter back side away from Bar Harbor. Renting bikes and doing a circle of the carriage roads is another outstanding way to get away from the crowds.

Zion. Did Zion more as a drive through and then paid an outfitter to take our family canyoneering outside the park. The kids were only 9 or 10 and we didn't feel comfortable trying it on our own.


Trying to put together a summer trip right now. Looking like top 2 choices are Colorado, not too far west of Denver so we can drive it in day from Eastern Iowa. Or, New England...we have Massachusetts and Rhode Island to check off...thinking a day in each of those and then head up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. They have huts along the Appalachian Trail spaced about 5 or 6 miles apart. Meals and a bunk provided. Basically, you can string several days of day hikes together and never have to sleep outside or cook your own meals. The only downside is that the huts hold up to 90 people and it is bunkrooms, so bring your earplugs.

Thanks for the feed back. You have broad and deep experience. Mine is more limited. We've done a huge amount at Rocky Mountain National; that somewhat has set my expectations for trail quality. We did Cadillac Mountain at Acadia and I arrogantly thought it would be a piece of cake after Colorado. What I didn't anticipate was the massive amount of tree roots overgrowing the trails and then the loose rock. Finally steep climb (at least 1000 feet per mile). so the relatively low elevation didn't help. My daughter in law did parts of the Appalachian Trail in Vermont to Maine, but had to call it quits after a couple of weeks due to leg issues. She found much of the trail to be like I described in Acadia. Very slow going even for someone in outstanding shape and a fair amount of experience.

We are very interested in Yosemite, but haven't worked that out yet. I would like to get back to the Utah parks and do some real hiking there. Same with Grand Canyon. Can't say that I want to do any at Glacier, the threat of Grizzlies pretty much would dictate that I won't. Double for Denali.

Our problem as a family with the Canadian Rockies parks is they didn't have the accessible shorter hikes that you can get at RMNP. We would generally do day hikes from two to 12 miles. I had heard from a friend who had lived in both Colorado and Calgary that he also felt the same way.

I've generally not cared for hiking at places like Breckenridge and Vail; although we did do a fourteener out of Breck. What I would recommend is checking out the Aspen area and hiking in the Maroon Bells area of the White River National Forest. There are some pretty good trails for aggressive day hikers. I've run into people who have covered 20 miles with some pretty good treks. My wife holds me back, she likes to hit the trails about the time you need to be getting off the summits! You know, she wants to start at 11 am, when you really need to hit the trails at 5 or 6 am.

https://dayhikesneardenver.com/maroon-bells-colorado/#sceniclooptrail

What is really concerning to me, is I am getting to the point where I am not sure I will have the health to do these sort of hikes in a few years. Yes, I see plenty of oldsters on the trails, but I also know there are a large number of people in those age groups who, despite good health in younger years, are no longer able to do such sustained exercise. Joint issues can be a greater issue than general fitness.

 

[EastOfEden]

For you hikers, make sure you read The Places In Between by Rory Stewart. This guy, who now is an MP and an OBE, hiked alone through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal. The book is about his hike across Afghanistan in early 2000s shortly after the Taliban had first been "defeated." He walked alone across the mountainous part from Herat to Kabul (not the Kandahar route) in the dead of winter, much of the time in hip deep snow. He relied upon the Muslim willingness to take in travelers without question and feed them and give them a place to sleep. A dozen or so years later he walked the route of Hadrian's wall in the British midlands. You get a lot of history in his books, as well as a real sense of just how extraordinary his hikes are. He never wrote anything as far as I know about the rest of his Central Asia hike.

There are other long walks you could aspire to. A group of Polish POWs escaped from a Siberian prison in WWII and walked to India, if you can imagine. That tale is told in The Long Walk, although many wonder if it is a true story, or at least a true story of the man who wrote it. Then there is the famous A Walk Through The Hindu Kush. There is also a wonderful story of the Peruvian wife of a British officer who walked across the Peruvian mountains and through the jungles of the Amazon to join up with her husband on the Atlantic coast. Book is called Mapmakers Wife and it is set in the early 18th century and while the scientific story is fascinating, more fascinating is the story of the wife who climbs over the Andes and travels the length of the Amazon jungle, in the end almost alone, to reach the Atlantic ocean and her husband. There is also the tale of the Brit who took over two years to walk the entire length of the Amazon just a few years ago.

Lots of good walks still left to do.

 

[HUSKER HOT SAUCE]

For you hikers, make sure you read The Places In Between by Rory Stewart. This guy, who now is an MP and an OBE, hiked alone through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal. The book is about his hike across Afghanistan in early 2000s shortly after the Taliban had first been "defeated." He walked alone across the mountainous part from Herat to Kabul (not the Kandahar route) in the dead of winter, much of the time in hip deep snow. He relied upon the Muslim willingness to take in travelers without question and feed them and give them a place to sleep. A dozen or so years later he walked the route of Hadrian's wall in the British midlands. You get a lot of history in his books, as well as a real sense of just how extraordinary his hikes are. He never wrote anything as far as I know about the rest of his Central Asia hike.

There are other long walks you could aspire to. A group of Polish POWs escaped from a Siberian prison in WWII and walked to India, if you can imagine. That tale is told in The Long Walk, although many wonder if it is a true story, or at least a true story of the man who wrote it. Then there is the famous A Walk Through The Hindu Kush. There is also a wonderful story of the Peruvian wife of a British officer who walked across the Peruvian mountains and through the jungles of the Amazon to join up with her husband on the Atlantic coast. Book is called Mapmakers Wife and it is set in the early 18th century and while the scientific story is fascinating, more fascinating is the story of the wife who climbs over the Andes and travels the length of the Amazon jungle, in the end almost alone, to reach the Atlantic ocean and her husband. There is also the tale of the Brit who took over two years to walk the entire length of the Amazon just a few years ago.

Lots of good walks still left to do.

Nice post, thanks for the heads up EoE.
I read this book by Bill Bryson several years back, and it was very well written and funnier than I was expecting.

I will see if my local library has the book you recommended, if not, I will just Amazon it.

 

[Smoker]

How many days out of the week do you. Take a hike?

 

[HUSKER HOT SAUCE]

How many days out of the week do you. Take a hike?

It depends really. Last week, I was only able to hike for a very short period, due to inclement weather, I got caught in a freezing rain, with out my poncho(that totally sucked) and only got about 2 miles. I try to get hikes in at least twice a week if I can. I just got back a bit ago, I hiked out to a small lake, and jogged most of the way back. I got 12 miles in today and my knees feel it, probably because it's been almost 2 full weeks since I have gotten in a real hike. Tomorrow, I am jogging a 4 miler by my self(with my Adidas trail runners), and then we are taking an 8 mile hike, so it looks like I will be using my copper fit compression sleeve for my knee. Warm weather months, I get nice hikes on my days off, and 3 or 4 days, I usually get a 2 to 4 miler light hike in, depending on certain factors such as rain, wild fires, etc. etc.

 

[BGRed]

Thanks for the feed back. You have broad and deep experience....

Some people buy stuff, we save and spend on trips. My kids had a fall break from school every October when in elementary; so, we could get three trips per year. Camping and staying in rental houses can make the trips so much more affordable.

My daughter in law did parts of the Appalachian Trail in Vermont to Maine, but had to call it quits after a couple of weeks due to leg issues. She found much of the trail to be like I described in Acadia. Very slow going even for someone in outstanding shape and a fair amount of experience.

The hut section in New Hampshire was the same; I totally tore up my hiking boots on the rocky trails.

Can't say that I want to do any at Glacier, the threat of Grizzlies pretty much would dictate that I won't. Double for Denali.

Would recommend you go as Glacier might be my favorite US park. You can join rangers with a group for guided hikes at no cost. Safety in numbers and hopefully someone slower than you is on the trip.

I've generally not cared for hiking at places like Breckenridge and Vail; although we did do a fourteener out of Breck. What I would recommend is checking out the Aspen area and hiking in the Maroon Bells area of the White River National Forest. There are some pretty good trails for aggressive day hikers. I've run into people who have covered 20 miles with some pretty good treks. My wife holds me back, she likes to hit the trails about the time you need to be getting off the summits! You know, she wants to start at 11 am, when you really need to hit the trails at 5 or 6 am.

Thanks, just booked a condo in Georgetown. Wife and I have been to Maroon Bells, might still go to get the kids there (daughter is big Instragram photo fan). Also, thinking something up in Indian Peaks from the east side for our big hike. I'm now weakest hiker in the group and thinking 8-10 miler might be about the max...used to do 12-18 without too much of a worry.

 

[KleinTxHusker]

Thanks, just booked a condo in Georgetown. Wife and I have been to Maroon Bells, might still go to get the kids there (daughter is big Instragram photo fan). Also, thinking something up in Indian Peaks from the east side for our big hike. I'm now weakest hiker in the group and thinking 8-10 miler might be about the max...used to do 12-18 without too much of a worry.

Interesting, Georgetown has always been a drive-by for us. The few times we stopped there, didn't tell us we were missing anything. Not that we sought to explore.

Also never had Indian Peaks on our radar. Is your plan to go there (at least for long hike) from Georgetown? Seems a pretty good drive. Still, the biggest issue I have seen on some of the Forest Service wilderness areas is getting to the trail heads. Many of the "roads" are challenging for 4-wd vehicles. I don't care to rent or own trucks, let alone 4wd (not that I think you can rent them - at least the ones you need to go on some of those roads). And I am always suspicious about how accurate the guides are regarding getting to them. Some will make every unimproved road sound like it requires 4wd when they are easier than a gravel road in Lancaster County, NE. Other times, they are as bad or worse as my 14'er experience.

So you don't know what you are going to be faced with until you try. My last 14'er, I hired a guide, as my wife didn't want me soloing. Without the guide I'd never gotten within ten miles of the trail head.

The first trails I ever hiked (back packed ~5 days actually) were in the area behind the Air Force Academy (in Boy Scouts). We based out of the AFA. There were other civvies out there. Remember seeing a mountain man who lived out of his ~1962 Ford Falcon and did nothing but hike and live in the woods. I guess point is, there are great wilderness areas very close to Denver and the Springs; you just have to go find them. And these are way better than hiking on a ski mountain.

 

[Ellis Boyd Redding]

Ok, I just run around a lot on flat, boring trails. You guys do some SERIOUS HIKING. I'm so jealous.

 

[BGRed]

Interesting, Georgetown has always been a drive-by for us. The few times we stopped there, didn't tell us we were missing anything. Not that we sought to explore.

Using Georgetown mainly as a base and not really planning to do much right there. We plan to do the drive in a single day from the eastern side of Iowa, so focused on places about an hour past Denver to make it a manageable day of driving. I had my eye on a vacation rental house by St. Mary's Glacier that had a view of the CD from a patio hot tub; but, we dilly-dallied too long and someone else beat us to it. We may still do a hike in that area.

Also never had Indian Peaks on our radar. Is your plan to go there (at least for long hike) from Georgetown? Seems a pretty good drive. Still, the biggest issue I have seen on some of the Forest Service wilderness areas is getting to the trail heads. Many of the "roads" are challenging for 4-wd vehicles. I don't care to rent or own trucks, let alone 4wd (not that I think you can rent them - at least the ones you need to go on some of those roads).

Google Maps tells me it should be about an hour and a quarter or hour and a half drive to the Moffat Tunnel or Hessie trailhead areas at south end of the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Will need to bounce the kids out of bed early to get going. Driving our own 4WD out from Iowa. We'll see if my flat-lander open road type of driving skills can handle the mountain forest roads. I guess I was assuming the road to Moffat Tunnel or Hessie would be fairly straightforward?

We're also considering taking bikes. Not terribly excited about the trail that runs right along I-70. Will do some research to see if there are some more interesting off-road trails in that area. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[HUSKER HOT SAUCE]

Thanks for the cool posts guys. I love talking and doing this stuff.
On a side note, I kind of lost track of just how many miles I've got so far, but I did add a 4 mile jog and a 12 mile hike today. My knee held up much better than I thought it would and I literally have zero pain at the moment. Tomorrow could be a different story, when I have to go off to work, but as of right now, pain free.....
I didn't track my hike(forgot to turn it on-LOL), although I did track my run today, so I added roughly 16 miles and I think that that gets me up to around 213 for the season.

 

[BGRed]

Thanks for the cool posts guys. I love talking and doing this stuff.
On a side note, I kind of lost track of just how many miles I've got so far, but I did add a 4 mile jog and a 12 mile hike today. My knee held up much better than I thought it would and I literally have zero pain at the moment. Tomorrow could be a different story, when I have to go off to work, but as of right now, pain free.....
I didn't track my hike(forgot to turn it on-LOL), although I did track my run today, so I added roughly 16 miles and I think that that gets me up to around 213 for the season.

I guess we hijacked your thread, par for the course on HM forums...

 

[HUSKER HOT SAUCE]

I guess we hijacked your thread, par for the course on HM forums...

Not at all, this is good stuff. You guys added some really cool posts to this thread, I really enjoyed reading it actually.

 

[canadianhusker]

Our problem as a family with the Canadian Rockies parks is they didn't have the accessible shorter hikes that you can get at RMNP. We would generally do day hikes from two to 12 miles. I had heard from a friend who had lived in both Colorado and Calgary that he also felt the same way.

can you elaborate on this? what kind of hikes were you looking for? i live in alberta and might be able to offer some suggestions.

 

[HUSKER HOT SAUCE]

Beautiful day out today. Had a glorious hike/run today. Went 10 miles with 2208 feet of gain to about 8775 feet. 2 hours and 46 minutes total time, out and back. My legs can really feel it and again, surprisingly, my knees feel great. With today's 10 and the couple of shorter hikes earlier in the week, I'm around the 230 mile marker. My farmers tan is really starting to come together, haha.