Daniel Davis May 2, 2014 at 11:47 am

I have done the eagle rock loop trail in Arkansas about three times now. I am looking for a new place to Backpack and have been thinking about Colorado. Any suggestions?

Richard Masta May 2, 2014 at 12:20 pm

I could probably orate about NH for days, but I’d love to read some CO suggestions, myself…

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Daniel Davis May 2, 2014 at 12:28 pm

Yeah I live in East Texas but I am willing to drive far to hike where there is clear water. I also prefer mountains for hiking. Besides Arkansas, when I was in the scouts I went to Philmont and did a two week trek. It was great, you just can’t beat the mountains when it comes to hiking.

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Mike Reid May 2, 2014 at 12:42 pm

I grew up in the Canadian Shield — very fun, rugged terrain for hiking and canoeing.

I live now on the prairie, but my 1.5 yo daughter and I go hiking in Birds Hill Park, nearby, very often to feed the birds, track deer in the snow, watch migrating geese, and just play around.

I can hardly wait until she’s old enough to handle treks in my home turf.

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Dick Clark May 2, 2014 at 12:47 pm

My very favorite place to backpack is in Western South Carolina along Highway 11. Since I moved to the Great Plains, my favorite backpacking spot nearby is at Indian Cave State Park, down on the banks of the Missouri River.

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Rick Rule May 2, 2014 at 12:55 pm

My favorite back pack trip of all times was in southwest BC, originating just outside Pemberton BC, three hours driving north of Vancouver.

From Lillouette Lake to Lizzy Lake, over the Palisade range, and Palisade Glacier, though the length of the Stein River valley, terminating in Lytton BC.

Wilderness hiking, fictionally good fishing, Grizzly sightings…

Long, hard, beautiful

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Daniel Davis May 2, 2014 at 1:12 pm

That sounds amazing. I have to get out into the wilderness soon. I have been stuck in school for the past 16 months and haven’t had time. I am losing my mind here around all these people.

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Marianne Copenhaver May 2, 2014 at 2:10 pm

Alaska! I just got back from there. I took a plane into the mountains and I can’t wait to go back this summer!

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Matt Phillips May 2, 2014 at 11:30 pm

Where in Alaska specifically? Any particular range? That’s a dream trip for me. Gates of the Arctic has an especially strong appeal for some reason.

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Matt Phillips May 2, 2014 at 11:13 pm

You guys are killing me!! We jut had kid #2 so my backcountry time will be limited for the foreseeable future. There are only a few decent places to go in the midwest, so I’m planning to frequent all of them pretty often until my next big mountain trip.

I love a good backcountry hike in the Tetons or Yellowstone. A buddy of mine won’t stop talking about Glacier. I’ve personally never been, but from the photos and trail guides, he seems to have good reason.

My favorite hikes always involve dramatic topography and extreme isolation.

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Daniel Davis May 2, 2014 at 11:17 pm

Yes I too enjoy the extreme isolation. I have been to the Tetons and Yellowstone twice but I haven’t backpacked through them. It saddens me but I didn’t have the opportunity to do it. I feel like I missed out on the best Yellowstone has to offer.

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Matt Phillips May 2, 2014 at 11:27 pm

I did a hike back in August that started out at Yellowstone Lake, took us up into Pelican Valley, over Mist Creek Pass, and down Mist Creek and the Lamar River to the Soda Butte trailhead. We hitchhiked back to our car.

If you’re a fast and light hiker, you could get it done in three days. Personally, I like to do side hikes and stop frequently to smell the roses. We did a one night side hike up to Frost Lake, took a day to fish, and broke up the trip into a bunch of shorter treks so that we could spend time doing day-hikes and exploring. We were in the backcountry for five days and saw only one other backpacker. We were supposed to be out there for seven, but we discovered that two of our companions couldn’t handle it.

That route isn’t as dramatic as anything you’ll see at Grand Teton, topographically speaking, but it is far more remote, and it has a very unique beauty all its own. There are only a couple of really challenging segments, so if you plan it right you could even take a beginner who is somewhere between couch-potato and moderately fit.

We met a large male grizzly on night one. I was gad that we all had bear spray and hung our food properly.

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Matt Phillips May 2, 2014 at 11:35 pm

Some photos from that hike, in case you’re interested.. I doubt that I have to mention among you guys that these photos will do absolutely no justice to the real thing.

http://www.panoramio.com/user/8156882

 

It was so cool to stumble upon those cliffs. It makes you wonder how many people have ever been there, seeing what you’re seeing.

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Richard Masta May 7, 2014 at 11:19 am

The photo with the two bison stole the show!

Speaking of bears, last fourth of July my dad and I hiked from Ethan Pond to the Gale River trailhead on the AT (about 20 miles in the whites). took out zealand, the twins, and mt gale. I was woken up in my tent at 2 am by a musty, somber, very large presence at the door to my tent. Not only did this curious bear stand there for about two hours, but it pawed my head numerous times and scratched at the corners of the tent. I finally yelled and shined my flashlight and it left me alone. The next morning I found its trail, some footprints, and a wall of rocks that it obviously calls home. Goodness. (miraculously, it never upset one tent pole or rope, which was my biggest fear during the situation). anyway if I had a totem animal, its now the black bear haha

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Daniel Davis May 3, 2014 at 1:06 am

Great photos. That is how I want to see Yellowstone; away from all of the tourist spots. Just have it for myself.

 

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Joshua Stevens May 3, 2014 at 4:43 am

For me it would be Western Europe, especially Paris and Brussels.

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Theodore Freysen May 3, 2014 at 5:28 am

Southern Africa is also amazing. Cape Town to Zanzibar….

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Rick Rule June 8, 2014 at 1:59 pm

Bonnie and I leave today for a hiking trip in Zimbabwe, Uganda and Rwanda.

Non jeep supported, old fashioned foot safari (photo only) in Zim,

Gorilla and Golden Monkey treks in Rwanda and Uganda. Will report back if uneaten.

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Roger Browne June 8, 2014 at 2:36 pm

Wow, that sounds like a great trip, Rick. Have a wonderful time!

I have been on foot safari in South Africa, and would enthusiastically recommend it to any hiker.

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Matt Phillips June 9, 2014 at 12:30 pm

I can’t wait to hear about this trip!

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Roger Browne May 3, 2014 at 11:47 am

For me, the best place to go backpacking is the ring of wilderness around Sydney, Australia. There are forests, rivers, mountains, caves and canyons.

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Anonymous May 3, 2014 at 3:32 pm

I think one of the best backpacking trips I’ve had was on the Appalachian Trail to McAfee’s Knob near Roanoke Virginia. It offers a breathtaking 270 degree view of the Catawba Valley. Absolutely Gorgeous.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/643981_10151494606185031_1768683066_n.jpg

The Grayson Highlands in Virginia is also a great place to go backpacking. It’s a very unique terrains, more flat and rocky with more shrubs than trees. It seems like something you’d see out west and not in the Appalachians. There are also wild ponies out there!

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Richard Masta May 7, 2014 at 11:12 am

Two years ago, I took my younger brother up the backside of Mt. Jefferson — the Caps Ridge Trail. You have to drive up this narrow, bumpy seasonal road, which is actually the highest- elevated road in the state of NH. The trail itself starts in the alpine zone’s front yard — the trees aren’t much taller than you. Then it’s rocks and wind and lechen. The trail bounds over these big rocky knobs (the Caps) and if you have the guts, you’ll take a break and turn around to see essentially the entire state of NH in one panoramic view. When we reached the summit, a sharply situated, yet quietly noble cone of rock (it really is Jefferson mountainified), there was no view due to fog, but suddenly the wind cleared the clouds and we stood there in the sky elated and liberated. Of course, as high as we were (5712ft), one only had to look up to see Mt. Washington and the village that sits atop it. Jefferson might be my favorite hike yet.

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Rick Rule May 9, 2014 at 2:41 pm

any interest in a day hike this summer in Pemberton BC, three drivinmg hours notyj of Vancouver? My favrite is Tenquille Lake, 4-5 hour hike, ending at a subalpine lake. I’ll go sometime in August.

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Matt Phillips May 10, 2014 at 10:33 am

You might want to make this a unique discussion in this group so that more people see it.

I’d love to do that hike, but it’s not going to happen this year. I can’t wait to backpack the Pacific Northwest and the Canadian Rockies. I spend a great deal of time on Google Earth exploring peaks and valleys on the western third of Canada. If you don’t mind, I’ll contact you for info in a couple of years when I can manage a cross continent trip like that.

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Malcolm Heights May 10, 2014 at 2:23 pm

I’m in Southern California. Their are lots of trail here to hike in the Foothills. Mt. Whitney and Half Dome in Yosemite are the most challenging.

 

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Daniel Davis May 12, 2014 at 9:47 pm

I spent some time in California for a considerable amount of time. The scenery can be beautiful. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to hike for as much as I would have liked.

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Rick Rule June 27, 2014 at 1:46 pm

SO, I’m back from Africa, UNEATEN!

Bonnie and I had a spectacular trip. Six days on a foot Safari at Mana Pools, on the Zambezi River in northern Zimbabwe, canoeing with Crocs and massive hippos, hiking among swarms of big game animals including Lions ( one false charge!) elephants ( two false charges) leopards, Buffalo etc.

Up to six hours per day walking, not the east African commercial experience trapped an a car, experiencing traffic jams at kill sights.

Then a week and a half in Rwanda and Uganda, three mountain trecks looking at Mountain Gorillas and Golden Monkeys. Very polite primates, easy walks in to see them ( two hours max in my case) the animals were well acclimated and completely relaxed. Spectacular scenery, and almost impossibly nice local people.

Expensive, but trip of a life time.

 

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Roger Browne June 27, 2014 at 2:17 pm

What a fantastic trip, Rick! And I bet you enjoyed plenty of wonderful southern African food, too. And music. And wine. And sunsets.

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Christopher Allen July 3, 2014 at 10:56 pm

In the Canadian Rockies, Yoho National Park and the West end of Banff National Park are amazing for hiking and backpacking. Those are my stomping grounds.

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Rick Rule July 4, 2014 at 11:42 am

any particular day hike suggestions?

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