Post by livinzlife on Aug 24, 2015 5:42:21 GMT -8
Me, my cousin, my brother-in-law, and a couple good friends have been camping in Greenridge State Forest (Maryland) quite a bit over the last year. Some of us have also done some light 2-3 day backpacking loops off skyline drive in Shenandoah in Virginia. We'd like to step it up a notch and plan a bigger, more technical trip to somewhere amazing.
I've been looking around the web, and see all the beautiful photos of Arches, and the Narrows, etc. It all looks amazing, but one thing I hate to read is how busy some of these places are. One of the greatest joys of backpacking (to me at least...I can't speak for the whole group) is the peace and quiet. I enjoy feeling completely isolated from the masses.
Which brings me to my question. We're looking to plan a trip that would involve about 5 days backpacking, and this would be ideal:
1) See some incredible natural views and features. Whether it be interesting rock formations, beautiful mountain-top views, isolated lakes/springs, waterfalls, canyons, caves, etc. That being said, not at the cost of being around tons of other people, or being shuffled through some queue to get our 2 minutes with an arch.
2) Building on #1, it would almost be preferable that the best part of the trip REQUIRED a couple day hike. Not only would this weed out the busloads of people, but we'd really feel like we earned something when we got there.
3) We're not completely new to backpacking, but we're certainly not experts either. We intend to gain some experience near home through 2016, and this trip would take place in 2017. With that in mind, the skill level would hopefully be "technical, but not insane".
4) We're relatively flexible on climate, but our first trip out West we'd like to avoid hitting either extreme too hard. Suggestions for time-of-year are greatly appreciated.
Maybe my trip goals are too picky, but if we're going to spend the money and commit to the trip, I want to do it right. I'd love to hear from some more seasoned backpackers to see if there is some extraordinary natural beauty out there that is less accessible than a quick hike.
Suggestions?
I've been looking around the web, and see all the beautiful photos of Arches, and the Narrows, etc. It all looks amazing, but one thing I hate to read is how busy some of these places are. One of the greatest joys of backpacking (to me at least...I can't speak for the whole group) is the peace and quiet. I enjoy feeling completely isolated from the masses.
Which brings me to my question. We're looking to plan a trip that would involve about 5 days backpacking, and this would be ideal:
1) See some incredible natural views and features. Whether it be interesting rock formations, beautiful mountain-top views, isolated lakes/springs, waterfalls, canyons, caves, etc. That being said, not at the cost of being around tons of other people, or being shuffled through some queue to get our 2 minutes with an arch.
2) Building on #1, it would almost be preferable that the best part of the trip REQUIRED a couple day hike. Not only would this weed out the busloads of people, but we'd really feel like we earned something when we got there.
3) We're not completely new to backpacking, but we're certainly not experts either. We intend to gain some experience near home through 2016, and this trip would take place in 2017. With that in mind, the skill level would hopefully be "technical, but not insane".
4) We're relatively flexible on climate, but our first trip out West we'd like to avoid hitting either extreme too hard. Suggestions for time-of-year are greatly appreciated.
Maybe my trip goals are too picky, but if we're going to spend the money and commit to the trip, I want to do it right. I'd love to hear from some more seasoned backpackers to see if there is some extraordinary natural beauty out there that is less accessible than a quick hike.
Suggestions?
