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Post by cweston on Sept 16, 2015 7:05:52 GMT -8
I do not make a distinction. It is all hiking. Following a trail is easier, but may not go where I want to go. So I just head off in the direction I want. I never labeled it as different. But in a very practical way, it is different. I have very rarely gone on a BP trip and not seen at least a small number of other hikers on the trail or in camp at some point in the trip (in the primary season, anyway). Beautiful places to camp that are accessible by trail usually have other parties around; on weekends and weekdays. I would say that there is a safety difference. When one is on-trail, if something goes wrong, there's a fairly high likelihood that another person will cross your path. Off-trail, the opposite holds true--it's fairly unusual, in my experience, to encounter other parties when traveling off trail in remote areas. You are truly on your own, and a wise hiker is always aware of this difference.
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FamilySherpa
Trail Wise!
Tangled up in Rhododendron
Posts: 1,791
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Post by FamilySherpa on Sept 16, 2015 7:56:37 GMT -8
Used to do a lot of solo off trail adventures 10+ years ago. But the fact that I now have a family with 2 small children, combined with a heightened allergic reaction to bee stings has mostly kept me on the trails these days.
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tarol
Trail Wise!
Redding, CA
Posts: 582
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Post by tarol on Sept 17, 2015 5:33:05 GMT -8
I love going off trail in the High Sierra and in the desert - when you can more or less see where you are going. I try to avoid talus and brush fields but sometimes they are inevitable. When I was 22 I took a backcountry class that taught Sierra route-finding by doing it - we hiked from Mineral King up to the Upper Mineral Lakes, then to Upper Mosquito Lakes, then to Ansel Lake and finally back via White Chief Canyon. I was the only girl in the class that was able to carry her pack over the divide between Ansel and White Chief where it got very sketchy. Soon after I went on a solo off-trail excursion to Little Lakes and I was hooked. The next summer I solo hiked to Moose Lake which is still my favorite lake in the Sierra. Now I frequently hike in places like Joshua Tree where the trails are limited and where there are many hidden treasures off trail.
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panatomicx
Trail Wise!
Less noise and more green
Posts: 498
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Post by panatomicx on Sept 20, 2015 12:55:51 GMT -8
Like others here, I do NOT like boulder fields with car-sized boulders light enough to cross a pond by hopping from one floating dead leaf to the next. Many good perspectives here. Those boulder fields are tough, and I'm certainly not as agile as Big Loads friend! Off-trail means that you have to think a bit more: not just about where you are going to end up in 30 minutes a day, but also where you are going to put your next step, where you are going to hike the next twenty feet it is all about the balance--that queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach when you're not sure if the route will work IS part of the fun to me, as long as I'm not being truly reckless with my safety or that of partners I agree-that uncertain, challenging aspect is part of the fun for me too. Tigger-that first photo is great!
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