still fuckin with climb cuz climb pays: the ILX hiking thread

In the face of the current advice to avoid crowds I'm overjoyed that my favorite pastime is outdoors and can be done solo or with just one other person. It helps keep me sane and balanced, and de-stressed. My favorite hikes are those where I see no one else for the whole day, but hiking has become popular enough in these parts that this almost never happens anymore.

When I hiked in the Dolomites last year everything I read in preparation said buy trip insurance because if you get injured on a trail and can't hike down the only way to get you off is by helicopter which is like $5-10k minimum. Of course I blew this off. On one of our hikes we saw a woman get airlifted off the mountain with a sprained ankle on a relatively flat section.

All of this is to say that you can get injured with just one misstep without doing anything stupid or dangerous.

hiking alone is the frikkin best and i will never stop doing it

everyone has a plan til they get punched in the mouth. ain’t saying i’m over solo shit, but ay, i know.

(you v likely do too gbx, your rep precedes- but you are likely v good at your hobbies! me, eh, not so much).

Can't play basketball (apart from shooting around by myself) so been hiking more lately. Most everyone has been good about stepping off the trail to let ppl pass & give enough space. But I've been sticking to the less popular trails. They just closed a bunch of the popular trailheads around Sedona because ppl weren't practicing social distancing on them grrrr. And I'm still seeing quite a few out of state plates at trailheads. Plus there's a LOT of people car camping where dispersed is allowed on natl forest land.
Grand Canyon closed down fully after a resident tested positive. But state park in town here was still collecting fees from cars pulling up when I drove past yesterday.

Right now the greatest feeling in the world is when you've been on a long multi-switchback climb and you suddenly realize you're in a new ecosphere - the trees are taller (there are now trees), new wildlife, new colors, sharper rocks.

walkings pish

No it's the only genuinely good thing

In evolutionary terms, walking is quite literally the foundational step toward our becoming human.

During Oregon's initial "stay at home" order, which officially discouraged any trip away from home that was not strictly necessary to life or health, I wasn't able to hike. That ended in June and I've been able to take several hikes, both alone and with my wife. My conditioning is well off the mark for this time of year. After a 10 mile hike with 2600 ft of elevation gain I was sore for a day. It makes me feel old.

corona has made me walk even more than before. and somehow i cannot put headphones on any more and listen to podcasts. i have to digest what is happening on the way. even in the city.

I've not been hiking much, but did do some nice hikes in the Michaux State Forest a few weeks back.

Since I live in arguably the filthiest major city in the US, walking is a bit of a sad activity unless one is in a park, so much of my aerobic activity has come from taking long, long bicycle rides. It's been great.

Was on craziest trail I've ever been on, on 4th of July. In Chiricauhua Mtns. Hasn't been maintained in 30 yrs at least I'd say. Was a loop, so only way I was able to navigate my way back was AllTrails showed the trails and I somehow had enough signal for it to work. I'd lose trail, consult AllTrails, find trail then 100 ft later it completely disappeared. Rinse and repeat. Old wooden trail signs knocked over and partially buried under pine needles. Completely overgrown in parts, forcing me to climb over 100s of trees and tangled growth with no way around due to steep slope on either side. Legs scratched up and bleeding. My water bladder sprung a leak when I stopped for lunch, but was able to pour most of it into the plastic water bottle I had. But by the end of 14.5 miles & 3500 ft elevation gain, I was in heaven drinking the hot water that had been sitting in my car. The app said I burned 4200 calories which is a personal record for a day hike.

I had a hike like that which I tried to do ~3 times when I lived in Siskiyou County. The description of it is here: https://hikemtshasta.com/trinity-divide-trails/soapstone-trail/

That post really downplays the absolute, total disappearance of the trail after the pond— it just sort of peters out, and you're in a field of manzanita and wildflowers. No service, no signage, no nothing. It's really great in one sense, but also one of the only times I've ever been viscerally spooked while hiking. About as far into backcountry I've ever been.

And I've done some pretty remote hikes, particularly in that area.

I like the description there. "quite possibly the most forsaken..."

I tend not to get worried when I can't find the trail cause I can always just backtrack, but since that hike was a loop and I was 3/4 of the way into it, I would've had to hike 20ish miles total to backtrack. With dwindling water and daylight. I always have a headlamp and am prepared to stay at least a night out in the wilderness, gear-wise, but it def won't be a comfortable night.

http://www.chiricahuatrails.com/trails/saulsbury-trail-263

That's the one I did. Wasn't planning on doing the part described as "poor, with narrow and overgrown tread, significant deadfall, and lots of faint and hard to follow sections" but I decided the originally planned loop was too long given that I'd lost some of my water to the leak. Prob would've been better off doing the xtra few miles since pretty sure those trails are in good condition.

Moar hiking stories!

Haven't gotten to hike at all recently. Our return to the Dolomites planned for September was obviously canceled, but we are planning on renting a house in Acadia National Park instead.

I watched a pretty good "10 best spots in the Alps" youtube the other day and he had Dolemites in their twice iirc. Had been on my list for awhile but I'd never seen 1st person + drone footage of trails before....looks amazing. When I go to Italy 1st time I will most likely be with my parents so don't know if I'll get a chance to see Dolomites, and if I do we won't be able to do anything more than a pleasant stroll.

Hiked a loop by Flagstaff last weekend...illegally. Wasn't til I was 2 miles in that see signs saying area still closed for "public safety" due to fire. The fire was last September! Ridiculous. I said fuck it, I'm a big boy, it can't possibly be in worse shape than that Chiricauhua trail. It was fine. A few downed, burned trees. Fascinating how some areas are completely burned out and some are untouched, in no discernible pattern. At high point of the hike I had cell signal, checked weather 50 miles away at my house: 106F. Was 65F up there, niiiiiice.
Came back down this unofficial trail that was really steep and rocky. Near the bottom I encounter 2 young guys with mountain bikes. I say with bikes rather than on bikes, because there's no way any mere mortal could bike up that trail. I assume they had no idea what sort of trail it was.

Wow @ 106F to 65F difference.

I watched a pretty good "10 best spots in the Alps" youtube the other day and he had Dolemites in their twice iirc. Had been on my list for awhile but I'd never seen 1st person + drone footage of trails before....looks amazing. When I go to Italy 1st time I will most likely be with my parents so don't know if I'll get a chance to see Dolomites, and if I do we won't be able to do anything more than a pleasant stroll.

Yeah, I'm not sure Dolomites would be my recommendation for a first trip to Italy because it's atypical culture-wise. I would point out that the Dolomites are ski country and most lifts/gondolas operate in the summer as well, so you can often take a lift/gondola up to 8000 feet or so and then do a not too strenuous hike in utterly gorgeous scenery. It's cheating a bit, but who cares?

I'm planning to get in a 6 day backpack in the eastern part of Oregon starting on July 23rd. I could conceivably hike the route in 4 days, but I plan to take it easy, with some short side trips and maybe bag a couple of easy peaks I can do as a walk-ups or light scrambles. I'll cover something around 50 to 55 miles.

The route is very high (~7800 ft.) and dry ridgeline, with minimal shade, no running water, likely no snow patches left, so I'll need to carry plenty of water. With gear, clothes, food for six days, and one hiking day of water I'm projecting a 33 lb. (15 kilo) load as I leave the trailhead on the first day. I may be able to trim a bit more off that, if I get serious about it.

I'm very eagerly looking forward to it.

nice. have fun!

That sounds great, Aimless. If you ever want to get into northeast California, I highly recommend hiking in the Warner Mountains outside of Alturas, in the godforsaken Modoc County. Gorgeous country, on a good day can see both Lassen and Shasta, plus the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, all from the same spot. And Eagleville, a weird little resort town with hot springs and such, is there for a nice night of RnR after backpacking with full loads for a few days.

Enjoy your trip Aimless. Sounds amazing.

That sounds amazing and makes my conservative plans (in the UK) for the summer seem a little daft. I might have a rethink...

Because my conditioning is more of a question this year (lockdown-induced) I'm prepared to scale back if I get out there and don't feel like putting in the two 13 mile days I'd need to hike in order to meet my initial plan. It's a very remote area but I've been there before so I know what to expect. There's a photo of a mountain goat upthread from a 2011 trip I did on the same trail.

Wait, how are you getting water the rest of the days? Filtering standing water?

My water will come from lakes located on side trails off the main trail. Those lakes will also provide my campsites. The side trails are from 1 to 2 miles to get to these lakes, so if I were to fetch water from them partway through the day it would require a round trip of 2 to 4 miles before resuming progress on the main trail. Yes, I'll filter it, but the lakes are sub-alpine and pretty clean.

Gotcha. I've wondered about the water logistics of long backpack trips, but I've been thinking of conditions here in the southwest where "lake" usually means a 1/4 acre depression of dried up mud.
Have fun dude!

Oh. my. goodness. She’s a rock.

I want this girl in my foxhole... pic.twitter.com/4oT67HFKPg

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) July 19, 2020

I'm back. The peak bagging was a pipe dream, but I did put in my full 57 miles of hiking.

There were so many mountain goats they were a positive nuisance. At one time I had about 15 goats, from two different herds all milling around like a traffic jam. I had to use my "voice of command" and a lot of very stern looks to keep them out of my campsite - but no aggressive moves, just strongly signaling where my territory began and not to enter it. They were very persistent and we were often only 20 feet apart as I faced them down. Very annoying and energy-consuming. Otherwise, a challenging, but excellent six days in the wilderness.

Pix?

Well done in the 57 miles, A!

I'll be in my favorite hiking grounds next week, southwestern Colorado. Sister joining me this time so have to plan hikes that aren't too strenuous.

Anyone spent time in the Cranberry Wilderness, one of these spots in WV that's supposedly among the quietest and most remote in the east coast?

Wow, sounds like an incredible experience, Aimless.

I got in a short but brutally hot and humid hike with my wife and Mom this past weekend in PA. I haven't exactly kept in tip-top shape but I held up better than expected.

Table is that the same thing as Dolly Sods? Went skiing there over the winter and it's great. Feels super-duper remote for an east coast spot.

tobo, Cranberry is southwest of Dolly Sods, more or less 100 miles. Very much reported as one of the most remote places along the eastern seaboard, one has to have compass and map-reading skills since there's no cell service even from the mountain peaks, etc. Technically still in the Monongahela, though.

My partner doesn't want to go south for our next trip, though, and a friend in New York state wants to join, so i think we might try to do something in western Mass, or Vermont (if they're letting out-of-state folks in!)

i should say, we're in Philadelphia, so it takes a while to get to anything worth hiking.

table, have you done the pinnacle or hawk mountain in Berks Co? Both worth while and about an hour and change away from Philly.

Or maybe just hike up those steps outside of the art museum?

PBKR, done those and also hiked around Birdsboro quarry, which is another spot in Berks. My favorite places within two hours are along the AT on the NY/NJ border and along the AT in Lehigh County....but I'm also a sucker for serious thigh burning and views, as well as a ridge hike junky, so that explains my preferences. The Sunfish Pond hike is nice in NJ/NY, and I love the Lehigh Furnace Gap hikes up in that zone

Cool! I will check the AT spots you mentioned. My parents live 15 minutes from Hawk Mtn, so we usually go somewhere near to there.

did a hike up to santa fe baldy a few weeks ago, and it were good. big day, 14mi roundtrip and topping out at just under 13000ft

Would dearly love to be on top of a mountain just now. Have more or less accepted that this year is going to be a write-off though because I'm reliant on public transport to get to the start of routes.
Enjoying reading about other posters' trips anyway - obviously a lot of the routes in the US are on a different scale to anything here (13000 ft would be more than treble anything I've done..)

Was on Colorado Trail near Little Molas Lake yesterday. A young couple was passing the other direction, so I stepped off trail and pulled up my mask. They guy asked why I was doing that, was it for myself, for them, or for both. I said for both, and that it's a very easy thing to just pull up my mask. Up to that point I thought mayyyybe he was sincerely wondering why I masked up. "It's just like the flu" he said, confirming that he was somehow offended that I put a mask on and was confronting me about it. If anyone had a reason to confront someone here, it would be ME confronting him for NOT wearing a mask. Why on earth would you care that I am wearing a mask while you decided not to??
He started going into some rant but by that point I was walking away (I'm on my last day of vacation, soaking in the peaceful nature, and you fucking want to bring this idiotic "political" debate up right now you little arrogant meddlesome shit??) and couldn't make out what he was saying, so just replied "yeah that's great".

Ugh, sorry about that.