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

https://ibb.co/hKnZ4s5

Yeesh.

Hope you were able to get the duffel bag full of money.

lol I was def looking around for banditos

Wife and I will be hiking in the Dolomites in early September. Mostly long day hikes, but one overnight stay in a rifugio. One hike has about 1200 meters in elevation gain. Never done anything quite like this - we are really looking forward to it.

― Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Monday, July 22, 2019 9:55 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I never came back to post about the trip, which was amazing. Scenery around Cortina was incredible and the way the entire area is set up for hiking between ski lifts and gondolas to take you up to altitude is very nice.

Highlights included the open air WWI museum and other remnants of the war, staying in a rifugio at 8000 feet, and near lunar scenery behind Laguzoi:

http://imgur.com/gallery/VIrfFe6

We loved it so much we are going back this September to hike some different areas. I’ve caught the bug!

Cool! That's bucket list stuff for me. Weather was good? How'd you do with the 1200m climb? Had full pack on I assume

I mainly solo hike these days (if walking in (mainly))the south of the UK is considered hiking) and mainly solo. I'm trying to complete various paths and tend towards day walks with the odd overnighter when I can. I can manage 15 or so miles most days or 20 at an absolute push. I did a chunk of the Offa's Dyke path recently, which was just breathtaking.

I'm pretty desperate to try some more adventurous stuff (the GR20 across Corsica is the dream) but family circumstances make things tricky. I suppose my main worry, given that I'm mid-40s, is how long I'll be able to manage decent long distances and do I need to get my shit together?

Did I mention it was mainly on my own?

Cool! That's bucket list stuff for me. Weather was good? How'd you do with the 1200m climb? Had full pack on I assume

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, February 5, 2020 1:29 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Weather was iffy; the first hike poured for the last 2.5 hours (about 5.5 total hike). We got back to the car just as I was getting so soaked that water was seeping into the top of my boots/through to my underwear. Last hike was about 45 degrees F in misting rain. I had no gloves so it was pretty cold. In between we had two amazing days between 70-75 degrees.

Lol, my math on our hikes was off! Probably the greatest elevation change was when we took a gondola up to Rifugio Lagazuoi at just under 9000 ft and hiked down a little over 1500ft then back up to the starting point. This was the third day in a row of hiking so the last 45 minutes of switchbacks going back up was brutal.

We used day packs even when we stayed overnight and just packed super light: wearing pants, underwear, socks, shirt, then a clean spare of each that we wore to dinner, sleep in, and the next day, plus minimal toiletries, wallet, and a couple of chargers.

Did you not have good rain gear?
Oh nice, able to get away with just a day pack

I'm kinda pissed cause bought new Salomon X Ultra shoes and they're great except they pinch down on my left foot by small toe, piercing pain from it. Returned them, and got these North Face ones which are VERY comfy and rugged enough for AZ...but have a design flaw wrt waterproofing. After like 5 hikes a seam on both shoes is coming apart and water can get in it. Not looking forward to having to deal with a factory return. Plus then I'll have to search for yet another shoe model.

I suppose my main worry, given that I'm mid-40s, is how long I'll be able to manage decent long distances

This was one of the reasons why we are going back right away (I'm 47); I can always go to a museum/vineyard/etc. when I'm older. Although at one point on one of our hikes I felt like I was really working and kind hauling ass up to a rifugio and just before I got there an Italian grandma-type passes me going back down and smiles and says, "buon giorno," which was awesome but also put me in my place.

xp I had regular hiking pants, waterproof boots, and a North Face rain jacket. My wife didn't want to stop and put on rain pants so I didn't either. The hiking pants really held up for a couple of hours, but started soaking through eventually.

how long I'll be able to manage decent long distances

I find that the main difference between my hiking as a very young man and my hiking since age 50 is that I am now extremely good at finding my optimal pace and maintaining it for hours at a time, adjusting to the terrain and pitch by slight alterations in my stride and breathing. I'm less energetic, but I squeeze the most out of every erg I expend. I'm slower, but I rarely feel the need to stop for a breather.

Last summer I was able to cover 13 miles and 3100 feet of elevation gain and loss on a day hike. Carrying an overnight load I hiked 9 miles with 3600 feet of elevation gain and 900 feet of loss in 4 hours, on a trail where there was no water source prior to my destination. It may not amount to the 'wisdom that comes with age', but having decades of experience really helps!

That is properly heartening! I'm pretty good at finding a pace and sticking with it (albeit the stopping is glorious and I'd kinda miss it!). There's probably a thread in ithis but would y'all have a particular stopping point you remember - a place you can summon any time you need it? Mine would be on the Snowdon horseshoe, just after crossing Crib Goch on just the most roaringly perfect summer's day. Damn.

That Dolemites trip sounds absolutely beautiful. Have bookmarked the south of France trail, too.

Southwest Colorado in summer is my hiking nirvana. Just the most serene, blissful feeling being in those mountains. Ice Lake with Island Lake just a short walk away is prob my fav spot so far.

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/12/1a/25/75/ice-lake.jpg

that shade of blue is not 'shopped

Oh wow. That's the stuff.

As pictured multiple times far upthread, my favorite haunts are in the Wallowas mountains in NE Oregon.

^one of my regrets upon leaving OR was not visiting there, a friend has raved about the Wallowas to me many times

I feel uneasy even publicizing the place here on ILX, just because it has been growing in popularity and getting more pressure on it. I've been seeing more signs of overuse there in recent years. Luckily, it is far away from major population centers and airports, so if you aren't a local and you want to go you really have to work at it. It's a 350 mile drive for me. One way.

what I've learned from my journeys around the US Southwest is that if it's been Instagrammed, it ain't off the beaten path anymore

Been seeing out of state plates at trailheads that just a few years ago I'd hardly see any locals, let alone tourists

new mex is still pretty sleepy shhhhhhhhh

I know you haven't lived there for all that long but what's your favorite hiking spots? I have no Instagram or Facebook accounts so you're secret's safe with me. I've been wanting to get back to White Sands & figured I'd hit the mountains that surround it. Seems wrong that it's further from me than, say, Telluride or LA.

last time I was there I was in ABQ and Santa Fe and it was cold and rainy so didn't get a chance to hike :(

the pecos wilderness is basically in my backyard and it's astonishing how empty it is once you get further than a mile or two from the trailhead, even during high season.

my friends and i go camping at this place outside penasco (rio santa barbara) on two of the big summer holiday weekends (memorial/labor) and it's always empty

https://imgur.com/a/JoTF9vF

my other favorite place in new mex is the chama river, oh baby

https://imgur.com/a/JoTF9vF

i haven't yet been to the Gila but it is very much on the list

1st hike I did in NM was in the Pecos. We only saw one other person.
Same trip we did The Catwalk, more of a walk than a hike iirc. And short hike to a campsite somewhere in the Gila. I curious what Silver City is like nowadays. Quirky lil town, reminded me of Bisbee AZ. Or Bisbee reminded me of it, since I hadn't yet been to Bisbee.

I've been walking the Pilgrim's Way - from Winchester to Canterbury - and the one thing I've been consistently amazed by is how empty this particular part of England is. In the sense of barely seeing anyone on the actual walks themselves, but also the deadness of the land: it's all either agricultural, where nothing grows thanks to brutal land management, or paddocks. Even the horses look nonplussed. (Tbf, horses always look nonplussed, second only to pheasants in the 'standing in a field looking bewildered Olympics.)

My sister lived in Denver for years and despite visiting four times, a walk up into the hills around Boulder aside, I failed to get a proper hike in the mountains. I a fool.

"Never Hike Alone" is such bad advice. Everyone should hike alone! If only occasionally. It's such good thinkin time.
My friend in Tucson is too scared to hike by herself, and it makes me sad that she's missing out on so many good hikes (and all they provide mentally and physically) while she's still young enough to do them. Obv I don't know what it's like to be a woman and worry about your safety when alone, but she has 2 big dogs and there's well-traveled, short hikes close to populated areas. Just think she's being paranoid.

i ride a d hike solo alot, bit I don’t recommend solo anything in the bc or sc. If you can find anyone who can and will do like you, pair up. like just anything can happen.

On the day last summer that I fell and ripped open my elbow for 10 stitches and plenty butterflies bandaids, thank god i had people with me. they inspected and tied off my elbow with an old tube and gauze. i did descend 500m and ride 1.5 hours direct to urgent care solo, but not having their support and assurance woulda sucked.

is it probly ok? yeah. Is it risky? def.

my friend did most of the appalachian trail with just her dog. But she's very fit and experienced and she had people scheduled to meet her to do parts with her.

I prefer hiking with other people. It's not like you have to walk side by side. I did the patagonia W with three others and it was fine because we kind of went our own pace and just caught up to each other every so often or met up at the end point for the day.

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..."