The winter threads are making me weary. Has hiking season started for any of you?

Any plans for this year?

I hope to spend more time exploring the Trinity Alps.

Would love to get to Crater Lake also.

It is still emphatically ski season around here, won't really be hiking season until late May. I do have big plans for this year, though.

My wife and I want to do a trip in Craters of the Moon this month or next. The idea is to hit it at a snow level where snowshoes aren't needed, but there's still enough snow to melt for water.

In May I plan to do a hiking, skiing, and packrafting traverse of the Bob Marshall complex. I'm still waffling on the exact route.

In early June I plan to do a variation on a trip I did in Glacier last year, this time hiking over Fifty Mountain, traversing the Continental Divide to Stony Indian Pass, climbing Cleveland, packrafting the Waterton River, hiking over Boulder Pass and climbing Kintla before packrafting the North Fork of the Flathead to Polebridge.

In July I'm doing the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic.

In late August I'm planning a hiking and fishing (and maybe packrafting) trip in the Absarokas to coincide with the Tenkara Summit in West Yellowstone.

I had hoped to get down to southern Utah this spring, but that will almost certainly have to be pushed back to fall now.

I'll do some other stuff too, but those are the big ones.

Crater Lake is pretty awesome!

Section hike of the JMT in late July. Many overnighters over the course of the summer

David, I am envious of your local and free time.

Ken,

If your interested in company, I hope you post your Trinity Alps dates on forum. I would be interested.

I am thinking about a hike out of Hetch Hetchy on the weekend on April 23 (I'll post on the forums to see if anyone is interested).

I have to burn about 8 days of vacation time before June 30. HR requires I use it or lose it. I am thinking about taking it the last week in June to allow snow to melt and see if I can get up higher in the Sierra. I am tentatively thinking about exploring the Dinky Lakes Wilderness or maybe a traverse of the Emigrant Wilderness.

Early August I am going to do the south half of the JMT.

David, I will certainly keep you in the loop!

David, you might want to check and see if the bridge of Wapama Falls has been rebuilt.

Edit:

Here is the link to Yosemite trail conditions

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/conditions.htm#CP_JUMP_124755

Edited by kennyhel77 on 03/13/2011 15:05:12 MDT.

Thanks Ken T. and Ken H. I didn't know about the bridge repairs. Damage due to high water in October?!?! That's surprising to me. I'll be sure to check on the status before heading out. It makes planning a little more difficult. Perhaps a trip to Lake Vernon will be possible (although it may requiring taking snowshoes depending on how the weather goes in the next month).

Edited by Davidpcvsamoa on 03/13/2011 16:02:28 MDT.

Dave C. are you a trustafarian or otherwise independently wealthy?

That's a lot of time on the trail and away from work. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, you "Fun Hog".)

April, 5 days 130km loop in jasper

May, 1 week South boundary in jasper

June, one month 1200km GDT thru hike

July, Ultra race, couple of 3-4day hikes

August , Ultra race, week long trip, and West coast trail(maybe)

September, week long hike in Whitegoat-Banff

and climbs all in the middle.

Okay you guys, stop showing off! ;-)

Eric, that is funny because it could not be further from the truth. I pay the Montana tax of making 20-30% less than I could somewhere else. And social work isn't exactly reknown as a well paid profession.

Trail time equals four things:

-no kids
-using all vacation time (and then some unpaid leave)
-big miles (that June trip will be 120 miles of hiking and paddling in 3 days)
-refusing to live anywhere less than ideal (I grew up in Ohio, that was enough)

Simple.

"refusing to live anywhere less than ideal (I grew up in Ohio, that was enough)"

I feel your pain! ;-)

I left NJ and FL far behind. Never looked back. West is BEST. Sorry you east coast guys, but you know it's true.

Sorry too hear about northern waiting time, I lived it.

Been hiking almost every weekend since mid September after a very hot summer, love southern winters big time now.

Get through it, I'm sure it will be nice soon, while I'm waiting it out in southern summer heat.

Yup, I'm bored here in Ohio too. Last year I discovered Alaska on a non-hiking trip. This summer I am going back up there for a two week backpacking and kayaking expedition.

I'll probably throw in some other little trips here and there, would really like to do a section of the AT to get a feel for whether or not I want to seriously plan on a AT or PCT thru-hike in the next year or two. But, I am so bored with being out this direction that the Sierras and Cascades are calling my name. That and walking through a big green tunnel with endless ups and downs may be fun but I'm not sure the crowds of people would be.

Hey Ken, what time does the season usually start in the Trinity Alps? May? I've never made it up there and want to do at least one trip there this year.

For now, I have been staying sane by doing a couple overnighters in Henry Coe. And lots of going to the gym, and occasionally climbing at Pinnacles National Monument when I can't get away for the whole weekend. My wife and I are planning a trip to Pine Valley in Big Sur in the next few weeks.

I definitely need to figure out a better plan for the spring. Last year I did a few early season trips to Emigrant Wilderness, and the air was so thick with mosquitoes I think my pack lightened a few pounds due to buoyancy :) Didn't get much else done until June 15 or so when the season really started.

For the summer and fall, I just got approval from my boss to take a month off to do a solo hike of the Sierra High Route which will be the main event for this year. I also got a permit to hike Whitney which should be a fun trip too.

Andrew

Could be May this year. Depend on how it warms up. Though the great thing about living here is that there are options for getting out all year long.
Trinity is great. Like the Sierra with the views and granite without the high elevation.

I'm headed on a cycling trip from San Diego to Vancouver BC (2 weeks ish). From there, staying with a friend for a day or two, then hitchhiking up to alaska where I'll spend a week or two. Then hitchhiking down to the center of the US to knock off the 7 or so states I haven't seen yet (Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Illionis, and Kentucky), then back to California where it'll be thru hikes of the JMT and SHR in late june and August.
Then it's back to school until next year when it'll be the PCT and AT, and a few (4-5) months on a boat going to australia and patagonia, then back up the pacific coast of north and south america.
The question I have for the forums is, if you had 1-2 weeks in Alaska, what would you do?

Planning season never stop, but I hope to get out after the equinox -- I just want to have a little daylight. I will probably run up to Sleeping Bear with one of the kids.