I'm trying to increase efficiency by asking 2 questions in the same thread, also because maybe the 2nd question is more trivial.
There are many factors in what can make or break a hiking or backpacking trip, for instance you can be out in the most beautiful place on the planet with the best views, and perfect trails, yet it could be the worst trip ever due to weather, lack or preparation, injury, or any number of things. At the same time, you could go to an otherwise unspectacular area and have a great trip due to good company, good weather, etc.
So what was your best hiking/backpacking trip ever and why?
Secondly, how did/do you pick your username(s)?
I couldnt think of a username when I joined up here, but I had just watched a documentary about this 8th century Frankish leader named Charles Martel who defeated the Moorish invasion who had already conquered Spain, and ended up keeping it til 1492, and the Franks were big underdogs that the Moors were supposed to defeat handily, but this guy used social, religious, political and strategic means to build an army that he led and they kicked some Moorish butt, and prevented them from conquering all of Europe, and after that his name became Charles The Hammer. He was also Charlemagne's grandfather.
My best trip so far was through the mid section of the AT in Shenandoah natl park in the mid 90's. I went with 3 friends and we kinda took our time, so it wasnt an efficient trip as far as daily mileage was concerned, because we probably did more off trail hiking than on trail hiking, but it was in summer, and we found this one deep area of this stream under/near a waterfall(fairly close to Lewis mnt) and it was like a jacuzzi with the water currents there, so we used that as our daily bathtub. The tree canopy was like a rainforest almost, and we just had a blast bushwhacking and camping and all. We were there for over a week.
I don't have a favorite trip. I've had better trips than others (mainly due to the intensity and miserable weather). The more intense a trip, usually the more I enjoy it. This last winter on a five day snowshoe up into Camp Lake in the Sisters, we encountered two days of 100+ mph winds and five feet of snow that fell. It took two full days of bushwacking in intense terrain with multiple river crossings and climbed up hundreds of feet to rest at Demaris lake. We had to hunker down behind a wind break in roaring winds with snow blowing heavily, waiting for it to clear up so we could make the last mile. Before we had a chance, the weather warmed up above freezing and we had to book out because of avalanche danger. It was a great trip and we experienced all different kinds of conditions along the way, laughing and struggling together.
We have a second attempt planned for this winter.
My trail name was picked for me by my hiking friends because I pounced up and down the ridges in my youth. Now...I only pounce down.
-------------- If I'm going to be lost, in the woods is where I want to be...
I don't have a favorite trip. I've had better trips than others (mainly due to the intensity and miserable weather). The more intense a trip, usually the more I enjoy it. This last winter on a five day snowshoe up into Camp Lake in the Sisters, we encountered two days of 100+ mph winds and five feet of snow that fell. It took two full days of bushwacking in intense terrain with multiple river crossings and climbed up hundreds of feet to rest at Demaris lake. We had to hunker down behind a wind break in roaring winds with snow blowing heavily, waiting for it to clear up so we could make the last mile. Before we had a chance, the weather warmed up above freezing and we had to book out because of avalanche danger. It was a great trip and we experienced all different kinds of conditions along the way, laughing and struggling together.
We have a second attempt planned for this winter.
My trail name was picked for me by my hiking friends because I pounced up and down the ridges in my youth. Now...I only pounce down.
Living in eastern Md, I have never experienced a 5 foot snowfall, but I have seen some 10-15-20" snowfalls, and its difficult to walk in nearly 2 feet of snow, so how do you walk in 5 feet of snow? Is it just 5 feet deep in the drifts, but much shallower everywhere else, or is it 5 feet deep everywhere, and how would you move in that?
This last winter on a five day snowshoe up into Camp Lake in the Sisters, we encountered two days of 100+ mph winds and five feet of snow that fell.
I read a book when I was about 15, there was a character named William Anthony Rorak, a huey pilot in Vietnam. I started using the name as an alias, then when I started DJing in Florida I went by "rorak". So Ive been using it in one way or another for about 20 years.
Let's see... I guess I would have to claim the 2004 backpack to Glacier National Park as my best trip. I started inquiring on this board about guide services and one of the regulars here - Tigger - suggested I plan it myself. I put out an invitation on this board to get a bunch together and we ended up with two groups. Planning that trip was a lot of fun, but it turned out to be more fun meeting and hiking with this group, who became known as the Glacier Gang. We did subsequent trips out west - Wyoming's Wind River Range (2 summers in a row), Olympic NP, and a revisit to Glacier in 2008 to do a memorial hike for one of our members who succumbed to Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I hiked with a couple of other members on this board in Bandelier National Monument where we decided to use tarps instead of tents and woke up to 16" of snow on the second morning. That one got cut short because the rangers were tracking everyone down and telling hikers that the Monument was closing due to the weather. We were fully prepared for the weather, but we got chased out.
All in all, the trips I have done with folks on this board have all been memorable, but the 2004 trip stands out as the best because since I was a teenager I wanted to see Glacier and I finally made that dream a reality.
As to my screen name... In 1974, I had an opportunity to live in British Columbia for the entire summer participating in a sociology study program with the Shuswap Indians. I stayed with a couple of Native brothers for that summer. One of them nicknamed me Squilax (black bear) because he told me that every morning when I woke up, I growled a lot until I had enough coffee to fully wake up... LOL. The moniker stuck.
Best trip ever would have been in WI about ten years ago. My left heel came down on a slick rock in the trail. The guy behind me grabbed on to the frame of my pack and pulled me up, escaping a 60 foot drop into the river below.
I used to just be "The Beaver". Rememember the TV show? That's me. One day we were sitting around the campfire telling jokes. I told one that was really bad and someone said "That's really Lame Beaver" and it just kinda stuck.
I used to just be "The Beaver". Rememember the TV show? That's me. One day we were sitting around the campfire telling jokes. I told one that was really bad and someone said "That's really Lame Beaver" and it just kinda stuck.
I don't really have a favorite trip either (or maybe I just haven't taken that trip that will become my favorite, just yet!!), but most of my trips are done in the White Mountains of NH, so I guess that's my favorite place!
Eastie is the affectionate nickname of the neighborhood in Boston that I live in (Southie, Eastie, etc.) Trekker as in an "arduous journey", not Star Trek
-------------- I request all the possible consumer protection organizations, and fight with their injustice.
I don't have a favorite trip. I've had better trips than others (mainly due to the intensity and miserable weather). The more intense a trip, usually the more I enjoy it. This last winter on a five day snowshoe up into Camp Lake in the Sisters, we encountered two days of 100+ mph winds and five feet of snow that fell. It took two full days of bushwacking in intense terrain with multiple river crossings and climbed up hundreds of feet to rest at Demaris lake. We had to hunker down behind a wind break in roaring winds with snow blowing heavily, waiting for it to clear up so we could make the last mile. Before we had a chance, the weather warmed up above freezing and we had to book out because of avalanche danger. It was a great trip and we experienced all different kinds of conditions along the way, laughing and struggling together.
We have a second attempt planned for this winter.
My trail name was picked for me by my hiking friends because I pounced up and down the ridges in my youth. Now...I only pounce down.
Living in eastern Md, I have never experienced a 5 foot snowfall, but I have seen some 10-15-20" snowfalls, and its difficult to walk in nearly 2 feet of snow, so how do you walk in 5 feet of snow? Is it just 5 feet deep in the drifts, but much shallower everywhere else, or is it 5 feet deep everywhere, and how would you move in that?
It was five feet of snow in two days. Being that it settled quite a bit from the above freezing temps, It was around 3ft of sludge on top of the 10 ft. base by the time we were moving. The three of us were wearing snowshoes and I use a sled in winter so I can stay higher above the snowpack. We take turns breaking trail.
-------------- If I'm going to be lost, in the woods is where I want to be...
I agree, the next trip is the best trip. Kind of like the next beer is the best beer.
One of my all time favorites has to be our honeymoon trip to several national parks and all the hiking we did there.
Every year my brothers and I (four of us total, two almost never backpack) go on a brother camping trip in the cold. That's always a good laugh.
One other that really sticks in my mind was an over night paddle trip with my friend, we kayaked a 30 pound tent, grill, two small coolers containing steaks and seafood and beer in. Had monsoon like thunderstorms from the moment we got in the boats to about 3/4 of the way to our site for the night. The next day was pure sunshine. My friend was like a bear and was constantly using the privy. It's also the only time we've ever gone camping. Being married now with busy jobs and lives, it's almost impossible to even hang out with the guy let alone go camping.
My name is what it is, hiking firefighter.
-------------- “I’m just hanging on while this world keeps spinning and it’s good to know it’s out of my control. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this living is that it wouldn’t change a thing if I let go…” Jimmy Buffett & Martina McGraw
I used to just be "The Beaver". Rememember the TV show? That's me. One day we were sitting around the campfire telling jokes. I told one that was really bad and someone said "That's really Lame Beaver" and it just kinda stuck.
Best trip is the one I'm planning
Hi...
One of the Indians in the movie Dancing With Wolves was named Lame Beaver.
I always thought that's where you got the name from.
I used to just be "The Beaver". Rememember the TV show? That's me. One day we were sitting around the campfire telling jokes. I told one that was really bad and someone said "That's really Lame Beaver" and it just kinda stuck.
Best trip is the one I'm planning
Hi...
One of the Indians in the movie Dancing With Wolves was named Lame Beaver.
I always thought that's where you got the name from.
Thanks for clearing that up.
I think of the Centennial mini-serie Lamebeaver
Attached Image
-------------- Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
CTH >>> "So what was your best hiking/backpacking trip ever and why?"
A trivial point might be qualifying the term "hiking" with trip since I'd reserve that for something longer and involved. A road trip in which one hiked from trailheads each day is however more appropriate. It is easy to recall many one day photography hikes that were hugely productive, successful, and enjoyable but much less so the longer a backpack or a road trip with multiple hikes and adventures. A few one day hiking events near the end of this road trip feature that were utterly mind boggling but those were not backpacks:
Trying to recall trips meaningfully when one has been backpacking for several decades is probably an unproductive task. Actually I've logged dates, number of days out, camp destinations, name of public lands, who with, for all the trips I've made over the years so have records to jog my mind. Additionally all except some of the earliest have either 35mm slide files or now digital image files for those trips though unless I have a good reason to review a past trip maybe because of possible revisits, I don't bother digging through that stuff except once in a blue moon every several years.
As to what is "best" for this person? Probably not a week long or longer trip as such trips tend to have as many ups and downs as the topography. Also none of the more challenging adventures I tended to take on more when younger would qualify for "best". Here is one that might be considered.
In late May 2005 a friend and I were on a 3 week long road trip into the Colorado Plateau sandstone country of Utah. This was the strongest El Nino year of the last decade both in California's desert areas and in those plateau regions so vegetation and wildflowers were often as good as it ever gets. Both of us are large format photographers, and my friend I've also backpacked with extensively has climbed all the significant icons in Yosemite Valley except Half Dome. I had made a couple similar long spring road trips into that region during the previous decade, analyzed piles of topo and geological maps, read various book and web guides, thus created a highly detailed plan and schedule on how to efficiently visit that region in the most productive way. Although there are lots of famous icons in the region, there are vast areas of unknown and relatively unknown landscapes that are just as impressive and never before imaged by anyone even with old 35mm SLR's much less with anyone hauling around a large tripod. Weather at that time of year tends to alternate between blue skies and storms so our day to day activities often changed from expectation based on how we could best be productive given conditions and weather. Overall we just killed it collecting lots of material much of which has never been made public and really barely touched the surface of what is there. Stuff like this surealistic landscape:
We did two backpacks during the trip including one where I captured the 3 images below. The first picture is of a famous icon in Capitol Reef National Park, Golden Throne. Thousands of people look up at it each year from roadsides and or a trail on the opposite side of the tower from my image. I had analyzed an elaborate route to reach the top of a mesa on its east side that was too far to day hike to from the nearest dirt road so was only possible via a backpack. Of course our packs carrying view camera gear is disgusting with my carrying weight near 80 pound in part because water was scarce. Note I was just a slight person 66" 133# so over half my body weight. Plus we had to climb some class 3 areas to pull it off. So not only was it a huge challenge that we were successful at but it was utterly spectacular every direction we turned towards. Lots of reasons to some day return. More details below the image on the first link.
I was going to comment on your username, and that I had seen Flavor Flav out on the trail, but you(Chuck D) werent with him, and then ask whether Public Enemy has broken up, etc.... But you beat me to the punch!
I assume the reason you didnt choose Flavor Flav as a trail name, is because people might then expect you to wear a wall clock around your neck, but that would add unnecessary weight on the trail?
My favorite hikes are the last one I've done and the next one I'll do. I'm hiking the Arizona Trail in sections. So, every year I get to do areas brand new to me. My favorite repeat hike is anywhere in the Galiuro Mountains of southern Arizona.
My screen name? In 1997, when I first started posting on the Backerpacker Magazine's internet forum site, I pretty much had in mind what my online moniker was going to be. I was really surprised that desert dweller was still available. So, I claimed it.
I have dwelt in the Sonoran Desert for 35 years.
-------------- Seek Higher Ground Can you feel the silence
I don't really have a favorite trip either (or maybe I just haven't taken that trip that will become my favorite, just yet!!), but most of my trips are done in the White Mountains of NH, so I guess that's my favorite place!
Eastie is the affectionate nickname of the neighborhood in Boston that I live in (Southie, Eastie, etc.) Trekker as in an "arduous journey", not Star Trek
Being an Eastie resident, did that preclude you from joining the Winter Hill gang, or from working for Whitey Bulger, who were from Southie?(Just messing around) Did Eastie have its own gang back in the day?
**Dave Senesac: Those are great pictures, especially the 1st one with the striped rock surface. The others look like they were probably pretty difficult to reach on foot.
What size film camera qualifies as large format? I was thinking of buying a medium format camera now that digital photography has caused the price to drop on some of the nicer medium format cameras like the Mamiya 645 series. As I recall, medium format covers film negatives up to around 7cm x 11cm, with panoramic even wider. How much difference do you notice in picture quality when you compare large format film images to medium format, and how much do those large format cameras weigh?
Sorry about all the questions, I know I am way off topic here!
As far as "best trips" are concerned, I was speaking of any outdoor hiking/backpacking trip of any length from 2-3 days and up. It doesnt necessarily have to be a 20 mile per day, one trail backpacking trip to qualify.
Best trip ever? Way too difficult to pick one after more than two decades of getting out there as much as possible. Any trip that has the sun is shining the whole time, where we don't see anyone else, and when we see lots of wildlife (the 'A' list animals like grizzlies, wolves, or wolverine for example) is always going to be a great trip. You could even give us bad weather and a few people, but keep the great wildlife sighting(s), and we'd still call it a great trip.
Even the most enjoyable trip from just past season is very tough to pick ... it's been a fantastic year! Maybe it helps to live & play in northern BC.
Maybe you should ask what the most intense trip ever was?It would be a much smaller list.
BCPete1 ... well, that pretty self explanatory I would think. I'm from BC, and my name is Pete. The "1" after the name happened when BP's site did a switch over and I couldn't manage to login under my old name of just BCPete. I didn't bother contacting BP2GO to fix it, so I just re-joined under the new name.
I pretty much like all my trips. My favorite is usually whichever one I most recently completed.
My screen name is because I'm Cajun and I hike. Nothing mystical there.
-------------- "Mardi Gras is the love of life. It is the harmonic convergence of our food, our music, our creativity, our eccentricity, our neighborhoods, and our joy of living. All at once." - Chris Rose
As to the screen name that comes from a canoe and fishing trip back in the seventies when Asheville was still part of North Carolina. Cant recall the river ? Ebetibby or Chamogany (sp) ? There's a serious dangerous set of rapids and I asked my lunatic cohort " Wanna run it" ? His response was my user name. We came home with no canoe.
I don't really have a favorite trip either (or maybe I just haven't taken that trip that will become my favorite, just yet!!), but most of my trips are done in the White Mountains of NH, so I guess that's my favorite place!
Eastie is the affectionate nickname of the neighborhood in Boston that I live in (Southie, Eastie, etc.) Trekker as in an "arduous journey", not Star Trek
Being an Eastie resident, did that preclude you from joining the Winter Hill gang, or from working for Whitey Bulger, who were from Southie?(Just messing around) Did Eastie have its own gang back in the day?
Did Eastie have its own gang? Hell ya it did, The Mafia! Southie was predominantly Irish (hence Whitey's stronghold) and Eastie was predominantly Italian.
Despite the fact that Boston's North End is the famously "mobbed up" neighborhood, its roots were in Eastie, and the most recent New England mob boss to be arrested still resided in Eastie.
-------------- I request all the possible consumer protection organizations, and fight with their injustice.
Nothing mystical there. 
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