Hiking Thread

#451
#451
WilliamDuVOL said:
You guys rule for providing all of this information, especially you, Volosaurus. It's very much appreciated.
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You're quite welcome. Be sure to let us know what itinerary you collectively decide upon. Planning a trip to the high country is almost as much fun as executing it.
 
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#452
#452
NEVolFan said:
Bison range is a must... take the long route up and over. Scary downhill stretches but views are amazing. Bison will be lounging on the side of the road and if lucky you will have some crossing close by. Some good hikes at the top... easy 1/2 mile to a great overlook.


A few more... this one is the trail to Tout Lake... you can find it by taking the road just past Lake McDonald Lodge. This trial gives me the willies, as it goes to the lake where the Night of the Grizzly took place... back in1967, a group of hikers were stalked by a grizzly bear and one lost her life to the bear.
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At Logan Pass... goats abound.
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Friend caught this in Lake McDonald...
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Apgar... must see place.
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My ride... a 21 ft Freighter canoe... 20HP very stable in 2-3 seas.
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Very nice NEV, I'm recovering from a nasty leg break, but I have had my sights set on a couple different rivers out west.
 
#454
#454
UT_Dutchman said:
I'm with you VREX, I have always been drawn to high places. I like the grand view. Panorama if you will. I go to places where
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Quite simply, the high country, particularly the Northern Rockies, is good for the soul. I refer to it as a spiritual form of Rocky Mountain fever. If you’re prone to it, the “disease” is incurable, but it responds very well to frequent exposure to the majesty of the American West.
 
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#455
#455
This thread reminds me of how bummed I am about Chimney Tops Trail in Gatlinburg being ruined. Easily one of my favorite trails to hike. :cray:
 
#456
#456
Volosaurus rex said:
Quite simply, the high country, particularly the Northern Rockies, is good for the soul. I refer to it as a spiritual form of Rocky Mountain fever. If you’re prone to it, the “disease” is incurable, but it responds very well to frequent exposure to the majesty of the American West.
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No truer words have ever been spoken.
 
#458
#458
Volosaurus rex said:
Quite simply, the high country, particularly the Northern Rockies, is good for the soul. I refer to it as a spiritual form of Rocky Mountain fever. If you’re prone to it, the “disease” is incurable, but it responds very well to frequent exposure to the majesty of the American West.
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As much as I love the vastness of the west, it's the out of the way views, Mt. Mitchell, the blue Ridge parkway, and places like the Roan Highlands.
 
#459
#459
UT_Dutchman said:
Coug, it's not ruined, it has changed though.
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I thought it was closed indefinitely? The parking area and trail were barricaded when I drove by a few weeks ago. Here's a look down on it from LeConte
 

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#460
#460
Volosaurus rex said:
Quite simply, the high country, particularly the Northern Rockies, is good for the soul. I refer to it as a spiritual form of Rocky Mountain fever. If you’re prone to it, the “disease” is incurable, but it responds very well to frequent exposure to the majesty of the American West.
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It is a fever. The Muir syndrome. It took me a long time to sort of put the Rockies in the back of my mind when we got back home in 2011. I fear I may never recover after our trip coming up in September. I don't have the financial resources, or freedom to go where I want like some of you guys, but I don't begrudge it to anyone. Maybe someday I can retire and travel a lot.
 
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#461
#461
UT_Dutchman said:
As much as I love the vastness of the west, it's the out of the way views, Mt. Mitchell, the blue Ridge parkway, and places like the Roan Highlands.
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I love the big Appalachian ranges, the lush green majesty calms me when I walk into their cathedrals, and I'm thankful for it, but they just don't awe you into hypnotic stunned silence like the Rockies do.
 
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#462
#462
Ulysees E. McGill said:
It is a fever. The Muir syndrome. It took me a long time to sort of put the Rockies in the back of my mind when we got back home in 2011. I fear I may never recover after our trip coming up in September. I don't have the financial resources, or freedom to go where I want like some of you guys, but I don't begrudge it to anyone. Maybe someday I can retire and travel a lot.
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Consider yourself privileged that the high country exerts such a strong gravitational pull on your soul. This is what the mountain messiah, John Muir, had to say about Glacier:

“Wander here a whole summer, if you can. Thousands of God’s wild blessings will search you and soak you as if you were a sponge, and the big days will go uncounted. . . . Get off the track at Belton Station, and in a few minutes you will find yourself in the midst of what you are sure to say is the best care-killing scenery on the continent – beautiful lakes derived straight from glaciers, lofty mountains steeped in lovely nemophila-blue skies and clad with forests and glaciers, mossy ferny waterfalls in their hollows, nameless and numberless, and meadowy gardens abounding in the best of everything.

Give a month at least to this precious reserve. The time will not be taken from the sum of your life. Instead of shortening it, it will indefinitely lengthen it and make you truly immortal. Nevermore will time seem short or long, and cares will never again fall heavily on you, but gently and kindly as gifts from heaven.” http://glacierbearretreat.com/john-muirs-thought-on-glacier-national-park/
 
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#463
#463
kiddiedoc said:
I thought it was closed indefinitely? The parking area and trail were barricaded when I drove by a few weeks ago. Here's a look down on it from LeConte
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From what we were told the park wants to find a way to open it, but unlike before where the rhododendron would create a nice barricade to keep people from scrambling all over it, it is now wide open. So I had heard this fall, but if you know the park service it may take longer.
 
#464
#464
Ulysees E. McGill said:
I love the big Appalachian ranges, the lush green majesty calms me when I walk into their cathedrals, and I'm thankful for it, but they just don't awe you into hypnotic stunned silence like the Rockies do.
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I do agree, though I believe it's a different kind of awe inspiring in the western ranges. I will never forget my first trip to Colorado, we drove and about 90 miles into Colorado you could see the front range start to poke through the horizon.
 
#465
#465
UT_Dutchman said:
From what we were told the park wants to find a way to open it, but unlike before where the rhododendron would create a nice barricade to keep people from scrambling all over it, it is now wide open. So I had heard this fall, but if you know the park service it may take longer.
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Meaning: more areas may be fall hazards? I could certainly see that as an issue.
 
#467
#467
Ulysees E. McGill said:
Good grief..it can't be any worse than Angels Landing in Zion NP. Idiots are gonna idiot.
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And then the park service has to rescue said idiots. Costs a lot of money, and they don't have enough as it is.

Discussing Rockies vs Smokies, my preference is the Smokies, just feel like in a cocoon of beauty, but I love the Rockies. I've seen people hit with that Western Fever too. If you don't have an immunity, it grabs hard and never lets go. Took our nephew when he was sixteen and got scared we wouldn't get him back home :). Remember thinking his mother would kill me! Only reason he's stayed after graduation is he fell in love, and she is only going to the beach for vacation and no hope of him ever getting her out west.

But, the opposite of mountains, have you ever driven to Great Basin? That is something I'll never forget. Flat and forever:eek:hmy:.
 
#469
#469
Smallvol#1 said:
And then the park service has to rescue said idiots. Costs a lot of money, and they don't have enough as it is.

Discussing Rockies vs Smokies, my preference is the Smokies, just feel like in a cocoon of beauty, but I love the Rockies. I've seen people hit with that Western Fever too. If you don't have an immunity, it grabs hard and never lets go. Took our nephew when he was sixteen and got scared we wouldn't get him back home :). Remember thinking his mother would kill me! Only reason he's stayed after graduation is he fell in love, and she is only going to the beach for vacation and no hope of him ever getting her out west.

But, the opposite of mountains, have you ever driven to Great Basin? That is something I'll never forget. Flat and forever:eek:hmy:.
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Not yet..but good Lord willing I will someday. I get that the NPS has to save idiots and it cost money, but there are dangerous places in every NP, sometimes they take their handholding to extremes. The National Parks belong to everybody. I have a great amount of respect for what the NPS does, but sometimes they can get a little too much like hypochondriac parents. You don't have to respond to defend them, I support them, but Chimney Tops is going to have to be reopened safely (or as safe as they can make it anyway) at some point.
 
#470
#470
Smallvol#1 said:
And then the park service has to rescue said idiots. Costs a lot of money, and they don't have enough as it is.

Discussing Rockies vs Smokies, my preference is the Smokies, just feel like in a cocoon of beauty, but I love the Rockies. I've seen people hit with that Western Fever too. If you don't have an immunity, it grabs hard and never lets go. Took our nephew when he was sixteen and got scared we wouldn't get him back home :). Remember thinking his mother would kill me! Only reason he's stayed after graduation is he fell in love, and she is only going to the beach for vacation and no hope of him ever getting her out west.

But, the opposite of mountains, have you ever driven to Great Basin? That is something I'll never forget. Flat and forever:eek:hmy:.
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I agree..some of us get JonnDenveritis bad :)
 
#472
#472
Ulysees E. McGill said:
Not yet..but good Lord willing I will someday. I get that the NPS has to save idiots and it cost money, but there are dangerous places in every NP, sometimes they take their handholding to extremes. The National Parks belong to everybody. I have a great amount of respect for what the NPS does, but sometimes they can get a little too much like hypochondriac parents. You don't have to respond to defend them, I support them, but Chimney Tops is going to have to be reopened safely (or as safe as they can make it anyway) at some point.
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Not disagreeing. Unfortunately GSM has a lot of "tourists" as opposed to hikers, out doors people, whatever&#128527;. I've seen things on trails, within the first 2 miles or so of the trailhead:), that are simply mind boggling. Many times, coming off an 18-20 mile hike and <2 miles from the end, I've given my water to some poor grandma, in sandals no less, who's overheated and dehydrated on the trail side while son, daughter, and grandkids are fluttering around. No water, no food, improper shoes, etc. etc. Not sure I'd give it away if it was more than 2 miles! But those types never get past that distance unless they get lost. And I always kept back some for me anyway:). (To be fair, sometimes it was son or daughter that I had to give water.) And Chimneys draws a lot of those who don't know. Fortunately it's a short trail, unfortunately it's a short trail. And right on the main road.

Hopefully they can get it open quickly, but between safety issues and a litigious society......sometimes it seems no one accepts the concept of personal responsibility.

And you're right about Angels Landing. I refused to go (acrophobic and I know my limits), but TO did it and still talks about it. He loves Zion.
 
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#473
#473
I once saw a couple pushing a child in a stroller on the Abrams falls trail about a half mile in...wearing flip flops, as we were coming out, I told them they were almost there...:)
 
#474
#474
Smallvol#1 said:
Not disagreeing. Unfortunately GSM has a lot of "tourists" as opposed to hikers, out doors people, whatever&#55357;&#56847;. I've seen things on trails, within the first 2 miles or so of the trailhead:), that are simply mind boggling. Many times, coming off an 18-20 mile hike and <2 miles from the end, I've given my water to some poor grandma, in sandals no less, who's overheated and dehydrated on the trail side while son, daughter, and grandkids are fluttering around. No water, no food, improper shoes, etc. etc. Not sure I'd give it away if it was more than 2 miles! But those types never get past that distance unless they get lost. And I always kept back some for me anyway:). (To be fair, sometimes it was son or daughter that I had to give water.) And Chimneys draws a lot of those who don't know. Fortunately it's a short trail, unfortunately it's a short trail. And right on the main road.

Hopefully they can get it open quickly, but between safety issues and a litigious society......sometimes it seems no one accepts the concept of personal responsibility.

And you're right about Angels Landing. I refused to go (acrophobic and I know my limits), but TO did it and still talks about it. He loves Zion.
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I cannot wait to see Zion. I'm probably not going to be able to do Angels landing in the shape I'm in now, but I wish I could.
 
#475
#475
Ulysees E. McGill said:
I once saw a couple pushing a child in a stroller on the Abrams falls trail about a half mile in...wearing flip flops, as we were coming out, I told them they were almost there...:)
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I can't tell you how many people look at me like I have 2 heads when I'm carrying my daughter. Most of them with children the same age. I've had 2 couples ask me where I got the carrier backpack. One was a pregnant couple and the other was grandparents who wanted to take their new grandbaby on their hikes. I gladly told them because like you it annoys me to see people so unprepared for even a 1 mile hike
 
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