What are Your 2017 Hiking Plans?

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

A bit belated and hopefully all of us already have a few trips in the books but was interested to see where everyone is heading for the rest of year.

I'm planning as always to get some further exploring in here close to home in the Winds, but am also planning to get some trips in to some more obscure Wilderness Study Areas in the Red Desert of Wyoming, head further south for an annual Utah trip (I am thinking the area in and/or around Capitol Reef), and maybe even a trip north of the border to chase the northern lights a bit. (still working the actual destination there) Wouldn't mind fitting another trip in to Craters of the Moon National Monument to followup on a trip I took last year also.

What does everyone else have in mind for their 2017 hikes? 

[Mark Wetherington]

Sounds like you've got some good plans!

Most of my backpacking trips planned for this year will be in Washington . . . Olympic National Park, North Cascades National Park, and a few lesser-known areas (Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness, Salmo-Priest Wilderness, etc.). Still waiting to find out if a friend and I got permits for the Enchantment Lakes area of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

I have a few planned hikes here in the Bitterroot Mountains and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Montana, mostly just overnight or "weekend" trips to some subalpine lakes for fishing.

Living somewhere with trailheads only a few miles away allows me to forego a lot of the planning to just head out when I'm able, so I'm sure I will end up on my fair share of "spontaneous" trips.

[HikerJen]

I don't have anything too intense planned this year.  I am going to spend 6 days up in the Apostle Islands with my daughter, who I gave the backpacking bug to.  We're calling it the surf and turf trip because we're planning on doing some sea kayaking and backpacking on a couple of the islands.  And, I'm hoping to get back to the AT in September and backpack another section there.  Other than that, some weekend trips to Indiana and Wisconsin for some dayhiking.  Sure wish I lived closer to mountains...

[Hiker10-42]

New to the site, its nice to meet everyone  I have a 4 day backpacking trip to Four Pass Loop planned, as well as a 4 day trip to RMNP (North Inlet). If anyone has done these hikes and has some tips or best practices, Id love to hear them.

[amygrisak]

We're sticking closer to home with multiple day hikes and a few overnights planned for the Sun Canyon area along the front, as well as more time in the Highwoods and Little Belt mountains that aren't far from us. And even though Glacier National Park is a few hours away, we have lots and lots of hikes/camping planned as soon as the snow allows. My guess is with all of the snow many areas received this year, the wildflowers should be off the charts, and I'm betting on a banner huckleberry season. 

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

Looks like a lot of great trip ideas in the works all around. The Apostle Islands sound pretty intriguing @HikerJen! I've been looking to find something new to explore around Lake Superior after being really impressed while backpacking the coastline of the Porkies from some previous trips.

On 3/12/2017 at 7:33 PM, Mark said:

Living somewhere with trailheads only a few miles away allows me to forego a lot of the planning to just head out when I'm able, so I'm sure I will end up on my fair share of "spontaneous" trips.

I'm in a similar situation Mark which does without a doubt help to make things easier. I do like to mix it up and get a few trips on the schedule even for those close to home destinations though - perhaps just for those ideas I've been thinking about over the winter and want to make sure not to miss, along with plenty of room for those unplanned / on a whim excursions. 

[John B]

So far, I have a short trip to the Grand Canyon planned (coming right up: March 23-29), a backpack to Yosemite area (July 29-August 6), and a late season (gamble on good weather) to Grand Teton NP around September 24.  Will fit in many climbs of San Juan (Colorado) mountains also, as that's on my doorstep.

[HikerJ]

I just finished 5 days in the Superstitions. I'll probably only do about 2 or 3 long weekend trips this summer. But late summer early fall might be 7 to 10 days on Isle Royale or another large section of the NCT in the UP.

[John B]

On 3/13/2017 at 4:58 PM, Hiker10-42 said:

New to the site, its nice to meet everyone  I have a 4 day backpacking trip to Four Pass Loop planned, as well as a 4 day trip to RMNP (North Inlet). If anyone has done these hikes and has some tips or best practices, Id love to hear them.

Hiker 10-42, I have done the four pass loop four times, most recently in 2015--reported in this website.  I do know that bear resistant containers are now mandatory for the hike.  Here is a link to a very handy info document put out by the forest service: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5186829.pdf    Hope this helps! 

[Hiker10-42]

Thank for the info!

Did you have any issues finding a camping site. We are going mid week in July and I have heard that it can feel like a race to reach a good campsite.