Off to See the World!

[MattPack]

Hey Everyone,

My name is Matt and I am from Australia. My partner Emma and I have long since caught the travel bug and we are currently working towards a long-term trip as of early 2019. 

At this point we are planning on heading to the US for about 10 weeks before heading to Europe for an undefined period of time. We plan to spend a large portion of our trip camping and on hiking trails, both because we love doing it and also so that we can travel as affordably as possible.

As the time draws nearer we will have more and more questions, but at this point in time something I am looking for is the best way to find trails that can be used not only as a means of having an adventure but also as a way of getting from point A to point B - for example, on Google maps you can look up how to get from one township to another or even one campsite to another, but even if you say you are travelling on foot there will be long periods where it advises you to simply follow a highway rather than directing you to a trail that might take you in the same direction. I've had a bit of a look online but I can't seem to find anything that will give you the same information but sticking to the hiking trails. 

Any direction anyone can provide on this would be great. We still have a long time until we head off but we are trying to be as prepared as possible as far in advance as possible. Of course if anyone else has advice that they can offer from doing a similar long-term trip that would be very much appreciated as well! We are looking forward to your help in planning our trip.

[Outlier]

Where in the U.S. are you going? If you don't know, you could section hike different parts of one of the big three trails (Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail), which would allow you to go from town to town and hop on and off wherever you'd like.

Additionally you can check out http://www.alltrails.com. Just type in a city of where you want to hike and it'll bring up the trails for that area.

[MattPack]

Thanks Outlier! That website is exactly what I was looking for.

Nothing set in stone in terms of where we would be going in the US - I did a roadtrip from LA to New York with a mate in 2012 so there are a few key places from along the way that I'm keen to see (fell in love with Colorado!), but really all options are open. We are going to get hold of a car for at least some of the time that we are in the US, but the more travelling we can do on foot the better.

[Outlier]

Colorado is great for all things outdoors. If you get a chance to spend some time there, it's well worth it. Let us know the areas you think you'll be spending the most time in and someone can should be able to give you locations in that area to check out.

[MattPack]

Hi all,

Just another quick question as I continue to investigate and plan this trip. As mentioned in my initial post, our plan is to leave Australia at the start of 2019 and head to the US, however as I look into where we will be travelling, weather seems to be an increasing concern. We would be starting on the West Coast in January, and then heading towards the Grand Canyon and doing some trails there (it would likely be February by this point) before heading through Arizona and up toward Colorado. My questions would be if anyone can recommend what the best winter trails in and around the Grand Canyon would be if we only had basic hiking gear (so no snowshoes or anything like that, unless that is going to be an absolute necessity and then we may need to look into it), and also basically if it is safe to be travelling in these areas in the winter months - I'm conscious of road conditions as well as trail conditions. Being from Australia, driving in snowy regions is not exactly something that we are used to doing, so I'm wondering if we're going to need things like snow chains and so forth to be able to travel through these regions. 

I'm open to the suggestion that what I'm intending to do is just not ideal and we should rethink the timing, but this is certainly when it would fall best for us to be able to leave our jobs and so forth, so I'd love to make it work if we can

[Soar]

Yellowstone national park should be near the top of the list I would think.   Mt Whitney is the highest point in the contiguous US.  The 3 trails mentioned above are great trails too.  I've done parts of the PCT.