BACKPACKING

Me and the wife, Helene Blake, like to do a little walking in the wilds. Heck, I guess we like to a lot of walking in the wilds........ In this page I just want to tell you what we have done and what I would recommend.

Well, we mostly pack with ol John D. EdinburghJohn Edinburgh, whom I have known for... well, never mind. A long time. Sometimes we have packed with John's son, Michael, and sometimes with my older son, Jeff. Lately we have gone with another buddy, Jerry Luna.

Here is a brief rundown on trips we have taken and my recommendations about them.

  1. The Grand Canyon. Oh, yes. Sure there are a lot of people and the trail is well worn, but the awesome vista of the canyon make it something you want to do over and over. We have been twice. You gotta make reservations early to camp at the river (Phantom Ranch), even for tent sites. But what a walk. No water on the Kaibab from the South Rim so you gotta pack it. One day down with packs.
  2. The Chilkoot Trail. Awesome but takes a lot of advance planning. This is a 30 mile hike across the chilkoot pass from the US to Canada. Access is via Skagway. We flew to Juneau then took a boat to Skagway, I guess that is just about the only way to get there. This is a tough hike. Some bears. Lotta steep treks which are tough with heavy packs (ours were 50-60 lbs). Gotta spend about five nights in the wild and there ain't no convenience store nearby. We went in early summer which was not, perhaps, wise, since we ran into a lot of snow. Even had to cross an avalanche field in Canada. But I would do this again.
  3. Colorado Mountains What can I say? We have hiked all over the Colorado mountains, usually looking for some lake or another. Sometimes we even found it, but sometimes not. It's fun either way. Most of our hikes have been in the area around Dillon in the Eagle's Nest Wilderness area. Look, this is high stuff, a lot over 10,000 feet and up to 12,000. Lowlanders like us have to acclimate carefully. One of our party got altitude sickness once and it wasn't pretty or fun. But it is great scenery. We often spend a day and night along the Blue river to acclimate and then head up. We have hiked some other areas as well, up around Aspen for example. We look for loop trails of three to five days. Go early and you will hit snow, and we have too often. Even that's kinda fun.
  4. Great Basin. Ok, this one is wierd and spooky. Helene and I went up there to hug a tree. Huh? Say what? Yeah, hug a tree. This place is in the middle of nowhere in Nevada's Wheeler Peak area. There are bristlecone pine trees there, living, that are over 4000 years old. What? Oh, you don't believe me? Welll, check it out my friend, it's true. One spring Helene and I went up there and hugged these trees and listened to what they had to say of 4000 years. We went kind of early and ran into a lot of snow. Seems like we are always doing that. What did they say? Well, I guess you will just have to go yourself and find out.
  5. The Alps. Yeah. Helene and I went over to France and hiked the Alps with my son Jeff and some others. HUmmmmm..... well, I can't really recommend it. Too civilized. Guides and all that. Sleep in hostels with, like, beds. Eat at a table. Naw. I go to get away from that and be self sufficient in carrying everything that I need.
  6. Texas. Yes, there are some fun hikes in Texas. We have tried many. The most primative is the Guadalupe National Park. Problem there is no water so you got to carry it in. This limits greatly your length of stay. We have also hiked: Lost Maples, ........ shucks I can't remember them all now. But they are all short, you are never more than a few miles from civilization. Good for practice. We have never tried Big Bend, ..............yet.
  7. Grand Tetons John Edinburgh saw this page and noted that I left out our trip to the Grand Tetons. We hiked plumb around the entire range and it was awesome. Above the tree line most of the time so the views were very good. We sort of cheated and took the tram to the top but then walked all the way around and down to Jenny Lake. You haven't, uh, lived until you have slept on the Death Shelf. What is it? Guess you will have to go yourself and find out. Took about five days to go around the Tetons as I recall.

Well, there you have a cross section of some neat trips. Return to recreation