Any Hikers Here?

[Davian93]

I've always meant to ask, but are any of you guys into hiking?

I'm curious as I am a fairly serious hiker and go out pretty much every weekend with the intention of doing a new trail and I would love to trade notes on equipment, trails, experiences, helpful tips I've found or anyone else knows etc etc.

Yesterday I did a small segment of the Vermont Long Trail which is a couple hundred mile trail that intersects with the Appalachian Trail in several areas and basically goes along the ridgeline of the Green Mountains. Its was a decent hike with a 2000 ft ascent over 2 miles to the Long Trail itself. At the ridgeline (well just over the ridgeline) was a Alpine pond w/camping shelter where we had lunch. We did another 3-4 miles on the Long Trail before heading home. All in all a good day w/ around 8 hours of actually hiking not counting an hour break for lunch, change of socks, dry out shoes, and just relax time by the alpine pond (which was beautiful by the way).

So any hikers?

[Gilshalos Sedai]

No where to hike around Houston.

[Terez]

Here, either really. Plenty of places to camp and canoe though. :D

[Brita]

I am a "canoer"- I prefer water excursions to terrain excursions.

Although since I have married a city-slicker and had kids, I have to confess I don't do many true-blue canoe trips anymore. Now it is mostly tenting after a short motor boat ride to the camp site. ~~sigh~~ I think it's time I whipped my family into shape and took them a good'ol portage canoe trip.

[Davian93]

I do alot of paddling as well...right now I've been waiting for the lake to warm up a bit more before we head out. Its around 65 right now so its finally getting to the point that I don't mind capsizing in so I'll probably be going in the next couple weeks. I'm planning a couple 2-3 day paddling trips this year on the lake with camping each night.

[Sinistrum]

Sarah's right. We've got Big Thicket, Brazos Bend, and Galveston Island parks in our area and none of them are that great for hiking. However, if someone were to feel like making the 13 hour drive to Big Bend national park, there are some great hiking trails there. I haven't done any of them in about seven years, since I haven't been able to find anyone else willing to do the drive in that long, but trails like Santa Elena Canyon, the Window, and Emory Peak are always good for day hikes, and the South Rim provides and fantastic opportunity for an overnight excursion though it can be done in one day, if your nutters enough.

I've also hit up some pretty good trails in Yellowstone, Glacier, and Death Valley national parks too. If you ever get the chance Davian, I'd highly recommend a trip to Glacier. Best. National Park. Ever!

[Davian93]

I've hiked around a bit on Mt. Rainier and on Mt. Saint Helens when I lived in WA. Saint Helens was a very fun 3 day hike around the rim of the volcano.

[Goldeneyes]

I've done some hiking, nothing serious though. Just stuff like Bear Mountain. I like nature, but haven't gotten into anything seriously.

[John Snow]

unlike you poor Houstonites, there's a lot of great hiking around here. One of my favorites is Echo Mountain, and there're plenty of canyons, waterfalls, old gold mines, mountain peaks, and the like within an easy drive. I also camp out in Joshua Tree National Park (in the winter, thankyouverymuch) and hike around in there.

But I haven't done much Sierra hiking, just the local Los Angeles area..and mostly just the San Gabriel mountains.

[Ivhon]

We are closing on Friday *knock on wood* on a house 1800 feet from the lake. Have a bit of extra cash from the sale of our last house that can go towards the purchase of canoes (having spent 18+ years as a competitive swimmer/H2O polo player, I am DEFINITELY more into wet exercise).

Texas Hill Country is supposed to be great for hiking and all the health nuts here in Austin are regular about it. The missus wants to start and Im not totally against it....so long as the 100 degree weather breaks sometime this year.

However, to be honest, I prefer my hiking to be between golf cart and ball... :D

[Cary Sedai]

....so long as the 100 degree weather breaks sometime this year.

LMAO, Ivhon you are such a kidder! You are kidding right. You do know that this weather lasts until September, possibly October? I know it's been a bit warm the last few weeks, but this ain't nothing! Took me 3-4 years to acclimate to the weather here after moving from Indiana. No worries though, once you acclimate, this won't feel bad at all!

On the hiking, Austin has awesome places to hike, it took me a while to get used to cactus and rocks everywhere, I am not a high desert girl and the sun burns me to a crisp. Though I'd have to say that the most beautiful place around here to hike is Enchanted Rock. I love it. The Greenbelt isn't too bad either, and hiking around Hamilton Pool is pretty. Almost forgot Wild Basin Preserve off of 360. You might like it out there, too.

I'm not a serious hiker, but I love camping! I'm a nature girl!

[Gilshalos Sedai]

Hey, Ivhon... at least it's a dry heat.

[Marie Curie 7]

My hiking is generally for the purposes of looking for wildflowers. The woodlands of the great lakes states are great for that in spring time. :) But I've also been on lots of wildflower hikes in New England (mostly MA and NH) when I lived out there for a time. I'm going to be visiting Acadia NP in a little less than two weeks, but I won't have much time to spend in the park - I'll mostly be whale watching (I was there once before, though, and saw some great cardinal flowers).

Other great places I've been for hikes are in Colorado - Rocky Mountain National Park, the area around Boulder, and Telluride. Telluride was especially fun - it's a little town in a box canyon at about 8900 feet, surrounded by peaks of up to 14,000 feet. The hiking is spectacular. I've also enjoyed Saguaro National Park in Arizona, and a number of places in the Pacific Northwest - the Columbia River gorge, Mt. Rainier, etc. I'd really like to go to Big Bend NP some time when the wildflowers are in full bloom - I've heard it's really nice. Unfortunately, it seems like that occurs during the spring semester when it would be really difficult for me to get away, so I'm not sure when I'll make it there.

[irerancincpkc]

I love to hike. I live in a part of PA where there are a lot of forests, so I don't really have to travel anywhere to do it. It's a lot of fun. :D

[cottillion]

Normally once summer really starts I try to do at least one 10 mile or so hike a week. We have alot of trails and woods out here so theres no traveling to get there. It sucks that noone I know around here likes to hike so I normally just end up taking the dogs and Ipod for company and go till I feel like turning back. I'd really like to get out to some new trails one of these days since I've pretty much covered this area. This fall I'm going to school up in the adirondacks so I'm hoping theres some good hiking and skiing up there.

[Davian93]

fall I'm going to school up in the adirondacks so I'm hoping theres some good hiking and skiing up there.

There's a ton of hiking in the Adirondacks...and even more across the lake in Vermont...

[cottillion]

There's a ton of hiking in the Adirondacks...and even more across the lake in Vermont...
Awesome, I can't wait. I get real bored with the scenery out here cause I've hiked the area so much. Western NY is pretty dull for the most part with the occasional gem.