If you were going on a non-hunting/fishing backcountry trip, where would you go?

[nastynate]

Update for this year... I'm headed to somewhere warm(ish) in January or February at the tail end of a work trip in the Southwest, will be meeting up w/ gf after the work trip. Looking for something within 3 hours of a major airport (Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque or the like). Will rent a car and go forth. Not sure if we'll backpack or car camp with day trips. Zion... Death Valley... Grand Canyon... are ideas but I'm sure there are more options. Not afraid of chilly weather, but coming from the midwest, it sure would be nice to have the sun shining for a few days.

Any further input for that area at that time of year??

That being said... I'm sure I'll refer to this thread for years to come when I'm daydreaming. I appreciate all the thoughts. The Chinese Wall- I'd never heard of it, but I will see that someday!

 

[Phaseolus]

I’ve never been out of the us.
I really want to go backpacking in another country.
Like I might take a year or 2 off hunting to do this

New Zealand has awesome hiking/trekking and one of the best things is it can be done in the heart of our winter

 

[hank4elk]

Done the JMT twice and most of the PCH. Most of the CDT now thru NM.
BC was a blast to fish with a small boat and the only fishing as good as the Sierra's overall .
I doubt the fishing is as good as 20 years ago, but the Sierra's where once ideal fishing.

I have no wish to visit any foreign lands anymore.

 

[BigHornRam]

I have given this question a lot of thought since most any backcountry trip I would do would include some form of hunting or fishing. Best I can think of is doing a hiking trip to Madeira Island with my wife. Hard part would be convincing her to travel to such a far away place. I think she would really like it, though.

https://www.alltrails.com/portugal/madeira--2

 

[NR_Hunter]

If I couldn't hunt or fish, it would just be a miserable drunken mess on the trip thinking about all the money I'm spending not on a hunting/fishing trip. I literally would just got a place and drink in the hotel room. I could not do it and I wouldn't see the point in it. I know this is a character flaw, or maybe more of a glaring defect, but I really need a mission that involves hunting/fishing.

 

[thusby]

Probably eating magic mushrooms during a solar eclipse in Teddy Roosevelt NP.

Probably better I stick to hunting and fishing.

 

[jbseamus83]

My vote would be this:

Distillery Tours of Scotland, Walk the Whisky Trails | Macs Adventure

Tour some of the best whisky distilleries in the world and walk the most spectacular scenery in Scotland along the way! Contact Macs Adventure today.

www.macsadventure.com

Scenery and ending the day touring and drinking scotch. Sign me up.

 

[Marshian]

I’d probably do the Annapurna Circuit. I have no desire to climb Everest or really any true mountaineering but just to see that culture and know I’m near the roof of the world would be cool.

 

[elkduds]

Update for this year... I'm headed to somewhere warm(ish) in January or February at the tail end of a work trip in the Southwest, will be meeting up w/ gf after the work trip. Looking for something within 3 hours of a major airport (Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque or the like). Will rent a car and go forth. Not sure if we'll backpack or car camp with day trips. Zion... Death Valley... Grand Canyon... are ideas but I'm sure there are more options. Not afraid of chilly weather, but coming from the midwest, it sure would be nice to have the sun shining for a few days.

Any further input for that area at that time of year??

That being said... I'm sure I'll refer to this thread for years to come when I'm daydreaming. I appreciate all the thoughts. The Chinese Wall- I'd never heard of it, but I will see that someday!

Chaco, Big Bend

 

[rwc101]

I'm kind of jealous of people whose hobbies don't have legally defined seasons.

 

[one ate E grain]

I’ve never been out of the us.
I really want to go backpacking in another country.
Like I might take a year or 2 off hunting to do this

All of Sichuan and Yunnan that border Tibet and also down along the border of Burma all have great self guided backpacking. It's relatively safe and the mountains are spectacular, like a moderate Himalaya. If it's winter you can even go down to Xipsongbana and you are still in the same country. A renewal on a tourist visa will probably last 3 months.

I've never been to India or Nepal but I've heard you can "trek" very high and long but staying in guest houses in the evening. Bonus is that there is lots of English spoken. In China you have to learn basic travelers Mandarin as it is a second language for all the ethnics living in those parts, but it's not that hard to learn.

Keep up with the notices from the US state department and avoid what they say to, like Burma.

 

[88man]

Maybe up the greybull to its head

 

[Pagosa]

We want to lead two horses across Holland Lake pass to Gordon Creek and float down the South Fork of the Flathead River. We will have to lead our two horses about 15 miles each way over Upper Holland, cache our rental pack rafts/food at the South Fork walk out and drop off the horses at home, and drop off a older car at the confluence of the canyon and hungry horse and hike back in to the pack rafts and begin the float, we will have to walk out the last 3-4 miles of the box canyon. My wife thinks I’m crazy. I will really not do anything outside of our local area, bc it’s Gods country and time/money restrictions

 

[RealMuddyboots]

Oh I am thinking having dinner with Sue Aikens at Kavik AK would be interesting.....she would prob add me to freezer.

 

[Cheesehead]

Englewood, Chicago

 

[nastynate]

For what it's worth, the trip that prompted this thread ended up being a car camping/day hiking trip to the Chiricahua's and other sky island mountain ranges in Arizona. But this was a great list that I'll keep coming back to for future adventures!

And I should add that it was totally awesome down there in January, especially given I was escaping from an icebox of a winter.

 

[TwistedSage]

I came across some really cool caves in my hunt last year. I plan on taking my kids to go check then out this summer. That trip really sparked my interest in caves and caves systems. I'll be spending some time exploring ft stanton snowy river cave NCA for sure.

I really want to go explore around Chaco canyon in NW NM.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Red light district Amsterdam. Back country. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Some excellent tips on this thread. I'll pass them along to my daughter.

 

[Akcabin]

Alaska but maybe I'm biased. Hiking trails with great sights and maybe moose n bears. Glaciers. Go find a gold panning creek n hang out. May to middle of June. SE ak just watching the salmon spawn, fishing boats the harbor is busy. Tours around the coastline.
I've been blessed to visit the whaling festival in former Barrow. Wow! Or early September after moose season but bulls in full rut. The smells of autumn.
And you will probably be the only one there

 

[2rocky]

Given the Snowpack in many western states, looking to the SW desert might be a more doable trip in the Early summer/late spring. Death Valley has a lot of truly amazing places in the back and front country. 4WD on some 2 tracks gets you to some really cool places.