To Do in 2018

LarryBoy

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One of my favorite annual posts on BCP! I'm constantly inspired by BCP'ers - some people take these amazing, NatGeo-worthy trips, some people are outstanding photographers, some people manage to get outdoors while trying to raise kids, and some people whose love for the outdoors is just completely infections.

Let's hear what everybody's got planned for 2018!

Examples from past years:
2014: https://backcountrypost.com/threads/to-do-in-2014.2671/
2015: https://backcountrypost.com/threads/to-do-in-2015.3896/
2016: https://backcountrypost.com/threads/to-do-in-2016.5420/
2017: https://backcountrypost.com/threads/to-do-in-2017.6450/
 
Lord willing, it's gonna be a very different kind of year in 2018. Won't be on BCP as much, but for a really good reason!

Thru-Hikes
Continental Divide Trail (northbound)

Major (multi-week) trips

Hayduke Trail Sections 10-14

Minor (weekend) trips
Middle Grand Gulch and/or Slickhorn/Lookout loop
Car camp in the Wire Pass area

Other Random Goals

Ski Suicide Chute in LCC
Finally see a bear
Ski tour more days than I ski in bounds
Finally summit a fourteener


The back burner (stuff I'm contemplating but am not ready to commit to)
The Long Trail (Vermont)
Middle Grand Gulch (Bullet Canyon-Collins Spring Canyon)
 
Few of these are truly set in stone, but this is what I'm planning on for this year, so far.

January
- South Guardian Angel summit, Zion NP
- Getting out in the Wasatch and Uintas on the snowshoes, assuming we get some more snow.

March
- Capitol Reef/Dixie NF loop backpacking

May
- Boulder Creek/Escalante River backpacking or Death Hollow. Gotta pack in the trips down there before it's a national park. :frantic:

August
- Hilgard Basin, etc. in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness (exact route TBD)

October
- Teton Wilderness

And I'm sure that several more things will get added to this. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's!
 
I want to canoe or kayak in to a site on Leigh Lake, in the Tetons.
I want to backpack in to Pebble Creek, Hellroaring, somewhere in the Bechler, Rescue Creek, and near Fairy Falls in Yellowstone.
I want to backpack in the Beartooths.
I want to get to Lost Twin Lakes, or Edelman Pass, in the Bighorns.

I may not make them all, but I hope to get a goodly number of those. Pringles
 
I had great trips planned for this year. Canyonlands and Arches in April, with a 3-day trip on the White Rim, and hiking in Chesler Park with a side trip to Hovenweep. In August I was headed to Yellowstone to backpack in the Slough Creek area and hiking in the Tetons. But now I just lost my job, so I figure I will be trapped in Wisconsin. Thus the watchword for this year is innovation, that is, finding ways to enjoy the outdoors when I can't really go travel far, and discovering the personally-undiscovered in my own back yard. I'll read everyone's trip reports with envy to make up for it.
 
Well, I'm leaving Colorado at the end of this month and plan to get lost in the wilderness for the entire year, if I can. Gotta beat Tipi on the bag night challenge.

I will first head south to the AZ Strip, then work my way back north as the weather permits, car camping. Once the snow clears (if there ever is any), I'll join a photog. friend from Calgary to wander around Yukon and BC for the summer and fall, then will head south again. That's the plan, Stan - float like a leaf.

I'll add that it doesn't cost much to do this, just some gas and grocery money, which I have saved from my last job. It helps that I don't have any debts and don't have to pay rent when I'm here in Colorado, as I stay with family. Liz

P.S. Mike, so sorry to hear about the turn of affairs. Hope things look up soon and you can get out this way.
 
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I'll add that it doesn't cost much to do this, just some gas and grocery money, which I have saved from my last job. It helps that I don't have any debts and don't have to pay rent when I'm here in Colorado, as I stay with family. Liz

Really? My biggest expense each year is probably fuel....and it’s not from driving to and from work!
 
Really? My biggest expense each year is probably fuel....and it’s not from driving to and from work!
Well, it does add up, but when I'm on the road, I try to stay put for a week or two in a place, which helps a lot. I get about 20 mpg and along with food and a few other things, it's not bad, probably less than $200/month just for gas. I can live easily on about $600/month unless I have a vet bill or car repair. I make a base camp and mostly hike around, then move in a week or two up the road a ways, usually less than 200 miles.
 
P.S. Mike, so sorry to hear about the turn of affairs. Hope things look up soon and you can get out this way.

Thanks, Rockskipper, but I am sure I'll be okay, just gotta be cautious, and I should mention that a PRIORITY to get to Moab sometime. I am going for it even if I don't see the way right now-!
 
I don't know what your situation is, Mike, but if you're footloose and fancy free, Moab always has work during the tourist season, though most of it doesn't pay that much. Usually the hiring starts in early winter and work actually starts in March, depending on what you're doing. Rafting starts later, of course.
 
I don't usually post up in these threads, but since I already have some permits for 2018, I'll go ahead and do it this year.

In January I'm going back to Coyote Buttes North and South
In February I'm going to Cedar Mesa / Bears Ears
In March I'm backpacking into Chesler Park.
In April I'm heading back to The Maze and also going on another Grand Gulch backpacking trip.
I'm planning on spending some time in Dinosaur in May

I'm hoping to hike a couple 14ers in the Sawatch Range this summer.
Thinking about my first backpacking trip into the Uintas in September.
 
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This year is one of the odd times where I have absolutely nothing planned for the coming year yet. It's a bit unsettling, to be honest. Of course I'm thinking of making a quick break for the Black Hills next month, but that's not even set in stone.

I would love to do a week long, off trail trip in the Winds again. It's been too many years of short trips and on trail hikes for me.

It would be nice to do something in the Colorado Plateau region again. It's a fascinating area, and much different than what I'm used to.

Alaska is always in the back of my mind. But I want to go into some good backcountry there, and don't really want to do it alone. Don't currently know anybody with the combination of willingness and ability for that now. (I'd love to go into the Brooks Range).
 
Now what are my plans for 2018? Well, my plans are more or less what I was gonna do in 2017 before the area had so much snow.

Now as for 2017, I was gonna go back to the Teton Wilderness and The Absarokas into the fall. But after all the horendous snow, my mind changed and I went to Alaska for the summer and then a little on the Washington Coast in coming back. In Alaska I was in Juneau, Haines (which I love), Wrangell (which I love), Yakutat (Fabulous), and the Kenai Peninsula. Then I talked about maybe in the spring of 2017, in Zion and Southern Utah. It turned out I was there in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona for several months this past fall. But also in 2017 in September, made it back to the Rabbitstick Gathering in Idaho. Yea!

Now Nothing Is Set In Stone ... So Things Could Always Change.

But my plans for 2018 are ....
1.) First will be working till May most probably, after this hopefully just living in the wilds.
2.) To go back extensively starting in May at some point till late summer and the fall, back to the Teton and Washakie Wilderness, the back Southeast Parts of Yellowstone NP with hiking, camping, and wandering about. Plan to also really live off the land also utilizing my knowledge of the edible and medicinal plants and such.
3.) In late summer - fall, maybe go to some back wild places I know where some placer gold is located and do some gold prospecting for awhile. This sure does beat working on ajob possible.
4.) In mid to late fall in those back wilds hiking, camping, and living somewheres, possibly North Absarokas somewhere I know.
5.) All in all ... get back to the Thorofare and the Absaroka Wilds again extensively
6.) Go to Rabbitstick most probably in September again with maybe even teaching a bit.
7.) Next winter .... who knows with either back in Jackson working, living out in the wild somewheres, or down south somewheres. Sometimes think of just heading into the back wilds like the Thorofare and stay a winter back in there someplace. Lots of wild country out there and next winter will take care of itself.

Sometimes do think of Alaska but most probably not next summer. If If I did go back, it would be to bicycle out to Bellingham and up to Alaska on the ferry. Then would hang out and bicycle and camp all over with espicelly again near Wrangell, Haines, Glacier Bay NP, and of course extensively in the Yakutat area.

Wishing Everyone the Best!
 
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Not a big plan maker, but there are some things I hope to be able to do this coming year

- Bisiti after new years
- Arizona or Utah in Feb (somewhere with bearable temps)
- add a warmer bag and 4-season tent to my gear locker and get back in to the mountains long before spring
- Backpacking up in the winds
- bang out some more 14ers
- Chicago Basin
- as many overnights as I can make happen
 
@Kmatjhwy
Have you ever read a book called Nahanni Trailhead? It's about a couple who built a cabin in what's now Nahanni NP and wintered over. A very cool book, I think this was in the early 70s. I think you would really enjoy it. I think the book was partly responsible for the area becoming a national park, and their cabin is still standing there.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0888394640/?tag=backcountrypo-20
 
Rockskipper, you said you want to be in the wilderness all year. Wishing You the Best on that. Now I know someone here in Jackson which years ago wintered up high in the mountains. And have read several books on people wintering in the mountains. One book, forgot the title, stayed in a canvas tent all winter up near the Beartooth Mountains. As for the Absarokas, it would be easy making some place for yourself and wintering over. This would be espicelly easier over on the Cody side of the mountains where lots less snow and warmer temps.

And Thanks for the tip on this book for need something to read soon.

So much out there to see and do. Wishing Everyone the Best!
 
Well, my idea of being in the wilderness all year is staying south where it's warm in the winter. :)

I worked for awhile with a guy who lived year round in a teepee up on Buffalo Pass near Steamboat Springs. He had to ski in and out every day. Hearing his stories is as close to winter camping as I want to get. I've camped out a few nights when it was a good 20 below, but I was in a little camper with a heater, and that was bad enough. :cold:
 
Nice to see so many plans already in the hopper! 2018 is looking great or me so far. As of now I won't have another trail guides project taking up time (although I'll miss the work), and I won't be doing a major house remodel (definitely won't miss the expense). But that means I should be wide open for going outside much more often than I was able to in 2017.

Most of my plans right now hinge upon wether or not I or anyone I know wins a permit and when. I won't know until February if any of us were succesful. But this is what I have/will put in for:

Gates of Lodore - HIGH PRIORITY
San Juan - HIGH PRIORITY
Rogue
Middle Fork Salmon
Desolation
Smith
Grand Canyon (cancellation lotteries & 2019)

I'd also love to make it out on a trip to some of these rivers but probably not all of them:

Stillwater
Cataract
Westwater

I will get Audra out on a mellow river or two this year. We were so close last year but had to cancel to keep working on the house.

I liked my winter trip to that guard station in the Uintas so much last year that I booked it again this February. Hopefully it snows or that might not happen!

Now that we sold our boat we're limited to renting to explore Glen Canyon from the water so we booked a houseboat for a week in September. And if the rivers don't pan out, I'll probably rent a runabout for an early July trip.

I plan to spend more time in the Bears Ears region this year, including over New Years weekend if weather allows. I've neglected that area for years because it's just a little further away than everything else and I'm trying to make up for it now.

And last, I hope to spend more time exploring the Dirty Devil.

Happy planning everyone.
 
Now Rockskipper I have a friend who years ago lived in a tepee and trapped all winter up along the Cont. Divide near Steamboat Springs also. He absolutely loved it! They lived off of what he trapped in the middle of thee winter. Really cold also! My friend who has winterered in the mountains near Jackson is always saying how cold it is in town and always warmer in the winter in the high country mountains.

He grew up in the swamps in the south and at onetime wrestled Aligators.
 
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