To Do in 2019

Driving home from my New Years trip a day early to avoid a big snowstorm. Seems like a good time to revisit this thread and see how we all did!

  • Camp every month. I've somehow missed this so many years now. Last year I camped on Dec 31 and Feb 1 but missed January! The year before that I missed MAY! - Missed February!
  • 50+ bag nights. Dialing it back a bit from 70 in 2018, but maybe... Yep. 64!
  • Camp for the first time in New Mexico, California, Alaska and Canada Yes to California, Alaska and Canada. No to New Mexico.
  • Visit Yellowstone in the spring Nope.
  • A little canyoneering - Not with ropes, so no.
  • 2 weeks rafting the Tatshenshini-Alsek in July Yep!
  • 10 day road trip in August (probably Northern California) No. Ended up going on a week long Glen Canyon trip instead.
  • A week long, wife-friendly, raft trip in the spring. Hopefully the full lower San Juan from Sand Island to Clay Hills if I can snag a permit - Nope, but got lots of other rivers in.
  • Raft the Colorado through Westwater Canyon Yes!
  • Raft the Snake through Alpine Canyon Nope.
  • At least two good, long backpacking trips. Most likely desert trips. I have a handful on my list, I'd be happy with any of them. I didn't do any actual; backpacking this year! The closest was a kayak overnight on the San Rafael.
  • Explore more of the area north of Capitol Reef and west of Muddy Creek Yep.
  • More Bears Ears - Only spent one night in the area, but technically yes.
  • More Gold Butte - Yep.
  • Long end of year trip over Christmas and New Year's Eve. Or at the very least NYE. Yep! And we made it all the way to Mojave Preserve to get a California bag night in.
 
Nick said:
  • Camp every month. I've somehow missed this so many years now. Last year I camped on Dec 31 and Feb 1 but missed January! The year before that I missed MAY! - Missed February!
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February is the only month I missed this year, too!
 
I just about had a clean sweep this year. I didn't do the Ouachita Trail, but I did do the Oregon Coast Trail instead. Planning the Ouachita Trail for this year. And I SAW A BEAR! Three bears, to be exact. Woohoo! Onward to 2020.



Thru-hikes:
Route-In-Between (my own route thru AZ/UT/ID, including the Arizona Trail and most of the Idaho Centennial Trail)

Shorter long-distance trails:
San Diego Trans-County Trail
Ozark Highlands Trail
Ouachita Trail

Short backpacking trips:
Aravaipa Canyon
Big Bend National Park

Other goals:
See a bear (not happening, but I'm putting it on my to-do list every year until it does happen)
Hit 200 nights in the Bag Night Challenge
Get at least one Bag Night every month of the year
 
kwc said:
We will be driving from upstate NY (our home) to Alaska this summer. We will probably be gone for six to eight weeks. One of our Christmas gifts was a copy of The MilePost and we've been slowly making our way through it. So many options, so many potential side trips to make, it's overwhelming. We plan on camping most of the time, probably mixing in some motel/cabin stays along the way.
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Didn't make it to Alaska ... we changed our trip as we traveled along, adding in places like Voyageurs NP ... anyhow we took our time and ended up in Glacier NP for a few days before deciding to head south to Yellowstone and Grand Teton, spending a few days in each park, hiking around. Then back east, hitting the Black Hills & Badlands NP ... as we headed further east we decided to head up the north shore of Lake Superior and into Canada for a few days, ending up near Ottawa & then heading south to home. 5+ weeks on the road, 8500 miles recorded on the truck. And an enormous amount of photos.

Sleeping Bear Dunes NL, Sevey National Wildlife Refuge, Pictured Rocks NL, Voyageurs NP, Theodore Roosevelt NP (both sections), Glacier NP, Yellowstone NP, Grand Tetons NP, Devils Tower NM, Black Hills/Custer SP/Crazy Horse Monument, Badlands NP.
 
swmalone said:
Based on how outdoor activities have been the last few years my goals for 2019 are not that ambitious when compared to others on here, but may still be hard to accomplish for me.

1. Hike at least 100 miles.
2. At least 5 nights in a tent or our casita
3. 5 snowshoeing or winter hikes

Anything above that will just be a thrilling bonus.
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Breaking my back made even my modest goals difficult.

1. I had only able to get 83 of my 100 miles but I’m happy with that considering I was sidelined most of the summer.

2. I was only able to get 3 of the 5 tent or casita nights. I would have hit this if we wouldn’t have canceled our Thanksgiving Needles trip due to weather.

3. So the weather that led to missing the tent/casita nights allowed me to exceed the snowshoeing goal. I had 7 this year with a goal of 5.
 
Not the worst year, but I'm disappointed I didn't make more of an effort to get out more in November and December.
  • Snowshoeing in the Wasatch and the Uintas a few times. Really hoping for some good snow this year. Last year sucked. Done. Fantastic year for snow recreation.
  • A desert backpacking trip over spring break. Did a more touristy trip to the Grand Canyon. Not disappointed.
  • A few nights backpacking in the Escalante or Cedar Mesa area (or wherever else we decide down there) in May. A friend of mine is planning on coming out with his brother and his brother's friend, and it will also be my celebration of graduating law school. Ended up being a Winds trip in mid-July. Not complaining.
  • A bigger Teton Wilderness trip, hopefully right after I take the bar. No firmly set route, but I'd really like to get up on the Buffalo Plateau, see the headwaters of the Yellowstone, and get to the Hawk's Rest area. Nope. One of the bigger disappointments.
  • Other overnighters as time permits. These shouldn't be too hard to fit in on weekends. Hoping to get my first one the first week of January, before school starts up again. Done, although I would have liked to have done more than I did, of course. Got out to the Uintas for a couple solo overnighters, and then a 3-nighter in the NW Wyoming.
 
The only definite plan I have is a return to SEKI in July/August. I've got the plane and car rental booked and next month permits open. I'm hoping for 8 nights exploring the Upper Kern River area. Fingers crossed for no fires SEKI was awesome (https://backcountrypost.com/threads/seki-2019.8850/)

I'm going to try to find time to take my kids for 3-4 nights to see the synchronous fireflies in the smokies in early June. No fireflies but still fun with kids (https://backcountrypost.com/threads/dolly-sods-and-kids-again.8806/ and https://backcountrypost.com/threads/a-couple-trips-with-kids.8809/)

I hope to get a couple other 3-5 night trips here in the SE and then the usual car camping and kid backpacking. A couple other trips happened as well

Goals: 45 bag nights and a hike at least once a week and I'm going to attempt to hike at least once each month in the Red River Gorge 45 nights was always a stretch goal, I ended with 22 nights this year (should have been around 35 but a couple rounds of kid and me sickness and other life stuff got in the way. I only missed a couple weeks for hiking and I was in the RRG at least once every month.

All in all, a good year. I hope 2020 is even better.
 
Now that I'm back home I can look back what I've done last year:


  1. get at least 5-10 camp nights: I ended up with 21 nights
  2. do at least one hike per week: I usually went 2-4 times a week, so goal achieved as well
  3. go cross-country skiing and snowshoeing: I did that more than a lot and even participated in a cross-country ski race
  4. another week-long vacation in Yellowstone: I actually went twice, in summer for 9 days and over Christmas for 15 days :)
  5. visit and soak in a hot spring: it finally happened in Montana
  6. do a few 20+miles day hikes: I only ended up with several 15+ miles hikes
Despite a 2 month break because of a broken foot, I ended up with 941 hiking miles. Most of the miles were done in Yellowstone and Zion
 
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