To Do in 2020

Since hurting myself I'm going to keep the goals pretty modest again.

1. Hike at least 100 miles.

2. At least 5 tent/casita nights.

3. At least 7 snowshoeing/winter hiking trips

I also hope to work up my nerve to get back on the mountain bike and road bike. I did a couple short road rides and one super easy mountain bike ride last year after getting approval from the doctor. I would like to get at least 3-5 mountain bike rides in and 250 miles on the road bike.

Trips

Spring trip to Escalante area or the Needles district.

Short backpacking trip in the Uintas or camping in Yellowstone in August.

Thanksgiving either at Zion or Moab area.

If I can convince some family a Yurt snowshoe trip around Christmas.
 
Kmatjhwy said:
Nick, so you would like to work more in this coming year. Now not many people voice a desire to work more in life. Do understand for in the last few years as for myself have dedicated to working. And now looking at the time for myself to retire and head to the wilds to live. Wishing You the Best!
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There may have been some sarcasm in my statement. Maybe.
 
4-6 night trip in the SE in March
4-6 night trip in the SE in May
Kids and synchronous fireflies in the Smokies first week of June
WV trip with brother in law and kids, somewhere different from Dolly Sods - middle of June
Dry Tortugas camping for 3 nights in early July (going to be hot)
Back to SEKI in late July/early Aug for 7 or 8 nights

Family and I just went skiing (Keystone CO) for the first time and discovered that I am not as athletic/coordinated as I thought. I hope to get some practice in here in the midwest so I can ski with my kids next winter.

At least one bikepacking trip this year.

General goals: dayhike once a week, 35 bag nights, hike at least 500 miles (never kept track before)
 
balzaccom said:
We've got lots of travel.

Three weeks in NZ and OZ next month

A month in France in the spring

Canadian Rockies in July

A few weeks in Yellowstone in the summer with our kids in August..

And some trips in the Sierra.

Can you tell we're retired?
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Nice ....but alot of wildfire smoke still in NZ/OZ is a large possiblity
 
Now that my home is done......

Main trip..... NE Wind Rivers Thru Horseridge, thru Dry Creek, thru Glacier Panorama .... If I can find some tag alongs.

Would like a short revisit to the Sawtooths.

A short trip to the Lee Metcalf
 
Trying to get back into adventure mode again!
  • A few weekend canyoneering trips in NAZ
  • Fossil Creek with Family
  • Uinta Highline in July/Aug
  • Father-son outings as often as possible on the weekends
  • Havasupai (again) with friends
  • BT with @WasatchWill haha
  • Long weekend trip to the Winds (Cirque? just to get it out of the way...)
  • Kauai trip with Family
 
wsp_scott said:
4-6 night trip in the SE in March
4-6 night trip in the SE in May
Kids and synchronous fireflies in the Smokies first week of June
WV trip with brother in law and kids, somewhere different from Dolly Sods - middle of June
Dry Tortugas camping for 3 nights in early July (going to be hot)
Back to SEKI in late July/early Aug for 7 or 8 nights

Family and I just went skiing (Keystone CO) for the first time and discovered that I am not as athletic/coordinated as I thought. I hope to get some practice in here in the midwest so I can ski with my kids next winter.

At least one bikepacking trip this year.

General goals: dayhike once a week, 35 bag nights, hike at least 500 miles (never kept track before)
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The short runs in the Midwest are perfect for learning to ski - if you get out of control, it's not very far to the bottom!
 
Jackson said:
Not too many concrete plans at this point. Here's what I've got bouncing around in my head though:
  • I want to camp for my birthday (end of January), so I'm trying to figure out where to go/what to do for that. Not many people are keen on January camping/backpacking, so it may be a solo one where I spend 14 hours in the tent. I haven't camped since early October though, so that would still be a good time if you ask me.
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Winter camping/backpacking is so fun! I just got back from a short backpack into a canyon in Sedona. a popular summer canyon was completely void of people because there is 2" of snow lol!
 
So far, no plans at all. Wanting to look into a location/job change, so kind of playing it safe with trip planning for now. Don't want to commit to something then have to back out.

Theoretical goals:

Back to the Greater Yellowstone area. Thorofare would be good. Beartooths would be good. Winds would be best (the areas @Bob listed are on my list too). Want to also get in some good fly fishing in that general area.

Colorado Plateau in spring. Probably will end up being dayhiking and mountain biking. Maybe some backpacking. Up for pretty much anything.

I bought a packraft that needs to get used, so that would be cool. A spring float down the Escalante would be cool.

Hoping to try out some bikepacking. Probably going to start off with a local overnighter, but I have a few nice overnighters a bit of a drive away that would be pretty good starter trips too.

If the stars align just right, back to Alaska. I'm going back, it's just a matter of when and where.
 
Wisconsin/Michigan to-dos:
  • A spring warm-up trip, probably either the Harrison Hills or Lake Eleven sections of the Ice Age Trail
  • A late spring/early summer multi-day float down the Kickapoo or Namekagon Rivers
  • A fall bushwhack/exploration of the McCormick Wilderness in the UP
Out west
  • Indian Peaks Wilderness trip in September
  • Probably not gonna happen, but would love to get to the Beartooths this year
Further afield
  • Two weeks in Europe
Other
  • Help my daughter get off to college and plan and execute her first trip without me, to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
  • 100% home-made meals using the new dehydrator that Santa brought me
 
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This year I want to focus on more local exploring of the many areas near me (in SoUtah) I still haven't seen, or places I only briefly saw and want to spend more time in. Because one could spend an entire lifetime and still not see it all here! Some ideas:

-multi-day wandering around Cedar Mesa with a good friend
-see a bunch of the ruins and rock art around Comb Ridge
-explore the ruins around the Lampstand
-ride my horse around areas on the Boulder I haven't been to yet
-get back into the Little Rockies as it's been 8 years since my one and only trip there and I want to see more
-go up both south and north Caineville Mesas, I did one of them many moons ago but I'd just moved here and don't remember much
-also spend some time in the Uintas, which I meant to do last year but it never happened. Been several years since I've been there and I miss those gorgeous mountains
-lots more stuff, I'm sure. A lot of things will likely be spur-of-the-moment adventures.
 
• Grand Enchantment Trail in the spring
• Hike a giant loop through the Winds, starting in the extreme south, hike either east or west side of the divide to Dubois (resupply), then back down to starting point on opposite side of the divide. Hit the Indian Res side I've never seen. Should be 250+ miles, about 3 weeks

That's about 9 weeks of hiking right there, wish I could do more but this is a "work year" for me. 2021 though, look out!!
 
This year is going to be very mellow, I suspect. On top of Monday-Friday full time job, I am taking on a weekend job to save for my first THRU HIKE (hopefully in 2021, but it might have to be 2022 if my dog keeps getting sick and I can't learn to stop shopping)!

  • I wasn't able to do a snow backpacking trip in 2019, but have one planned for February!!
  • Death Valley Camping
  • Visit Fern Canyon
  • Take a Mountaineering Class
  • Take some sort of Water Rescue Class
  • Backpack to Glacier Point, Yosemite NP (very dependent on timing it seems, when/if the trail opens before the road)
 
Nothing set in stone, kind of depends on the place I work not shutting down, and taking my 4 weeks of paid vacation with it.
So...tentatively:
-2 to 4 overnighters(typically working 6 days/wk) per month except for summer, when waterfalls dry up and the bugs get bad. May get back into mountain biking come late spring...
-a week at Canyonlands, late Feb or 1st week of March
-a week in either the CO Rockies(Weminuche or Collegiate West) or the Trinity Alps in CA OR the Whites in NH. Vague at this point. My friend and I want to do another CO trip, but his wife(who does thruhikes like the LT and MST, and may be the strongest hiker of the three of us) is convinced she can't acclimate to high altitudes after a bad experience, and wants to stick to eastern mountains. We both want her to see some Western ones, so I've suggested Trinity Alps due to max elevation ~9k'.
-Hopefully, I'll get to spend a week with those same friends next winter, again, either in the NC mountains where they live, or around Big South Fork/Daniel Boone NF where I normally head for a week every December.
-Also planning to start doing a lot of local dayhikes/training hikes/whatever, since I work night shift, and can go on weekday mornings.
 
  1. My daughter wants to learn to ski so maybe a couple of trips to Boone, NC this winter.
  2. My spring "man-cation" to Zion for backcountry scrambles. Hopefully kolob terrace is snow-less this year - sorry @Yvonne
  3. Hopefully enjoy a few short hikes in Stowe, Vt while visiting the in-laws late spring
  4. A couple of Canoe trips along the new river in May (one with family and one with old college buddies)
  5. A couple of weekend trips to Grandfather Mountain, Lost Cove, and Linville Gorge Areas
  6. RMNP in June
  7. Maybe another trip to Baxter SP in the fall
 
Yvonne said:
My plans for the year are a bit different than last year. I definitely want to spend more time outdoors hiking, camping, skiing, kayaking

1.
Spent part of the summer in Yellowstone and hike a ton again in the backcountry

2.
hike 1,000 miles

3.
ski and snowshoe a lot

4.
camp at least 20-25 nights

5.
do at least one backpacking trip

6.
visit Grand Teton NP

7.
visit and hike in the Beartooths and the Lee Metcalf Wilderness in Montana

8.
get an inflatable kayak again

9.
learn downhill skiing

10.
spent Christmas and New Years in Greater Yellowstone again
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1000 miles is a great goal!
 
Regular overnighters add up, for sure, miles and "bag nights". A few years back, I was getting in ~75 nights per year, and at least half of those were single nights.
 
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