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National Parks and Forests - Backcountry Hiking

Hawk

Hawk

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Anybody a fan of the National Parks/Forests or just wilderness in general? I was getting nostalgic last night thinking about all the cool things I did in my late teens and early 20's. Still on my mind today for some reason.

When I graduated high school I took a job in Yellowstone National Park. Stayed there a summer and moved about 50 miles north to Livingston, MT. I did all kinds of backcountry hiking and camping, fishing, mountain climbing (sort of) for the two years I lived in the area. Big parts of me want to go back. Last time I visited I had a hard time leaving.

All my pictures are actual pictures. No digi camera for me in those days.
 
Love it all. We have some awesome national/state parks in Utah - Arches NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Zion NP, Wasatch National Forest, Dead Horse Point SP, etc. Done some great hikes in Zion (Angels Landing is incredible), the Wasatch, and Arches. And all of our ski resorts here are in the Wasatch Forest, so naturally I spend quite a bit of time up there in the winter!
 
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I lived on Lake Yellowstone while in the park. It's the largest freshwater lake above some elevation. Sits at about 9,000 feet. Very cold water with some huge Cutthroat Trout in it. Cool fact is that it's basically the center of the caldera of the huge supervolcano that Yellowstone sits on.

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SkiBumGolfer said:
Love it all. We have some awesome national/state parks in Utah - Arches NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Zion NP, Wasatch National Forest, Dead Horse Point SP, etc. Done some great hikes in Zion (Angels Landing is incredible), the Wasatch, and Arches. And all of our ski resorts here are in the Wasatch Forest, so naturally I spend quite a bit of time up there in the winter!
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Love some South Utah and North AZ. It's like a different planet down there.
 
We have become a fan of hiking and camping in the last 5 years or so. Usually take the dog with us and she loves it. Its actually a very low stress relaxing weekend for us. Living so close to the Adirondacks you can get kind of spoiled by the beauty.

As a kid I used to go with my friend and his dad. We would hike up this one mountain that had a nice waterfall and on the top an area where the stream would widen a bit enough for us to jump in and swim. I remember jumping off one of the rocks that was nearby. Not a high jump, maybe like 10 feet or so. The water was always freezing.

One of my family vacations when I was about 13 was a trip out west. Went to the grand canyon, zion national park, and bryce canyon. Also made stops through sedona, az. Nerfny and I went out a few years ago and did the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Both are incredible places.
 
Amazing picture Hawk. I really need to get to Yellowstone someday...

This is a good pictorial to describe the Angels Landing hike in Zion:
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But if you don't pee yourself and you make it, you are rewarded with this view:
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I want to do this hike again ASAP - simultaneously one of the greatest and scariest things I've done.
 
I'm with you Hawk! We have been camping all over Wyoming and Montana. I love everything outdoors! Probably why I like golf.
 
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While this was taken at a different spot in the park, it's a scene that I saw often while in YNP. Bison were most common in the public areas at the lake, but the lower elevations attracted Elk quite a bit.

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We moved up there in April of 1999 and were two of the first 12 people in the lake area that year. Completely isolated doesn't begin to describe the feeling. Snow was a good 8-12 feet on both sides of the road, so it was almost like driving through a tunnel everywhere you went.

It was really common to see a scene like this while driving around. What many people don't realize is that bison are dangerous as hell. I've seen cars that were rammed and dented by mad bison.

Bison-Road-Block-Yellowstone-Buffalo-Jam.jpg


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That Zion picture is amazing.
 
Livingston, MT was a great little place to live. A true western town at the foot of the Absaroka Mountains. Pretty small and relies on tourism to survive. I lived about two blocks from where this picture was taken. About a block from the Yellowstone River.

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Zion is absolutely incredible.
 
As ddec said we are spoiled by having the Adirondacks basically in our backyard. As a kid my grandparents used to take me camping all of the time in the green mountains in VT and we would go hiking in the Berkshires with my great aunt. Also I got to go to the top of mount washington the highest peak east of the Mississippi river with my friend Leigh Ann as a kid.
 
This is a great thread.
 
Not a big wilderness/camping/hiking fan. Unless there is a motel in the woods. Up until my 30's I didn't mind it but I got smart, haha.
 
You could say I'm a fan. Nice pics Hawk!

Here's a sunrise from my park. uploadfromtaptalk1366732736839.jpg
 
Hawk,
It sounds to me like you need a RV. GG will be calling shortly. :D
 
The drive south from Livingston to YNP goes through what is called Paradise Valley. Maybe the most amazing little place on earth. About 50 miles following the Yellowstone River with the Absaroka range on the east and the Gallatin range on the west. It's especially beautful in the fall and when the mustard is in bloom. Did some backcountry trips into those mountains that were pretty unreal.

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The valley has the effect of making Livington one of the windiest places in the US. Air sucks down the valley into the town and regularly knock over semi's. Not a great golfing spot, but they do have a little nine hole course.
 
HUGE fan of the National Parks, Historic Sites & Monuments; wilderness in general and back country hiking. Our house is decorated with prints from assorted National Parks that we have visited (mostly camped at): Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Redwood, Crater Lake, Mount Rainier, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Little Bighorn Battlefield...to name some.

Many, many fond memories.
 
Awesome t4K. I still have my YNP map that is raised with all the terrain hanging down in the basement. I'll see if I can dig up and scan some pictures one of these days. Maybe try to write a little about some backcountry trips I did.
 
I just got a book for Indiana trails since my 2 little dudes (12&9) wanna do it. We went around Saddle Lake a couple weeks ago (just 2.2 miles) and they really enjoyed it so I'll push the distance until I know what they're comfortable with doing. Hoping I can take them to the Garden of the Gods this fall.
 
No one wants to sleep in my teepee??
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Old school. I like it!
 
Hawk said:
Old school. I like it!
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Yeah, we have a camper now also. However I like taking my kids camping in the teepee... Makes them tough. lol
 
A couple things I loved about YNP in general were 1) you only had to walk about a mile to be completely isolated from humans and 2) the fishing was unreal.

I was just thinking about a couple lakes we hiked into early in the summer - Grebe Lake and Grizzly Lake. Both have Artic Grayling, which are a pretty rare fish. Big old sail on their back.

Grayling-1.jpg


Even Livingston proper had amazing fishing. I could walk to a couple of my favorite spots in about 5-10 minutes. Ironically, my favorite spot was right next to the golf course. I always wondered wth people would want to golf when they could go fishing lol.
 
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