Camping, backpacking, hiking, et al

[Popeye_Card]

Meh. Unless you really like geysers and bison, I still feel Yellowstone is overrated in comparison to most western parks.

EDIT: Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you had a great time. I just recommend that you explore some more.

[Freed Roger]

Meh. Unless you really like geysers and bison, I still feel Yellowstone is overrated in comparison to most western parks.

EDIT: Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you had a great time. I just recommend that you explore some more.

I'm going to get there someday. More interested in Glacier, and Olympic, and Kings Canyon (or whatever the latest cover shot is on Backpacker Magazine lol). I know we've discussed this before - and I've come to agree with the assessment (It may have been yours) that some of the best places to enjoy aren't necessarily in the NPs, when it comes to camping, BPing, hiking. The more iconic stuff trend to be in NP, but if you want to camp at alpine lake with the waterfalls etc, a better experience may be had in Natl forests.

My youngest is going to be a sophomore, and probably not going to happen for us as part of the proverbial yellowstone family road trip. (We won't have two weeks for it)

Thus, since it may be just two of us, and/or gasp a grandchild perhaps - I visualizing us going to Yellowstone at off-peak time, and hoof it away from the crowds (and also chill in the Tetons and Jackson Hole).

Fortunately we have a lot of options of places we'd like to visit. Have a network of friends/family that like this stuff too. One just backpacked Montana section of Continental Divide Trail (Glacier) and is asking recruiting me for the next time. Just need time and continued good health.

Heck, I'm just stoked to take my daughter kayaking on the Current River Friday (short window of time).

BTW - We've made vacation trips to Colorado about 10 times in the summers. We've done plenty of hikes, and backpacked in the Gore Range. But incredibly have never been to RMNP. I'm not opposed but there's a lot to see and explore where we we've gone (Summit County). Just the balance of chilling in a condo and making day trip adventure vs driving all over to stamp the passport.

[Tim]

Meh. Unless you really like geysers and bison, I still feel Yellowstone is overrated in comparison to most western parks.

EDIT: Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you had a great time. I just recommend that you explore some more.

Where else? Yosemite? Tetons? Looking for easy daily hikes with the wife.

[Popeye_Card]

Meh. Unless you really like geysers and bison, I still feel Yellowstone is overrated in comparison to most western parks.

EDIT: Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you had a great time. I just recommend that you explore some more.

Where else? Yosemite? Tetons? Looking for easy daily hikes with the wife.

I do like the Tetons more than Yellowstone for my tastes. Or in that same area, the Beartooth range has some great hiking.

Zion has some amazing hiking and is very accessible from Vegas.

I also like the San Juan mountains in SW Colorado.

[Tim]

Thanks. Drove that Beartooth highway while snowing. White knuckles the whole time. Couldn’t pull a pin out of my butt with a tractor all the way back to Red Lodge.

[IMADreamer]

Meh. Unless you really like geysers and bison, I still feel Yellowstone is overrated in comparison to most western parks.

EDIT: Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you had a great time. I just recommend that you explore some more.

Oh I intend to explore more for sure. I want to do Glacier as soon as I can. Michelle and I have been trying to figure out how to make a lot more national parks work for us. Life is getting to busy and cluttery again and I feel like I'm wasting my life away. We are going to figure out how not to do that and to go do more.

The downside for us is that it's basically a 19 hour drive to get to "the west."

[Hoot45]

Meh. Unless you really like geysers and bison, I still feel Yellowstone is overrated in comparison to most western parks.
EDIT: Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you had a great time. I just recommend that you explore some more.

Oh I intend to explore more for sure. I want to do Glacier as soon as I can. Michelle and I have been trying to figure out how to make a lot more national parks work for us. Life is getting to busy and cluttery again and I feel like I'm wasting my life away. We are going to figure out how not to do that and to go do more.
The downside for us is that it's basically a 19 hour drive to get to "the west."

The Highline Trail in Glacier is the "most worth it" U.S. National Park trail that I have hiked. It is accessible (but not too easy), features a diverse range of experiences, and is non-stop spectacular for the first seven miles. Glacier is my favorite among the most popular visited parks.

[Freed Roger]

Big fan of Oregon. The coast, rain forest-like coastal mountains, big volcanic mountains. Columbia River Gorge. Etc. It has it all.

Lots of easy accessible trails to waterfalls and vistas etc. Beer wine and the organics - its all there. Generally a nice blend of nature outdoorsy stuff with commerce/tourism. Or there are harder more backwoodsy things.

Dreamer- with way you like driving cars, the pacific coast highway man...you gotta. Fly to portland rent something and wing it.

[Popeye_Card]

Meh. Unless you really like geysers and bison, I still feel Yellowstone is overrated in comparison to most western parks.

EDIT: Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you had a great time. I just recommend that you explore some more.

Oh I intend to explore more for sure. I want to do Glacier as soon as I can. Michelle and I have been trying to figure out how to make a lot more national parks work for us. Life is getting to busy and cluttery again and I feel like I'm wasting my life away. We are going to figure out how not to do that and to go do more.

The downside for us is that it's basically a 19 hour drive to get to "the west."

I feel you. Tack on an extra 10 hours for me to get there from Ohio. It makes it a pain in the ass to pack much camping gear, but flying to Vegas (Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon), Denver, or SLC is usually pretty cheap and helps offset the car rental.

[Freed Roger]

Was surprised how fast we boogied out to Colorado. KLeft at 4am and blew past our planned stayover (Goodland KS) by 2pm and were in Frisco CO for dinner (with benefit of time zone). Granted, Dreamer -you'd be another couple hours from there. ansas and Eastern CO I-70 has improved a lot since we first went out that way. A little slower ( depends on your luck and accidents, say 20 extra min on avg) in Denver and going over the front range than it used to be.

We usually stay around there, but next time out I'm hoping to press on further -Aspen perhaps, Maroon Bells, Black Canyon of Gunnison, Crested Butte, San Juans, Moab etc.