briansnat
Platnium Member
I think 17 miles was my longest day hike. I prefer to keep them under 10 though.
Longest one day hike?
- Thread starter JimBob
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Pathfinder1
Well-Known Member
Hi...
The longest hike...where the approx. mileage was known...was either ten or twenty miles (cannot rember which) R/T on a cold, clear winter day in the Arctic.
This was along a dogsled trail between the tiny village of Bettles and the Yukon River.
I've made longer distances during my trapline days, but was never interested in, or had the means of computing the mileages.
The longest hike...where the approx. mileage was known...was either ten or twenty miles (cannot rember which) R/T on a cold, clear winter day in the Arctic.
This was along a dogsled trail between the tiny village of Bettles and the Yukon River.
I've made longer distances during my trapline days, but was never interested in, or had the means of computing the mileages.
ppine
Forester
Pathfinder,
I met a guy from Bettles once up in BC. He was an Alaska native, but liked technology. I asked him if he ever ran a dog team. "Naw, I like my snow machine too much."
I met a guy from Bettles once up in BC. He was an Alaska native, but liked technology. I asked him if he ever ran a dog team. "Naw, I like my snow machine too much."
Pathfinder1
Well-Known Member
Hi...
How true. Even the Natives use snow machines as their primary winter means of travel..excepting for longer distances...then it's by small plane (air taxi).
ghostdog
Valhalla, I am coming
The longest I am sure of by GPS was 17 miles in canyon country with light overnight packs, lots of ups and downs. We had to do the same mileage and terrain the next day and ended that second day like a couple of zoned out zombies, clinging to each other, stumbling back over the last couple of steep climbs followed by a mess of arroyos we hit because I decided to take a shortcut, ha ha. I have to say we saw and found a whole lot of stuff. Packs had to be lowered by lines at times and to surmount one pourover going back up I had to push girlfriend up by her boots as far as my arms could extend. She took up the packs by the line and then tied it off so I would have some help. Honestly in canyon country it is more about hours than miles.
This is just one scene from one of the back to back 17 miles hikes. It gives an idea of the terrain but only a tiny bit of it.
one of the creatures we came across;
strange juniper root;
This is just one scene from one of the back to back 17 miles hikes. It gives an idea of the terrain but only a tiny bit of it.
one of the creatures we came across;
strange juniper root;
Yes Ghost dog, 17 miles in Canyon country is a long hard day. If you are not scrambling over rocks then you are walking in sand. Great pics though. Have you done any trips into Dark Canyon? I havn't but hoping to get down there this spring.
Marshmallow
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I hate to admit it. Even though I love the idea of setting up camp in the great outdoors far away from the safety of my car or camper, we always make it back to our car well before sunset.
ghostdog
Valhalla, I am coming
Oh, I think you are going to like it. I have been in Dark Canyon but my experience there is limited. It was on a trip we took up to Indian Canyon backpacking a place across the river from Canyonlands. We had hit Valley of the Gods on the way and did some exploring there as well.
In Dark Canyon we had time for a day hike on that trip and wanted to see Al Scorup’s cabin in Horse Pasture. We drove up the route just east of Natural Bridges, past the Bears Ears and The Notch so the ride up was surreal. The trail started up top in the Manti-Lasal National Forest over 8000’ and drops down steeply into the canyon. The top and bottom are completely different worlds. The walls are strikingly beautiful shades of sandstone, rose, yellows, cream colors. The floor of the canyon was somewhat flat and covered in thick grass. It has a far different look than many other sandstone canyons. Right where Horse Pasture canyon meets Dark canyon sits Al Scorup’s cabin. He ran cattle there in the 1890s. The cabin has wooden furniture and two wood stoves. One of the stoves is a huge cooking stove. It must have been an amazing place to live. I got a great shot of the horse skull that is mounted over the door.
The canyon system as you know from talking to folks and the map is huge so there are many possibilities that we have not gotten to do yet but that area is well worth it. The small taste we got was fascinating.
ghostdog
Valhalla, I am coming
That sounds so fine. I just looked up the route you are considering in one of my reference books, Hiking the Grand Staircase Escalante and the Glen Canyon Region.
I'm going to read more about it later tonight.
That's the guide book I have as well. I've got the TI map #703 ordered and I've also got Utah on the Nat Geo state series. Once I get my water holes planned and verified, I think I'll plan a full week in there so I can play around and do some side trips. I hope I can get in there around early May although they have had more winter than we have. I was surprised at how high the upper end of Dark Canyon is.
ghostdog
Valhalla, I am coming
I think I have every TI map in southern Utah and had the TI #703 with me on that Dark Canyon trip. It helped just navigating the back roads to get to the trailhead in conjunction with my hiking GPS, as well as going on afoot. I have some of our campsites marked on it in other places we have been south of Dark Canyon. Another area I like is the White Canyon/Natural Bridges area. I got that National Geo Topo of Utah when it was V2.6 years ago. That has come in real handy for printing very detailed maps in areas we have gone to explore all over southern Utah.
I just counted my reference book collection for the southwest alone and it contains 62 volumes. I get a little carried away with both books and maps.
Maps are a backpackers pornography.:tinysmile_fatgrin_t
ghostdog
Valhalla, I am coming
That's the truth. I counted 21 TI maps and have Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and California on National Geo Topo disks.
I was trying to figure out the route Gary Snyder and Jack Kerouac took on their famous trip into the Sierras in The Dharma Bums. I looked over the place names on National Geo Topo and found everything including the peak they called the Matterhorn. It is all in Yosemite. After that trip where Gary loaned Jack all the equipment he needed, old mad Jack wanted to go out immediately and build his own outfit for rucksack travel.
And mine go from Utah north, including Co, Nv, Wy, Mt, Or, Wa, with just a couple of dips into Az and Ca.