worthwhile peaceful backpacks between 1 and 2 miles from roa

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windknot
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Re: worthwhile peaceful backpacks between 1 and 2 miles from roa

Post by windknot »

You never specified locations in the Sierra (though maybe that was to be assumed, given the forum), but one great place for these kinds of short "backpacks" is Death Valley in the winter. You can pull off to the side of the road nearly anywhere in the park, walk a mile or two, and have a ton of beautiful desert all to yourself. I did this a year ago and it was a great way to get a bit of a wilderness experience without too much effort. Certainly preferable to one of the many drive-in campsites with tents almost stacked up on top of each other.
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Re: worthwhile peaceful backpacks between 1 and 2 miles from roa

Post by SSSdave »

windknot wrote:You never specified locations in the Sierra (though maybe that was to be assumed, given the forum), but one great place for these kinds of short "backpacks" is Death Valley in the winter. You can pull off to the side of the road nearly anywhere in the park, walk a mile or two, and have a ton of beautiful desert all to yourself. I did this a year ago and it was a great way to get a bit of a wilderness experience without too much effort. Certainly preferable to one of the many drive-in campsites with tents almost stacked up on top of each other.
Yeah I was thinking Sierra. But since you brought up Death Valley, I would strongly agree that during those rare winters like 2005 it can be an astounding place to backpack into:

http://www.davidsenesac.com/images/print_05-d8-3.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Vast areas of absolutely pristeness where there are no human footprints. I talked to DV rangers about that and they chuckled that most people are simply afraid to simply ramble off from roads more than a half mile. There is something about the waterless landscapes that scare people even during winters like 2005 when it is so green. Of course there are almost no places even then where there is potable drinkable water so a person has to carry all their water and that limits how far they can practically get off roads and for how long. Much like other southwest desert hiking. If they ever have another winter like 2005 and I have the free time I could easily spend a month in the park. It is so absolutely huge, I would only be able to put a small dent in my ideas of what is possible. The canyon in my above picture had zero zilch footprints in the wash I hiked into there although there were thousands of people less than a couple miles away each day gawking at all the flowers from the highway.
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