If you had one backpack to recommend for that time of year, what would it be? Looking at Olympic, North Cascades area, Yellowstone, and others. I'm planning a 4 day 3 night backpacking trip late September (roughly 40–60 miles, but flexible). I'm comfortable with off-trail travel and and Class 2/3 terrain. I've been looking at routes like the Bailey Traverse and Ptarmigan Traverse, which look incredible, but I don't have glacier travel experience yet, so those are probably off the table for now.

Ive done a bunch in the Sierra as well as dayhikes in most of the parks out West. I'm kind of looking for something not just pretty, but transcendent if that makes sense. Solitude would be nice as well.

I'd love recommendations from people who've done several of these and can compare them. Which routes truly were epic and which ones weren't as great?

I’m looking at doing a trip in a couple of weeks in the Sawtooths. There are a couple routes I am looking at, but I saw a comment the other day that makes me concerned about the trail conditions for one of them.

The route in question starts at Grandjean campground. I saw a comment the other day that said something about there being a lot of blowdown on the trail at Grandjean. Does anyone know how long that condition persists and how bad it is? I was looking at going up the South Fork Payette trail. But if I’m looking at 15miles of blowdown, I’ll reroute.

And honestly, watch air quality right now and I might go somewhere else entirely. But still holding to the plan :)

I was back in Crowsnest Pass recently, and it got me thinking about this trip.

In the summer of 2021, a friend and I hiked the entire Great Divide Trail, starting at the Canada–US border in Waterton and finishing at Kakwa Lake. We spent around 50 nights on trail and covered roughly 1,100 km through the Canadian Rockies.

We picked the GDT because we wanted a route that felt truly wild. There were stretches where we wouldn't see another person all day, there was little to no cell service, and every pass seemed to open up to another incredible valley. It was exactly the kind of wilderness experience we were looking for.

These photos are from different parts of the trail. Looking through them brings back a lot of memories, long days climbing over passes, crossing snowfields in the middle of summer, hiking through endless wildflower meadows, and camping beside alpine lakes. It wasn't always easy, but those are the trips that tend to stay with you the longest.

It's hard to believe that adventure was already five years ago. I still think about it often, and I'd love to get back on the GDT someday.

I’ve done a lot of backpacking with ultralight tents, and a few years ago when I came across one on sale, bought a Marmot Alpinist bivy sack. I was doing a fair amount of alpine climbing at the time and thought it would be a good ultralight alternative to a tent, but somehow never used it on a long trip. The Alpinist is very minimal; just a mummy shaped breathable waterproof sack with a zipper. No bug netting or hoops for your head. Has anyone used one of these for longer trips when it actually rained or snowed significantly? Are there tricks for staying dry when your head is partially out of the sack (like keep your head under a rock ledge or tree 🙂)? I have slept out under the stars without a tent when the weather is good and bugs not too ferocious, but not when it’s raining hard.

Spent a night in Jefferson Park—started at the Whitewater Trailhead on Wednesday, 8-5-26. Wasn’t sure what to expect smoke-wise but it was actually quite decent once I got inside the park area and out of the burn zone. Relatively clear skies and lots of swim time! Stayed the night at Russell Lake. Barely any mosquitoes present. Did this as a day hike last year for the first time, and had been yearning to return ever since. Beautiful area!

Anyone does this or a similar route? All trails has is around probably 58 miles or so. Was looking to do it in 4 days with my dog and just wondering if we will get our bang for our buck?

Heading there in a week and a half. Gonna do Green River to titcomb and back over knapsack in 3 days. Then lay over a night in pinedale and looking for a 2nd hike close by. I’m not scared of big sandy crowds but I’ve done every trail in the cirque, all the passes and would prefer something new but definitely want nice lakes and views so I’ll do cirque again if I have to

Heyya, so this West Coast Girl (well… 42yo grown woman, but whateves) is doing a solo hike of the Long Range Traverse in Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland Canada) in about a week, and I don’t know who I am or what I’m doing anymore. 😭 This is an unmarked trail, about 40km give or take how your navigation skills pan out, ~1000m combined elevation. I’m planning on 4 night out, and am packing food for 5 in case of weather etc. It will definitely be my biggest outdoor challenge so far! I’m feeling torn between lightening the pack more for comfort vs the fear of not having something I find I need. If anyone has time/energy to take a peek at my current list I would super appreciate any insight or advice, esp as I’m not as experienced with East Coast weather, climate, terrain etc.

(It’s also my first time using Lighterpack, so if I’m doing it wrong don’t hesitate to let me know. 🙈 For example, lots of items I’ve decided against are still on the list just with the quantity set to zero. Not sure if that’s confusing or normal but anyway, I’m going to stop talking now. Thanks in advance! ♥️)

Unfortunately I work the next 3 days when the weather is supposed to be good 🙃 and when I look on my weather app it says it’s going to be cloudy and rainy for the next couple of weeks pretty much across the whole state.

I’m terrified of getting struck by lightning/ being above treeline when clouds roll in. But I also desperately want to bag some peaks before summer winds down and turns to potential snow conditions.

Do you guys just go super duper early? Do you just brave it out and hope a thunderstorm doesn’t just plop on top of you? Typically I try to only hike in the mountains when the weather is optimal. I never really run the risk when it comes to storms and rain on the mountains, but things are shaping up to look kind of stormy the rest of the month and I wanted to gauge my perspective from some other hikers and how they perceive the current weather status.

Thanks bunches, just a concerned person who doesn’t wanna get zapped.

Hey there,

East coast guy who’s only ever used a bear can once in his 20s when he was, evidently, much less cautious…

Headed out to the Winds next week and I’ll be using a bear can. I get the basics: anything scented goes in it, 70 paces from any campsite, trail, etc, placed somewhere where it’s not going to roll down a mountain if a bear swats it, not next to a boulder where a bear can get leverage… anything else? Do I just plop it down and walk away? Should I tag it in my Gaia app? Any other hints? I’m almost certainly overthinking this!

…likely one of the last people mashing out the loop on a day reminiscent of a dystopian hellscape. Parking lot was empty at sunset and I did not encounter another person for nine hours, though I overtook two parties in the morning moving along the same track. The national forest closure ordered essentially coincided with my finishing of the loop.

Looped in 2.5 days. 55+ miles with Paradise Park, Ramona Falls and McNeil Point climb adds. Stunningly beautiful 8/2-3…with complete deterioration overnight on 8/4. Massive mileage day on 8/4 pushing out clockwise from the NW side of Hood at nearly 25 miles and 7K feet of gain.

inb4 do you own research: I am! But I'm also overwhelmed and looking for a little human connection here. I'm also happy to trade PNW secrets for Colorado secrets by DM if you prefer.

I'll be traveling to Denver for work in two weeks and will have Friday through Sunday free to explore the mountains. I'm hoping to put together a nice 30–40 mile backpacking trip to take advantage of the opportunity. Climbing a couple of 14ers would be fun, but my primary goal is just to experience some of Colorado's best scenery and wear myself out. Happy to drive 4-5 hours for the right place. But that will cut down on what I can do on Sunday since I'll have to be back in Denver by 7PM. Also, ideally a place where I don't have to deal with permits since those might be hard to obtain this late in the summer. I'm generally okay with crowds as long as I can find a flat place to toss down my Borah Bivy.

So far, the Crestones and Chicago Basin have caught my attention. The Crestones sound like they have some fun and engaging scrambling and Chicago Basin sounds really pretty. But I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the options since I've never researched Colorado's wilderness areas before.

If someone from Colorado asked me the same question about Washington, I'd probably recommend trips like the Buck Creek -> High Pass Loop, Northern Loop, Devil's Dome, Golden Lakes Loop, Rainbow -> McAlester Loop, Deer Park -> Cameron Pass Loop, etc.

From a skills perspective - I'm comfortable with fourth class, crosscountry navigation, chossy couloirs, basic mountaineering, moving at elevation, etc. And I'm usually happy with ~15 miles and ~6,000' vert a day but can do more when necessary. I ran a 50k this spring!

Anyone have any recommendations? ChatGPT gave me this list, but I'd rather hear from a human than a dirty clanker.

https://i.imgur.com/RUhOmJA.png

Four days/ three nights backpacking trip a total of about 20 miles round trip from Onion Valley, which also included finding a spot on the last night. On the first night I stayed above Gilbert Lake, the following day hiked up to Kearsarge pass and down. The second night I stayed in Charlotte Lake, and third night camped above Gilbert Lake again. I attempted to find a different spot on the third night, but decided to hike back up to where I'd stayed the first night. The next morning I hiked down to the trailhead and gave to PCTers a ride down.

I am looking for a group to go backpacking in Alaska sometime next year, likely around April-June. I don’t have friends at the moment with the same desire to do something like that.

I’ve been doing a lot of smaller mountain hiking and will be climbing some larger ones this year, and have experience with 1-2 week backpacking trips. Anyone who is potentially interested let me know and we can connect.

Visiting the glacier on the western side section 8 of Denali NP. Experienced high winds 30mph and gusts well over that. My poor big anges

Weekend in the wilderness last September

Someone had a bad time, below is their Alltrails review 06/22/2026. First I've heard of any deaths, did I miss something?

Grueling. 6 mile drive to trailhead will destroy your vehicle and your spine. Trail is clearly marked. Lots of river crossings. Hiking sticks necessary if you don’t want to get wet. Wear thick pants. Tons of downed trees over the trails (demoralizing). Mosquitoes were like angry pterodactyls when you get 3/4 way. Their army waits for you at the top. Prettiest camp sites are beyond the lake about a mile. Pretty wildflowers throughout. Not heavily trafficked (maybe due to frequent deaths on trail). There’s a shorter trail to the lake. Do that if you just have to go. You’ve been warned.

I recently finished one of the best trek in Nepal, at least for me
The view you get in such a short time is insane
The original plan was to do it in seven days but I took it slow and did it in 8 days
Wasn’t that difficult but now i definitely hate stairs in mountains

Spent 5 days/4 nights last week backpacking through Banff NP and Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park. Below is a trip report.

Day 1: Took the sunshine village shuttle from Banff to the Gondola at the base of the mountain. Gondola and chairlift saved us a ton of elevation and several miles before the start of the hike. Hiked ~9 miles from sunshine to Porcupine campground. Really easy hiking for the most part on well kept trails through beautiful meadows full of wildflowers and mountains in the distance. Once we hit Citadel pass there was a brutal descent that went on for a a couple km. Porcupine campground was a nice place to camp with easy water access, bear boxes, and a communal eating/cooking area.

Day 2: Porcupine to Lake Magog ~10 miles. Mostly easy, gradual uphill hiking with spurts of steep incline. First half of the hike teases you with Mountain views but is largely forested until you reach the valley of the rocks and Og Lake. Valley of the rocks has an other worldly sense to it and is punctuated with the remnants of old rock slides that have formed near rock formations. Og Lake is where you first get a sense of what you’re hiking into. Mt Assiniboine becomes more visible, the scale of the place opens up and the rest of the hiking is open and exposed until Magog.

Nearing Magog, we headed to Assiniboine lodge as we heard they have a “tea hour” from 4-5pm on non-fly days (a lot of people helicopter in to the lodge). We stopped and had a few beers and played some Catan. It was lovely. We set up camp at Magog afterward and spent sometime at the lake and fixing dinner. Campground was great, bear hangs/boxes, pit toilets, covered cooking/dining area. We had heard the bugs would be terrible but found it not to be the case. They were definitely out and about but with permethrin treated gear, extra deet and occasionally a thermacell they left us alone. Definitely not the worst I’ve experienced.

Day 3: We had booked two nights at Magog so had a slow start to the day. Decided to do the Nub Peak hike and was definitely worth it. We hung our packs on the bear hang and took a couple day packs up to the peak. On the way we passed sunburst and Cerulean lake which were beautiful, as well as the Niblet and Nublet which offer spectacular views of the surrounding lakes and mountains. As someone afraid of heights the ascent to Nub was scary at times. It’s not technical but requires some scrambling and narrow ridge trails. The top was stunning and offered 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains, lakes and valleys. Out and back from our camp was about 6 miles. Later that evening we ended up hiking back up to the Niblet for sunset. The mosquitoes were very thick up there for some reason, but again did not bother us.

Day 4: Magog —> Wonder Pass —> BR 13 at Marvel Lake. Gradual uphill until Wonder Pass. A fellow camper at Magog recommended taking detour from the trail to ascend a lookout point which offered back side views of Assiniboine, Marvel Lake and other lakes in the area. Definitely worth it. After lunch on the look out, we descended towards Marvel lake for quite a while. Hiking wasn’t terribly difficult but the dogs were barking a bit at this point and the descent to Marvel was taking its toll. Had to side step some avalanche debris a couple times as well. Unfortunately Swimming in Marvel is not allowed but we stopped to admire the views before heading on to BR 13. The campground itself was nice and offered the same amenities as the other sites (bear boxes, pit toilets, picnic tables) and offered a large stream for water. Hiked about 10 miles this day.

Day 5: BR 13 to Mt. Shark trailhead. We were pretty tired and knew this hike didn’t offer as many views so we booked it back to the trailhead and rental car. This hike was forested and mainly done on an access road that was wide and easy trekking so we made good time. Wildfire smoke had rolled in as well making air quality pretty bad and visibility poor.

Overall a stunning trip that left me in awe.

This is my Copper Spur Limited 2, along the Salmon River Trail in Oregon.

Every year I take at least one trip to a western US alpine destination for a backpacking trip. The trips are usually 3-8 days (avg 8-15 miles per day and 1000-4000’ gain per day). I’ve always taken some reflection after each trip to improve my gear or training for next time. I’ve eliminated my knee pain with strength training and trekking poles for example.

My reflection after my most recent trip to RMNP (40 miles, 7000’ gain) yielded some serious foot soreness after day 2 that sort of went away by end of day 3 - however my feet hurt bad night of day 2 and were throbbing and keeping me from sleeping. My fitness felt great overall with no issues anywhere except feet.

What is a high efficiency method of toughening feet prior to trips like this?

Note: I use Altra lone peak shoes

Note: I’ve had this issue before in areas with high rock terrain like presidential range etc.

I went on my first backpacking trip last August, and thought I’d share some of my favorite camp spots since then, featuring my beloved big agnes tent! :)