Backpacking, Best and Worse

[AntlerPeak]

A general question designed to stir past memories and perhaps create ideas for others to try.

What are your best backpacking trips?
What was the worst of all time?

Here is my top three

(1) The 100 mile wilderness on Maine's AT
(2) A four day loop through the West Canada Wilderness and Moose River Plains
(3) A four day hogging going up the Ammo trail exiting at Gale River carrying only a day pack. Staying at the huts and adding side trips to Jackson, Tom, and all the Bonds.
I know shameless and perhaps technically not backpacking, or was it?

The worst
On a Columbus day we Intended a four day trip from Upper Works to Duck Hole and out via the N-P at Long Lake with a bushwhack of Couch from the Cold River. On day one when arriving at a lean-to at Duck Hole. A downpour started. It did not stop for four days. We hole up in that lean-to bored to tears. The highlight of each day was the ritual of fixing meals and sleeping. We set a record for sleep. On the way out it was impossible to cross Roaring Brook to go back to the UW. We were forced to exit twelve or more miles via the Bradley Pond trail and walk the road back to our car at UW. We learned the Bradley Pond trail is in worse shape north of Bradley Pond lean-to than it is on the more frequently used southern side from UW road.

I am sure you guys have some fond memories stored up as well.

 

[rhihn]

Best:

(1) 4-day Long Range Mt. traverse in Gros Morne, Newfoundland.
(2) 7-day backpack trip in Kluane Park, Yukon.
(3) A two-week "hut" style hiking of Haute Route Switzerland (I wasn't going to post this one as a backpack, but if AntlerPeak can be shameless, so can I! )

Worst: Not too many bad backpack trips (a few bad dayhikes, though). One that does come to mind was one leg (Wakely Dam-Piseco) of the Northville-Placid trail, done (stupidly) in April. With no snow to start the trip, and no snowshoes carried (suggestion of a ranger), snow got progressively deeper. We postholed something fierce, and prayed for the few muddy sections!

 

[Sadie]

This is my first posting, I've been reading postings for a while and have found everything so helpful-- so I finally decided to join!

Most trips have been memorable! Best was either trip to Unknown Pond to do Mt. Cabot, view from the horn was great, it felt so remote and we had a moose siting or trip to 13 Falls via Galehead Mt. and then doing a day trip from there to Owlshead--it also felt remote & it felt good to get Owlshead done or of course I can't leave out the stunning trip via Zealand to Guyot campsite and then over the Bonds!

Worst was the first backpacking trip I ever did- over the cannonballs to Kinsman pond campsite - the weather was nice, the trails were nice, but it was so bad because I didn't know what I was doing and packed everything but the kitchen sink-- my pack was so heavy and overpacked with alot of stuff I didn't really need that my shoulders ended up all black and blue-- lesson was learned for future trips that have all been enjoyable!!

 

[sweeper]

The Best by far was Topping out on Pamola looking over the knife's edge and down into Chimney Pond. I was absolutely blown away I knew there was a Knife's Edge, but there's a knife's edge on Franconia Ridge. I hadn't read alot about the mountain. I EVEN missed the ariel photo in the visitors center and just was not prepared for that AWESOME site.

The worst was due to sheer ignorance as a kid. The weekend before Thanksgiving freezing my A$$ off at Kinsman Shelter after a long day on the AT. I over packed for a long time after that one.

 

[deb]

Best and worse backpack

This question really made me think back. It is really hard to think which backpack was the best. Most were really great. I would have to say it was my honeymoon hike to Thoreau Falls, then down to where Desolution Shelter used to be, up Carrigain and back.

My worse started out pretty good the first night off the Dry River Trail. Our intent was to go up Isolation, but after threatening skies and thunder, we decided to turn back and take down camp. The downpour started shortly after that, and the Dry River trail flooded soon after that, making it hard to tell the trail from the river.

 

[una_dogger]

The best and the worst of it

Hmmmm.....

The best:
'Round Annapurna Circuit and Sanctuary
(cept for the 'bathroom' at Annapurna base camp--eew!)
Ten days in the La Garita Wilderness, Colorado (where I want my ashes scattered)
Terra's first trip, 120 miles of the Maine AT from Rt 4 to Monson; what a blast!

The worst:
When I lost my dog to a rattlesnake on the LT
Four days of cold rain during the tough 32 on the Maine AT
Trying to eat poptarts and cream cheese by Elk Lake in the Dacks, ingesting more black flies than food!


OMG AntlerPeak! I was planning to do that Duck Hole loop this fall, now ya got me thinkin'!


Sabrina

 

[AntlerPeak]

Hmmmm.....

The best:
'Round Annapurna Circuit and Sanctuary
(cept for the 'bathroom' at Annapurna base camp--eew!)
Ten days in the La Garita Wilderness, Colorado (where I want my ashes scattered)
Terra's first trip, 120 miles of the Maine AT from Rt 4 to Monson; what a blast!

The worst:
When I lost my dog to a rattlesnake on the LT
Four days of cold rain during the tough 32 on the Maine AT
Trying to eat poptarts and cream cheese by Elk Lake in the Dacks, ingesting more black flies than food!


OMG AntlerPeak! I was planning to do that Duck Hole loop this fall, now ya got me thinkin'!


Sabrina

Just stay away from the northern half of the Bradley Pond trail. If you go in there The lean-to at Oluska Pass is in a beautiful setting. The one at Miller Falls ( Cold River ) is nice I helped rehab that one some time ago and the next one south Cold River is also nice. Plumleys on Long Lake, very nice. Kelly Point is excellent. The lean-to at Rodney Point has a long beach right on the lake. I don't recall if it is Rodney #1 or Rodney #2. Trouble is you would never get the section done is you stayed at all of them. It would be fun to try.

 

[bigmoose]

Best:
Three days in & around the Pemi, July '95. Owlshead on 100 degree day, great cool-off afterwards in Lincoln Brook, wallowed over the height of land and down to 13 Falls. Day two, shortly after starting up Twin Brook trail, derecho roared through. Terrifying! I was saturated. I found out two days later how severe a storm it was...the Northwestern Adirondacks were devestated...fortunately, the destructiveness had abated somewhat by the time it reached the Whites. Climbed Galehead and Twins in the clouds, on to Zealand, camped in a soft hidden mossy spot just off the trail. Day three was crystal clear, jaw-dropping views from Guyot and the three Bonds. Another dunking in the Pemi River on the way out.

Worst:
Sewards, Sept. '00. Things were fine until my left leg's ilio-tibial band stiffened somewhere between Donaldson and Emmons. I signed the canister log but dreaded what lay ahead. Trying to descend Emmons brought excruciating pain. I could put no weight on my left leg. That makes downhills somewhat problematic! (and only about 3,000 feet of descent awaited me.) The only way to descend Emmons, then Donaldson and Seward was backward! This ordeal took five hours...darkness fell coming off Seward, and I fell a lot too, in the mud...took some hellacious spills. Headlight crapped out and I was glad I had a backup flashlight. I was never so glad to see my little tent just off the herd path by the lower creek. I got zero sleep that night.
Next day I hobbled out with full pack. Fortunately, trail back to Coreys is mostly flat. My physical therapist at home, himself a hiker, knew all about my malady, and worked out the kinks over six weeks time. But I missed the rest of the fall hiking season.
Next time up the Sewards it'll be Calkins Brook, for sure!