Looking Forward to it!

Post date: Jan 13, 2015 4:25:08 PM

With the holiday firmly in the rear-view mirror, it's time to take a look at your calendar and start making a few plans. Trust us on this one. If you don't start planning your summer, it can easily creep up on you--and that makes planning a backpacking trip a lot harder.

First of all, you'll need to figure out what windows of time you have to make the trip. Last year we left this until it was too late, and by the time we were really reading to get hiking, P was already starting to teach again. That meant fewer, and shorter trips.

That's not going to happen this year!

We've already got plans to head to the desert in the spring, to do some hiking while the Sierra (hopefully!) stays covered in a deep layer of snow. And we have hopes of another trip to Peru in the later spring--see the photo at right.

If you want to know why, you can read about the trip on the website, here:

https://sites.google.com/site/backpackthesierra/home/machu-picchu

Or check out the Picasa photo logs here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/balzaccom/MachuPicchu#

https://picasaweb.google.com/balzaccom/Peru2011#

Which brings us to summer. It's not too early to start filing for your permits for those busy trailheads! For example, the Happy Isles trailhead in Yosemite, which would get you started on the John Muir Trail to Little Yosemite Valley and beyond, has full quotas for all but three days in June.

Of course, you can always try to get a walk-up permit the day of your hike....but that's not a perfect solution if you really have your heart set on a specific hike.

Time to start planning, people!