Wilderness Backpack-Camping Suggestions Needed

Good Morning Gents,
It has been quite some time since I made any posts to this forum, and the first time ever to this sub-forum, however I figured you would be the best lot to ask. As time has progressed I am now in the home-stretch of my high school career, and I am starting to think that maybe it would serve well to do a last-hurrah with the 'mates before going off to university. Now a trek around Europe would be nice, but alas it is not practical, so on a smaller scale I was thinking it advantageous to consider simply a few days, maybe a week, of pure self-sufficience(sp?).

What I am referring to is camping well off the beaten path, not at established sites but rather 'this looks like the spot' type camping. Perhaps even procuring dinner off the land (fish and small game... [mmmumm-mmm rabbit stew]). The best way I can describe it is 'Hell' from the first 20-minutes of the film 'Tomorrow when the war began'.

I live in New England, but I don't see much of a problem about travelling a little beyond the borders, maybe as far as PA if something exceptional presents. This would be summer, and whilst seclusion is a factor, so are factors such as climate (warm-hot, but neither desert nor tundra!), sight seeing (not just 'hey theres a tree, and another tree, oh a puddle!'), accessibility (10mile hike okay, needing a bush plane to get there, no!), etc.

I'm just firing off ideas, no pun intended, so any ideas that one might have, please put them out there.

Cheers.

I'd look at some of the backpacking loops in the northern end of Baxter SP in Maine. You can do some moderate loops in some relatively untouched wilderness. Plenty of legal brook trout fishing to be had in the lakes. White mountain trips are probably closer but you will most definitely encounter others, and if you try to kill anything there you will get beaten by a bag of granola from the throngs of tree huggers.

Dirk-Lerxst-Pratt said:

you will get beaten by a bag of granola from the throngs of tree huggers.

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Ha!

Now that was funny... Gotta love those granola-packin' tree huggers...

Maine isn't that far away... Ill have to look into it thanks.

There used to be some great backpacking in the Whites & the Greens, but the last time I was up that way on foot Dick Nixon was President .. the Great Smokies are, hmm, great, but not where I'd go in high summer due to crowds & climate. Are there any canoeing opportunities up that way?

garyg said:

There used to be some great backpacking in the Whites & the Greens, but the last time I was up that way on foot Dick Nixon was President .. the Great Smokies are, hmm, great, but not where I'd go in high summer due to crowds & climate. Are there any canoeing opportunities up that way?

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No we're the great Northeastern Desert... no waterways what so ever...

We have rivers and such, so I suppose we must have canoeing opportunities...

Ill have to look into the Whites and Greens... how about the Oranges? Then we can have the Irish flag rofl
---Unfortunately yes, anything that can be classified as 'great' often can be characterised as flooded with the 'this is what a tent looks like' type people....

Cheers

Look into the Appalachian Trail. I have hiked portions down in the Southeast in TN and NC.

I wouldn't try to go completely off the grid by myself the first time out, that's a recipe for needing an airlift out after spending two nights hungry and lost in the wilderness

Check out meetup.com, there are lots of great camping and hiking groups you can hook up with, learn some fundamentals while making new friends.

My first duo backpacking trip when I was 19 did not go well. It rained the entire time in WV wilderness and we ended up doing a four day trek into two because we were tired of being wet. I'm glad we were the track team captains haha.

Ill keep the SAR team on speed-dial ... I have roughed it before and I recall quite a bit of it... It has been a while though lol...

The Appalachian trail...or as someone once called it, the application trail... is a bit far isn't it? Isn't that western PA? Thanks for the suggestion though...

Gunney said:

Ill keep the SAR team on speed-dial ... I have roughed it before and I recall quite a bit of it... It has been a while though lol...

The Appalachian trail...or as someone once called it, the application trail... is a bit far isn't it? Isn't that western PA? Thanks for the suggestion though...

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The AT runs from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Georgia, nobody makes you hike the entire thing in a single outing, if I recall correctly somebody made the whole trip in less than two months, end to end.

No, from the looks of maps on the App Trail's website, it goes through the eastern part of PA.

http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail/terrain-by-state/pennsylvania

A3M0N said:

No, from the looks of maps on the App Trail's website, it goes through the eastern part of PA.

http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about-the-trail/terrain-by-state/pennsylvania

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Ohh, I guess I was mistaken. Well I guess that is why I am not going to become a geography major at uni! lol...

Yea thats one helluva walk to do in a single outting! lol

You don't have to do the entire trail, like garyg said. You just find a couple of trail entrances, hike them, then head back. Like on one trip, some friends and myself hiked from Lemon Gap in NC to Deep Gap in TN, then camped for the night. The next day we headed up to Max Patch Mountain. The next two days were spent heading back to Lemon Gap then the drive home. The entire trail would take weeks even months with many resupply stops etc. Its easy to take a few days out and hike and camp on the AT, its well marked and traveled.

A3M0N said:

You don't have to do the entire trail, like garyg said. You just find a couple of trail entrances, hike them, then head back. Like on one trip, some friends and myself hiked from Lemon Gap in NC to Deep Gap in TN, then camped for the night. The next day we headed up to Max Patch Mountain. The next two days were spent heading back to Lemon Gap then the drive home. The entire trail would take weeks even months with many resupply stops etc. Its easy to take a few days out and hike and camp on the AT, its well marked and traveled.

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Yea sorry I wasn't questioning the ability to do just a small segment, I was being sarcastic .

I don't mean to sound too negative, but I suppose that is the tone of my post.

It doesn't sound like you have any experience in the woods. You really should consider a series of shorter well planned excursions before attempting an extended trip into the back country. Here in Missouri we have plenty of 'experienced' hikers and backpackers lifted out or carried out by horseback from Mark Twain NF every year. It wasn't a few months ago an experienced backpacker 20 year Air Force vet went out for a long day hike with his two boys 8 & 6 and the family Labrador. Three days later SAR found them and only the Lab walked out of the timber.

Plan, don't exceed your experience or that of your group, and don't become a statistic.

RichieRich3902 said:

Here in Missouri ...

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+1 on Missouri hiking!

Some friends and I are in the process of section hiking the entire Ozark Trail, and it has been a great experience. About 100 miles behind us and 240 still to go. We only manage to get together a few times a year and do roughly 20 mile weekenders, so it will take a few years for us to finish it up. Been a blast so far though!