Top Six Backpacking Trips

[SHANEA]

According to the Sierra Club magazine, March/April 2007 - the top six backpacking trips are:
1.  Ansel Adams Wilderness, California
2.  Mt. Rogers National Rec Area, Virginia
3.  White Mountains, New Hampsire
4.  Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas
5.  Wind River Range, Wyoming
6.  De Long Mountains, Alaska  

[Picacho]

I think the Guadalupe Mountains are a great place and I would highly recommend a backpacking trip for anyone, but it's hardly worthy of top 6.  I would think this would just attract more people.

[presidio]

According to the Sierra Club magazine, March/April 2007 - the top six backpacking trips are:
1.  Ansel Adams Wilderness, California
2.  Mt. Rogers National Rec Area, Virginia
3.  White Mountains, New Hampsire
4.  Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas
5.  Wind River Range, Wyoming
6.  De Long Mountains, Alaska  

Aren't these lists great? I wonder how you get to be a certified picker-outer of things like this? :D

You will notice the writer has a definite bias for green mountains. I daresay there are any number of desert hikes in any number of locations that are equally 'top' for backpacking or any other kind of hiking.  :!:

But, then, I have a definite bias for deserts (full-disclosure :D  :D).

[mountaindocdanny]

Mt Rogers number 2 on the list? It is a very pretty area and unique for the southern Appalachians (balds with some exposed rock).  Can be very pretty in June when the rhododendron bloom, but hardly in the top 6 destinations. The Winds, Whites and Sierras definately deserve places. Never been to Alaska but I'm sure it deserves a spot as well. The Guads? Sure I love them and think that they are worthy of exploration, but if they were in Arizona with all the other sky island ranges they would likely only deserve an honorable mention. It's the fact that they are in Texas that makes them unique.

[Al]

. . .  The Guads? Sure I love them and think that they are worthy of exploration, but if they were in Arizona with all the other sky island ranges they would likely only deserve an honorable mention. It's the fact that they are in Texas that makes them unique.

As a Texan, raised far from West Texas, I can vouch for that!  After driving through all that desert and then humping it into the Bowl to smell the Ponderosa pines and have a vast view is truly a joyous experience.  

It's like an itsy bitsy bit of Colorado without the Coloradoans!

Al

[okiehiker]

The NPS used to use a criterion known vaguely as "national park values" when assessing inclusion or exclusion from the National Park System.  Thus as an Okie, I was ashamed, but could not argue when Platt was reduced from National Park to National Recreation Area.  The springs are unusual and the travertine pretty, but the area certainly lacks anything that can be called "national park values."

Most people's experience of GUMO is good, but not quite reflective of the real reason justification for inclusion in the NPS.

My family has lived in Dog Canyon for 100 years.  When GUMO was created I thought it was cool, but I really did not believe that the area had "national park values."

The Capitan Reef is of course the most significant geological formation of it type in the world.  The cavern systems in the range are equally significant.  The western escarpment is one of the most amazing vistas in the country.  The real drama, however, lies in the canyons.  The hiking is very challenging, but the extraordinary contours and textures of the terrain make GUMO an equal of any hike in America.  

That said,
 
Ranking Grand Canyon vs. the Sierras vs. Cascades, Zion, Moab, White Mountains, del Carmens, Smokies, Wind Rivers, Beartooth is less than meaningless.  It is, however a lot of fun, as people's taste and experiences are so varied.

I probably led the first Sierra Club National Outings at GUMO in 1990 and 91.  I'm kind of glad to see it on the list.  :)

[Al]

Okiehiker, did y'all ever investigate the "blow hole" to the cavern under your family's property further?

Al

[okiehiker]

But it has always intrigued me.

I have thought about it, but there are many factors involved.  The number of people who camp on the ranch and do amazingly stupid things is remarkable.  

My great uncle was the first homesteader in the canyon when it first opened.  Over the years he was the only one who stayed.  For years the state of New Mexico boarded a teacher on the ranch for all of my cousins.  When there were only a couple left in school, Mary moved in with a family in Carlsbad to finish school.  For A.J., Verna drove the bus to Carlsbad.  In those days it was a seventy mile drive, one way, fifty miles of dirt road.  Talk about a long ride.  A. J. milked the cow and fed the cat at 4:30, by 5:30 they headed to school.  Verna worked at Furr's in Carlsbad until 3:00 then drove home, getting back at 6:00.

The fights they had with the park service when GUMO was created were difficult to say the least.  I hate to do anything that will increase the traffic across the ranch.  They have lived there for 100 years, nine miles to the next door neighbor, and that's a brother.  

I still want to get back there a drill out a larger hole, but I don't want to create a tourist attraction!

[Al]

I understand your feelings and support them.  Mrs. Glover didn't seem that happy either when we stopped by her place all those years ago.  

It hasn't slowed you down, that's for sure.  

Be sure and don't let us know if you ever drop a tape down it.

Al

[presidio]

Mrs. Glover didn't seem that happy either when we stopped by her place all those years ago.

I know what you mean, but in the other context.....what did you do to Mrs. Glover to make her unhappy when you stopped in????  :D  :D  :D  :D

[Al]

We tried to buy all of her Coors Beer!

Al

[Al]

I think we ended up negotiating a six pack of Coors, a six pack of Budweiser, and another six pack of beer, I don't remember the brand for some reason.   It is the one and only time I had to negotiate the purchase of beer, six pack by six pack.

We never left her place without an indelible chemically stored memory.

Al