Any websites for trip ideas?

Gorp.com still has some articles specific to certain regions. Here is a family guide to Yellowstone trails (not a link, just copy and paste):

http://www.gorp.com/parks-guide/travel-ta-family-day-hiking-hiking-backpacking-montana-gardiner-yellowstone-national-park-sidwcmdev_060500.html

Also look at backpacker.com "Destinations" for ideas. According to a buddy of mine they are dissociating from Trimble but you can still download some GPS points.

Many U.S. Forest and Park service websites have a list of trails for further study. Also check your local Sierra Club websites (I know the Arizona Sierra Club maintains a list of Tucson hikes with mileages, etc..).

Okay, This is the one I use.

edited to fix the hyper texty thingie. Come on BPL give us a short cut button to do this!

Thanks. I checked out the websites. They are pretty basic not allowing me to be selective and specific. First thing, i would have to know my destination or geographic area to use these sites. I'm actually on the other side. i don't know where I'd like to go but I know what I'd like to do (hiking, biking, …) and my level (strenuous hiking) to know my options to choose from. I guess there's not such a site other than forums like these that I post my questions and get ideas of places I can travel.

Thanks but please keep writing if you know other sites.

H

Backpackper.com has a page dedicated to this – http://www.backpacker.com/trips/

If you want to go to Washington, WTA has a Hiking guide where you can select a hike using some basic criteria. http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes

A search of Amazon will populate hiking guidebooks, some of which are available for digital download.

Holly, here is another idea. I don't know where you live, but you can check around your local outdoors organizations and their web sites. For instance, one that I've been affiliated with posts its backpacking trips for the whole season starting around April. Then sometimes more will be added during the summer. You have two choices. One would be to actually check out those trips and participate on one, just to see if that is your style. Otherwise, just read up on the trip locations and pick one to do on your own.

Or, you can go to your local REI store, buy a backpacker trail guide book, and read it.

–B.G.–

Try summitpost.org too. Climber oriented but they seem to have a lot of tough hikes too.
… (hiking)
In terms of generally wanting to go regular hiking (no snow stuff), usually the high mountain passes out west are snowed in until July-ish, maybe the beginning of August. The lower Rockies can see lightning from monsoons though and drought may open up the mtns earlier. Low deserts – just reverse. I had a paper map with public lands and elevation once that I just scribbled over each state or portion of the state with the best "3-season gear" months.

"I'm having a hard time getting outdoor trip ideas and I'm looking for a site that might help me with."

I'm with Nick on this one. sit down with good maps of the area you're interested in and evaluate the trails in their topographical context. Once you have a list of candidates, you could post again with questions about specific candidates you have come up with. also, you might spend some time browsing thru the Post Trip Reports forum for ideas. they typically contain not only pictures but narrative that describes what the writer experienced on the trip.

A little self~promotion. Our website has destinations sections for most of the Siera Nevada, with photos.

It's non-commercial, we just do it for fun, but it has a lot of different trips off just about every road that leads into or across the Sierra.

Poke around there, and see if you can't find somebyou like.

And if that doesn't work, go old school: Sierra North and Sierra South are BOOKS! That have exactly what you are looking for.

Another resource for Northern California is Kevin's Hiking blog.

http://kevingong.com/Hiking/index.html

Paul's website is also really useful. Thanks Paul.

Give us some more info for the type of trip you want. Length in miles and days. How you will get to the trailhead., driving the whole way, or flying in and a rental. NorCal is huge. Some even think it starts way south, like Stockton. Trinity Alps, Marble Mountains, Russian Wilderness, Lassen NF, the Siskiyous, Six Rivers NF, etc.. All of them are in Nor Cal, well FarNorCal.

It is a well traveled bunch right here on this site that can certainly put you where you want if you give us more info on what you are looking to do.

I've found alltrails.com to be helpful in locating areas to go.

However, once I've found an area with trails it's more useful to scour the web for more details. Park service and forestry sites are helpful to get started. Some places get blogged more than others. Do poke around!

Caltopo.com is a great tool. I use it to view GPS tracks of a trails even if they're a bit old. Mountain bike sites are are really good for finding these. I've found tracks for virtually all trails either in blogs or mountain biking sites. No need to pay for them, though I've been tempted to do so.

edit: clarity

Here is BPL’s Trip Report Index

That's pretty cool. Any idea who maintains that and how they automatic the data extraction from trip reports? I'd love to see this as a feature directly on BPL…

Here Ya go Skip Trip Report Index Thread With Submission Form

Check out Traildino

Are you thinking about creating such a site?

I use maps and google, and word of mouth.

The more talk a location gets, the more I avoid it. If I mention something and no one recognizes it, I plan to go there.