I herniated a disc in my back a few weeks ago near Tahoe during my PCT thru attempt, and, although I'm still holding out some hope that I can get back on trail and do a decent-sized chunk of what's left, I'm also starting to be realistic about the fact that, even with treatment and a few weeks of rest, I'm not moving around all that great (stiff for 1-3 miles of walking, in pretty decent pain after 3-5) and am not necessarily going to be in a position to go out and hike 8-900 miles.
With this in mind, I'm starting to look towards some alternate travel that lets me see some cool "big nature" sights, but which don't really involve much hiking. I don't really have a ton of great ideas (because I was obviously focusing on my thru), but I'd be curious if you guys have any suggestions for places/general areas to visit that meet the following general criteria:
1. Low effort, high reward scenery. (Don't judge me, I'm injured.) I can probably swing short hikes in the 3ish mile range, but am trying to avoid anything super intense- probably looking for some combination of stuff I can see from a car/very short walks.
2. Cheap, accessible areas to sleep, I.e. car campgrounds, etc. that you don't need to book months in advance.
3. Accessible within reason from a major airport. Thankfully, the seated position is pretty comfortable for me, so I can handle a decent amount of driving, but this probably isn't the best time for an epic roadtrip, either.
Timing wise, I would probably be looking to do something in the 1-2 week range in late August/early September. I'm still working through PT and trying to get back on the PCT as my first priority, but I want to make the best use of my time off work even if hiking isn't in the cards. I realize that this is a super open-ended request, so I'm mostly just looking for starter ideas.
