Seeking winter destinations

In the U.S., or anywhere?  Because in the U.S. is tough.  The Hayduke Trail or any parts of it?

I’m not strictly married to staying in the US, but looking to keep travelling affordable, to roll airfare into an absorbable cost the destination trail would have to be decently long and the local cost of living low.

For example, I could jump on the LIRR into NYC @ $14 dollars, then grab a bus for $15 or an amtrak for $75 to pretty close by to any southern point on the AT, have my backpack along – gear wise I want for very little, and the only costs will be my daily consumables.

The Olympic coast in Washington is clear of snow most of the winter and has some nice backpacking, but it’s very wet and windy in winter, even though the temperatures are moderate (30’s and 40’s for lows mostly). Tides are also an issue that must be factored in when hiking around points.

The Florida Trail?

Thinking of Florida, winter is actually the BEST time to hit the Everglades- it’s not hurricane season and the bugs are more bearable.

If you could find a cheap flight to Phoenix, the lower elevations (Sonoran desert) of the nearby Superstitions are usually only doable about this time.

Add: everywhere can have cold or warm spells as New York City is uncharacteristically warm right now (was mid-70’s reportly) , but Phoenix seems to be reliably warm (saw snow fall once during the freak cold fronts of 2010-11, but it melted before hitting the ground)

The ultimate is New Zealand’s South Island, which has decent buses and trains, but requires a 1k+ plane ticket.

If you improvise a way to bypass Mount Lemon the Arizona Trail is usually snow free all the way to Pine (southern half, roughly).  A bunch of the southern sections are gorgeous in winter, but are fairly high elevation and can easily get into the teens or colder in Jan-Feb.

Hayduke is out except in truly mild winters without major route changes, and again is majorily at 5k or above and thus darn cold, especially in canyon bottoms.

The southern stretches of Buck Nelson’s desert trail are probably doable in winter: http://bucktrack.com/The_Desert_Trail_Map.html  The CA stretch looks particularly inviting.