Hello all.
I just read this article about How younger Americans are just not going forth and exploring the wild, natural wonders of America like us older fogies have done in the past.
America the Beautiful is a wondrous place to visit and explore. I have to say, that in my time i have driven through or explored and back packed or lived in 46 of the states. and i ain’t seen nothing yet. Theres a whole lot more to explore. I used to love back pacing the national parks in the rocikes and west coast. My froends and I did it with simple back packs and all the food we could carry for a week or two at atime to explore the back country. 20-30 miles from any road. oh yeah, and before cell phones. so just us and the Grizzlys.
Like on one of my early trips to Yosemite, Ca. I decided to free climb up the cliff behind the lower falls of these falls in Yosemite valley,
to see what I could see. Hmmm 1971. Dang…That was 41 years ago!!!
And it was a grand sight of the valley from behind the water fall. Its getting harder to find wild America. and apparently fewer young people are making the effort to see it these days. While it lasts.
SO What sights of America have you seen and would like to share?
I’m getting olde, Next time, Im taking a dang motor home. Back packing is for mules.
Ken, I also hiked up to Bright Angel Falls when I was 16. Probably not the safest hike, considering I was bouldering water soaked granite. But it was a remarkable experience and the force of the water is amazing.
My girlfriend, Steph, was just telling me she had seen this news clip this morning. Just now when reading your thread I thought of something.
In the past many Americans my age had a husband that worked and a wife that stayed home. Now a lot more then ever both have to work. Often both have to work multiple jobs. I can’t afford to take off enough time to reach the west coast let alone stay and enjoy it.
How often did people used to “go for a drive”? Now how often do people consider the cost of gas before they drive more then 20 miles.
Most of the reason is likely more due to technology, but part of the reason has to be the change in the economy.
Thats true, I did a whole lot of traveling and back packing western state parks and stuff in my early 20s before i really started working. Had lots of free time, no money, but gas was 25-50 cents a gallon. So i could just call up some friends and in an hour have a back pack filled with food and stuff and ready to go fo a week or two in the high country. We would usually hike in 15-30 miles from the road. a one or two day hike each way. and then explore the area. Usually at a river or lake for water.
When i was a kid, my folks always liked to do the American Vacation road trips all over the place too for a month each summer. but those were mostly drive bys. You know, the worlds biggest ball of tin foil, and stuff, and the Arizona “Thing”. Smokey mountains, Ontario and grand Canyon scenic views. But later I wanted to see the back country and mountains where most people didnt go or see. just hang out in wilderness for a few weeks at a time. Which i did on my own. Wilderness being somewhere there are no roads or people for at least 20 miles in any direction.
But, you can drive the 3000 miles out west today in a Prius and it only takes 60 gallons each way. My old cars back then didnt do that good. Theres a lot to see around our country. like the article said, fewer people are getting out to see it. it helps to know what needs protecting environmentally . the original America. I guess i might be getting the travel bug again, now that im retired, again.
One of the places I visited as a teenager was boulder field In northern PA. It is a 1.5 X 1 mile field of huge rocks deposited by a glacier millions of years ago. It is quite a challenging terrain to travel across but a unique experience. Hiking through the smoky mountains of TN / NC was also pretty neat. I would like to see the badlands in SD sometime too. Baja California Sur is pretty desolate when you leave the cities. On a ranch in the middle of nowhere was a neat oasis with a small pond with fish swimming all about. I even was able to trap some for a young boy to keep in a bowl. :GOLD)
Those are cool sites. Hiking the Appalachian trail would still be on my to do list. if not all of it, perhaps some of it. It just takes time. Its always better to get off road. I’ve driven through the bad lands on several occaions. all’s i can say is: it’s pretty bad. like driving through endless rock and gravel piles. More interesting would be Zion National park, Utah. A long drive along a plateaux with a colorful eroded drop off.
And trails to hike down on.
I have gone to the depths of a west Pa. coal mine. The Hidden Valley Coal Mine. Ride the coal car into the mountain and take a whack at hammering a drill hole for blasting , like my Grand Dad did in a mine nearby, back around 1920? Tough work if you can get it. A bit of American history.
I’ve camped on the beach below this bridge on Highway one on the way to Big Sur, Ca. many times.
it’s a pretty steep climb. But there’s a big cave down there, on the north end of the beach. The ocean is cold, like 58 degrees, so you wake up covered and drenched in fog and The Morning Dew. It takes a few hours of sunning to dry the sleeping bag out. But then you still smell like Kelp and dried fish the rest of the day.
We have a great big beautiful country. Dinah still says it best:
I never made it to Zion, but Canyon Lands,Arches and the Moab area of Utah were one of the more interesting areas of the SW that I have seen. I would really like to see Yellow Stone at some point. You think the water is cold at Big Sur? Try surfing Monterey in a spring suit, the water is around 50.
Oh, I know about the cold water out there. When i lived in SF, I used to jog from my apartment through Golden Gate park to the beach, jump in the cold water to chill out and freeze my Pezzauchi’s off. Soak up some sun a while to dry out, then Jog the 3 miles back home. in spring the water was near 50, and would warm to 60-62 by fall. always cold. But it felt good for a minute.
Yellowstone is more like Jelly Stone if you stay on the road. crowded with tourists, campers and busses. I’ve back packed it several times for 2-3 weeks a time. Once you get off the road, the back country is nice and wild. I think we hiked out of the north end of the park on one trip. got to the colorado river. Didnt see any people for 2 weeks back there. Ive got some old instamatic pictures somewhere. I didnt always take a camera, takes up space. and weight.
Nice, Fort Point can get some huge waves. I understand the National Park crowding situations. I remember waiting in a traffic jam to enter Yosemite. As I am sure you are aware of, there is a huge discussion going on about “loving out parks too much”. Another Park on my list is Olympia in Washington; the temperate rain forest would be interesting to hike around.
