Great Backpacking
Destinations

By Lin Stone

*** ***

*

Four Self-Defense Tips
To Protect Your Life, and Your Kids 

The Adventure Medical Kit is ideal for campers, even Guides and other Outdoor professionals. Designed for trips with 1-12 people for up to 14 days. Large easy access zippered compartment, color coded for easy access to the supplies you need fast. reflective piping for high visibility.   Click HERE to review our best models.
.

The Grand Teton National Park is my second choice. This beautiful national park is found in western Wyoming. Set up as a national park in 1929, it boasts of nearly 200 miles of trails for hikers. These travel routes will provide you with outstanding mountain vistas and wildlife viewing opportunities. You can spend a whole summer backpacking this area.  The central feature of the park is the Teton Range.  It is a mountain front forty miles long rising from the valley floor some 6,000 feet. It is said the Tetons were formed from earthquakes that occurred over the past 13 million years along a fault line. The Grand Teton is over two miles high, or 13,770 feet (4,198 m).  And there are at least twelve pinnacles soaring over 12,000 feet (3,658 m). Seven morainal lakes adorn the base of the range, and more than 100 alpine lakes dot the backcountry. Wildlife can be seen lingering near the park roads, so be alert -- for their safety and yours. Elk, moose, mule deer, bison and pronghorn, are commonly found in the park. You can see black bears roaming the forests and canyons, while grizzlies range throughout the more remote portions of the park. More than 300 species of birds can be observed, including bald eagles, peregrine falcons and trumpeter swans. As a safety precaution, all outdoor enthusiasts should carry — at a minimum — water, high energy snacks, and extra clothing during any backcountry excursion. Be sure to stop by the Moose Visitor Center (12 miles north of Jackson, Wyoming) to speak with a park ranger about suggested trails and safety tips, and to pick up a ski/snowshoe trail brochure.  The Moose Visitor Center features wildlife exhibits, a relief model of the park, and an introductory video.   The rock formations that make up the Grand Teton area are roughly 2500 million years old and are made from sandstone, limestone, and various types of shale. The rocks also contain volcanic deposits. The vegetation includes beautiful trees that are able to survive the cold windy slopes, such as the Whitebark Pine, Sub-alpine Fir, and Engleman Spruce. Evergreens are more often found on the valley floor and other species of trees, including, aspens, cottonwood, willows, and alders are found around the moist soil near rivers and lakes.

For the fortunate few, life isn’t complete without a backpacking trip through Europe. This rite of passage is believed to further the maturation process of college students, according to sociologists. Of course, others have opined that copious amounts of alcohol, sun and Amsterdam have something to do with it. Regardless of your purpose, you still have to figure out what to take. 

Yosemite National Park One Park. Four Seasons. Countless Adventures. The unmatched scenery, year-round recreation, and a sense of timeless peace are but a few of the wonderful reasons Yosemite National Park is so close to the heart of so many backpackers. Yosemite is located in California at the rugged base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The park is largely made of granite rock and remnants of older rocks. It is said that ice slopes were created about a million years ago and the movement of the ice masses going down slope sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts the most visitors. Over three million people visit the park yearly and most are attracted to the giant Sequoia groves that are still found there. Many wonderful sites for backpackers to visit besides the Sequoia groves are O’Shaughnessy Dam, Yosemite Valley, Hetch Hetchy Valley, Half Dome, North Dome, Mariposa Grove, and Tenaya Lake. For sheer pleasure there is nothing like camping out beside one of the many beautiful waterfalls found in this region. Yosemite’s black bears were once famous for stealing food by breaking into parked cars and there are still bears around. Once used as a tourist attraction, the park now discourages interaction between black bears and humans.  You may need to explain this new arrangement to each bear on an individual basis. Backpacking is open between late spring and early fall. If you are thinking of an overnight trip into the backcountry, a wilderness permit is needed. Also required, bear resistant food storage.

Here are two more quick ones Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is located just north of the Grand Teton National Park and is a rich source of trails for backpackers. The park has many of the same species of vegetation and animals. Yellowstone is part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and many animals travel between the two parks. Some of the animals you will see while backpacking in either park are Moose, American Bison, Elk, Black Bears, Mountain Lion, and Wolf. You will be glad to know that although the park has four different species of reptiles, none are poisonous. Great Smoky Mountain National Park. This beautiful park is one of the most visited national parks. Found in both Tennessee and North Carolina it has beautiful slopes and boasts of the quality of the remnants of Southern Appalachian mountain culture. You rarely find snow in the parks low to mid elevations. Typically snows of an inch or more only happen a few times each winter. In the higher elevations, it snows more often and several park roads may be closed to traffic because of deep snowfalls. Backpackers are always on the lookout for the lightest possible gear to carry. If there is water to be expected there isn’t any need to carry several large containers of water. However, if you choose not to carry water, you should carry a filter or purifier to allow safe drinking from lakes and streams. Trail mix and freeze-dried food take up little room and can be reconstituted with hot water. Any food you take should combine high-energy content wit low mass and little volume. Get Your Own Survival Tools and Equipment. Thousands of items to choose from.  Just for example, you will find 23 different tools to start a fire.  There is one method that will easily and surely light a fire in a fierce rainstorm any time you need it.  Yet the fire will extinguish instantly to avoid detection, leaving no residue, no odor, and no smoke.

the end

About the author:  Lin Stone maintains a National Directory of the best health insurance companies on the web and a National Directory of the best car insurance companies on the web. Hundreds of his other articles are available for free reading on the Internet. Just Click HERE to see an index to his works.