Correction: (los angeles to new york)/1.6 miles and km is not the same, lol. Google maps fooled me.But still a good distance.
Texas is the largest state in the US. It takes over six hours to drive through it. My closest decent hiking is about 30 miles and takes about an hour to get there.
Theres closer walking trails but yes I find them a bit boring. The distance is why I haven't hiked since November. I did 3 miles then.
I want to move to Norway and hike 58% of my time. Why didn't I realize that could be my dream when I was 21 instead of waiting until I was 51?
Originally Posted by BillyGr
Ok, so where does the other 42% of each person go while 58% of that person is hiking?
As I said, they do pokemon go
And yes, you work a lot.... But I am not going there, other than tell that as a high school teacher I have 12 (some say 13) weeks vacation a year (but I have a 43,5 hour work week compared to the normal 37,5 week). In addition we also have a number of single days off, for more or less (un)clear reasons.
I guess I could have realized back then that I could stay here and hike 58% of my time, like career adventurers do, too, but Norway looks really awesome on Google maps, and either way, I was too busy at 21 following the road to responsible citizenship.you know that road- the one that led to job, marriage, mortgage, motherhood, divorce, job, relative poverty, personal enlightenment, not enough vacation time to experience what has been enlightened
I'm finding joy in my little dreams, day by day.
thanks for sharing your experiences, Oslohiker, it brought me on a virtual visit to your land.
Charlotte
I also have friends in Sweden who keep encouraging me to visit...especially if they find me a handsome Viking warrior!
Texas is not the largest state. Alaska is twice as big as texas.
Alaska alone is larger than all but 18 countries in the world. It has more coastline than rest of US combined as well. Its massive.Equal in size to 20% of the rest of the US, or texas, montana, and california together.
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 07-24-2016 at 13:52.
Oslohiker I have the impression that it's cheaper and more comfortable for an individual to fly into the US than for one of us to go to Europe. True?
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Miles to go before I sleep. R. Frost
Not surprised to read that Americans aren't as active as Norwegians... or many other countries. We are a vastly lazy bunch.
As far as parks costing money, after watching a show on PBS about (American) national parks http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/ I understand the NEED for regulation and maintenance of the parks, which costs a significant amount of money. It seems impossible to get all the visitors of the parks to learn, understand, or care about preservation. Many feel like they are in the wilderness and can do whatever they wish - completely oblivious or selfishly careless of the damage it can do when multiplied by millions of people per year.
Take the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for example. You can hike the trails for free, but to camp/ sleep in the park, you are supposed to read bear safety (and general safety) information on the website before you can pay for your permit. Either most people don't read it, or don't care to observe the rules because people cut live trees, leave trash behind, don't bury their poo, etc. Imagine how much worse it would be if there were no regulations or restrictions in parks such as this one?
So I'll agree it is unfortunate that we have to pay to use "nature", but when millions of people per year visit these places, without restrictions and maintenance they would soon be trashed, trampled, and the wildlife would be tamed or worse...
True, had been to US two times ('86 and '13) and found being tourist there is quite reasonable priced, especially the National Parks 1-year ticket is a sale. You get so much for this money.
Austria would be more expensive, and you would get much less for your money.
Had been in Scandinavia in '84 and found everything incredible expensive. Lived on very basic food (bread, cheese and milk, and occassionally a pizza-to-go) the whole time.
Most of the Central-European tourists visiting Scandinavia do this by own car/camping car and bring their own food for the whole trip.
About what is free and what is regulated in differend countries, there is good reason why it developed over the decades in the given way.
In US you have both, areas where strict rules apply, and areas where everybody is free to roam, simply due to the fact that you have so very much space.
No free roaming in tiny little overcrowded overregulated Austria.
Well, the airfare it self should be about the same. But the cost of hotel and food is a different matter. It is very different from country to country. For me as a Norwegian it is an before and after the oil crack. The dollar became almost twice as expensive. Before that Norwegians flew to USA with empty suitcases to shop, because everything was so cheap. Actually, flying to New York and stay at a hotel there and buy a suitcase full of clothes would be less expensive that just buing the same things in Norway. It is not like that anymore. People talk about USA being expensive, but that is because it used to be so extremely cheap because of out strong currency. But USA are still generally cheaper than Norway. Especially are food and fuel very cheap. If you go to a country like Spain it is still very cheap, except some hotels in the big cities. At my teachers salary I have no problems to pay for my to trips to the USA this year. I will probably have another one later this year too.
Lucky. Everything I look at seems to be $ 5000.00/$6000.00 after I pay the fare to get there.
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Miles to go before I sleep. R. Frost
FWIW, when considering the cost of hiking in Norwsy, you can fly from NYC to Oslo for only 300$ round trip (Norwegian Air's cheapest flights). Getting there may be cheaper than eating dinner.
If you would like to make it cheap. Take most of the food with you (not meat), and hike from hut to hut in the mountains.... for a week or two... (the huts are stocked with food). The hut system is extremely good. The only problem would be the weather.... you could have rain for the whole duration of the stay. That is the big draw back with our wilderness. Bicycling with a tent is a very good deal.... Water is everywhere and you can find good spots to put up the tent everywhere. I would not plan to much. I would check the weather map and take public transportation to wherever the weather looks good. With Norway you can't go wrong. Beauty everywhere. You can even stay in the woods (in a tent) near the big cities. It's free and the subway goes all the way.
My next wilderness experience will be biking the "Rallarvegen" (in a week or two):
I'm too American to bother to learn Norwegian. Too bad, too. Its a pretty country.
Why do you need to learn Norwegian? Every Norwegian speaks English.
i cycled around the world for 6 years. scandinavia, esp norway, was a highlight. see the sun setting, see somewhere sweet, pitch the tent, no worries. hell yes!
in usa, see the sun setting, see somewhere sweet, see "no trespassing, keep out, beware of dog, trespassers will be prosecuted, do not enter, private property" etc etc. hell no!
I will probably be taking a trip to Sweden next year, but probably not for hiking. Maybe some day will get to hike the Kungsleden. Also have wanted to visit Norway. A traverse of Jotunheimen National Park looks amazing. Isn't there a fee for staying in huts? Why not just tent? I know that hut to hut hiking is popular in Europe, but I am used to and equipped for camping. Isn't that a reasonable option?
That was my point exactly in the "freedom to roam"-thread.... you sat words on it!
The point is having a lighter pack and the convenience of sleeping in a bed. There is food at the huts, so there is really not any real need to carry much food.
Prices are. If you are a member around 20-27 dollars a night, non-member about 30% higher prices. Membership is about 70 dollars. But you could just tent. That is the route I mainly go..... I like the solitude.
And yeah, Sweden is great to... not that "wild", but still very beautiful.
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