Where should I go?

[Makeshift]

Hi.

For May 2013, I am hoping to do a hike. I don't want to deal with too much snow - so I'm likely looking at the South. I'm from the west coast, so I'm likely looking at the west, though I'm open to going where ever. I've never really done a long distance hike - the longest was the West Coast Trail in BC, Canada - about 5 days. That said, I'm comfortable with most anything. Current thoughts are Campo to Big Bear on PCT, but...I was hoping for some advice.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Makeshift

[takethisbread]

Couple ideas:
Lost coast trail
rim trail in Bryce
Arizona trail

How long you out? Best hike depends on how long.

Best place that time of year might be the Shenandoah on the AT. But that's east.

[fiddlehead]

Campo to Big Bear is an excellent idea.
If you want to be around people.
There will be a lot of PCT thru-hikers there at that time.

There will be a lot of snow at places above, say, 6,000 ft (2,000 meters) in elevation.

Most places on the AT will be OK except for NH and Maine.
Ice out is normally May up there and then you have mud season, followed by bug season.
But, as a Canuck, you are familiar with that.

The AZ trail may be too much snow also that time of year I believe.

The Gila wilderness in NM would be quiet and a challenge although you may hit some snow there too at the higher elevations.

Good luck.

[garlic08]

You can wander around the Grand Canyon for a while, starting at the South Rim. It probably doesn't get too much better than that. It'll start getting hot at the river then, though.

I don't know a lot about the Utah slot canyons and it might start getting hot too, but there are probably some good options there. Grand Gulch might be good for a start.

May is a little late to start a NOBO AZT hike, and a little early to start SOBO during a normal snow year, but there are hundreds of miles of trail that would be very nice then in the Superstitions, Mazatzals, and the Mogollon Rim areas.

In the Gila Wilderness and north (where the hiking starts getting interesting on the CDT), in addition to higher elevation snow you have high water levels in the Gila River to contend with.

Nothing wrong with the PCT idea. Have fun!

[Makeshift]

I'd basically have all of May - theoretically I'd have all of June as well - but I don't think I can spend it all hiking.

You say the PCT would be busy...would it be busy while you're hiking, or just at camping spots in the evenings? Is there much of that part of the trail that is above 6000 feet?

The grand canyon sounds interesting - I've never seen it and of course its on my bucket list. Can you spend 2, 3, 4 weeks hiking through there? I'm not good at just wandering about, I like to have a trail to follow...a direction to go with a goal at the end. I'm a bit hesitant to do things other than that as I think I'd just get happy with a spot, and not having anywhere I need to get to I'd probably just camp out haha.

Thanks for your replies - sorry mine was late, I thought I'd get email notifications, but didn't.

-Ty

[garlic08]

The Arizona Trail goes through the Grand Canyon. In May, there may be too much snow to safely climb to the North Rim or to hike past it, but it could be a good hike to approach the Canyon from the south on the AZT. Look at www.aztrail.org. One of my favorite hikes ever was to hike from outside of Phoenix to the Grand Canyon in April via the AZT one year, about 300 miles, and May would have been a better time for it. There is some difficult, dry country hiking in there, and some good challenges.

Permits are needed for backcountry camping in the Canyon. Check out the National Park website for trails and campsites.

Here's a PCT profile: http://postholer.com/databook/elev.php There are a few spots in S Cal that climb near 9000' and there could be a few lingering snowfields in May, but generally it's below 6000'.

[takethisbread]

The Arizona Trail goes through the Grand Canyon. In May, there may be too much snow to safely climb to the North Rim or to hike past it, but it could be a good hike to approach the Canyon from the south on the AZT. Look at www.aztrail.org. One of my favorite hikes ever was to hike from outside of Phoenix to the Grand Canyon in April via the AZT one year, about 300 miles, and May would have been a better time for it. There is some difficult, dry country hiking in there, and some good challenges.

Permits are needed for backcountry camping in the Canyon. Check out the National Park website for trails and campsites.

Here's a PCT profile: http://postholer.com/databook/elev.php There are a few spots in S Cal that climb near 9000' and there could be a few lingering snowfields in May, but generally it's below 6000'.

i did a rim to rim last january 1. its doable to scale the North Rim, the road to it was closed though. So u got to do the rim to rim to rim. its a brutal hike, we did in 3 days. the footing near the top is real sketchy. hot as hell in the campsites tho. 3 days be prepared to have 22,000 feet of elevation change or more. its rough, but pretty.

[garlic08]

i did a rim to rim last january 1. its doable to scale the North Rim, the road to it was closed though. So u got to do the rim to rim to rim. its a brutal hike, we did in 3 days. the footing near the top is real sketchy. hot as hell in the campsites tho. 3 days be prepared to have 22,000 feet of elevation change or more. its rough, but pretty.

I know what you mean, and it's a classic hike. I did the R2R2R in early March one year with two nights at Bright Angel and I would have felt a lot better with crampons. It really depends on the snow that season.