2026 Adventures

Over the last week, I’ve looked through trail descriptions, blogs, guidebooks, and a bunch of internet sites trying to find some interesting trails to hike this year. Part of me wants to just go back and re-hike some of the places I’ve been. You know, they’re familiar and planning would be low effort. On the other hand, I don’t have too many hiking years left and I want to make sure that I cover some new trails before it’s too late. Several trails, like the Bigfoot Trail and the Northwest Trail, are intriguing and probably would’ve been a good choice 10 years ago, but I’ll be 76 this year and frankly they’re probably too dangerous for me. Realistically, trails under 200 miles are more appropriate. So far I have found several trails that fit the bill.

In no particular order, there is the Grand Sawtooth Loop. Clocking in at somewhere between 60 and 76 miles, it circumnavigates a set of high peaks in the Sawtooth Range of Idaho. It’s about two hours east of Boise. I’m told the scenery is stunning, the trails are pretty good, and the elevation gains and losses are heroic. Still, it sounds pretty interesting.

Next up is the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles, California. It’s a 67-mile trek that ends at the ocean. It’s almost impossible to conceive that within the confines of the Los Angeles area. There is a 67-mile mostly wilderness trail, but the Backbone Trail is that trail. Unfortunately, it was affected by the Palisades Fire of last year. It appears that parts of it are still not open for hiking. So I’ll be exploring that little problem in more detail.

Then there is the Santa Fe to Taos Trail. This new trail is 132 miles long and, not surprisingly, goes from the city of Santa Fe to the city of Taos in New Mexico. I have sent off for the guidebook and will be delving into the nitty-gritty of that trail soon. Cappuccino found out about it, and she sounds like she’s up for trying it with me. Which will make it all that much more fun.

Finally, in conversation with my old hiking friend, Slinky, the other day, we hatched a plan to go down and hike in the Gila Wilderness in May. He has never been there, so it’ll be fun to introduce him to the area. Cappuccino looks like she’ll be joining us, too, which will make it an epic trip!

So that is the list so far. I will go over each trail in more detail in future posts. I also hope to add several more treks in this general range over the next couple of weeks. And I will report them here as I figure them out.

Until next week, safe travels and happy trails…