Too old for backpacking. Wanting to off-road.

I don't want to give up my outdoor wonderings, but for the last few years my wife and I have been doing only day hikes, each year hiking shorter distances. After reading through and looking at the pictures posted in the off-roading threads, I believe I am ready to hang up my backpack and let my Tacoma do the work. I would love to join the "Rock Therapy" at Moab, but my wife and I are teachers and won't be free to leave Arkansas until June 4. Are there any other organized trips planned for June in Wyoming, Montana, or Utah? My Tacoma is stock 4X4 and I don't want to do any hardcore off-roading. My idea is to drive, take short hikes, camp, drive to a new spot, camp, drive some more. Then I will find a hotel to recoup, shower, restock food and gas, and then take off again to a new location. I am looking for advice. Where are the most scenic places? What are the pitfalls? What should I take with me that as a long time hiker and camper I might not realize I would need while off-roading? Where are the good camping locations? Who serves the best breakfast? Where can I go and not do too much damage to my truck? I found the post that has a link where an off-road group has rated dozens of trails. This was a very useful link to start making plans, but some of the update dates were a few years old. Do these off-road trails change much after a few years? Can I still use these ratings to make plans? Any help and advice would be appreciated. Feel free to post pictures or links.

 

Seeing as how you're in Arkansas, you have to check out SuperLift.

http://www.orvpark.com

 

Hi Scuba.

I love my home state. Arkansas has great trails for hiking and multiday backpacking. Hot Springs is one of those places. SuperLift is good place to get your feet wet and has some real challenges. But I am looking for something new.

 

Bump.

The first post might have been too long for anyone to bother with. I am looking for advice for an off-roading vacation this June in Wyoming, Utah, and Montana. I would love to add some off-road pictures, but all I have are backpacking. Here some from the Grand Canyon.

Near the top, just below the South Rim. A lot of Day-user hike this part of the trail



About halfway down. 9 miles of hiking, 2000 feet of vertical change. Day-user are not allowed past this point.



At the bottom, near the river. 18 miles of hiking, 5100 feet of vertical change. You can hike for hours down here without seeing another hiker.




I was 49 during this backpacking and 55 now. It is hard for me to believe I've lost so much stamina in 6 years. But I am ready for this new adventure.

 

Are you avoiding CO for a reason?

 

Awesome pictures!

A couple of us WY guys are planning to do some trips here and there this summer in the great state of Wyoming. I live in Sheridan which has excellent access to the Big Horn mountains. Lots of the trails in my area are not overly extreme and can be tackled pretty easily in a good 4x4. Lots of spots to easily setup camp and not too far from food, fuel, and hotels.

However, I'm not too familiar with other areas in the state but I hope to change that this summer.

 

This is planned for Nevada, a bit further west, but should be a good time.
NV dirt trip

 

I've done some hiking in Colorado and points south of there. I just wanted to go further north. But I am open to any suggestion.

 

Keep an eye on regional meetups then, all the CO planning goes on here, there are similar threads for the Wyo, MT and UT guys as well.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/south-west/187907-upcoming-colorado-events.html

I know I plan a few overland type trips on here in the summer, here are two that I put together that came out quite well.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/of...es-georgia-pass-red-cone-webster-pass-co.html

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/off...gh-passes.html

 

Also OP, take a look at Expeditionportal.com

Lotsa info there to answer all of your questions. Seriously, you'll be lost in there for hours! They also have a lot of meet ups.

But like other members have mentioned, check out the regional threads for trips, scenic info, etc.

A lot of your questions have been answered here or there, so use that search button & google to take advantage of the info already out there.

Also, expeditionportal! LOL

 

Southern Utah in general has loads of places you can go. My girlfriend and I spent 2 weeks driving around in an older Subaru outback a few years ago. I'm itching to go back now that I have my Tacoma.

Actually the whole southwestern US has vast areas you can get to with your truck. I'm sure you can find places no one has been to for a very long time.

 

Oh and I just moved to Little Rock myself. I joined Arkansas 4X4 Crawlers off road club. They sound like a nice bunch. We're having a meet up at Superlift this Friday morning. I'm still pretty new to off roading and want to learn how to do it safely.

 

Oh, I haven't stopped. I just returned to camp on day 2 of a three-day outing. I am just looking for more adventuring than what my knees can handle. We put in a little over 6 hours on the trails today with light packs.