Where should Jim go for Spring Break this year?

[Jim Lyding]

Where should Jim go for Spring Break this year?

[fricknaley]

i went with 3,4 and 6

[big_load]

I'd go backpacking in AZ.

[azbackpackr]

Wha...no Lake Havasu on your list? Don't you want to watch Girls Gone Wild while breathing in healthy doses of carbon monoxide and beer fumes? What is the matter with you, man?

[Jim Lyding]

I'm open to suggestions, BTW

[Rob del Desierto]

You can join up with our GG trip.

[rally_toad]

Too bad you can vote three times, but not three times for the same option. #3 coupled with hikes in the area, thats what I'd do.

But this spring break for me is JOSHUA TREE!! Cant wait!

[Jim Lyding]

I've been schnockered in Las Vegas many times so that's pretty low on the list. Joshua Tree NP sounds pretty damned cool, however, especially when coupled with some hikes in the SoCal high country.
PageRob I think you just added a new variable.

[Rob del Desierto]

We've got an extra permit at the moment. And you could easily extend your time in the area with Canyonlands/Natural Bridges/etc.

[Jim Lyding]

PageRob, don't hold it for me but keep me in mind if it remains available. My buddy from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science keeps telling me that he's going to get us a trip to Keet Seel, but it hasn't happened yet. I need to get up to that area.

[azbackpackr]

Keet Seel is not open until Memorial Day, unless your buddy has some sort of a deal, being from a museum. It might be awfully muddy this time of year, also. Keet Seel is also a very easy gig to set up, and is only a one-night backpack. You can't stretch the backpacking part of it to multiple nights, and you can't do anything while you are out there--you are confined to a small fenced area which you are not allowed to explore beyond, due to it all being Navajo Nation ranch lands. So you sit there in camp being bored. I would do something else if I were you. Grand Gulch is a way more cool trip than Keet Seel in many respects. Way more things to see, and no caged-in feeling. I'd go with Rob's invitation.

[writelots]

So you sit there in camp being bored.

Clearly, this woman hasn't been on one of MY backpacking trips

[writelots]

I voted for the Catalinas Camping and the Guadalupe Mountains...but my other vote would be for you to tag along on the GG trip with Rob and the gang (me too!). It's a nice time of year to be up on Frog Mountain - all the creeks will be pretty fat, and there should be some top-notch waterfall/swimming hole action. However, it could be quite wet and cold, too. I've been caught in more than one snowstorm on these mountains as late as April. It's just hard to predict (though I usually use my own hiking schedule as a weather indicator: if I'm planning a hike that would be better with warm weather, it's guaranteed to be wet and snowy!)

[jeffmacewen]

I actually like the Hitchcock campground for a quick get-away. Lots of trail opportunities nearby (Climbing, too.)

[azbackpackr]

So you sit there in camp being bored.

Clearly, this woman hasn't been on one of MY backpacking trips

This is true. But I don't like sitting around for very long, even if I have good company. When we went, I had the permit and was the "guide," and 9 mostly-SAHC members showed up. We did have lively conversation at the campsite while we waited our turn for going into the ruins with the ranger. Then afterward, some of the folks went and skinny dipped in the creek, (I heard about it later but wasn't invited.) Then in the evening the young Navajo ranger came back and asked if anyone wanted to see the ruins at night. My son went along with her. He said they saw the ch'indi (ghosts of the Anasazi.) He's still sticking to his story, too, 10 years later. Wish I would have gone, but those old ch'indi would have taken one look at me and not shown themselves, I'm sure.

So if you do go to Keet Seel, be sure to stroll back over to the ruin in the dark!

[Jim Lyding]

My buddy is an archaeologist

[azpride]

Schnockered. Hiking is totally lame.

[Jim Lyding]

Whatever I do will involve the consumption of muchas cervezas

[SkyIslandHiker]

Jim,

Since you're from Arizona and can hike here anytime, I would opt for Las Vegas - BUT instead of getting "schnockered"
I would head out with my hiking gear to nearby Red Rock Recreation Area, Valley of the Fire, and Mt. Charleston.

Bill Bens
TucsonHikers

[jeffmacewen]

Bill are you related to George Bush??