How to Plan a Day Trip In The Wilderness
Because it’s time.
Have you been counting the days since you last saw sunlight? Has it been forever since you left your house? Do you even remember what a tree looks like?
It’s time you get outside. But how, and where to? Equivalent to walking into a Chinese buffet, unable to pick what you want to eat, you may not know how to choose a destination. That’s okay! I have a long, long list of destinations on my phone that I’m constantly adding to and staring at to pass the time. A few months ago, I went through this list and high-lighted locations that I could visit for various day trips. This works particularly well during this time of additional safety precautions and travel limitations.
What makes for a good day trip you ask? Excellent question. It’s a matter of preference, but I recommend destinations that are less than a three hour drive away to make the most of your visit. This way, you can leave at a reasonably early time of day and still spend about 8 hours exploring and adventuring before you have to head home. Plenty of spots are perfect for day trips, including Zion National Park. Some strategic planning beforehand will allow you to have an itinerary ready to go whenever the outdoorsy bug bites you.
You’d be surprised how many outdoor destinations are located within a three hour drive of any given city. Las Vegas, where I live, has countless locations that are beautiful and offer a multitude of scenic opportunities. State parks, national parks, national monuments, as well as county parks and wildlife areas, all offer space to explore and relax.
While I consistently recommend these three books for national parks, great local places tend to be a bit harder to find. This book, in particular, offers a bit more of this spectrum.
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You can start this search by googling “hiking in my area.” While this may seem obvious, it is a really great place to begin your research. “Wilderness areas in my state” is another great search that can lead to a wealth of helpful information. I typically use the maps app to zoom around and find national forest areas, or other BLM land; luckily, we have a lot of that in the southwest. Now, once you’ve found an area that intrigues you, try checking the location to see if it fits your ideal driving range. This method will help you to find the best places to hike, swim, and picnic, depending on what your jam is. Sometimes, all we need is to drive to the top of a mountain and stare at the trees. Totally acceptable.
A list I constantly have on my phone of places to go. Anything with a check mark has potential for a day trip
When going with the established park route, there’s a few key things I like to factor in:
1. Pick out two hiking spots within the park that fit my desired time frame and intensity level. For work, I spend a lot of time outside, so I don’t always want to spend my Saturday on an 8 hour hike. “To each their own.” Having more than one location gives you flexibility with your schedule which comes in handy if you arrive at a location that doesn’t have a great vibe or is simply too crowded to enjoy.
2. Make a list of everything else you’d like to do while there. Ranking each location helps to determine what direction to take your day. This can range from stamping your book at the visitor center to ensuring that you see a few quintessential locations within the park and what order you might want to explore in. If you want to take a four hour hike, but then are dying to see the petroglyphs that are an hour drive from that hike, you may only get to those two things. This book in particular is the go to for my to do list.
If there’s anything that you can make a reservation for ahead of time, then do it!
3. Speaking of drives, I highly recommend that you map out the route before you leave. When we went to Zion National Park, I mapped between two locations on my phone to get an idea of the length of the drive between them. Knowing that it could take a full hour to drive from one location to the next will help you determine the reality of your plan and if you need to reevaluate your list ranking.
4. Think about food ahead of time and check that potential restaurants will be open! Again, this might seem obvious, but it’s huge. One time, a friend and I had done an overnight trip and wanted to eat at a popular restaurant chain that, at the time, was not available in my town. We had forgotten about the time change and hadn’t been on our phones. The restaurant was closed and we had to go somewhere else. For any overnight, I will always make sure to pack enough food in a cooler to eat at least two meals. Cars break down, accidents happen, and you really just can’t be prepared enough for when you’re hangry and about to rip someone’s head off.
All of the possibly needed snacks for the day. There may or may not be six
Gatorades packed in there too.
5. Write a schedule. It doesn’t have to be planned down to the minute, but having a general idea of when you might arrive at your destination and how long that hike is going to take will help keep you on track as you complete your list.
6. Always be prepared for plans to change. It happens, a lot. This is why I like to choose more than one location or feature to see.
Non-established location things can be a tad bit tricky. For me, these types of trips are typically a super awesome hike and a soak in the local hot springs, can you picture a better day? I do not recommend going off trail if you’re unsure of exactly how to do so. Part of my schooling required proficiency in reading topographic maps and being able to locate myself at any point on the map. If you’re interested in learning how to use maps, talk with rangers in local parks, or start slow with easily identifiable landmarks. I will go into this in more detail in a future post, but it had to at least be mentioned.
Twin Springs, Nevada
I made this map, this was a fairly easy site and I still had trouble deciding which hill I was on.
Several websites are dedicated to the more “backcountry” type of adventure. While other people have been there before, it’s likely that you’ll be all alone in these places. Your local BLM or Forest Service Office have a list of hiking trails that are less commonly traveled. Often, there are also abandoned ATV or dirt bike trails that can be utilized for hiking as well. While I am well aware that I won’t have the same type of attractions to view, I still like to apply the same type of principals to my BLM land trips.
Please respect the land and nature wherever you go. Never feed animals, and make sure to take all trash back with you. Reusable items, such as utensils, make it easy to keep yourself from accidentally littering.
No matter where you end up exploring, remember to have a good time!
