Advice for a first timer for a multiple day trip

[brianmeans81]

Wasn't sure where to post this, but I figured this is the best place to do so? I've been wanting to plan a backpacking trip for anywhere between 3-6 days, backpacking, hiking, fishing and camping. Trying to get off grid out of the busy city is my goal really.

I honestly don't know where yet, maybe the Eastern Sierra's to higher elevation lakes, Desolation Wilderness or even Emigrant as I do a lot of day trips here to fish some of the smaller streams for rainbows. Is there a place a beginner should start for a multiple day trip? Should I pick a spot and then research it to death and just pick a route? Is off trail hiking ill advised?

Most of my trips are day trips, I drive in from San Francisco, furthest (and easily dumbest) was driving up to the CA/Oregon Border to fish Dismal Swamp and back in a day, but I've also done some of the lakes up in the Saddlebag area, hiked to Conness and back to the car for about 13 miles in one day and drove home.....I'd like to stop this tradition and start staying overnight for multiple days, but I don't really know how to plan all that well on what to bring.

I want to start a tradition with my brother on doing one big backpacking trip a year, since we used to go camp with our dad and unfortunately we lost him this past year.

Do most places require permits to hike in and camp or can you just drive up, hike in and camp? Should I take a map reading class and buy a GPS if we wanted to try to find lakes off of a trail? Bear canisters, is this something you should always have on you?

I do have a hiking backpack I use when I do day trips and I always think of it as extra weight for training. I purchased a Big Agnes Copper Spur this year as well, along with a Nemo Switchback pad, so maybe this is a good start on gear?

Honestly, I'm just so new to this and it's quite intimidating, getting lost is always in my mind, but it's also the thing that's driving me to get out and do this. I'd plan for this trip for probably next year since I think there's a lot to learn and consider.

These forums have always been really helpful and informative as well. Once again thank you for the help and advice and if I posted in the wrong area, I apologize.

[wildhiker]

There are a lot of books out there covering the basics of backpacking planning, equipment, and skills. Check your local public library. It doesn't matter if the book is 20 or 30 years old, the basics are still the same (just better equipment now).

All the high sierra wilderness areas require permits to backpack, and most have quotas limiting the number of people who can start hiking each day from each trailhead. The Eldorado (Desolation W), Humboldt-Toiyabe (Hoover W), Inyo (Hoover, Ansel Adams and John Muir (eastside), and Golden Trout W) and Sierra (Ansel Adams and John Muir (westside) and Dinkey Lakes and Kaiser W) National Forest areas and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks use the recreation.gov site to reserve permits. Yosemite has its own home-grown reservation system. Permits for all popular areas can be hard to get. Emigrant Wilderness has no trailhead quotas and the Stanislaus NF uses a simple phone-in system to get a permit, so that might be easiest for a beginner. Also, terrain there is gentler. In all cases, check the website for each area. Google search "Stanislaus National Forest Wilderness Permit", for example.

Bear canisters are required throughout Yosemite National Park and in high use areas of the rest of the high sierra. Frankly, I always use one. The peace-of-mind that my food is protected outweighs the extra weight of the canister. Plus, they make a good camp chair :-).

-Phil

[bobby49]

I agree with wildhiker, there are lots of resources out there, but you have to dig them out. Some outdoor clubs, like the Sierra Club, might offer some good training. Some commercial companies, like REI, might offer some expensive training, but they are also primarily interested in selling gear to you. The easiest way is to form up your own social group with wilderness tendencies, and that helps when it comes time to organize carpooling to your destination.

Just about every wilderness area has a slightly different set of rules, but the national forests tend to be slightly easier to manage than the national parks. I've found the Emigrant Wilderness to be easy to manage. Although I am experienced, my dog was not, so EW was the first place that I took her (and dogs were allowed). Just about every wilderness area has a different policy toward bear canisters. In some national parks, they are required.

[paul]

My advice would be to start with just an overnight trip, or two nights, just to shake things down. You will find that some of your methods and/or gear don't pan out like you hoped, and its best to find that out on a short trip rather than have to deal with it for several more days. And plan that first trip for short mileage so you have plenty of time to sort things out.
Sounds like you have a pack and a tent and a pad , so you have a start on the gear. You can find lots of gear discussions on the forums here if you want more info, so I won't bother with that in this discussion.
I think the Emigrant wilderness is a great place to start mostly because of the easy permits, so you can take a short trip or two this year with no hassles getting the permit. I'd recommend using the Gianelli trailhead for a first trip - easy hiking, views almost from the start, and lakes a short ways in. You may already be familiar from your dayhikes. Another easy area - not wilderness, so all you need is a campfire permit from the forest service - is the Grouse ridge area north of highway 80. Lots of lakes close to the trailhead - But it can get busy on a weekend in the summer.
You must already have some map reading skills from your dayhikes. I think there are some threads on the forums about map reading classes. I can't recommend anything there, I learned what I know by trial and error and from friends. As far as off-trail travel goes, if you haven't done any on your dayhikes, I would start slow on that as well - find a lake that's off the trail but not far off (like a quarter mile off), and go for it. One thing I think is key in navigating in the mountains - look back the way you came as you go. I find this helps a lot, because when you want to go back - as often you do - things look familiar. And if they don't, it's a clue that you're off the route you want to be on. Again, I think there are threads here regarding learning off-trail navigation.
I, too, carry my bear can regardless of requirements, unless I'm snow camping. You usually need to do something to make sure bears can't get at your food, and every other method is too big of a hassle for me. Plus I don't have to worry about squirrels chewing their way into my pack to get at my food either. (and yes, that has happened to me back in the pre-canister days).

[MitchellK]

I know this may not be your situation, but if you have any friends that go on multi-night backpacking trips regularly, asking them to take you out on a trip is a great way to quickly learn one person's backpacking style. From there it's easy to iterate towards your own style instead of starting from scratch.

If an experienced friend isn't an option, no need to worry. All of the previous advice sounds lovely and I'll add that this year many of the recreation.gov permits are available 2 weeks before the entry date at 7AM PST. If you can be awake and logged onto recreation.gov at 7AM you can get a permit without major difficulty (It feels a lot like getting a popular concert ticket, but there are multiple concerts every day).

[AidanDawn2000]

I live in SF/Santa Cruz and am just getting into backpacking after a childhood full of camping. (when not on fire) Big Sur is a great intro to overnighting.
No permits
No bears
Pretty short drive from the bay
No elevation sickness
No insane mosquito swarms
Great weather all year long

If you have an iPhone the app MapOut has helped me a lot in navigating.

[Lumbergh21]

I only started backpacking in 2014 after decades of day hiking. If you are feeling intimidated, just remember that a backpacking trip isn't much more than a series of day hikes except no hot shower at the end of the day and usually fewer miles hiked than if you're day hiking. Already good advice on general places to go. I started with a 6 mile hike on a popular trail to a lake in the Trinity Alps. I spent day 2 doing a couple of short day hikes, a little fishing, and just relaxing with a book before hiking out the morning of day 3. My gear was cheap, heavy, and too much of it, but it was a start of what has become a passion (just got back from a 3 day hike in the Trinity Alps today). Start small and easy and don't be afraid to do what you enjoy, not what others say you should do. At the same time, if given the opportunity, don't reject new deas and experiences.

[brianmeans81]

Thank you all very much for the help and advice. I think I may start with a 2-3 day trip up in to Emigrant than since it's fairly close to me from the bay and I may be able to do a little bit of fishing as well. Really excited to try a trip out!