Make sure to stop here for salty baguette if you’re anywhere close
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i’ve done some of what’s already been suggested. if you can score a permit for Enchantments, that’s easily the best one, but you will need to figure out a ride from trailhead to trailend (or back). you don’t need a bear canister for Enchantments. you might be able to do it with a lesser permit (some camping areas, rather than Core).
did Lake Chelan 2-in-3-days hike this past summer. i would say very enjoyable, you can extend it.
went on the PCT for a couple of days out and back, but possibly doing the whole section J sometime in the future. if you want to say you’ve been on the PCT, great. otherwise i wouldn’t rank it higher than others.
Park Butte is really good, although i don’t think it’s got enough distance for 4 days. but the bonus is you can leave camp and do a side hike upto a glacier. if you are there multiple days, you can be the first person at fire lookout cabin, and stay there for one night. a pretty cool experience. you can do the same on some other trails, eg Lookout Mtn, can’t go wrong with any of those.
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Yeah I did the whole thing. There were so many great parts it’s hard to pick one. Unlike the Appalachian Trail which could be a long green tunnel at times, the PCT had great views left and right.
I liked the Anzo-Borrego section in So Cal. The High Sierras were great, nonstop views for a month. Oregon had lots of volcano mountains in the Cascades, Crater Lake which I thought lived up to the hype, plus the Sisters area. Goat Rocks Wilderness in WA was great, as was the northern Cascades area.
@VoteForSocialists is right that the PCT right around Highway 20 is probably no better than the western part of the NP. Once you get a day or two from the road it can get pretty spectacular on the PCT. Overall though, the NP west of Ross Lake probably has better scenery, although if you are looking to avoid people, the area east of Ross Lake could be a better bet.
I don’t remember where these pictures are from. I didn’t label them properly. All from north half of WA. The first one might be closer to Snoqualmie Pass. The last two were northern Cascades somewhere; I’m thinking maybe they were a few days from Highway 20, whether north or south? I don’t recall.
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I did a 3d/2n hike that looked like this a few years ago
But honestly it really was one of the more mundane multi day hikes I’ve done in Nat’l parks, although I’ve been pretty spoiled. A lot of it is down in the forest with not so many exposed sections with great views.
N Cascades does have some great overnight out and back hikes like Hidden Lake and Sahale Arm, but they’re very popular and permits go quick. But there’s always walk up permits set aside, you just have to get to ranger station very early the day of. Ideally you’d want to be going on a weekday. Sahale Arm is a bitch.
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I see these memes/complaints a lot where people say that AirBNB hosts are leaving a ridiculous list of demands and cleanup requirements. However, I’ve stayed in 100+ AirBNBs (majority in Europe/LatAm) and the most I’ve ever been asked to do is to take the trash bag out to the bin (which was right in front of the apartment) upon leaving. Are most of the AirBNBs requiring this stuff in the USA?
It seems like people are constantly complaining about AirBNB, but in general, I’ve had a wonderful overall experience, and usually if you can stay for 1 month+ in a place for the extra discount, then the cost isn’t really that bad all things considered. Prices have taken off quite a bit since travel really re-opened in 2022, but that’s more due to demand than anything I think.
In Winter '22 we were able to stay in both Barcelona and Paris very centrally for like $1300 for the month, which is a great price I’d say, but checking again, it seems like those prices have probably increased about 30% year over year, which probably prices me out.
The worst I’ve seen is take out the trash and start a load of towels and sheets in the washing machine. I feel like do the dishes is always implied but I’m not sure if I’ve seen it demanded.
I think this is all happening against a back drop of broader anti-AirBnB sentiment. Some people remember the early days of AirBnB where there was a lot more peer-to-peer rental happening, but now AirBnB has been infested by a ton of investors that are acting like poorly regulated corporations, not like people. Lots of misleading pictures in the listings, lots of things that don’t work because no one is doing any maintenance on these properties, etc. Predictably, AirBnB still thinks of itself as a lean, decentralized tech company and not a boring old real estate rental company, so they are in no way equipped to deal with all the customer complaints.
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I’m convinced that a significant percentage of this stuff is an underground marketing campaign from the hotel industry. Or, maybe lots of people book Airbnbs with zero reviews. But I have personally experienced nearly zero issues, ever, staying at Airbnbs. Most of them have been truly wonderful.
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Problems I’ve had with AirBnbs were extremely rare. Definitely more rare than hotels and the positive experiences I’ve had were far better than any positive experience at a hotel.
Then again, I normally rent out bedrooms rather than an entire place. So the person who owns the place also lives there. Obviously, they have a vested interest in things working because of that situation.
Vox had a nice article this week about AirBnB’s issues.
Anecdotally, the rural area where I live enjoys proximity to a lot of beach front and is a beautiful place. The infestation of toxic AirBnB renters has been probably the biggest political issue here since 2020. As investors scooped up attractive properties in the pandemic and started renting them out, the owners who actually live in their places were furious. Over a couple of years, these neighborhoods went from dense but quiet places where you knew all your neighbors to places where every 5th house was a short term rental investment with an owner who had never been there and renters that would book the house for the weekend and have a 72 hour party blaring music and leaving garbage all over the place and generally overwhelming any local by law enforcement. We implemented pretty severe restrictions to try to combat this, and I think it worked. But it’s bad for AirBnBs business model if they can’t control their owners and customers. Local governments are going to slap them down pretty hard.
Yeah that seems really different, i imagine the large majorty of airbnb hate and sliminess is in the “entire place” segment.
Yeah same. I’ve never had a major issue. Being able to cook our own meals was a huge plus over hotels. In Big Sur we grilled some fresh salmon from a local river that’s one of the best meals I’ve ever had.
That sounds amazing, I fucking love Big Sur. Proposed to my wife there.
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Global entry is fine except as Krayz points out the interview is only at a few locations, usually airports.
I have personal business in LA in a week and am considering renting a car there and driving it to Las Vegas. Any thoughts on the drive and things along the way?
The drive has nothing to offer. Flying to Vegas from LA is very easy and inexpensive. There is no reason to drive.
But why go to Vegas when we have Vegas at home?
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To be clear, I am considering renting a car for reasons that have nothing to do with going to Vegas and just tacking on an extra day. I have a couple of things I am curious about along the way.
OK, well then there’s the, uh, In n Out in Barstow, that’s a pretty big one. And The Mad Greek in Baker. And of course there’s the Zzyzx Rd exit sign.
I think that covers my LA to Vegas recommendations.
EDIT: You also drive by this thing which is very sci-fi looking imo.
I will not stand for this Mad Greek slander!
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You can side trip through Death Valley or Mohave Preserve if you have a lot of time.