Need helpt to plan a 7 day trip for March in California...PL

[KathyW]

Patty:

You could look at doing a section of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Kathy

[phydeux]

For March, I'd second the previous recommendation of Death Valley. You mention you want to do a long backpack, but if you're coming from Kentucky, Death Valley will seem like a completely different world. Get the book "Desert Summits" by Andy Zdon (available through Amazon.com) and you'll be able to find lots of day hikes and rock scampering in the area. If you try hiking Telescope Peak in March (the area's highest peak), it may turn into a 1-2 night backpack if there's some snow on the ground (its usually pretty minimal). And (in my opinion) the view from the top of Telescope Peak is one of the best I've ever seen; simply amazing on a clear day.

[Patty]

Ok so I can see quiet clearly that I should go ahead and do death valley, but here is my issue with it, the closest airport is Las Vegas, how in the world am I suppose to get there without a rental car (only 19 and 20 when going there). I couldn't find any info about bus routes or anything close to that.
Any ideas?

Thanks

Patty

[Hikin_Jim]

Hmm. Transportation. That's a little tougher. I'm not aware of any bus service to DV, but you could call Greyhound and see if they service any of the towns around there. You'd have to walk from there. You could also call the National Park Service in DV and see if they know of any public transit. Honestly, it may be tough without a rental car in DV.

The Santa Monica Mtns while perhaps not as spectacular as DV are far more accessible by bus. See http://www.backpacker.com/february_2008_destinations_how_to_thruhike_la_county/destinations/12080?page=1 and http://www.nps.gov/samo

I believe the Gabrieleno National Recreation Trail in the San Gabriel Mtns is fairly accessible by bus, but I'd have to check the Metro schedules. I've run into people who have come to the San Gabriels by bus. There was also a recent article in Backpacker Magazine about a trip to the San Gabriels by bus. You could also check the San Gabriels forum for further info: http://sangabrielmnts.myfreeforum.org

While not a National Park, both of the above two locations offer some nice hiking and are close to Los Angeles which affords you far more transporation options.

Catalina island has public transportation available. I don't find Catalina to be the most scenic of places to hike (I like trees which are few on Catalina), but the coastline appeals to many.

I imagine the Santa Ana mountains in Orange County would be relatively accessible by public tranport, but inasmuch as I live in Los Angeles County, I won't pretend to know much about public transit in OC.

Things further afield are going to be difficult to reach without a car:
Death Valley National Park
Anza Borrego State Park
Los Padres National Forest
Joshua Tree National Park

[Patty]

Thanks for all your help,
so I looked a lot around now and I seen that there is a California Coastal trail, what do you guys think about that.
Would it be a good thing to do in march or is it straight up boring.

Let me know what you guys think,

Patty

[JimBones]

Patty,

If you're not set on California you could consider the Arizona Trail. 800 miles long from the Mexican border to the Utah state line. It passes pretty close to the Phoenix area. I have no personal experience with it but the Arizona Trail Association's web site would be a good place to start. Their site states that the trail is year round at the lower elevations. Not sure about the transportation question but if you contact them they would know. Arizona is beautiful in March. Hope you find something that works out well for you.

Jim

[Patty]

Thanks for all your help guys, from now on I am researching just for a few...and I believe that I am close to something
I will let you know as soon as I figured everything out!

Thanks sooooo much

Patty