Backpacking in USA

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I went on a corporate assignment to Houston in the US in 1982. After my assignment, I took a month off from work to backpack in Mount Rainier and Olympus National Peaks in Washington State with my wife who joined me. In 1986, my wife, joined by my son who was 6 years old at that time, also visited Yosemite National Park.

Backpacking in the US is very different from that of Nepal. In the US, you have to be completely self-sufficient as all trails leads to wilderness areas. Good maps are available at the visitor centre which is the first place to go to when arriving at a park. Backpacking permits are also required before you go off into the wilderness. To keep the pack light, it is common to carry and eat freeze-dried food which is readily available in the US.

Mount Rainier National Park is just two hours drive from Seattle. It is a beautiful park with Mt Rainier dominating the park wherever you go. We did not climb Rainier at that time as I did not know much about mountaineering in those early days.

Olympus National Park is also very lush and green. The Pacific coast gets a lot of heavy rainfall as the water is dumped when the clouds coming into the mainland from the Pacific ocean meets the mountain divide.

Most of the treks we did in the US were of short duration (2-3 days) to minimize the weight we had to carry. Even then, the trails lead to very beautiful and scenic alpine meadows, pristine lakes and view of the mountains around the parks. In some of the camp sites, to avoid bear encounters, all food had to be placed in small snuff sacks and hauled up high on wire rigging provided. Due to the numerous trails, it is possible that your group are the only people occupying a campsite – and you get to enjoy the remoteness and solitude away from the madding crowd.

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