# Hiking Vacations



## dmbrand (Jul 29, 2010)

We just returned from Maine, and didn't realize how much fun hiking was until we did several trails at Acadia.  Know what we liked best?  They don't try to "protect" you from yourself; meaning, go where you like, just be careful, and don't leave a trace.  I loved that there were no signs, ropes, or restricted areas.

Do you have any favorite places with several trails near the resort?


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## DeniseM (Jul 29, 2010)

Tahoe and Hawaii!


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## glypnirsgirl (Jul 29, 2010)

*I love to hike!*

Hi - I love to hike. 

One of my favorite hikes of all time is on the Olympic penninsula, Makai Indian reservation, Washington. The Olympic penninsula is a TEMPERATE rain forest. It is cool and misty, the enormous trees shade the trail until you get within 100 to 200 yards of Cape Flattery (the most northwestern point in the continental US) where the trail opens up to a sweeping view of the ocean. Magnificent!

Kauai also offers beautiful hikes. The Appalachian trail is not as cool (temperature wise) as the Olympic Penninsula, but many of the trails have that same sense of privacy opening up to a stunning vista with sweeping views.

Welcome to a great new adventure!

elaine


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## dmbrand (Jul 29, 2010)

Okay, I am interested in the Tahoe trails, never thought of that place.  My husband wants to vacation there during summertime.  Are there mapped trails available?  

Appalachian trails also sound good.  Can they be accessed from the Poconos resorts?  

I would love to get to Washington; probably would have to place a request in II; the summer does not appear in online inventory very often.

As for Hawaii, we were just there last year.  Might be a few years until we are back.  Airfare from the midwest is hit or miss.


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## bobby (Jul 29, 2010)

We hike at almost all our vacations. Even Nantucket which is mostly beach has numerous areas for "hikes", okay long walks with no inclines.

In AZ, Sedona and Flagstaff have hiking nearby.

At Massanutten resorts in VA there are the Blue Ridge Mts with lots of trails within a reasonable car ride, plus old battle fields, antique areas, water park, etc. for non hike time.

The NH and VT timeshares are all near lots of hiking. Unlike Acadia, the hiking is more in the woods than open granite or open areas like in Colorado and Sedona.


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## lynne (Jul 29, 2010)

Telluride, Colorado in the non-ski season.  They also have great music festivals in the summer/fall.


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## dmbrand (Jul 29, 2010)

This might sound strange, but are there hiking trails near Branson? Or this too far west? With all the availability there, it might be an option. 

Funny, how areas that I may never have considered before, now seem more appealing.

Thanks for all the ideas.  This empty nest thing might not be so bad after all; just keep busy traveling.


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## easyrider (Jul 29, 2010)

We like the Olympic Peninsula Coastal Trail in WA. 

Mount Raineers Wonderland Trail is a good one.


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## djs (Jul 29, 2010)

I exchanged into Arrow Point in Coeur d'Alene a few years ago.  It was the last week of October/first week of November and we managed to hike pretty much every day.  Being from the East Coast, we were awake early every day so managed to leave the unit no later than 7:00 each morning.  The best part of that was that we were able to "start" our vacation by 10:00 every morning and not feel guilty about burgers at Hudson's or a few (give or take, but mostly give) glasses of wine in the evening.


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## Superchief (Jul 29, 2010)

Park City,UT in summer or fall is a great hiking destination. There are excellent hiking trails adjacent to Marriott Mountainside resort, and also in the Wawsach (sp?) and near Sundance. Scenery is spectacular and the mountain air is a refreshing escape from the heat and humidity of the Midwest.


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## MULTIZ321 (Jul 29, 2010)

glypnirsgirl said:


> Hi - I love to hike.
> 
> One of my favorite hikes of all time is on the Olympic penninsula, Makai Indian reservation, Washington. The Olympic penninsula is a TEMPERATE rain forest. It is cool and misty, the enormous trees shade the trail until you get within 100 to 200 yards of Cape Flattery (the most northwestern point in the continental US) where the trail opens up to a sweeping view of the ocean. Magnificent!
> 
> ...



And if you do the Makai Indian Reservation Hike, consider driving about 75 miles south and hike in the Olympic National Park Hoh Rain Forest.  
For more info see http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/visiting-the-hoh.htm

Richard


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## akp (Jul 30, 2010)

*Smoky Mountains*

There are tons of timeshares in the area (Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, etc.) and there is great hiking at all levels of difficulty.  However, in the Smoky Mountains, you do have to stay on the trails.  I would be very hard to go off the trails, though, as the forest and underbrush are pretty dense off trail.


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## beejaybeeohio (Jul 30, 2010)

*Without carrying much along...*

Montana's Glacier Nat'l Park has two chalets that provide meals and accomodations and are reached only by hiking there.

Hiking the Alps in Europe is also delightful as there are restaurants/inns high in the mountains.  I recall Cafe Jufen near Maria Alm, Austria and several in Switzerland near Zermatt and the Grindelwald area.


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## GetawaysRus (Jul 30, 2010)

I second Sedona - excellent hiking there.  The hikes are very varied - Indian ruins and petroglyphs, natural arches, beautiful rock formations, sinkholes, pools of water in the desert, river canyons.

We use a hiking guide book that we purchased from Amazon.  You will find several if you do a search at Amazon on a term such as "Sedona hikes."  We have the book that's in its ninth edition.  Usually, the concierge service at your resort can key you in to which hikes are the most popular.

Be aware that in Sedona, some of the roads you'll need to take to reach the trailheads can get pretty rough.  I would never take a low lying vehicle on some of those roads.  Even in our F150, we encountered some rough roads.  I might even consider renting a jeep the next time we take a trip to Sedona.

The West Fork trail (Oak Creek canyon) is easy to reach.  If you want to hike this trail, arrive early.  The parking lot is small, and fills up.

Remember your sunscreen and plenty of water for Sedona hiking.  Purchase your back-country pass (Red Rock pass, I think it is called) and off you go.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 30, 2010)

dmbrand said:


> Okay, I am interested in the Tahoe trails, never thought of that place.  My husband wants to vacation there during summertime.  Are there mapped trails available?
> 
> Appalachian trails also sound good.  Can they be accessed from the Poconos resorts?
> 
> ...



We are in Tahoe now. While I love to hike, if you don't get to the trailheads early you can forget about finding a place to park. The $8 usage fee I get hit with everytime I turn around has me VERY annoyed as well. Needless to say, we haven't done very much in the way of hiking this week.

I'm finding the best way to get to Hawaii is by using a credit card for all our purchases that has FF miles. Right now, the United card from Chase that offers double miles for everyday purchases is adding up fast. Just be sure to pay the balance off every month or you'll get hit with some rather high interest charges. It takes us about 14 to 16 months to earn enough miles for either one ticket or, two tickets plus a little cash. When I looked the other day, just to check on availability in January, I could get one ticket for 40,000 FF miles or, two tickets for 20,000 miles each plus $240 each. Since one regular ticket would cost around $800, the two tickets plus $480 cash would be more appealing, even though neigther ticket would earn miles for the trip.


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## Laurie (Jul 30, 2010)

*my favorite!*

We also love hiking vacations, and organize many trips around this activity.  I used to be more drawn to beaches - now I have way more fun on a trail, and the higher up (and the more dramatic), the better. One of my very favorite pastimes is taking a lift or cable car high up, walking relatively flat trails, and then either walking or riding down, depending on the steepness. 

I'll be repeating some timeshare locations others have mentioned, and maybe adding a few new ones:

Swiss Alps
Italian Alps
Austrian Alps
coastal & lake paths: Scotland, Cornwall, Wales, France, Italy
Lake District UK
Madeira
Canary Islands
Lake Tahoe
Grand Tetons
Glacier NP
Park City etc
WA state- Olympic NP, Mt Ranier 
OR - Mt Hood, Columbia River
Canada-Banff NP, Pacific Rim NP

upcoming: Rocky Mt NP & Vail areas, maybe back to Italian Alps, & Maine.

edited to add: I forgot to list Sedona, Grand Canyon both rims, Utah parks Zion & Bryce
and
I wish we had more areas on the east coast that are so enticing (to me) as the west & overseas.


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## beejaybeeohio (Jul 31, 2010)

I 2nd the British Isles coastal paths, Laurie!  We loved the one near the Osbourne Club in Torquay, England and the Coastal Path in Fife, Scotland not far from Kilconquhar Castle.

OP- did you do the "ladder" trail in Acadia?  That was one I chickened out from taking as we approached it from the top and the bottom wasn't visible!


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## dmbrand (Jul 31, 2010)

I wish we had done those trails!  We were novices this time, through.  Our mission was to cover the highlights of Acadia(Thunder Hole, Sand Beach, Jordon Pond, Cadillac Mtn, etc.), and we managed to hike trails nearby these areas.

Only on the last day, did we see the reference to "ladder" trails in the book I brought along.  I guess we will do them on a subsequent trip.  I was quite thrilled with the amount of boulder climbing we did; enough so, that I want to explore other areas of the country this way.

Thank you to all for the suggestions; great future vacation ideas.


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## fillde (Aug 1, 2010)

*Half Dome*

Boy oh boy. You talk about a hike, If you ever want to test your fitness level. Try Half Dome in Yosemite. And make sure you bring plenty of water.
It took us 11 hours to do the 17 mile trek. I'm tired thinking about it.
Yosemite is absolutely gorgeous.


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## Krteczech (Aug 1, 2010)

*Rocky Mountains National Park, CO*

We just came back from one week at Estes Park (Crags Lodge), we covered just a fraction of marked trails and will return for sure to continue. Free hiker shuttles; park entrance fee is only $20.00 per car/week... Choice of trails in every elevation between 7500 - 12000 ft, also quite a few stables for those who don't like to hike every day (like my daugter).


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## bobby (Aug 1, 2010)

Yosemite is nice, but timeshares are not handy.

I forgot the wonderful hiking week in Cornwall, England. There is a coastal trail that goes around that you access at different points for day trips, plus you can see towns, tin mines, old religious structures and hike right across farmer fields on marked lanes. We went in early fall and had fabulous weather. The timeshare was an old manor.

Whistler, Canada has lots of trails, plus there miles of bike/walking paths. You can see the Olympic sites when not hiking.


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## sueoz (Aug 3, 2010)

Palm Desert, CA has some wonderful hiking.  Joshua Tree National Park is nearby and there is a lot of hiking right in and around Palm Desert.  It makes a great winter destination.
Sue


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## bluehende (Aug 4, 2010)

*More eastern areas*

1.  Adirondaks...especially the high peaks area

2.  New Hampshire....the presidentials are spectacular

3. Vermont ...Mt Mansfield and anywhere on the long trail

4.  The Smokies

5.  Shenandoah NP

These are in my order of preference.  Just be aware my top 3 are very strenous


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## exyeh (Aug 4, 2010)

*RMNP*

We went to Rocky Mountain National Park for many years. And we have hiked many trails repeatedly and never got tired of them. Many times we hiked 10 miles a day for high mountains. My husband completed The Long's Peak trail a few years ago. It's surly a hard one! We will go there again for 12 days this September.


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## DVB42 (Aug 4, 2010)

Hi Dawn,
I am glad that you have found hiking as a new activity. All of the suggestions in this thread have been good ones. We hike on essentially every timeshare trip. Sometimes we will add a couple of days on the front or at the end of the week to do a more involved hike. For example, we always go to Grand Canyon from Las Vegas and hike for two or more days. Zion National Park hiking can be done from Las Vegas as well. One of the most spectacular hikes in the world is through the Narrows in Zion. It is not difficult and can be done in a long day hike or even better as an overnight trip.


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## KevJan (Aug 5, 2010)

I agree with the hike through the Zion Narrows, it truly is the most spectacular. There is also another hike in Zion that is called the Subway, which will often include some swimming. Both of these hikes require a "permit" from the Park Service. There are several shorter and less strenuous hikes, including Angel's Landing, in Zion National Park which do not require permits that are also fantastic. There are a couple of timeshares in St. George, Worldmark and Villas at Southgate. There is also a new one in Washington (an outlying community of St. George). I think it's the Coral Canyon Villas or Villas at Coral Canyon, or something similar. It has 3 bedroom units and closer to Zion. I simply LOVE Zion, that's why I live here!


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## hibbeln (Aug 7, 2010)

This spring break we took the kids on a hiking trio to Zion National Park (LOVED it!), Bryce Canyon NP, down to Page, AZ, then to thread Canyon.   Awesome hiking at all levels.    In Zion we did the Narrows (up and back) in the spring run off ( properly equipped)....didn't require a permit but was 8 exhilarating miles!
We also love the Alps (much lower altitude than the Rockies) where we used a summer timeshare exchange at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany..


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## talkamotta (Aug 30, 2010)

I third or tenth - Southern Utah.  All kinds of hikes for all levels.  Grand Canyon North and South Rim are great. 

One of my most favorite is the Canadian Rockies.   Banff and Jasper area.  

I love to hike.  Not real good at it but its one of those things that you can go at the speed you want and there are so many different levels.  If you are in a spectacular place then its not how far but the journey.


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