Backpacking – serie

Wyoming boasts countless outstanding backcountry destinations. While some of these attractions are world famous, many are virtually unknown even to the savviest locals. Award-winning author Douglas Lorain details both famous and hidden treasures in his picks of Wyoming's 28 most enjoyable backpack trips. Lasting from three days to two weeks, these carefully chosen itineraries offer the hiker mountain scenery, magnificent wildlife, colorful geologic marvels, and reasonable daily mileage goals. This in-depth guide reveals the best trips in and around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, the Beartooth and Bighorn Mountains, the Absaroka and Snowy Ranges, the Wind River Range, and such treasures as the Wyoming, Gros Ventre, Bear Lodge, and Salt River Mountains. Each of the trips rates scenery, solitude, and difficulty; specifies mileage, elevation gain, days on the trail, and shuttle distance; and notes special attractions, required permits, and challenges. A detailed map and photographs accompany each trip. Everything the backcountry adventurer needs for a "trip of a lifetime."

A virtually undiscovered backpacking paradise, Idaho has numerous wilderness areas of mind-boggling size. Backpackers can find complete solitude, wildlife, and some of North America's most outstanding scenery. Idaho's mountains also boast great weather -- fewer thunderstorms than the central Rockies, less rain than Oregon and Washington, and cooler summer temperatures than California. Backpacking Idaho takes you to what author Doug Lorain calls a "Shangri-la" for backpackers. In the craggy Selkirk Mountains you'll find lush forests, small cirque lakes, and jagged granite peaks. Watch for ospreys, river otters, and belted kingfishers in the swift Selway River. Explore hundreds of miles of trails in the gently rolling forested hills in north-central Idaho, or head to Hell's Canyon, the deepest gorge in North America, where you'll find both alpine tundra and cactus-studded desert.