There are a number of excellent resources for route proven routes on standard trails. I have a large collection of guide-books that I often refer to for route ideas in new places. I have a different focus here, however. Namely, how do you plan a long, off-trail route that combines bushwhacking, game trails and scrambling?
The immediate thought many people will think of is: "Aren't jerks the only ones that leave trails?". Yes and no. With a booming global population and shrinking wild areas, there is no doubt that some areas, including national parks, are being loved to death. If I am in a truly heavy use environment like this, I stay on the trail. There simply isn't enough land to go around. In low use areas, I think the hazards to the environment can be made reasonably low. Please be thoughtful if you decide to leave the trail.
The immediate thought many people will think of is: "Aren't jerks the only ones that leave trails?". Yes and no. With a booming global population and shrinking wild areas, there is no doubt that some areas, including national parks, are being loved to death. If I am in a truly heavy use environment like this, I stay on the trail. There simply isn't enough land to go around. In low use areas, I think the hazards to the environment can be made reasonably low. Please be thoughtful if you decide to leave the trail.
Major areas of consideration
Off-trail travel is significantly harder than on trail travel. Assuming other features are equal, I've found that the difference in difficulty is comparable to the difference between walking on a sidewalk and walking on a trail with roots/rocks etc.
- Length: This is the first thing that people think of when gauging the difficulty of a route but I've found that it's actually towards the end of the list of important things to look for.
- Elevation Gain: You'll eventually find a sweet spot for how much vertical elevation change your body can take in a day. Personally, I'm at the point where I pay more attention to elevation loss, than elevation gain. Even though elevation gain is definitely tougher from a cardio/aerobic perspective, the descent is harder on your knees. I can compensate for loss of energy by eating constantly but knee pain is hard to fix (unless you want to take ibuprofen like M&M's).
- Scrambling: This breaks up the movement to other parts of your body which I prefer from both a "wear and tear" perspective and also to keep things interesting.
- Bushwhacking: Be prepared to get your legs chewed up.
- There's no way around it: for both scrambling and bushwhacking you'll move slower you need to account for this if you're on a tight time budget. When do you run out of daylight? Are headlight batteries charged? What time is dinner? Do you need to shower beforehand?
- Is a storm coming? A wet bushwhack might be unpleasant but doesn't really change things too much. A wet scramble is a whole other animal.
When I think of a route that seems interesting, I always use two primary resources:
- Topographic map: This allows for rough estimates of the the overall length, and elevation gain/loss.
- Satellite Imagery: This lets you identify the type of terrain which is usually hidden on a topo map. Google Earth is my preferred program for this. Walking across ankle high grass will be much faster than walking through a trail-less forest. Google Earth Pro lets you turn on/off the simulated 3D terrain morphing which is nice for visualizing elevation change (ie: how big is that mountain really?).