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The high mountains of Colorado still had a lot of snow in mid June. In fact, the Arkansas river was close to flooding here in Canon City, despite there being no rain in weeks. The snow melt was enough to raise it to its highest level in years. But my friend Mike and I were still hoping to go backpacking up high.

We had been up to 9,000 feet a couple weeks earlier and saw just one snowbank in the woods. Driving home we could see that though there was a lot of snow in the high peaks of the northern Sangre De Christo mountains, it was in patches. There were large areas without snow, even above 13,000 feet. It was time to give it a try.

We decided on a two night trip to Bushnell Lakes and possibly to the top of Bushnell Peak (13,105 feet). About this time I received a phone call. I own a backpacking website, so I get emails with questions all the time, but this was only the second time someone had called me at home. The man on the other end was calling from Texas, wondering about the conditions in the Sangre De Christos - was there too much snow?

“I hope not,” I told him. “Me and a friend are headed up there tomorrow.” He said he had called the forest service rangers for an area south of where we would be, and they had told him everything was still snowed in up high. He was going for a week, starting a few days after us, and wondered if they might be exaggerating. We agreed that they probably were.

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Why solo backpacking? To be honest, one of the reasons I sometimes go alone is simply that it’s tough to find people to go with, especially on short-notice. So reason number one is just the sheer necessity. But that is not the only reason to enter the wilderness by yourself.

Another reason to backpack alone is related to the first: simplicity. For example, if you like to go light, you may have conflicts with friends who want to share the weight of heavy cooking gear and tents. You may prefer cheaper trips, rather than joining others on a flight to some distant locale that isn’t any more beautiful than the trails within hours of you. In other words, you might not want to trade three affordable adventures for one expensive one.

Going solo gives you freedom as well. Even the best hiking partners will not need breaks at the same time, get hungry at the same time, want to hike the same distance each day or do the exact same things. When you’re alone in the wilderness, there is a natural rhythm that can never be there when several people’s needs have to be taken into account, and you are free to follow that rhythm.

Finally, if you have ever wanted to “commune with nature,” or have a more spiritual experience in the wilderness, backpacking solo is the way to go. Most of us cannot help but talk too much when we’re with others. Of course, that scares off wildlife, but it is also true that when alone most people just plain notice the environment more.

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Skiing Vacation Guide: The Benefits of an All-Inclusive Package

For people who love the winter months, nothing beats the excitement that skiing has to offer. Gliding from a mountain while experiencing a spectacular view, imagine that. A skiing vacation will not disappoint you if you enjoy that kind of activities. The best part of all this is that you will be able to bring your family and friends with you. And, even if you don’t have someone with you, you have to consider that skiing is a solitary sport which is why it is so popular among a lot of people.

Experiencing the great outdoors is never as enjoyable as hitting the slopes with your skis on. However, you have to remember the fact that there are quite a lot of things that you need to consider whenever you plan on going on a skiing holiday.

Basically, there are the travel plans, the things that you need to bring, the accommodation, the food, as well as the ski equipments.

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Which is the best of  the best wild edible plants? That depends on whether you are collecting them for a tasty meal, or as a matter of life or death. It also depends on the season and where you are. But despite all these qualifications, there is one that stands out as especially important in North America.

The Cattail

The common cattail (typha latifolia - and a few other species) is one of the first of the wild edible plants that all hikers should familiarize themselves with. It not only has several edible parts, but there is some part of the plant that can be harvested for food during any season. In addition, it has other uses as well.

In the spring you can find a cattail swamp and cut the fresh tips of the plants from the mud. Rinse them in some safe water and they are edible either raw or cooked. Once you know the plant, identifying the new shoots is no problem, The stalks and dried flower heads of the old plants are always around.

In the summer you can first harvest the tender stems. The lower several inches will be white and ready to eat. If you pull slowly, they will often come loose at the base. Raw, they taste something like cucumber. Cooked, the taste is more like corn. Later, the green flower heads can be cooked and eaten like corn-on-the-cob. By mid-summer the yellow pollen will be falling from the spike atop the flower heads, and can be shaken into a paper bag to use in thickening soups or even mixed with flour for making bread.

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When you are ready for outdoor adventures, but want to try something new, you have to think in new ways. Forget the mountain bike or the paid rafting tour. Here are some low budget interesting things you may not have tried.

Mine Hunting

A friend and I have been to Phantom Canyon six times this spring, hiking in the hills and exploring narrow gulches. Five of those times we have found an abandoned mine or two. Most were less than forty feet deep, and a classic hole in the wall. One was discovered by following a trail of beautiful quartz boulders uphill for twenty minutes, until we found where the rocks had been blown apart many years ago. There is a wall of pure quartz there, perhaps fifteen feet high and twenty wide. I have never seen anything like it.

Some of these are old claims on public lands. We just like to poke around, but in recent years treasure hunters have been taking metal detectors to these old mines to work over the tailings piles. Occasional gold nuggets are found inside the rocks there. To make this outdoor adventure more profitable and adventurous, you need to find the mines that are five miles or more from any road, like those in the San Juan mountains of southwestern Colorado.

How do you find them? We started by going online and searching “mines.” We obtained a list of 160 mines in Fremont County, Colorado alone. But only one of the five we recently found was on the list. Just hiking in mining country and keeping your eyes open works too. You can also find old mines noted on many topographical maps.

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