How far can you hike to get away from crowds?

[zman]

How far can you hike to get away from crowds/roads?

These guys are putting some effort into finding out. Unfortunately its not as many miles as you would think in most places
| Education through Exploration
Only 8.8 miles in CO. And thats only one spot. Even alot of the wilderness areas only have a couple miles between roads.

 

[5MilesBack]

I can hike as far as I need to, but it totally depends on the area for how far I have to. In some cases I'm alone as soon as I get out of the truck, and others I could be 4 miles in and running into others.

 

[CrzyTrekker]

Straight-line distance on the map is one thing. How far you actually have to walk to that spot is another.

 

[kicker338]

Don't go too far from roads as all the elk I've killed were within 1/2 mi of a road. Seems like elk like the roads as much as people do. Sure see a lot of fresh tracks and elk on the roads. LOL.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Straight-line distance on the map is one thing. How far you actually have to walk to that spot is another.

True ^

 

[robby denning]

I have one deer spot on public land that is less than mile (cross country) from a major highway. Seen a few toads there. Some hunting pressure but a little less than some spots way farther in.

 

[westrnwild]

Funny perspective actually... I can go 10 miles here in Colorado on well used trail and still see tons of people, maybe not hunters, but people. Then i can walk 200 yards through nasty blow downs and not see a soul. I have access to a stretch of forest behind my house, walked up there this weekend in the snow and saw people on the adjoining trail, they easily came from 5 miles or more in the snow to get to that point. People in Colorado aint afraid of a long hike in the woods even in the snow, just saying.

 

[WoodBow]

The distance seems less important than the difficulty in my experience. People want easy. Go where it is hard.

 

[JollyRoger]

The distance seems less important than the difficulty in my experience. People want easy. Go where it is hard.

My experience as well. I tried to combine both this past year. Which was great as I didnt see anybody... but the elk didnt care to be there either!

 

[Kilboars]

Its not the hiking out that worries me. Is the hike back if you accomplish your mission.


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[JPHuntingAUS]

My experience is go where the deer are. I don't care if I walk a few hundred metres of 15km.

In my experience a lot of people are just incapable of thinking properly, hunting is no exception. We're in a day and age now with backpacking being a thing and people think the farther in you pack the better which quite often isn't the case.

I'm finding the best areas these days are beyond the lazy people but not as far as the guys who just assume the further the better. There seems to be a middle ground that gets completely looked over and just quietly is bloody mint!

 

[oldgoat]

My experience is go where the deer are. I don't care if I walk a few hundred metres of 15km.

In my experience a lot of people are just incapable of thinking properly, hunting is no exception. We're in a day and age now with backpacking being a thing and people think the farther in you pack the better which quite often isn't the case.

I'm finding the best areas these days are beyond the lazy people but not as far as the guys who just assume the further the better. There seems to be a middle ground that gets completely looked over and just quietly is bloody mint!

Shhhh! Now everybody will know!

 

[the_bowhunter]

Couple hundred yards straight up an avalanche chute usually weeds out a good majority of the people that I have ran into.


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[Carlin59]

Short story that supports the "you don't need to be x miles in to find animals" concept: On my first backpack elk hunting trip, I got about 7 miles in to a CO wilderness area. The only thing I saw over five days was a few other hunters that were equally as puzzed to see another person that far in. On the dejected hike out, about a mile from the trailhead, I came across a nice herd lounging on a creek bank and almost got a shot off at a nice bull. That really made me question why I had just lugged a stupidly heavy pack for 50 miles when I could have been in to them much closer to the road.

 

[CrzyTrekker]

My experience is go where the deer are. I don't care if I walk a few hundred metres of 15km.

In my experience a lot of people are just incapable of thinking properly, hunting is no exception. We're in a day and age now with backpacking being a thing and people think the farther in you pack the better which quite often isn't the case.

I'm finding the best areas these days are beyond the lazy people but not as far as the guys who just assume the further the better. There seems to be a middle ground that gets completely looked over and just quietly is bloody mint!

+1. Get off trail. Sometimes the trail system will get you part of the way there. Some of my best areas don't involve any formal trailheads or trails.

 

[5MilesBack]

I don't follow trails. The person that made the trail might have been an idiot.

 

[Nick Muche]

Just being willing to walk, up here, instead of using an ATV, allows me a ton of opportunity most discount. I don't have to walk far to get away from people or roads. It's great.

 

[FreeRange]

I live by a few simple rules. 1) stay away from pack trails AKA horse roads, doesn't matter how deep you get guys will be in there on horses. 2) 1 horrible mile straight up (or down) beats 3 easy miles in any day and usually takes longer 3) a mile away from an ATV trail is better than 2-3 miles away from a trailhead, don't be afraid to hike in on an ATV trail then branch off 4) It doesn't have to be miles deep to warrant spiking out, a nasty climb for a mile or two is no fun to do before and after shooting light day after day, carry a light enough spike camp and live where you want to hunt. 5) if you want to get away from ATV's go where ATV's CAN'T go, not where they SHOULD not go.

On more than a few trips I have had a slow trip and then packing out on the last day have gotten into animals within a 1/4 mile of my truck. Granted this is usually the case in less pressured areas and I was the only truck parked where I was hiking back to. It hasn't made me change my desire to hunt far from the truck when I want to, just solidified in my my mind that animals are where you find them.