Trip planning: the idea
To me, planning a trip is an exciting adventure. The possibilities are endless. I’ve learned that not many other people feel this way so I would like to share a series of posts that walk through the trip planning process in hopes of clarifying what it’s all about and inspiring others to tackle this monumental task themselves.
Right now I’m in the middle of planning a road trip that will span at least 2 weeks. Not a small undertaking, but not a huge deal either. People hit the road for months at a time. But it’s been a couple of years since my last road trip and there’s a lot of ground I want to cover. It’s best to think about these things in stages, so this blog will come out in stages. First things first…
Road trip, anyone?
Step one: the idea
Any specific details must spring from an initial idea. A thought. A possibility. Perhaps you have some vacation time you have to use before a certain date. Or you want to visit a relative in a different geographic location. Or perhaps catch a particular season or weather condition. There’s always a seed. And your job is to determine where best to plant that seed.
I knew I wanted to craft a trip around the completion of the hikes for the Hike366 Project. At the time I started planning, my finish date was April 13*. That was my seed: a date. Then I could ask myself the following questions in order to pick a location:
1. Is there good hiking in mid-April?
2. Is it an area I haven’t been to?
3. Is it driving distance from my home?
4. Are the roads/trailheads accessible in April?
5. Is there a variety of things to do and see around this location?
These questions helped me narrow down the infinite possibilities into a much more manageable number of choices. 1: it would definitely have to be an excellent hiking area. 2: I love novelty, so I’d like to find a place that was new to me. 3: I didn’t want to have to fly anywhere and I enjoy long road trips, so this idea narrowed down my choices to the western half of the U.S. 4: April is a tough month to plan for in certain locations due to snowpack, so it would have to be somewhere warm. 5: I’d be on the road with my husband, and although he likes hiking, he would prefer to mix it up with a variety of activities. There would ideally be places to see along the way as well as a number of interesting things to do besides hiking.
With those questions in mind, I quickly ruled out places like all of the Sierra and Cascades mountains, most of the state of Washington and Oregon. Within driving range included Idaho, Southern California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. Our last road trip took us through a few of those states and I’d just driven to Southern California in the spring. That easily brought me to Arizona: a place that I knew very little about and would have ideal hiking conditions in early spring. It felt a little far away, but once I started mapping it out, Arizona became much more plausible in my mind.
You can cover a lot of ground hiking in Arizona. There’s the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. There’s the northern half with its snowy peaks and the southern half with towering Saguaro cactus. There are slot canyons, mesas, mountains, desert, tribal lands and national parks. Like Oregon there are wide open spaces and busy cities. There was a lot to choose from. One quick glance at hikeaz.com opened the door to thousands of possibilities.
Not all decisions are this clear.
Here I had to ask myself another set of questions. Your questions might differ based on what’s important to you. Here’s my list:
1. Can I get away from the crowds?
2. Does it provide different scenery than the desert I live in?
3. Does it have unique and interesting natural features?
4. Can I camp nearby?
5. Is it within a reasonable driving distance?
The distance came up again because I was already stretching the length of the drive time to get to Arizona. I decided that while southern Arizona looked incredible, it was simply too far away. I’d be driving past plenty of things that met my criteria on my way there. So I decided on Northern Arizona, the part OUTSIDE Grand Canyon National Park. I’d been there once, a long time ago, for a day. All I remember is the stench of urine and the throngs of people. Now I know there are parts of the Grand Canyon where you can get away from all that but I had the feeling that Arizona had more in store for me. I did a little digging around online, using Google searches, scanning Instagram feeds and reading hiking websites. Yeah, Northern Arizona was going to meet my needs and suit my values.
In Summary
Planning a trip is a fun activity that does not need to intimidate you. It will help your actual trip go more smoothly, feel more meaningful and be more memorable than if you left it all to chance.
You’ll need a seed before you begin to brainstorm. That seed may be: time frame, location or activity type.
Once you have your seed then determine a list of questions that can help you narrow down the possibilities. Think logistics: amount of time you have, your budget, your interests, etc.
Then once you have a shortlist of places to go, make your decision based on your interests and values. You might need to do a little preliminary research online to get to “know” your options a little better. Choose the option that feels right and then you’re ready for step 2!
I would love to hear your ideas for upcoming trips. Please feel free to share in the comments section, or ask some questions related to the trip planning process. There are a few more installments in this series to come, so stay tuned!
*I’d later find out, when reviewing my trip data, that in fact May 10 would be my last day. Ooops! I’d already got myself invested in the Arizona trip that I did not change my intention to go there. That just means I get to plan another adventure in May.
