I've even done it in areas I've never visited before so that I could go wherever seemed interesting. Once, owing to an eleventh-hour assignment to attend and write about a mountain race, I found myself in the Colorado Rockies with ten days to spare and no plans. Having no route, no clear destination,worried me at first.Where would I go, and why? But there was freedom in not knowing. I didn't have to walk a certain distance each day. There were no deadlines, no food drops, no campsites to book in advance. I could wander at will. Or not wander.
The Colorado Rockies are ideal for such an apparently aimless venture, because their small pockets of wilderness are easy to escape when you need to resupply or want a day or two in town. Usually, though, a little more planning is required. Guidebooks, maps,Web sites,DVDs, CDROMs, and magazine articles can all provide information on where to go. A Web search with Google is a good place to start. Once you've selected an area, you can obtain up-to-date information from the land managers-the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, or state forest or park services.
There is no such thing as too much information. The problem is sorting out what is useful from what is irrelevant. Information on water sources may be unnecessary in wet coastal mountains, but it's critical in the desert. The Internet can quickly overwhelm you with masses of information. Start to sift through it though, and you'll find that much is not of value for your hike. Consider whom the site is aimed at; often it's not hikers. Many Web sites are updated regularly, some daily. Up-to-date local knowledge is still important, however. Nothing beats talking to someone who hiked over that ridge last week or drank from that spring yesterday. In really remote areas like the Yukon, local knowledge is invaluable. On my walk through that area, I changed my route several times based on information from locals.
For the initial route planning I use small-scale (1:250,000) maps covering large areas before purchasing the appropriate topographic maps and working out a more detailed line. DeLorme's Atlas and Gazetteer volumes-one for each state of the United States-and similar volumes are excellent for an overview of an area.Mapping software can be used too, though I find it easier to plan routes on a large paper map than on a screen, probably because I've had years of practice.When planning I'm always aware, however, that cross-country routes may be impassable or that a far more obvious way may show itself, so I don't stick rigidly to my prehike plans. It's easy to draw bold lines across a paper map, carried away by the excitement of anticipation, without considering the reality of trying to walk the route.
One of the big problems with planning a hike of more than a few days is resupplying. For popular trails like the Appalachian and the John Muir, there are regularly updated lists of facilities like post offices and grocery stores. There are even companies that will ship food parcels to you.Hikers may be rare or even unheard of in other places, however, so it's always best to write and ask about amenities.
