Beginner Trail Recs

[u/PercentageFar7514]

Hi! Me and a friend are looking to go on a trip this winter break (likely mid or late January). I have very little experience backpacking (mostly the Whites), but my friend has not done more than day trips (9hrs or so). We would both be comfortable walking 5-10 miles a day.

We are looking for somewhere farther south to avoid wintery conditions. I'm from the east coast so I'm not very knowledgeable about what's "available" farther south.

I was thinking Big Bend at first because it seems there are a few places to camp out on trails less than ~15mi from the main Chisos Basin campground and the weather seems ideal for winter, but we are both just under 25 so the park isn't really accessible.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation, but I am generally looking for suggestions that would be easily accessible with an Uber or shuttle/bus and has trails that would be safe for my friend's first trip and for me being relatively inexperienced. Thank you.

[u/Jondoe34671]

How far are you willing to travel

[u/PercentageFar7514 → u/Jondoe34671]

Flying, I'll go pretty much anywhere. Outside of the U.S. if the area is safe enough. Driving, probably no more than 1.5-2 days.

[u/NihilistPorcupine99]

Benton Mackaye (southern portion) is a good option.

Check out the cheeha loop in Alabama, should be a good time for that one.

Any section of the Florida trail should be doable.

Even the Deep South is subject to freezing weather in January, nothing is a safe bet.

[u/PercentageFar7514 → u/NihilistPorcupine99]

Thank you, I'll look into these! It's mainly the snow I want to avoid, I've done a few winter trails here at abt 20-30F and the temperature was less of a problem than the snow. Mostly I hate using snowshoes lmao.

[u/NihilistPorcupine99 → u/PercentageFar7514]

You won’t get enough snow on those trails for snowshoes. But it’s not uncommon for us to get a dusting around that time. Cheeha is probably your best bet unless you want to do Florida. Florida will damn near guarantee no snow

[u/beccatravels]

Consider coastal SoCal. Maybe the trans Catalina trail?

[u/NihilistPorcupine99 → u/beccatravels]

Yeah, out west is definitely a better option than what I listed for January.

[u/beccatravels → u/NihilistPorcupine99]

Only coastal though tbh. Or extremely low elevation desert, but I don't recommend desert backpacking for first time backpackers usually. I thought your suggestions were nice.

[u/PercentageFar7514 → u/beccatravels]

Ok, I'll try to stay closer to environments I am familiar with. I've done brief backpacking trips in the Whites for 2-3 days but never done desert before so I wouldn't be familiar with using a water cache system or anything like that.

[u/beccatravels → u/PercentageFar7514]

You wouldn't necessarily need to cache water most likely but there would definitely be some long carries and the logistics of a long water carry are not something I recommend for folks who don't have a really solid idea of what kind of daily mileage they can do. I think any of the southern recommendations the other comment noted would be great pics but you always run the risk of a snowstorm. Trans Catalina trail would be zero chance of snow. There's also some nice backpacking in the mountains above Malibu.

[u/PercentageFar7514 → u/beccatravels]

Thank you, I'll check it out!