Please see new post https://www.meetup.com/NewHikeGeorgia/events/271537276/

***** This trip has been re-posted with an itinerary. I m leaving this up for now to preserve the comments, but it will be taken down soon. RSVP s are closed, sign up on the new posting. *****

Unlike regular hikes where you shouldn t sign up unless you know you going to do the hike, for this one you can put your name on the list to learn more about the details before deciding. The final itinerary will result from a negotiation of those planning to make the trip; accordingly, please don t get involved in the process and complicate it unless you are truly serious about doing this. Planning will involve several conference calls and some in-person meetings. Lack of participation will cast doubt on your interest. Given the possibility of travel into Canada, you should have a current passport.

While I have extensive experience with road trips, I do not have experience with any of the proposed locations. That is one reason that I want to visit them, but it puts me at a disadvantage when planning such a trip. I m pretty good with online research though.

At first thought, I see this being a group of active HGa/HTiG members who know one another. But, if you have a strong interest and relevant experience, I invite you to signup with the caveat that the group may decide that this will be limited to those who we know. We ll have to see what the demand for this is, but I want the number to be large enough to make for a great time, but not too large that it becomes unwieldy.

People have different approaches to travel and the final plan will have to involve compromise, but we need to start with a group that is at least somewhat on the same page. This is not going to be a budget trip, but it won t be a luxury one either. I have visited many of the National Parks in the West, but surprisingly I have done very little hiking in them. As an example, my thought was that in lieu of an eight-hour hike in Zion, I could visit Las Vegas or Bryce instead; and that is what I did. I know there will be an interest in hiking and I m open to doing more of that for a change, but I do expect that there will be some road tripping involved too. It s also possible that there will be a core trip for X number of days and an option for individuals or a sub-group to extend the trip.

Calgary, Glacier and Banff are just starting points. Yellowstone and Grand Teton is another option. Or maybe skip Canada and do Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton. I most likely will visit Idaho while I m out there and Canada is appealing to me. Again though, there can be a base trip with optional extensions. As I also mentioned, someone may want to spend a week hiking in a National Park, while others may prefer to visit three National Parks in that same length of time. This is an important distinction on which we need to reach an early agreement.

I already have airfare alerts set for airports in the area and, generally, it s cheaper to fly into Calgary than the small Montana airports. But $100 is not going to determine where the trip starts. Also, we don t necessarily need to depart from where we arrived, but that can sometimes significantly increase the rental car expense.

Note that If you are not interested in this trip, but are involved in the travel industry and have good advice to offer us, please do so. Also, if you have have already checked these great destinations off your list, please share with us what you learned while visiting them.

I realize that signing up for this is more of a commitment than a day hike, so if necessary, take a few days to decide if this makes sense for you. Planning will not begin in earnest until early June. But if this is something you already know that you want to do, go ahead and sign up now. If you get involved too late, your opinions won t have factored into the final plan or there won t be available space.