Chip Down wrote: ↑May 1st, 2021, 7:19 am
If only there was some way to travel without using a trail.
Ha! I believe I understand the logic of your sentiment, but again, I'm making a distinction between...
-"hiking" (following a trail, unless I'm in Eastern Oregon and there's only dirt roads or sagebrush slopes)
-and all other wilderness travel (such as non-trail or off-trail activities like scrambling, backcountry skiing, climbing, etc. I enjoy each of these activities every year, but see them as quite different from one another).
If I want to go "hiking" around Portland, it's on a trail. For me, the point of a trail is that it allows relatively fast travel through forested terrain. Given that logic, it makes no logical sense to either travel parallel to a snowed-in trail, or constantly slip and slide in my boots on old, crappy snow on a sidehill. I also miss being able to see the plants on the ground. I just go hiking somewhere snow-free, or instead go snow climbing, skiing, etc.
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.