Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler August 2010 Vacation Recs

My wife and I are looking for recs, travelling out of NorCal.

Requirements:
1) 6 hours or less travel time (one way) from San Francisco Int'l. I checked places like Costa Rica and Belize but it's longer than that.
2) Access to MTB trails and trail running (wife).
3) Not too hot. I considered Moab but it looks way too hot.
4) No camping or rugged accommodations. Wife's not too keen on that.

During the past 2 years, we've done Deer Valley and Whistler. Both fit the bill perfectly. Some current considerations are Boulder, CO, Alaska, maybe Yellowstone/Tetons. My concern with Alaska (Denali) and Yellowstone is that the MTB'ing may be restricted since it's a Nat'l Park. We're doing Hawaii w/ the family in Oct so that's already used up. I'd like South/Central America but can't figure out sub-10 hour travel time. Also, it appears to be the tail end of the rainy season down there.

Thanks for the help.

Ever considered coming north of the border? You could hit Canmore/Kananaskis and have tons of cycling and running at your disposal.

Yeah, Calgary was suggested. How far is Banf from the airport?

Banff is 1 hr 15 min. Canmore is 1 hr as is Kananaskis(lots of MTB trails here) country.

If they have a trail system on Vancouver Island, that would make for a nice trip.

We did BC last year so we're looking for something new.

Not sure about the MTB availability, but Seattle in August totally rocks.

Plus you get to meet Tom!

No consideration for Winnipeg/Manitoba?

Lake Louise area.

Hmmm, how far a drive is Lake Louise from the Calgary airport?

About 110 miles.

It's 7 hours to the beautiful Turks and Caicos. Not 6 but just a thought.

About 1.5hrs on a good day.

Bummer, 2 hour drive might be a bit much.

Carribean's too hot during August. Plus given the choice, I prefer Hawaii to the Carribean. Also, from SFO, we have to connect either thru Dallas or Miami w/ a long layover to get to the Carribean. Not ideal.

It's not 2 hrs we drive faster uphere on the plus side you could do day trips to Louise etc from Banff as it is fairly central to Kananaskis country, Canmore, Lake Louise, you could push it a little more and see the Glacier fields between Banff and Jasper.

Mountain biking in Alaska can be a bit challenging. There just isn’t a great trail network for that. Most trails are out in the bush and are for four wheelers. They kind of go from swamp to big assed rocks to half way descent and back to swamp, then more rocks. That’s just the trails…. Depending on where you are, the bears can be even more of a challenge. I go no where without a firearm, and it has to be big enough to actually do some good if you need it. But having said all that, if you are serious about coming the Alaska, feel free to send me an email or give me a call and I can get you all the info you need. I know the state and know a lot of folks in the tourism business who have contacts.

There is a place I want to visit for the whole purpose of hiking, taking some photos and possibly mountain biking; and that’s over the pass between Leavenworth and Seattle on Highway 2. I drove that stretch last fall and it’s beautiful. There are many trails to wander and it’s an easy drive to Leavenworth or back to the Seattle area depending on which side of the pass you happen to be on. Leavenworth gets tiresome after about four hours, but it’s OK if you try to become a tourist and enjoy the hot dogs and beer.

I haven't been to Leavenworth in a loooong time. I never got the beer experience, so the thing that stood out for me was the toys. I really liked the toy stores there, so that's what I would look forward to when I went.

I like the North Cascades even better (Methow Valley - Winthrop, Twisp, etc.). Haven't been there in years, it's farther from Seattle, and there is even less "civilization" than the Hwy 2 corridor. Beautiful, though.

I went to the Deception Pass area in Washington, that was very beautiful.

Definitely Winipeg and then head a little north. The Skeeters need a good feed in August!

Or go a little sooner, the black flies gotta eat too ya know.

OK, so much for my criteria...

We did some looking and my wife ran into some trips to Peru. Hiking Machu Picchu seems WAY too cool not to consider, granted travel is about 11 hours.

Has anyone done this before? Looking for some tips.

We are looking at this so far. Waiting to hear back from them.

http://greentracks.com/Amazon-start.html

They also have an Amazon lodge tour where you travel from lodge to lodge in the rain forest.

Cesar, I've toured most of South America, including climbing all around Machu Picchu. Fortunately, even though August is mid-winter it isn't literally "way too cool"(60ish)and is the dry season, which makes for a better probability of having a pleasant trip.