i'm personally going to start driving out friday night, parking at the trailhead, and sleeping in my car to maximize my weekends

>>2722841
You should've been at the trailhead at 5am.

>>2722842
I live near a Wilderness Area where people actually do this.

>>2722841
t. average /out/ anon

>>2722842
I do this all the time. It is much easier to just get up out of my car and just start hiking then it is to get myself out of my comfy bed and make myself drive to a trailhead.

>>2722841
theres a perfectly good spot in between the ford and the toyota. let me guess you have some assblasted black dodge ram with a lift kit and truck nuts so it wont fit. cringe.

>>2722859
Desperate swing and a miss.

>>2722841
You should've been at the trailhead the night before, and sleep in your car.

does anyone else obsessively research in google maps for places to park? specially when the trailhead is a small town with thin roads, low houses and possibly dogs and people, i spend almost as much time on that shit as looking at the actual trail

>>2722841
Just park on the side of the road bro

Here's what I've learned hiking in a very popular out state all my life. Trails have gotten a lot worse as of like 8 years ago and I miss the solitude of my childhood. No sense in yearning for what likely is not coming back.
1. Find less popular trails; you can gauge popularity by frequency of reviews on trail websites. I can often ignore everything else on this list and see only one or two people because I've found some nice spots with very little traffic.
2. Get up earlier, 5am at the earliest
3. If you drive far, make sure it's not towards a popular area
4. Hike in the rain and cold. Summer is the worst time to hike
5. If you have a day off during the work week, use it to hike
6. Find difficult trails or poorly maintained trails, or (weirdly enough) easy remote trails. Here lots of people use trails to work out so easy hikes are frequently empty. Not sure if that's just a "here" thing though.
7. Plan weird routes in gps apps like gaia; don't just go on routes listed on websites. National forests are your friend.
8. Start or end in the dark with a headlamp. ngl this is pretty spooky sometimes if you only hike alone like me
9. Unfortunately popular hikes are popular for a reason. Sleeping in your car + starting in the dark is often the only way to enjoy certain areas.

>>2722885
>5am at the earliest
*latest. (I do 5am most hikes, 4:30 a few times a year and 4 maybe once a year)

>>2722859
I see two spots my ford fiesta would easily fit in.
>>2722860
They're correct. Also: do you ever think for yourself or just endlessly regurgitate comments you updooted.

>>2722841
>Leaves on the trees
>plenty of overflow parking by the helipad
Either this isnt the trailhead, or it didnt happen today..or it didnt happen at all

Which is it?

>>2722841
>get up at 6am
That's your first mistake. Get up earlier for popular areas or camp the night before.

>go back home
That's your second mistake. Always have a backup plan.

>>2722859
>>2722887
The OP's photo isn't OC geniuses
https://naturalatlas.com/trailheads/storm-castle-1936776

>>2722889
See above

>>2722914
no shit. I used to live right across the river from it. Which is why I pointed out OP was full of shit

This is my worst nightmare as someone with intense parking anxiety who can't seem to get out of the house earlier than 11

>>2722889
nigga why are you getting all bent out of shape because I picked a photo of a trail head parking lot randomly off the web

>>2722919
nta but I think most people assume the trailhead in question was the one you posted- which would makes sense unless clarified otherwise. trailheads in MT are never full.

>>2722919
You created a troll thread and are now complaining that people aren't being trolled in the way you intended?

>>2722885
>Hike in the cold
Actual FS employee here, this is great and easy to follow advice. Trails are barren at midweek during late winter/early spring. Especially if there's snow on the ground. Winter hiking should be far more popular then it is.

You should also look for trails with popular climbing spots along them. Climbers fill trailhead parking but don't actual use much of the trail.

>>2722887
>>2722914
>>2722928
>>2723142
You dumb fucking niggers. Obviously, this isn't a photo OP just took. Look at the cars. Look at the leaves. This photo wasn't taken in this decade.

>>2723165
Calling >>2722914 a "dumb fucking nigger" when that post pointed out the same fucking thing you illiterate faggot

>>2722841
should have been out there the night before placing caltrops

>>2722859
I'd just hook a tow strap up to a toyota and drag it out of the parking spot. take the parking spot. problem solved.

>>2722841
These niggas ever heard of backing into a spot?

>>2723165
>Look at the cars
Everyone in Montana drives a 20 year old shitbox.

>>2722842
I get friday off and drive out thursday night ;)

>>2722841
That sucks OP. If you don't mind walking a few extra km's would you have been able to park somewhere out of the way? There's usually some abandoned logger road somewhere that has a concealed place to park. Bonus points if you can conceal it with brush, or if your car is an old bomb and looks abandoned anyway!

>trailhead
This is the problem

Everyone just parks along the side of the road further down if that happens. You don't need to only hike in rain or on weekdays lmao. It's like no one here actually goes /out/.

what the fuck is a trailhead

>>2723644
I don't think this is the board for you, Euro.

If whenever you're going to can be reached by car like that then it's not really /out/ it's basically a city park

>>2723708
bullshit. if one hiked into the woods from the trailhead in OPs pic you would have access 200,000 acres of designated wilderness and an additional 500,000 acres of general NF.

>>2723728
>200,000 acres is a lot
lol
lamo

>>2723728
>National forest = logging apocalypse

>>2723753
Go run across 200k acres and back and let us know how small it was

>>2723753
>200,000 acres is a lot
>300 square miles
Thats just the immediate stuff. From this parking lot you can walk almost 60 miles into Yellowstone before hitting a paved road. There is an additional 1 million+ acres of Wilderness in the NF which totals 1.8million acres. Not bad for 20 minutes from town

>>2723755
>everyone is a jewish logger

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>>2723728
Lmao retard

>Storm Castle
Hello fellow Montanan. That's what you get for trying to hike Storm Castle now that every coastal faggot and his brother decided to move to MT.

>>2723850
Nah fuck off. I'm moving to Montana at the end of the summer and I can't wait.

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>>2723843
>derps
sure thing skippy

>>2724073
Kek you're about 10 years too late. Enjoy the HOAs and rentoid costs. Enjoy never being able to afford land. Enjoy generally terrible food and service, and some of the biggest entitled assholes you've ever met. We have California levels of traffic jams in Bozo and Zoo Town. I'll probably stay another 5 years if I can stomach it and then retire to the family ranches in Idaho.

>>2724149
>We have California levels of traffic jams in Bozo and Zoo Town
>never been in a Bay Area or LA traffic jam
Absolute bullshit. There is NEVER a traffic jam on the hwy unless there is an accident. In town, at most you might have to weight an extra light or two but it is a minor inconvience and absolutely trivial compared to CA.

>>2724171
>In town
Which town? Try driving to Bridger Bowl from BZN on a weekend fuckwad.

>>2724181
>derps
>one road
>a few days a year

sure. I had to wait for several minutes to make turn onto brdg cny rd. Still beats a trip to Tahoe on a weekend....fuckwad. Your comparison was asinine. An adjective I am sure you are familiar with.

>>2724217
>t. moved to bozangeles after covid so he could find himself.

>>2723728
I'm trans btw I forgot to include this in my post

>>2724217
Why do you type like a redditor?

>>2724268
>fail
born and raised in MT. Spent time in CA for work. Back home now.

>>2724363
Why are you fucking retarded

>>2724361
>seething projection
lol

>>2722859
>dodge ram
That hasn’t been a thing for 14 years anon

>>2724459
>buying a car any new than 20 years ago
asking for problems

>>2722841
>drive to take a walk somewhere else
just walk around you stupid faggot

>>2725743
What if he lives in a high-traffic shithole?

>>2723349
Is backing in really worth it most times? It's easier to back out into an open lot than it is to carefully back in between 2 cars. But either way you'll have to put your car in reverse when arriving or leaving so why challenge yourself?

>>2724149
>Idaho
Fuck off were full

>>2723349
We call that "Princess parking" where I come from.