Explore: The Wild Pacific Trail skirts rocky cliffs and meanders through dense old-growth rain forest to reveal dramatic vistas of the moody, tossing surf.

CNN: 10 dazzling hideaways by the sea

If you car camp, you'll have more options (think coolers packed with all sorts of delicacies and cast iron pans for campfire desserts), but if you decide to make it a longer excursion (think a few days on the Appalachian Trail or along the Pacific Crest Trail) light is the way to go.

NPR: Forget The Granola: Camp Cooking Goes Gourmet

The Pacific Crest Trail, which runs 2, 663 miles from Mexico to Canada, shares half of the lake with the Rim Trail and brings an influx of "through hikers" (the ultra-serious lean visitors who routinely make 20 plus miles a day).

BBC: Lost in paradise

Their northern neighbours like to remind visitors of the famous fork (somewhere in today's Idaho) in the Oregon Trail that led the wagon trains to the Pacific coast.

ECONOMIST: The people's will