Two that I know personally - consultant and instructor.
Consultant - somewhat obviously - allows you to pursue whatever you like doing, so long as you can convince someone to pay you for doing it. The nice thing is that as you grow and develop your skills, you can upgrade your consulting from simple "contract programmer" to analyst, designer, team leader and so on. The scarey part is that there is no safety net like in a job.
Instructor is less obvious, but if you love programming then there is nothing more satisfying than imparting that love (and some skills) to a new generation of programmers.
Both can be a challenge, and both can be quite rewarding.
Cheers,
-R
p.s. (I started this PS a few minutes ago, then stopped, now will write it again in response to the good comment).
If you wish to remain within the ranks of those working for a company, then there are still options. The difficulty with most companies, as you have pointed out, is that their career "path" only involves management. You CAN elect to stay where you are, but you will likely not be rewarded nearly as well - if at all. Sometimes, they can get downright nasty if you won't "move up".
That said, it's not all bleak. There really ARE companies that have a proper technical ladder. The problem is twofold: 1. they are rare and can be hard to find. 2. If you find them, likely they are among the "top 10" companies that tech people like to work for, so you need to be REALLY excellent to get a job with them.
Still, if this is your passion, such paths do exist. (I worked for one in the early '80's that did have a pure "technical ladder", but unfortunately that ladder was in the engineering dept, not the IT dept. (so I left for a different company).
The other solution is to find a very flat company, in terms of organization. The flatter they are, the less likely they will "force" you into management.
Actually, in the flat companies, you WILL be moved into management, just that you will still be doing your technical work.
There's one last bit of info I have for you - the "soft stuf" of management is necessary in almost every job if you want to move ahead (not just up). Consultants need to be able to communicate with managers and CEOs and such in order to remain valuable. The better you communicate to those outside IT, the better your prospects. Likewise, instruction is almost pure communication, so again, being good a the so-called "soft skills" (communication) is necessary.