besthike.com - the blog

Every time I get to Lost Wages, I spend at least one day at Red Rock. It’s only a few miles from the strip to 197,000 acres of beautiful desert wilderness.
While most outdoors folk go for the bouldering, you can quickly access great hiking, as well.
Branch Whitney posted his favourite hikes there:
Easy Hikes
Calico […]

Elmar Buchner and Thomas Kenkmann say the key to their finding was tiny grains of “shocked quartz” — basically, quartz that has a different microscopic structure from normal quartz due to undergoing extreme pressure of some sort — that was created by the impact.

National Parks Traveler
Having hiked the superb Syncline Loop last year (trip […]

Joshua Tree is NOT most famous for hiking. It’s set-up more so that casual day hikers won’t get lost and die of dehydration.
Nor is it most famous for Joshua trees.
JT is most famous for climbing. Photos I took close to Hidden Valley Campground:

larger version - flickr

larger version - flickr
Joshua Tree National […]

Almost everyone has heard of a small Park in California because of the hit album by Irish Rockers U2 called Joshua Tree.

Anton Corbijn photography December 1986 - via Brad Biringer
I’ve been wanting to get here for YEARS.
Best hiking destination in the Park, no doubt in my mind, is Lost Palms Oasis. That’s 7.5mi (12km) return […]

In winter, Mt. San Jacinto looks very appealing from down in the desert.

original - flickr - bossco
I’ve always loved mountain gondolas.
Instead of slogging hours up the hill, in just a few minutes, you can get to altitude.

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is one of the premiere tourist attractions of Southern California. A great […]

Last year I hiked Syncline Loop in Canyonlands, Island in the Sky, Arizona. Awesome. (My trip report.)
Upheaval Dome, the crater there, is only one of 174 such structures as listed on the Earth Impact Database. I wonder how many others have good hikes.
This year I MISSED the chance to see Meteor Crater though it was […]

… is cycle the canals.

They’re part of the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a 336mi (541km) diversion of water from the Colorado River through to southern Arizona. The largest and most expensive aqueduct system ever constructed in the United States.
In Phoenix I rented a mountain bike from the hostel ($15/day) and rode the flat […]

Israel Hiking offers guided walks “stressing landscapes, nature and historic sites.”
Sounds like a great way to visit the Holy Land.
… Israel is not a big country, but the range of landscapes is diverse. You can experience steep mountains, the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, the Judean Desert, the Arava and the Negev, […]

by Rick McCharles
I was critical of off-road enthusiasts out of Moab, Utah. Clearly they do a lot of damage to the environment.
Related post: motorized vehicles ruin the Utah desert
But I’ve driven off-road myself in Huacachina, Peru. In the highest sand dunes in the world.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube:

That’s not me in the […]

You hate that question. Right?
On Two-Heel Drive Tom Mangan just asked me: What do you want to do this year?
And something similar from Tom Chandler on The Trout Underground: where are you planning to fish over the next 12 months?
Like those two esteemed bloggers, I am not yet confirmed on any trekking adventures. Our list […]