besthike.com - the blog

A few pics from my hike today with Tom Mangan of Two-Heel Drive.
We headed across the Golden Gate Bridge en route to Point Bonita Lighthouse, touted in my guidebook the “most sensational easy hike in the Bay area”.
Tom concurred.

It’s only open a few hours each day, access blocked by a locked tunnel. […]

I like the route Lonely Planet Hiking Hawaii recommends for Alakai Swamp:
Kalalau Lookout trailhead > Phea Lookout > Kilohana Lookout. And back.
That’s maximum bang / mile, I think.
It’s a brilliant hike, too, by the way. Don’t be deterred by the name “Swamp”.

OK, it’s a swamp. But it’s so weird and unexpected after […]

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 […]

The Adventure Blog links to a Backpacker Magazine article. And editor Kraig adds some recommendations of his own:

We’re into October now, and that means that Autumn is in the air and soon the green leaves of Summer will give way to the bright reds, oranges, and yellows of Fall. I know that it’s a perfect […]

Having just returned from hiking wonderful Inyo National Forest, this post caught my eye.
As selected by GORP:
1. Willamette National Forest, OR
2. Inyo National Forest, CA
3. Coconino National Forest, AZ
4. Gunnison National Forest, CO
5. Chequamegon-Nicolet N.F., WI
6. Mark Twain National Forest, MO
7. Pisgah National Forest, NC
8. Allegheny National Forest, PA
9. Green Mountain National Forest, VT
10. White […]

While acclimatizing to altitude in preparation for an ascent of 14,000ft+ Mt. White in California we spent two days hiking photogenic Ancient Bristlecone Forest - Inyo National Forest - out of Bishop.
The Schulman Grove Visitor Center is situated way up at 10,000ft.
The oldest known live tree in the world is dubbed “Methuselah”. But […]

Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridus, Araliaceae) is a large shrub native to the Pacific Northwest coastal forests of North America. Also known as Devil’s Walking Stick, it grows to 1-1.5 m tall normally, however instances exist of it reaching in excess of 5m in rainforest gullies, with the erect stems covered in short, stout spines. …

The […]

The buttes and mesas of the Colorado Plateau remind me of those other “islands in the sky” — the tepuis of South America.

tepui art - CanyonsWorldwide.com
I’d really love to climb Roraima in Venezuela:
• bordering Venezuela, Brazil & Guyana, Roraima is remote
• it’s in the world’s largest national park — Canaima
• the highest tepui at 2810m […]

My interest was tweaked when I kept seeing an unusual little day hike on “best hikes in Utah” lists.
The name is surprising too: Negro Bill’s Canyon. (I will lobbyinglobby for a name change to Mitt Romney Canyon if he wins the Presidency in 2008.)
It’s popular for a number of reasons:
very close to Moab, […]

Brian Burgit recommends a wet and wild day hike. Looks great.

Falls Trail: difficult hiking
The full loop of this trail is 7.2 miles if hiking both the upper and lower sections. To see most of the waterfalls, a 3.2-mile loop can be taken by going on Highland Trail and the Glen Leigh and Ganoga Glen sides […]