besthike.com - the blog

From everything I’ve heard and seen over the past 7-years, George Bush has been the worst President ever in terms of protecting the environment. National Parks, in particular, have been near lowest priority for his administration.
Just about every second day I get more bad news from the National Parks Traveler blog.
Now the White […]

After 5-days at the Banff Mountain Festivals 2007, here’s my FINAL review:
This was my first trip to Banff for the festivals.
THE GOOD:
bringing together so many outdoors enthusiasts
Banff and the Rocky Mountains
food available on site
sponsors, especially National Geographic and New Balance
“reading rooms” for previewing the books
TV monitors showing the performances for those without tickets
no […]

This is a spin-off of the regular Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. But is also highly recommended. See both, if you can. Radical Reels tours much less widely.

The Radical Reels Film Tour complements the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, and focuses on dynamic, high-adrenalin films featuring sports such as skiing, climbing, kayaking, BASE […]

Do what you have to to get tickets for the Film Festival if it gets anywhere close to you.
It’s brilliant. Highlights from the multi-day festival.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival is on the road across North America and around the world. Whether you are an experienced mountaineer or an armchair adventurer, this event is for […]

When in Chile en route to hike Cerro Castillo and Paine, I made a special trip (ferry ride) to visit Park Pumalin. This is the audacious and controversial project of Douglas Tompkins— to protect the environment by buying it.
I love Park Pumalin and recommend to the many well-intentioned treehuggers out there that you pool […]

One man and his dog, 128 days and 1553mi (2500km), the first person to walk solo and unassisted across the continent of Australia.
Adventurer of the Year Andrew Skurka just completed 6875mi on his Great Western Loop, but I reckon John Muir’s trek across Australia in 2001, on his fourth attempt, was even tougher.
Mainly because […]

Click through to The Adventure Blog to see a video slideshow of the world’s highest rock concert (altitude-wise).
The musical score is by participating musicians.

Jake Norton has recently returned from Nepal, where he took part in the Everest Rocks Trek in which 40 musicians turned into wandering minstrels, playing their music all the way up […]

I am for reintroduction of wolves to the wilderness.
Elk and porcupine worry me more than wolves in the wild. But this is significant. The first documented case of wolves hunting and killing a man:

Environmentalists backing the re-wolfing of the American West have often said, “Don’t worry, there’s no documented instance of wolves killing any […]

This week you’ll see a lot of press like this:
Bear Grylls is back with a new one-hour special and the second season of MAN VS. WILD, airing Fridays at 9 PM (ET/PT) beginning November 9. Bear travels to the Himalayas for BEAR’S MISSION EVEREST, where this past spring he attempted to fulfill a dream […]

I watched movies for 3 days in Banff, and still managed only to see half the prize winners.
The Western Lands — Hoy
“The filmmaker creates a rich and beautiful canvas on which this story is told,” says jury member Julie Tait. “This is a sensual film with an experimental treatment, a story of life, love […]