Rick Mc

December 7, 2010December 7, 2010

walk the Faja de Flores cliffs

Ordesa National Park, Spain.

Eroded ledges, some walkable, are called ‘Fajas’.

… For those with a head for heights the Faja de Flores is a must. A steep climb leads to the entrance of the Faja nearly a kilometre above the valley floor. At first there looks no place for a path but as you get closer the eroded band shows itself and you can see it winding it’s way along the cliff face. The views change around every corner as you get views of the Sierra de Guara, the southern cliffs of the valley and then the Breche de Roland and the highest peaks in the park. …

Hike Pyrenees

That’s a U.K. based company offering this adventure as part of their Peaks and Passes guided walking holiday.

December 7, 2010December 4, 2010

best hikes Oregon

Larry Cloud of cloud9northwest.com has some recommendations:

1. Best view – Cape Lookout on the Oregon Coast, hands down. Only problem is, to get that awesome view, the weather has to cooperate. Its often cloudy/rainy there, so I’d say the Cape Lookout hike needs to be done in July or August.

2. Best workout – Larch Mountain Crater Loop – you can actually start this down at Multnomah Falls Lodge on the Columbia River and climb 12 miles up the gorge wall to the top of Larch Mountain (we haven’t done this yet though).

3. Best family hike (if you want to bring kids) – I’d say probably the Triangulation Peak Hike is the least difficult and safest.

4. Best waterfalls – Silver Falls State Park. 11 majestic waterfalls within an 8 mile circle. Runner-up would be Ramona Falls. (note: his wife, Ramona, likes Ramona Falls best)

5. Best view of the Columbia River (separates Oregon from Washington) – Beacon Rock. Short but tough climb (no gear required).

6. Most unique – Drift Creek Falls – suspension bridge overlooks beautiful waterfall. Fairly easy hike in (mostly downhill).

cloud9northwest.com

Thanks Larry.

December 6, 2010December 3, 2010

Westwood Lake, Nanaimo, B.C.

… Westwood Lake is an ultimate destination for many kinds of Nanaimo-ites, owing to its kilometres of springy pathways for runners and walkers, beaches for swimmers, fish for canoers, and its access to Mount Benson and Westwood Ridge …

I did just the 6km loop around the lake, catching some interesting photos.

The sun we hadn’t seen for many days was evaporating snow into mist.

see the rest of my pics on flickr

The best guidebook for the many local trails like this on Vancouver Island are the Hiking Trails series (3 volumes) by Vancouver Island Trails Information Society.

December 5, 2010December 4, 2010

Machu Pichu illusion

Can you see the face in this picture? …

How about if we flip the image… See it now?

That’s from Mighty Optical Illusions.

See our best hikes in Peru.

December 5, 2010December 3, 2010

trek Ausangate Circuit, Peru

We got a recommendation from John Brawner for the Ausangate Peru Company, owned and managed by Edgar.

He took a 6 day guided trek with them.

Details, testimonials and prices on AusangatePeru.com.

Having done this adventure myself with a guide and pack animals for only one day, I know it‘s tricky to do independently. If you have any lack of overconfidence at all, get a guide.

Ausangate is our #4 hike in the world.

Find out more on our Ausangate information page.

December 4, 2010December 2, 2010

award winning hiking video

A bug’s eye view of a day hike. Mellow. I’ve never seen anything similar before.

Day hike on the Six chutes trail in Mastigouche Provincial Park, just outside of St-Alexis-des-Monts. (Quebec)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This was one of the winners of the Mountain Equipment Co-op Sweet Spots outdoor video competition.

Thanks Rocco.

… Have you seen hiking stilettos, as yet?

December 3, 2010

you must climb Angel Falls

KAMADAC is a German – Venezuelan run travel agency based out of nearby Santa Elena.

Their guides speak Spanish, German and English.

How can you resist?

The prices are really good value. Click through to see for yourself – kamadac.de

December 3, 2010November 26, 2023

Jeju Olle hike, Korea day 5

#Jeju #JejuOlle

trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

Day 4 had been long long, over 30km. In the dark I lucked into finding a perfect tent site, hidden away in a rock niche high above the coast.

It had previously been used as a meditation retreat.

Dawn is the most peaceful time of the day. They are not early risers on Jeju.

Locals live by the “Sam Mu” (“Three Nothings”) – no beggars, no thieves, no gates.

Here is (by far) my favourite restaurant over 100km – the Two Weeks Coffee Shop.

The owner retired from Seoul. Because he and his wife love coffee, they purchased the property to set up a retirement job.

Every Korean can guess why it’s named Two Weeks. … You’ll have to go yourself and ask if you want to know. Bring a book and a laptop. They have free WiFi. You can hang out in their lovely garden.

Check the vista from atop the nearby cinder cone.

Known as an “oreum” (lateral volcano grown over as a hill or small mountain), the Jeju Olle never bypasses one without making you climb to the top.

That’s the second largest “city” on Jeju, Seogwipo.

They have the same huge, colourful web spiders I’ve bumped into many times in Hong Kong.

I imagine these small, timid feral cats eat the spiders, when they can.

I finished at the official Jeju Olle office in Seogwipo, a bit disappointed that I ran out of time to do route 7. Some feel that’s the best of all.

Read more about route 6 on the official website.

See the rest of my route 5-6 photos on flickr.

Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

_____

Resources if you want to plan a trip for yourself:

Visit Korea – Jeju Olle (also available in many other languages)

JejuOlle.org (also in Japanese, Chinese and Korean)

Wild Junket – Hiking in Korea: Jeju Olle Trail

Though I did not use it, there is a guidebook in English. Look for it on the island or check it out as a PDF linked from this Visit Korea page.

Questions? Suggestions? … Leave a comment.

December 3, 2010

Coast-To-Coast trail, U.K.

Marco Nef from Switzerland alerted me to their excellent and unique website on the famed 220mi traverse.

Each page of the trip report is synchronously bilingual: German and English.

The Coast-To-Coast trail goes from St.Bees at the west coast all the way to Robin Hood’s Bay at the east coast. …

check it out at coast-to-coast.ch

It’s also known as the Coast to Coast Walk.

December 2, 2010November 26, 2023

Jeju Olle hike, Korea day 4

#Jeju #JejuOlle

trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | (routes 1→ 6 = 106km)

This page recounts routes 4 and 5.

An early start again, the Festival tents were not yet open. So I missed a couple of passport stamps.

One town had entertainment for those of us in the Walking Festival. For example, here is a traditional drummer.

Everywhere you turn on Jeju island you’ll see reminders that this is a nation prepared for war. Most military installations are unmanned, but covered in camouflage.

On the trail the military has posted photos, including this one.

We visitors were all charmed by the local dogs of the island. Very mild mannered, they rarely even bark. It seemed perhaps 70% of the pet dogs were of this one breed.

Slippery sections of the Jeju Olle are improved with these recycled tire mats.

The foreign experts were not impressed. What happens when they (inevitably) break up?

An inland section routes past an impressive Buddhist monastery.

I didn’t take the time to visit. But it seemed to be welcoming to hikers.

The biggest crop at this time of the year is Mandarins.

But many others were being taken off the fields. Several different grains were drying.

I was a little surprised how undeveloped the coastline is … for an island so based on the fishery.

Linda Myers estimates 30,000 walked one of the Jeju Olle pathways in 2008. And 150,000 in 2009. That will have grown again in 2010, yet it never feels crowded.