Check out this new FUN mountain biking event in Kamloops, B.C. (JULY 26-31st, 2010) .
Click PLAY or watch 2009 highlights on VIMEO.
why I must buy a smart phone
Click PLAY or watch an EveryTrail app review on YouTube.
It’s available for iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry.
I want to duplicate Caldiper’s High Sierra Trail.
many U.S. Parks FREE June 5-6th
GET OUT THERE.
… June 5 and 6, more than 100 parks will throw open their gates and waive the entrance fee to all guests.
The complete list of parks that will be free next weekend can be found by clicking here …
Kraig Becker – Gadling – All U.S. national parks free next weekend
book review – The Cactus Eaters
How I Lost My Mind–And Almost Found Myself–On the Pacific Crest Trail
Excellent.
Traversing broiling deserts, snowy mountain passes and dank rain forests on its crooked way from Mexico to Canada, the Pacific Coast Trail is an epic challenge for die-hard backpackers. White and his girlfriend, Melissa, set out, late in the season and bereft of experience, to tread all 2,650 miles of it, leaving behind lousy reporting jobs and hoping to find self-definition and a deepened relationship. (They call their trek the Lois and Clark Expedition.)
Hilarious greenhorn misadventures ensue—including the author’s ill-advised chomp, while dizzy with dehydration, into a reputedly moisture-laden prickly-pear cactus—that tested their survival skills and commitment as a couple. …
This book reminded me of both A Walk in the Woods and A Blistered Kind of Love: One Couple’s Trial by Trail.
It confirmed the certainty that I would never do a thru hike with any partner.
The biggest question I had as the sorry tale unfolded … Will Melissa come to her senses and finally dump this loser?
related – Brad Wieners and his wife Mary – Couple’s Therapy via Adventure Racing
Triple Crown Hikes in Waterton this summer
by site editor Rick McCharles
3 hikes
up to 55km
2650m elevation gain
I can’t resist. Waterton is the best kept secret in Canadian hiking. Tourists flock to Banff in the Rockies, leaving Waterton National Park to us local insiders.
I’m going to complete the Triple Crown myself and get my name on the Glory Board.
… Crypt Lake (9km), Akamina Ridge (20km) and the Alderson-Carthew Summit (16km) in one summer.
I’ll do the 3 during one trip, I think. Either end of June. … Or in August.
I’ve done Crypt and Alderson-Carthew in the past. But never Akamina. It looks great.
Details on ExperienceWaterton.com.
Leave a comment if you want to use the Triple Crown challenge as an excuse to get your butt to Waterton.
hiking Boardman Park, Oregon
trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
Astonishingly, Oregon has kept it’s coastline mostly undeveloped.
… 1967’s Oregon Beach Bill allows free beach access to everyone. This Bill allows private beach landowners to retain certain beach land rights, but it removes the property tax obligation of the beach landowner. In exchange, the beach landowner grants an easement passage to pedestrians. …
But where’s the best place to hike that pristine coast?
For some reason the authors of Lonely Planet HIking USA directed me to Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor, close to the California border:
Dramatic sea-stacks, arches and offshore islands seen on this short, down-and-back day hike … are one of Oregon’s best kept secrets …
5.4mi (8.87km)
I drove to the Arch Rock trailhead, locking up my mountain bike to a railing. …
larger map (PDF)
… Then drove to the Natural Bridges trailhead to start the hike.
It is gorgeous. Here are a couple of the many “natural bridges”.
This “hike” is a series of steeply dropping trails that then backtrack up to the highway. You might drop down to see a secluded beach …
… or a minor waterfall.
The lush vegetation I liked.
But the trail itself sometimes returns all the way to paved highway! Dislike.
I’d not call this a best hike. For once Lonely Planet gets it wrong.
The strategy for Boardman is to drive (or cycle) to each trailhead in series. Then hike down and back each.
I’m still looking for the best long section of the mythical Oregon Coast Trail. Leave a comment if you have advice.
my first rattlesnake
falling to fly, not falling to die
Dean Potter is one of the most interesting extreme athletes in history.
Death wish? … Or does Dean have it all figured out?
Dean Potter is characterized by creativity, commitment and challenge. He started climbing as a child, with a free solo fall from a stone wall as one of his earliest memories. Since that time, he has speed soloed Half Dome and El Capitan, Cerro Torre, and Fitzroy. He was the first to make a one-day free ascent of El Cap and Half Dome, and a one-day speed linkup of both of those big walls and Mount Watkins, Yosemites third Grade VI wall. He has also established testpiece crack routes in the Utah desert and highball boulder problems in Yosemite.
Dean has walked the longest highlines, often without a safety leash, though he has dedicated over a decade of engineering and testing to create the safest highline systems currently used. Most recently, he has combined BASE jumping skill with highlining and free soloing, using a specially engineered ultralight BASE rig as his backup system. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
hiking the Oregon Dunes
trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
I’m please to report I finally got there.
The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (or NRA) is located on the Oregon Coast, stretching approximately 40 miles north from the Coos River in North Bend, to the Siuslaw River, in Florence. …
… a unique area of windswept sand that is the result of millions of years of wind, sun, and rain erosion on the Oregon Coast. These are the largest expanse of coastal sand dunes in North America. Some dunes tower up to 150 meters above sea level, providing numerous recreational opportunities …
There are plenty of places to get on the dunes, but best for hikers is the John Dellenback trailhead at the Eel Creek Campground.
At a wild guess, I hiked about 5mi (8km) on this route.
Only hikers and leashed pets are allowed on this part of the dunes. (Others are swarming with off-road vehicles.)
The rough trail is marked, yet it’s still difficult to find the Pacific Ocean. Look for some sort of gap in the coastal foliage:
The wild Oregon coast. Gorgeous.
Wonderful, wonderful … the Oregon Dunes are definitely one of the best hiking destinations in the world.
more photos from my day hike
National Parks Closed For Annual Remajestification
Don’t you just love, The Onion?
… With their current condition “marginally breathtaking at best,” America’s national parks will be closed this week for their exhaustive annual cleaning and remajestification, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Monday.
“It’s that time of year again when we roll up our sleeves and begin the painstaking task of resplendoring our parks,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said …
read more – National Parks Closed For Annual Remajestification
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… perhaps related:
My flippant proposal to privatize Parks, due to one terrible road sign, resulted in some interesting comments.
besthike.com 