Author: Rick Mc

Career gymnastics coach who loves the outdoors, and the internet.
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15-day Tahoe Rim Trail $1750


Book fast if you want one of the 30 spots. Late July 2009.

It’s a fund-raiser for the trail association.

Hiking a long-distance trail from end to end in one push, or thru-hiking, is a badge of honor for those who have accomplished such a feat. It takes a lot of planning to coordinate food, water, campsites, and the like. Plus, you have to be extremely fit to carry your lodging and all of your food on your back for days on end.

But there’s a great way to get a similar experience without sacrificing all of your weekends to planning from now through May. The Tahoe Rim Trail Association, steward to the 165-mile Tahoe Rim Trail in Nevada and California, is offering people the chance to participate in a 15-day guided thru-hike with support in the way of food and other supplies. You’ll still need to be in good shape and carry a backpack with personal gear and one- or two-days’ worth of food and water. But that’s pretty cushy, by most thru-hikers’ standards. …

details via – Where Next? – Thru-Hike the Tahoe Rim Trail

tahoe-rim1

larger version – flickr – asmythie

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hike Zuni Acoma Trail, New Mexico

I’m a huge fan of hiking author Peter Potterfield, especially his Classic Hikes of the World: 23 Breathtaking Treks.

His most recent article:

I’ve come to do the legendary Zuni Acoma trail, famous for hard going and rugged terrain as it traverses ridge after ridge of charcoal colored lava flows. The route also makes up a section of the 3,100 mile Continental Divide Trail, running from Canada to Mexico.

I’m fortunate to be hiking with Bureau of Land Management ranger Karen Davis, an Acoma Indian, and park ranger Susan Olin. I’m eager to learn as much as I can about the cultural elements in this part of New Mexico, a place that has seen 10,000 years of human habitation, but where, ironically, the peak population actually occurred around 1000 AD, when nearby Chaco was in it’s hey day. And I’ve got a lot to learn about the natural history in this quirky place where volcanic vents, spatter cones, sandstone arches and elaborate cave systems add variety to the usual New Mexican lodgepole forests and pinion trees. Having experts along will add a crucial element to this journey. …

Fajada Butte - Peter Potterfield
Fajada Butte - Peter Potterfield

read more – GreatOutdoors.com – From Chaco Canyon to Sky City

Note to self: Fly to Albuquerque. Rent vehicle. Hike New Mexico.

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Mountain Travel Sobek – half price

Outside reports:

In celebration of its 40th anniversary, Mountain Travel Sobek is doling out 40 free adventures. Travelers who book a trip by Apr. 17 can bring a friend for free. Destinations include: Machu Picchu, Morocco, the Swiss Alps, and more.

40 Free Trips

40-free-trips

home page – Mountain Travel Sobek

There are some good deals out there for guided hikes. Shop around.

Leave a comment if you’ve seen any good value deals on treks.

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going squirrely waiting for summer hiking

I cannot recall a winter when I was more looking forward to summer outdoor adventures. We had a freak blizzard in Calgary, Canada yesterday. Sigh …

Boston.com has an excellent photo blog called Big Picture. Here’s a series of pics dedicated to the “Signs of Spring”.

squirrel2

see all 29 photos

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Norwegian Trekking Association

Just researching hiking in Norway …

The Norwegian Trekking Association has a nice website: English, German and Norwegian.

dnt

Today, DNT is Norway’s largest outdoor life organization, with more than 210,000 members (2006) in 55 some local member organisations across the country, from Kristiansand in the south to the North Cape in the north. …

The local member associations operate cabins, mark routes and ski tracks and arrange trips and courses. Together they maintain a network of about 20,000 km of marked foot trails and about 7000 km of branch-marked ski tracks. DNT activities are based on extensive volunteer work. Each year, volunteers together work more than 175,000 hours. …

Here’s their information on arguably the most popular walk in the country, the Besseggen traverse:

More than 30 thousand hikers traverse Besseggen each year, making it Norway’s most trekked route. With good reason. The splendid view of the wild Jotunheimen and steep trails imbue a feeling of having mastered the mountain. The hike isn’t particularly difficult or exposed, but it’s airy, with lake Gjende 400 metres below on the south side and Bessvatn a few metres below on the north side. When you’ve also gone up the gigantic Bukkelægret scree slope, you’ve had a real hike. …

click photo for more padraic woods photos on flickr
click photo for more padraic woods photos on flickr

If researching hiking in Norway, the Norwegian Trekking Association is a good place to start.

It will lead you to links like the official Welcome to Besseggen home page.

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kids forced to climb Mt Everest

Smiths Medical today announced the opening of a new high altitude medical laboratory. Located at 11,154 ft (3,400m) on Mount Everest’s slope, Smiths Medical High Altitude Laboratory’s initial research will include studying nine healthy British kids and how they react to a low oxygen environment. …

everest3

medGadget

Smiths, I volunteer to replace these poor young people.

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nude hikers in Switzerland

A growing number of unclad hikers are wandering the Alps, near Appenzell. Some Swiss legal experts say that banning nudity in public would be unconstitutional.

nude-hikers-switzerland

In recent years, it has become fashionable for a growing number of Swiss and some foreigners to wander in the Alps clad in little more than hiking shoes and sun screen. Last summer, the number of nude hikers increased to such an extent that the hills often seemed alive with the sound of everything but the swish of trousers. …

read more in the NY Times – In Thin Air of the Alps, Swiss Secrecy Is Vanishing

I tried it myself on the John Muir Trail in California for about an hour. … Too short an experiment to get “comfortable”.

Fans of hiking in the buff should subscribe to the Nude Hiker blog.

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hike Zillertal Rucksack Route, Austria


Listed by Backpacker magazine as one of the World’s Best (Unknown) Treks.

It sounds great:

… This 50-mile, nine-day loop has it all: glaciated 11,000-foot mountains, high alpine passes, deep valleys, waterfalls, gemsbok mountain antelopes, alpine roses, and martigon lilies. The well-marked route requires no technical expertise, but expect long, strenuous days (despite the relatively short mileage) and adrenaline-fueled climbing with fixed ropes and ladders. …

new Olperer Hut - <a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45269853@N00/2754474176/sizes/o/">original</a> - flickr - Alex Bergsten
new Olperer Hut - original - flickr - Alex Bergsten

Life-list moment: Catch your breath–and savor it all–on the small terrace at the Olperer Hut, perched hundreds of feet above the Schlegeisspeicher reservoir, with a view of the serrated ridge of Grosser Moseler in front and a cold Austrian lager in hand.

Hike the loop clockwise, starting in Mayrhofen–the views get better every day, and this way you’ll start with an easy two-mile hike to Edel Hut, so you can sleep in the mountains the same day you arrive in Austria. From Edel, get your bearings by hiking the three-hour round-trip to 9,754-foot Ahornspitze, a rocky summit high above the Zillertal Valley. You’ll know you’re in the heart of the Alps on day 4, en route from Greizer Hut to Berliner Hut, when in one short section you cross a picturesque–if rickety–footbridge over a glacial stream, scramble through a field of avalanche debris, and climb fixed ropes and a 16-foot ladder bolted to sheer rock. Be sure to stop on Lake Schwarzsee’s north shore and snap a photo of the reflected peaks–visual proof of your epic trek. …

Backpacker – World’s Best (Unknown) Treks

The best guidebook is Trekking in the Zillertal Alps: Hut-To-Hut Walks (Cicerone) by Allan Hartley.

details - <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1852843705?ie=UTF8&tag=interneneedto-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1852843705">Amazon</a>
details - Amazon

Here’s one of the useful maps from the guidebook.

map

We’re sold. It’s been added to our list of the best hikes in Europe.

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top 10 undiscovered treks


The Adventure Blog tipped me again to another great list:

Backpacker – THE WORLD’S BEST UNKNOWN TREKS

  • Pyrenees Traverse, France

  • Cape Wrath Trail, Scotland

  • Zillertal Alps, Austria

  • Tongariro Northern Circuit and Heaphy Track, New Zealand

  • Cordillera Apolobamba, Bolivia

  • Overland Track, Australia

  • Sarek National Park, Sweden

  • Rolwaling and Khumbu Valleys, Nepal

  • Polar Route, Greenland

  • Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

    • First, that’s 11 treks.

    Second, they would have discovered 6 of the 11 if they had checked our list of the best hikes in the world.

    Still, I’m off to research the other five. Right now.

    Thanks Backpacker!

    greenland_1_berne.jpg
    Polar Route

    france_lescun_445x260.jpg
    Pyrenees

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    Trekking in the Nepal Everest Region

    A new Trailblazer guidebook by Jamie McGuinness.

    The only guidebook when I hiked up and above the north side of Everest Base Camp was Trekking in Tibet by Gary McCue. (In fact, I lost the guidebook while on that trek.)

    Hiking Everest from the Tibet side has been getting increasingly problematic.

    We recommend you hike the Nepal side, instead. Here’s the newest guidebook:

    Trek-Everest.jpg

    Amazon – Trekking in the Everest Region, 5th: includes Kathmandu City Guide