Rick Mc

February 11, 2009

Adventure Sports Week 2009

New website for our big Adventure Race in Idaho – AdventureSportsWeek.com

From June 5—14, 2009, Farragut State Park, located just north of beautiful Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, will host 24 different races and contests for outdoor enthusiasts and athletes of all ages and abilities!

With activities ranging from 4 & 8 hour mountain bike races to an orienteering meet, the official XTERRA Northwest Cup race, a Duathlon, 6 trail runs ranging in distance from 6k to 50 miles, five different adventure races (including one especially for kids!), a distance swim, a paddling event and many more, we’ve got something to satisfy the whole family!

Over 1000 athletes are expected to participate, and we want you to be a part of one of the USA’s largest outdoor festivals!

BestHike.com will be there.

adventure-sport-week

official website – AdventureSportsWeek.com

February 11, 2009

Incredible Crater Lakes

Another amazing photo article from Environmental Graffiti – 12 Most Incredible Crater Lakes On Earth

… While popular belief is that crater lakes are formed after water fills up meteorite impact craters, very few such lakes actually exist. Most of them are formed in volcanic craters – but all offer spectacular sights for sore eyes!

Fascinating, spectacular, stunning and at times deadly, this is a trip into the extraordinary world of crater lakes. …

see the rest – 12 Most Incredible Crater Lakes On Earth

related post – hiking Earth Impact craters

February 10, 2009

7800mi backpacking the Andes

Deia Schlosberg & Gregg Treinish were named Adventurers of the Year by one of the National Geographic magazines.

Congratulations.

Two years. 7,800 miles. No roads. That was how Deia Schlosberg, 28, and Gregg Treinish, 26, vowed to trek the length of the Andes. They had no idea what they were getting into. Beginning in Papallacta, Ecuador, the two Montana-based wilderness educators cobbled together a route of llama tracks, old Inca roads, and forgotten trade paths down the spine of the world’s longest mountain range. It was an Andes few outsiders had seen before. For good reason: “We were lost the entire time,” Treinish says. “Every time we wanted to quit, we were so far in the middle of nowhere that it wasn’t even an option.” …

National Geographic Adventure – Trekking the forgotten Andes

As I write I’m listening to their audio interview on Wend magazine.

… successfully completed the trek, after covering 56 degrees of the globe, trekking more than 7800 miles, we became the first two people to backpack the Andes Mountain Range, the first two to walk it through the mountains without relying on roads, and Deia became the first woman to have walked South America. …

finalmap

It was a struggle at many times. There are no fixed long distance trails.

across-the-andes

home page – Across the Andes

February 7, 2009February 5, 2009

View from 7 Highest Peaks

The Sierra Trading Post blog linked to a terrific photo article on the 7 Summit.

Only a select few have conquered the Seven Summits, a grueling challenge that involves climbing the highest peak of every continent. They’ve seen the spectacular mountain-top views firsthand, and now you get a chance to soak in the scenery too as we go on a whirlwind tour of images captured by these exceptional mountaineers. …

But first, an explanation: Because of conflicting continental border definitions, there are actually two lists of the Seven Summits; the first was created by Richard Bass and the second revised by Reinhold Messner shortly after. Without question, six of the seven peaks on each list match, although one is disputed: Bass chose Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m) as the highest peak in Australia whereas Messner decided on the more challenging Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m) in Indonesia as the top of Australia-New Guinea.

In any case, bravo to the 229 people who have completed all seven on either list …

Click through to see photos of all 8 Seven Summits: Environmental Graffiti – The View from the Seven Highest Peaks on Earth

February 6, 2009February 4, 2009

Best treks in Africa

Anouk Zijlma on About.com posted a terrific list of the Best Hikes and Treks in Africa.

… Africa’s most popular trekking destination is Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the continent. Lesser known ranges like Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains offer an incredible array of snow-capped peaks right next to the equator.

Other fantastic hikes in Africa that don’t necessarily involve great heights include the Wild Coast (South Africa) and the Fish River Canyon (Namibia). …

Others on the list:

Mount Kenya

Simien Mountains, Ethiopia

The Drakensberg, South Africa

Mount Meru, Tanzania

Mount Elgon, Uganda and Kenya

Mount Cameroon, Cameroon

Mulanje Mountain, Malawi

Click through for more information, links and recommended guides – About.com Best treks in Africa

Most foreign trekkers prefer to go with a guiding company to ensure their safety.

mountstanley Mt. Stanley – Sylwia Duda/Creative Commons

mulanje Mulanje Mountain, Malawi – larger original – flickr – fffriendly

Compare this About.com list with our own Best Hikes in Africa

February 5, 2009February 3, 2009

Backpacker bungles Best Hike in Each State

Backpacker Magazine, as part of their Readers’ Choice Awards 2009, named “the best hike in every state” in the USA.

usa

No need to click through to the list, however.

Not unless you want to add your comment to these:

The “best trail in Nevada” points at a link titled Great Basin National Park? Nope, but instead takes you to a description of a little known side trail outside of Las Vegas at Cathedral Rock. Read a map sometime. What hooey.

Lord help us all if this is the kind of dis-information my favorite magazine prints!
Posted: Jan 30, 2009 Iowa Hike

Delaware’s best hike is in Virginia? That’s ridiculous! …

I don’t know where Backpacker comes up with this best of crap. The best hike in Florida is a three day paddle in the everglades? It wasn’t long ago they highlighted the bridge to bridge trail in White springs Florida, that’s a bicycle trail on the opposite side of the river from the FNST. As a volunteer trail coordinator for the Florida trail I’m offended by their lack of knowledge when it comes to hiking in Florida.
Posted: Jan 29, 2009 Alton Snellgrove

I especially like the fact that Big Creek is in NC not TN
Posted: Jan 29, 2009 Ricky

You guys need to chill out. Please. How are you going to diss Backpacker? I mean, how many other magazines are there that tend to the desires and needs of a hiker/climbing/packer? The writers are human, they will make mistakes.
Posted: Jan 30, 2009 AJ

I love Backpacker magazine too. But this is a good example of the mistake many websites make banking on “reader contributed content”.

The Wisdom of Crowds only works if you have a large enough crowd. Clearly Backpacker did not get enough feedback on the best hikes to put together a reasonably good list.

(via The Adventure Blog)

February 4, 2009February 2, 2009

Rockies hiking pics – Lake O’Hara

Photographer Conny Ellison loves Lake O’Hara in the Canadian Rockies.

We agree it’s the most photogenic hiking area of all, the best place to take first time visitors to the region.

Check out a slideshow to see for yourself.

No doubt about it: Lake O’Hara is our most favourite place (“Happy Place”) on this planet. We have been very fortunate and been able to make a trip here at least once every year since 2002 (getting seats on the bus into O’Hara can be a bit of a hassle). Often there is too much snow on the alpine traverse and we have to “make do” with the Lake Oesa and Opabin trails. The highline is definitely our favourite trail though!

opabin-lake

woodrat

see the rest of the photos on Pbase – LAKE O’HARA

Our besthike Lake O’Hara information page.

February 3, 2009February 2, 2009

Donjek Route hike, Kluane, Yukon

Polly Evans posted a terrific trip report on Great Outdoors.

80mi, 9 days — this trip was epic.

… The Donjek Route, Parks Canada emphasizes, is not a trail. “Wilderness travel experience is essential, including excellent route finding skills, map and compass skills, and creek/river crossing skills,” the rangers insist in their literature. I had none of these estimable qualities. …

donjek1

read the entire article – Into the Yukon’s Kluane National Park

Polly recommends this guidebook:

kluane-hiking-guidebook

Kluane National Park Hiking Guide by Vivien Lougheed.

Polly Evans an award-winning travel journalist and author. Her latest book, Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman, tells the story of her attempts to learn to drive sled dogs in Canada’s Yukon Territory.

February 2, 2009February 1, 2009

Torres del Paine Circuit trek, Chile

Hank Leukart posted a magazine quality essay on one of our top treks in the World, the Paine Circuit.

Adopted by Kiwis in Chilean Patagonia. How to hike the Torres del Paine Circuit on someone else’s family vacation

… The only thing standing between us and views of 270-square-kilometer Glaciar Grey was Paso John Garner, a steep and rocky pass through the Patagonian Andes Mountains. My brother Brian and I looked up nervously at the severe mountain crags and glacial ice surrounding us, and though we hadn’t been able to substantiate the rumors of a lost hiker’s death during a blizzard in the pass three days before, the gossip made us uneasy. We knew that some hikers had turned back, failing to conquer the pass due to dangerous weather. …

glaciar-grey

read the 3-part series article on Without Baggage

Especially if you want to find out why Hank decided to climb on to an iceberg.

hank

related posts – more Without Baggage trip reports

February 1, 2009January 28, 2009

Mongolia or Baffin Island?

Kraig on The Adventure Blog profiled two upcoming projects:

Expedition: Mongolia 2010

Expedition: Baffin Babes 2009

… former British solider Ripley Davis will set out on a solo, unsupported trek across Mongolia in an effort to raise funds and awareness of the Hope and Homes for Children project, and UNICEF.

The expedition is slated to get underway next April, with Ripley pulling all of his supplies behind him in a wheeled cart. He anticipates that he’ll be towing more than 100kg (220 pounds) of gear over a 3000km (1865 miles) course between 47º and 50º north latitude. The journey is expected to take roughly 90 days. …

//www.flickr.com/photos/tiarescott/33324648/sizes/l/">larger original</a> - flickr - tiarescott — larger original - flickr - tiarescott

Expedition: Mongolia 2010

… And for the ladies:

… 80 day ski expedition through Baffin Island beginning in March. The plan is to ski over 1400km (870 miles) as they survey the impact of climate change on the fragile environments on the island, while visiting three remote Inuit villages along the way.

The team consists of Vera and Emma Simonsson of Sweden and Ingebjoerg Tollefsen, and Kristin Folsland Olsen of Norway. …

baffin_babes_kort_fin_lowres