Rick Mc

July 18, 2007

how to hike The West Coast Trail in Canada

Nassib Elkadri works on the Parks Canada website.

He tells me they’ve launched a new start section for anyone looking to walk our favourite hike The West Coast Trail on the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve of Canada home page.

This information will be kept up-to-date.

Parks Canada – Pacific Rim National Park Reserve of Canada – Home page

screenshot

We’ve added this new link (prominently) to our West Coast Trail information page. And tried to remove the old broken links.

Nassib. Tell the department poobahs there you want to update Parks Canada pages, but NOT change the URLS.

July 17, 2007

hike Carthew-Alderson, Waterton, Canada

Waterton Lakes National Park is the best kept hiking secret in Canada. YOU can go â€” but let the non-hiking hordes jam the roadways of Banff and Jasper instead.

Contributors Kelly and Lexi (getting married Aug. 4th in the Yukon, by the way) raved about their 2006 Carthew-Alderson hike in Waterton. Based on their recommendation, we added Carthew-Alderson to our list of the best hikes in North America.

Last Friday the weather was hot and clear so we made a dash to Waterton.

Unfortunately, Saturday morning the weather changed as we approached the summit, high point of the day hike.

To see what happened click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Stuck in the clouds, we missed most of the best vistas. We even got lost crossing the top of the ridge having to ask a marmot for directions.

Click PLAY to see how it looks on a “sunny” day. Or watch it on YouTube.

You might have noticed, the biggest drawback of Waterton is wind.

Carthew-Alderson 20km (12.4mi) from Cameron Lake to Cameron Falls. Highly recommended. Hiker’s shuttle C$10 / person available at Tamarack Mall.

July 16, 2007

trek the remote Huayhuash Circuit in Peru

I’m jealous.

Frequent contributor Eu-Jin Goh is just returned from 12 days hiking my personal favourite trek in the World.

… the Huayhuash circuit is the most spectacular extended hike that we’ve done so far.

There were four of us on the hike, Emily Rains, Ray Woo, together with Serene and I.

I had contacted Chris Benway from Cafe Andino to organize our trip for us and he did an incredible job of making sure everything went smoothly; I highly recommend Chris to anyone going to Huaraz.

I arranged for a fairly deluxe trip this time; we had two arrieros, Fernando and Juan-Carlos, taking care of the ten (!) mules and two horses, together with our cook, Zacarias Carrera, or Zac.

Zac did an amazing job showing us the way and also cooking great food for us; he has great instincts and would figure out what we wanted to do (and then organize it) without us even mentioning it to him. I thought he was head and shoulders above anyone I’d ever had for my trips. Despite all the luxuries, it still cost about 3 – 4 times less than an organized trip by a western agency. …

Peru – Cordillera Huayhuash and Blanca, 11 June to 3 July 2007

more favourite photos from the Huayhuash Circuit – Eu-Jin Goh

The Huayhuash is big, high and potentially dangerous:

minimum 140km (87mi) plus numerous sidetrips

many mountain passes over 4600m (15,092ft)

this forbidding range was made famous when Joe Simpson & Simon Yates climbed Siula Grande in 1985. Simpson wrote Touching the Void.

how to hike the Huayhuash Circuit – besthike information page

July 15, 2007

video – closest black bear ever

Just finishing the Wall Lake hike in Waterton, I commented to George: “We haven’t seen our bear yet today.”

(One time in Waterton National Park my hiking group had seen at least one bear a day. They are easy to spot here. One day we saw 5 bears.)

Right then a bear came strolling directly towards our car. George let the vehicle roll down a hill, quietly pacing the animal. You’ll see it was completely unconcerned by our presence.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

To Identify the mule deer, also in the video, I used the Road Watch in the Pass website.

They are a non-profit organization monitoring animals on the roadways in the Crowsnest region of Alberta. Trying to improve safety for large animals including hikers.

Road Watch Wildlife Information Primer – Mule Deer

Road Watch photo contest winner

July 13, 2007

All-in-one Map Tool review

It’s very rare for me to add any item to my “base” hiking kit. (It’s too heavy already.)

The new essential must be very valuable. Or very light.

The All-in-one Map Tool is both. I carry it with my map and compass.

Bob Moseley from Brooks-Range Mountaineering Equipment Co. asked me to test this award winning product.

I took it with me on a solo kayak hiking trip out of Bamfield, British Columbia on the west coast of Canada. Since the weather was good, I was able to paddle directly to the Deer Island group, the closest to town.

It was a great, relaxing trip. I saw bear, seals, sea lions and nearly stepped on a baby puffin.

Normally mornings on this, the “Shipwreck Coast” are fogged in. On a previous trip to the nearby Broken Group Islands we were a number of times confused in the fog. It’s essential to know where you are on the map, have an exact compass bearing, and a good estimate of your speed and distance to the next island.

The All-in-one Map Tool is ideal in this situation as it has 6 different, easy-to-read map scale rulers to help estimate distance.

More photos from this trip – flickr

Sadly I had atypically excellent weather and did not need to do any dead reckoning in the morning.

So I’ll take it heli-hiking into the Tombstone Mountains in the Yukon in August. Certainly I should have a good chance to get lost there, having to rely on Topo, compass and map tool for survival.

All-in-one Map Tool – US$18 – Brooks Range Mountaineering Equipment Co.

July 12, 2007

watching slideshows on flickr

We post our hiking photos on flickr, the best photo hosting service we’ve found.

Weâ€™ve launched an improved version of the Slideshow.

Hereâ€™s the feature comparison:

Old Version â€” sucks
New Version â€“ rules!

You wanted bigger photos!
You wanted to see titles descriptions!
You wanted to see your photos on a black background!

Flickr Blog : Announcing Slideshow 2007

If you look at photos on flickr, here’s an important tip: During slideshow mode, if you hover your mouse over the centre of any photo, an “i” should appear. Click that and you will get a text overlay on the pictures during the slideshow.

Invisible-until-you-hover links on photos and videos are becoming quite popular. But it’s definitely not intuitive.

Thanks George.

July 12, 2007

hiking Snow Peak, Idaho

We hiked Snow Peak, the most spectacular mountain off the popular, scenic St. Joe’s River near Spokane, Washington.

hiking Snow Peak, Idaho
looking up at a final off-trail scramble to the fire tower

This region would be completely undeveloped if it wasn’t for the lumber industry and big game hunting. (We got lost trying to find our way to the trailhead.)

We 3 hikers shared the trail that day only with a solo mountain goat.

annotated Snow Peak hike photos – flickr

The jumping off point for Snow Peak is historic Avery (#5).

July 11, 2007

hiking Willmore Wilderness in Canada

If you are looking for wilderness, consider hiking the Willmore Wilderness north of Jasper, Alberta.

You can get “into the wild”.

One of our contributors, George Novak, will be there in about 10 days. He plans to cycle as far as possible, then bushwhack further towards the mountains.

There are very few developed hiking trails in Willmore. But it’s gorgeous:

To get a feel for the region, check an excellent trip report jammed with video clips and photos: Willmore Wilderness Park Â« the electronic experiment

Willmore Wilderness – Wikipedia

July 10, 2007

wheelchair hiker – 4WheelBob

Tom Mangan hiked with the famous (Backpacker Magazine article) 4WheelBob Bob Coomber .

For those who don’t know Bob’s story: Diabetes has made his leg bones so brittle they break if he tries to stand up on them. He has some use of his lower extremities; he can operate the pedals on his car, for instance.

Don’t be complaining about your “sore feet” when on the trail with Bob!

On Sunday we traveled to Portola Redwoods State Park, back to the hills of Bob’s youth. We hiked for about three hours in the cool shade of that wonderful redwood forest. First we headed up the Old Tree Trail, where I started getting a lesson in Bob’s technique. On easy grades he pushes forward, but on steep grades he reverses and pulls himself up.

Two-Heel Drive: Travels with 4WheelBob

Thanks for the trip report Tom. I’m inspired by Bob’s good example.

Incidentally, Tom has refocused his top-ranked hiking blog more specifically on his home turf out of San Jose, California.

(Now I need to watch the entire hike-o-sphere myself. Formerly I counted on Tom.)

July 9, 2007

hiking coast-to-coast across Corsica

Say that youâ€™re planning to walk across Corsica and many assume that youâ€™re heading for the GR20, a challenging 110-mile trail that bisects the mountainous island from north to south. As a relative beginner, I opted instead for the 50-mile Mare a Mare Sud, a gentler path that winds from Propriano in the south-west to Porto Vecchio in the south-east.

Where to stay:

Walker’s hostels called gites d’Ã©tappe provide basic but clean accommodation and decent food for about â‚¬35 per night.

In early May the hostels were half-empty and advance booking wasn’t necessary, but from June to August they can fill up quickly and reservation is recommended. Some of the hostels close from October to April. There are also some guest houses along the route, which need to be booked in advance as they may close without notice if business drops off. Each of the stop-off points has a campsite, but camping outside these areas is not allowed.

When to go:

Late spring and early autumn are the best times for walking. The route is passable for most of the year but is more difficult in the winter, when snow covers the higher stretches. In July and August the route is busy despite the heat.

Walking coast to coast across Corsica – Times Online