Author: Rick Mc

Career gymnastics coach who loves the outdoors, and the internet.
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GO blog unimpressed with Google Earth

When announced April 12th, the Trimble Outdoors layer with GPS-based interactive hiking information was much ballyhooed.

The Get Outdoors blog tells it like it is (I think):

I’m gonna file this one under Google Hype! since I can tell you first hand using Google Earth for any serious outdoor planning is useless.

It doesn’t come close to a topo for route planning …

Other than a rough overview of terrain and approaches I’m still giving Google Earth a big thumbs down for usefulness…

If you want to use some kind of computer planning tool you’re better off with Topo! or another CD-Rom based product. I couldn’t even find the trails when I booted up Google Earth. If it takes more than a minute …

Get Outdoors – Google Earth Adds Hiking/Biking Trails Layers: Yawn! – Getoutdoors.com Outdoor Blog

We all know the future of hiking is 24/7 worldwide internet connectivity, real-time blogging with geo-tagged photos.

That time is not here yet.

Modern Hiker gave the new layers feature a try:

That said, it looks like it could be pretty cool, eventually. I don’t know about your home area, but right now the map’s Los Angeles hiking trail map looks pretty dang barren.

Google Earth Hiking Trails

Leave a COMMENT if you have had more success with it.

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larger image – Google

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Trekking Visions – best treks

Klaus & Sebastian are kindred spirits. Just weeks ago, they launched a terrific new site called Trekking Visions listing the world’s best hikes:

We are a team of two trekking lovers and we have a mission – to present you the best treks of the planet. Naturally it is an ongoing and never ending task but naturally this is part of the fun.

As of now this site is still in a very early stage with lots of data and information still missing. It’s quite an effort to collect all this and it will probably take the rest of 2007 to complete the site. So if you find the site to be a little premature you’re absolutely right – just give us a little time. Till then feel free to enjoy what we’ve prepared so far.

trekkingvisions – Home

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Check their photo galleries.

They plan to add a blog with RSS feed and I will be first to subscribe. For now I’ve linked to Trekking Visions under WEBSITES in the right hand navigation.

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Way of St. James pilgrimage, Spain

Researching the famous walk in Spain, I started (as usual) with Wikipedia:

The Way of St. James or St. James’ Way, often known by its Spanish name, el Camino de Santiago, is the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where the remains of the apostle, Saint James the Great, are said to be buried.

Way of St. James – Wikipedia

The standard route — the Camino Francés (French Way) — is 800km route from Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees. But there are many variations starting as far away as France, Germany, and further afield.

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(larger version – Regenisis.org.au)

I got interested in this walk, more religious pilgrimage than “best hike”, after reading an excerpt from a new book by Ward called All the Good Pilgrims : Tales of the Camino de Santiago.

Robert Ward has always enjoyed travelling, especially on foot. When he discovered the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago in Spain, he felt compelled to walk and experience this historic road. From his first journey along the Camino de Santiago, Ward fell in love with the pace, landscape, history, art, and romance of this old pilgrimage path.

Above all, however, Ward fell in love with the people of the Camino—both the welcoming Spaniards and the pilgrims who come from all over the world to find out what it means to travel five hundred miles, one step at a time.

In All the Good Pilgrims, Ward returns to Spain to walk the Camino for the fifth time. He thinks he knows what he’s getting into but, as his many Camino journeys have taught him, the Camino never runs out of surprises. Each day brings new lessons, friendships, questions, memories, gifts and challenges, reminding Ward that it isn’t the pilgrim who walks the Camino—it’s the Camino that walks the pilgrim.

An engaging travel narrative, All the Good Pilgrims is a personal and insightful tour of the Camino de Santiago, as Ward takes readers on a secular pilgrimage in which he reflects on his past journeys and contemplates the mysterious and enduring allure of this ancient and historic road.

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Amazon.ca

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build an emergency kayak

Warren Long saw the 4lb Alpacka raft (US$800+) but wants instead to try building a kayak on a wilderness trip.

(He watches Survivorman on TV.)

Warren’s looking at the Grip Clip Kayak! ($25)

You can build a kayak of green willow shoots, a blue tarp in just four hours!

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You’d strap the paddle to your ultralight pack. Or carve one from a fallen tree.

Four-Hour Kayak Boat Instruction Kit

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hiking Mount St. Helens, Washington

One of the best hikes in the world is scrambling Mount St. Helens Monitor Ridge (information page).

But when a hiking buddy Rocco told me he was travelling to Portland, Oregon for a wedding, I insisted he and his partner hike Mount St. Helens.

“It’s only 53mi (85km) NE of Portland. You can’t miss this opportunity!”

Luckily, Rocco’s partner is a keen hiker, as well.

They won’t climb the famous peak, instead dayhiking the devastated volcanic landscape. It’s fascinating.

Check this trip report by Jack Olsen, for a glimpse:

Much to my disappointment, we witnessed no eruptions today. Nonetheless, it was a great nine-mile hike on what is likely the youngest, naturally-formed terrain we’ve ever traversed.

helens.jpg

<blockquote

Today’s challenge was to mantle a seven foot pole with a four inch diameter and then just for sake of a picture, perform the yoga pose known as Vrksasana or Tree-Pose. Please excuse the sloppiness of my pose; I was wearing jeans and have gone at least a year without practice.

yoga1.jpg

Mount St. Helens « Read What I’ve Got to Say

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Alpacka lightweight raft

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Raft 11cropped, originally uploaded by adamnoman.

I think I need this for pioneering a new route on Vancouver Island.

The Alpacka packraft rolls up to about the size of a 3-person tent and weighs only 4 pounds. Add the Alpacka deck for 11-ounces more and you can motor through rapids in the inflatable bathtub.

It’s a pretty cool little boat, but it’ll set you back almost $800. It’s a lot of money, but apparently it’s more than just a pool toy—the little boat is popular for long backpacking trips and gaining access to unclimbed ranges.

Backcountry.com: The Goat » Blog Archive » Lightweight Inflatable Kayak Looks Suspiciously Like Tire Inner Tube

Thanks Rocky!

Alpacka rafts

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lost on a glacier in Pakistan

Ben Tubby and partner Kerry had problems on a trek to Snow Lake guided by Vertical Explorers Expeditions.

Ben’s detailed photo trip report is recommended reading for anyone — like me — considering an adventure in Pakistan.

Bad roads, cold rooms, disgusting toilets, illness, crevasses, rain, sunburn, freezing river crossings, communication problems with guides, …

Sounds like fun!

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Northern Pakistan is beautiful. Amazing mountain scenery, honest, friendly people and lots and lots of ice. We spent 18 days wandering up the biggest slab of ice outside of the polar regions and then got lost in a white-out on the top, surrounded by crevasses.

Tubby: Lost on a glacier in Pakistan

(trip report)

Snow Lake Hispar La Experience – Vertical Explorers (a longer tour than Ben’s)

(via Nothing adds up)

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Biafo Glacier

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Ogre’s Thumb

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puncture-resistant Therm-a-Rest

If you use a Therm-a-Rest long enough, you invariably wake up one night on a deflated mat. If it’s a slow leak, you’ll re-inflate it every two hours when your violent shivers wake you up. Then you’ll probably forget to patch it when you get back home making your next trip just as much fun.

But now Therm-a-Rest is selling ToughSkin mats with a layer of foam between the air pocket and face fabric that blocks thorns and broken beer bottles from poking through. What took so long?
Backcountry.com: The Goat » Puncture-Resistant Sleeping Mats – Rocky Thompson

ToughSkin by Therm-A-Rest

ToughSkin by Therm-A-Rest

On the same topic, I heard an excellent audiocast interview with Greg Garrigues, GM of award winning Pacific Outdoor Equipment. (Who knew mat technology was so sophisticated!)

Greg is quite knowledgeable about the materials and technology that goes into making comfortable sleeping mats. And he explains the season, gender, size, and genre-of-user specific features that are available in the Pacific Outdoor Equipment line of sleeping mats.

Practical Backpacking podcast #26

I’m still using the ExPed 7.

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bushwhacking Olympic Peninsula, Washington

On the Freezer Bag Cooking blog I learned of an amazing hiker named Mike.

Mike does trips I don’t even want to dream of. The thought of fording the Queets River in the Olympics multiple times in a day, to find an elusive waterfall is something I don’t think I will ever be capable of!

Mikes spent 31 days in 2004 crisscrossing rugged, remote wilderness, often solo, often off trail.

He’s put up an excellent new website called Mike’s Rain Forest Treks.

The first of a series of planned photo trip reports is already posted. Detailed and inspiring.

My big-picture plan for the next month will take me on a disjointed spiral around the west side of Olympic National Park’s million-acre wilderness. My route is varied enough to explore all the major ecosystems of the world’s most ecologically and geologically diverse slice of land.

Starting out in typical northwest spruce and fir forests, I will see the park’s high alpine playgrounds, its extensive coastline beaches, its uncannily immense glaciers, and it’s most prized treasure… the finest remnants of old-growth temperate rainforests left in the world.

The route has been split into three manageable “legs,” ending with a 16-day mega-trek through the most remote and untouched off-trail wilderness in the entire park. These first two legs (each a week-long trip) will be a fantastic “warm-up,” a way to strengthen my legs and awaken my soul before testing my limits.

2004 Olympic Solo Trip

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daunting remote trails in Fiordland, New Zealand

Fiordland (like S.W. Tasmania and Patagonia) on the S.E. corner of the South Island is astonishingly unvisited. For good reason.

200px-new_zealand_map.gif… Fiordland National Park, which has an area of 12,120 square kilometres, making it the largest national park in New Zealand and one of the larger parks in the world. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the Southern Alps and its ocean-flooded, steep western valleys. Situated within Fiordland are Browne Falls and Sutherland Falls, which rank among the tallest waterfalls in the world.

The name “Fiordland” comes from the now-common variant of the Norwegian word “fjord”. Fiordland features a number of fiords often misnamed sounds, of which Milford Sound is the most famous, though Doubtful Sound is even larger and has more and longer branches.

Fiordland has few human inhabitants and is the least-populated area of New Zealand … and many areas almost inaccessible except by boat or air. Te Anau township, the only larger settlement close by, has under 2,000 permanent habitants, though it boasts around 3,000 tourist beds.

Fiordland – Wikipedia

This region is ideal for those who are looking for a real trekking challenge. (The sandflies alone were enough to drive me off.)

An article called Hidden Valleys of Fiordland, a bushwhack to George Sound, may be enough to scare you off, as well:

It all began on the shores of Lake Te Anau at a pessimistic looking information sign. The town of Te Anau is shown to sit in a rain shadow, with an average rainfall exceeding that of the legendary Milford Sound. We then knew the full extent of what to expect, as one trip member, John, put it “This is possibly the wettest trip we could attempt, except maybe a traverse of the lake bed!”

Hidden Valleys of Fiordland

Fiordland is drenched. Even the well established hikes (Hollyford, Kepler, Routeburn, Milford, etc.) are challenging in the rain.

Choose a more remote track — Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound would be our first choices — and you are up for a memorable trip.

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Te Anau area hikes – Dept. of Conservation

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Doubtful Sound – original – flickr

See our entire list of the best hikes in New Zealand.