Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
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The also have one for the Alps.
Thanks Don Eckert.
Sunday, Sept 5th Andrew Skurka completed 4,700mi in 7 months via skis, foot, and a packraft.
Congratulations.
CheapTents.com: What part of the Alaska-Yukon route provided the most spectacular scenery?
AS: The Alaska Range was the most majestic, and my route through it was spectacular. The Chugach Range is equally impressive but my route was further away from it. The Brooks Range is a backpackers’ dream, especially Gates of the Arctic National Park in the Fall.
read the interview – Adventurer Andrew Skurka on his latest expedition
(via The Adventure Blog)
The Klondike Road Relay this weekend, about 230km.
… OK, my team is running the distance. My leg is about 14km, at about 5:30AM.
Should I wear the Chicken suit?
After the race I’ll get out for 2-3 days hiking in the Yukon mountains.
At Jackson Hole ski resort in Wyoming it costs $25 to ride the Aerial Tram both ways. But it’s FREE to ride down … if you hike up.
Via the Summit Trail that’s 7.2mi (11.6km)
At the start, I was still super energetic.
I hope this isn’t an old Tram … that fell.
End of August, some of the wildflowers are still hanging on.
Finally, Top of the World:
Other hikers agreed that it’s MUCH more challenging than we expected. The 4,139ft (2600m) elevation gain is compounded by lack of oxygen. Top of the World is 10450ft (3185 m).
I saw no wildlife other than one marmot, and some pikas. A bear was spotted from the Tram earlier in the day.
trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
… Naturalist Basin is a multi-tiered wonderland of lakes and alpine scenery. Nestled between two 12,000+ foot peaks (Agassiz 12,428′ and Spread Eagle 12,540′), in the western end of the main 100 mile Uinta spine, Naturalist Basin is one of the quicker routes to get into the wilderness experience of the Uinta Mountain Range. …
The High Uintas Wilderness near Salt Lake City is convenient for backcountry camping. And horse camping.
Perhaps too convenient:
… extremely popular, over-fishing, destructive camping and too many campfires have taken their toll on some of the purity in the area, but it remains an incredible treasure just the same. The Forest Service has now permanently banned campfires in Naturalist Basin, and has shut down many campsites, especially around the first meadow in Naturalist Basin. …
Of the 545 miles of trail, I decided on the Highline Trail trailhead near Butterfly Lake.
The approach was somewhat dull, actually, tree-locked. The creeks were the highlight.
Here’s why we like it. High alpine meadows.
There are a number of pretty lakes, high up. My map wasn’t detailed enough to name them.
That one might be Blue Lake.
End of August, the summer was clearly dying.
This was as high as I could get without scrambling to one of the summits.
by site editor Rick McCharles
I’ve done enough investigation this summer.
My first thru hike will be this:
… The CDT passes through many of the highest and wildest mountain regions of Colorado, such as the San Juan Mountains and the Sawatch Range. …
It is concurrent with the Colorado Trail for approximately 200 miles. The Continental Divide itself in Colorado meanders some 650 miles. There are many stretches of the Continental Divide in Colorado that have no distinct marked or named trail. …
All I need now is TIME one summer. And a solar powered, satellite blogging device.
Advice?
Leave a comment.
trip report by besthike editor Rick McCharles
• 28mi (45.1km)
• moderate difficulty
• free backcountry permit
• 4 passes all higher than 12,000ft
For years I’ve wanted to get to this, one of the most photographed idyls in the Rockies.
The Maroon Bells is a mountain in the Elk Mountains that consists of two peaks, South Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, separated by about a third of a mile.
… about 12 miles southwest of Aspen. Both peaks are counted as fourteeners …
The Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop starts here, high at 9580ft (2920m), mostly above the treeline.
The wildflowers were still quite good mid-August.
As usual in late afternoon in the Rockies, weather was iffy.
It was an emergency tent site I finally found just at dark. Happily, next morning dawned brilliantly clear:
Early morning I crossed pass #1: West Maroon.
En route to Pass #2: Frigid Air:
The trails are fantastic, … aside from one much cursed section I called THE QUAGMIRE. Once you reach the biggest waterfall on the Crystal river, the track disappears into a bog of mud and fallen trees.
Who’s responsible?
Here I am cleaning my shoes (deliberately) on a creek crossing.
When I met an oncoming hiker who had heard about THE QUAGMIRE, he decided to bushwhack on the opposite side of Crystal river. It couldn’t possibly be worse.
See the next high pass?
That’s #3, Trail Rider.
It was a long, exhausting climb. Yet gorgeous.
Hikers on Trail Rider pass:
The vistas of Snowmass Lake on the other side were all that was keeping me going.
Tenting is super popular at Snowmass. I decided to carry on until dusk, approaching the 4th and final pass. …
Next morning I was up at first light, first human at pass #4 Buckskin. It was just me and the mountain goats.
I’ll always remember the big open vistas of the Maroon Bells. And the wildflowers.
Highly recommended. One of the best hikes in the world.
trip report by besthike editor Rick McCharles
This is Crater Lake Trail #623 in the San Juan National Forest between Silverton and Durango. … Not the more famous (but far less appealing) Crater Lake in the Maroon Bells.
The Crater Lake Trail is an excellent long day hike or overnight that begins at Andrews Lake. Crater Lake is nestled in a basin at the foot of Twilight Peak. This peak and Snowdon Peak are both accessible from the Crater Lake Trail. …
• 5.5mi (8.8km)
• trailhead at 10,800ft
• Crater Lake at 11,600
I had planned to climb Twilight or Snowdon early morning after the night I tented at Crater. But it rained steadily all night. Both peaks were cloud shrouded in the morn. I marched directly out.
Richard Tulloch’s amusing summary of his early season trek on one of the very best hikes in the world.
The full circuit of Europe’s highest range is some 170km long and takes about 60 hours of walking. Most people do it in 8-12 days. ….
It’s staggeringly beautiful terrain – or is that my pack making me stagger? …
Doing it in June is risky:
… We’re in a bit of trouble on our hike, high on Switzerland’s Col d’Emaney. It’s blowing a gale and there’s frozen snow on a treacherously steep slope. My Dutch companions are carrying ice axes, but I’m not roping myself to anyone who learned their mountaineering below sea level in Amsterdam. …
Click through to see how they got out of this situation …
TOUR DE MONT BLANC – the Swiss section
And while you’re there, click through on HIKING for Richard’s adventures in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and more.
→ besthike TMB information page
Another great Photodiary of a Nomad trip report from June 2010:
… A 170 km circumnavigation of the highest mountain in the European Alps, it is truly one of the classic treks, not only for its splendid scenery and demanding geography, but for its history.
For thousands of years, people have been passing through this region for trade or conquest, Celts, Romans and others. The common historic and franco-provencal linguistic origins of the region and its people are implanted in the valleys of Savoie, Valdôtain and Valais, coloured by their relatively recent associations with France, Italy and Switzerland, respectively – three countries, but one overarching culture. …
There’s a LOT of snow this early in the summer. The photos look very dramatic, the trail much less crowded than it will be later in the season.
But, of course, it was wildflower season:
read it all – Tour de Mont Blanc
And check our besthike information page on the TMB
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