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.
… 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.
besthike.com 