alpine – Page 88 – besthike.com

July 24, 2012

with Fedak in Tuolumne Canyon

16.5 miles and 2700 foot gain down into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River.

… For three miles, the Tuolumne River curves lazily through meadows like a time-lapse video of a cat on a sunny windowsill. Then it perks up and dashes over a series of cascades and waterfalls, terminating at Glen Aulin …

Yosemite Hikes – Glen Aulin (Tuolumne Falls & White Cascade)

John Fedak, resident of the Sierra Nevada mountains for the Summer season, led me on this, one of his favourite hikes.

Here’s John’s photo trip report of our day — LeConte Falls 2012.

We rendezvoused at Lembert Dome trailhead on the Tioga Road. This was the shortest winter snow closure for Tioga on record, by the way.

On a Saturday in July the trail was busy. We even shared the bridge with these beasts.

In the Spring, it’s great for waterfalls. Later in the season, popular for swimming.

Thank you kindly for sharing this trail, John. It was a terrific day.

Fedak is one of the original hiking photo bloggers. He has thousands of annotated photos from his many, many adventures.

Check those out at Fedak.net

More of my own pics from this glorious day are posted on Flickr.

July 23, 2012

Jeni at Glacier National Park

Lovin’ it.

July 10, 2012July 10, 2012

hiking Big Pine Lakes CA

The trailhead is out of Big Pine, California, in the eastern Sierras.

Starting at high elevation, you have many good choices of Big Pine Canyon Trails including South Fork Trail, Baker Creek Trail, North Fork Trail to Palisade Glacier.

But I chose to do a lollypop loop of the Lakes.

First, Second, Third, Fourth. With a short detour up to Fifth Lake.

Then looped back via Black Lake, the prettiest section of all.

That was at least 10mi. At least 3000ft of elevation gain.

This area is very popular with fishermen. Rock climbers. And overnight (permit required) backpackers. It’s a bit long for day hikers.

Dudes ride this trail.

Lesson learned = try to get off the trail downhill. Otherwise the beasts fear you may fall down on top of them.

Look for the cabin originally built by actor Lon Chaney. 🙂

The best web page I found on the trip is posted by American S.W.

If it’s scorching hot in the valley, this is a good choice, the trail surprisingly shaded for a hike so high up.

Recommended. No permit nor fee required for day hikers.

see more of my photos from this day hike

July 9, 2012July 10, 2012

Kearsarge Pass – SUCCESS

June 1st, 2009 I was denied this Pass in California. Snow was still too deep on the trail.

July 7th, 2012 it was a dream.

Here’s the view looking over the top over into Kings Canyon National Park.

I left a Summit Stone in this rock formation, a short scramble from Kearsarge.

Onion Valley to Kearsarge is one of the most popular day hikes in the Eastern Sierra. You can start high, driving up to over 9000ft.

Gorgeous climate. Perfect weather day-after-day. No bugs. Excellent footing. The Eastern Sierra truly is one of the best hiking destinations in the world. 🙂

See my full resolution photos from this day hike on flickr.

details and logistics – Natural Born Hikers:

Kearsarge Pass
Kings Canyon National Park, California

Trail Type – Out and back

Trailhead Elevation – 9,212 ft

Top Elevation – 11,760 ft

Elevation Gain – 2,548 ft

July 5, 2012

trekking Huayhuash, Peru

by site editor Rick McCharles

MY best hike was a guided 11 day adventure in the little known Huayhuash Circuit in 2004.

Here are a few of our photos.

Far better are these photos and videos from a September 2011 guided tour. (May is the best month, so this is a little off season.)

Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.

May 21, 2012May 20, 2012

Mammoth Lakes, CA

Adventure Freak loves Mammoth:

If you like to hike, Mammoth is a great base camp. You can pretty much walk out your door and just go.

1. The John Muir Trail runs a few miles from Mammoth. If you have the time and desire, you could hike south all the way to Mt Whitney or north to Yosemite.

2. Lakes area – there are a number of trails that leave from the lakes area that offer unlimited day hikes and connections to much longer journeys.

3. White Mountains – from Mammoth, you can’t miss these huge mountains to the south. The hiking is outstanding for two reasons – you get a great view of the Sierra and you get to see some of the oldest living things on earth, the Bristlecone Pines.

4. Yosemite offers hundreds of hikes that max out the wow scale.

If you like to camp, the possibilities are endless. Just point yourself toward the mountains and walk until you are tired. Wherever you end up, it will be a spectacular camp site. I am especially fond of the Duck Pass area. …

Great Outdoor Towns – Mammoth Lakes

Should Mammoth be added to our list?

top 10 hiking towns in the world

#1) Queenstown, New Zealand
#2) Huaraz, Peru
#3) Namche Bazaar, Nepal
#4) Cortina, Italy
#5) Chamonix, France
#6) Banff, Alberta, Canada
#7) Grindelwald, Switzerland
#8) El Calafate, Argentina
#9) Zermatt, Switzerland
10) Moab, Utah

April 8, 2012August 3, 2014

Dientes Circuit trip report

Sebastian Irazuzta via email:

… In 2010 I was inspired by the trek you have posted on Navarino Island in the South of Chile. After some research my wife and I decided to take our Canadian winter vacation to Southern Chile and Argentina and see the wilderness of Navarino Island for ourselves. I have posted a short description along with some photos and videos of this trip on Everytrail. …

That’s an interactive map. Click on the image to see it.

I should mention that the weather was sometimes amazingly harsh.

Despite this, I think it was one of the nicest wilderness treks I have
done. I think you may find this post interesting in that I have
uploaded my GPS tracks for the entire trail. This is something I wish
I had had when I was on the trail myself as some sections were
difficult to navigate by map alone due to bad weather.

Thanks Sebastian!

Check out Dientes information page.

March 8, 2012March 7, 2012

Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa

Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa are National Geographic’s 2012 Adventurers of the Year.

They climbed Everest, rode a paraglider off the summit, cycled to the river, then paddled to the Indian Ocean.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via The Adventure Blog)

February 28, 2012

WildernessTrekking.com – Asia

Mick Bromley of Wilderness Trekking confirms that the Annapurna Circuit is no longer one of the best treks in the world:

… You can rent a jeep all the way to Muktinath on the West side, and much of the East is road bed. Still there is magic to be found and the environs of Manang are still stunning, but just not fair to recommend this anymore. …

Here’s a list of hikes Mick organizes, all better than Annapurna:

Top Ten Treks

Sacred Tsum Valley – Nepal
Classic Manaslu Circuit – Nepal
Everest Base Camp – Nepal
Dolpo Traverse – Nepal
Mythical Nar & Phu – Nepal
Mount Kailas Kora – Tibet
Remote Zanskar Traverse – India
Markha Valley – India
Wild Lunana – Bhutan
Phubjikha Festivals – Bhutan