blogs – Page 10 – besthike.com

November 15, 2009November 3, 2009

the future of climbing – buildings

I’ve just subscribed to the CheapTents.com Outdoor Gear Blog.

A very interesting perspective with much original content.

I liked a commentary on the illegal climb of Blackpool Tower, in Lancashire, U.K. this past August.

… At 158m the Blackpool Tower is pretty high, and for some climbers the thought of climbing an iconic structure is irresistible. Obviously we are not suggesting that anyone should go out and illegally climb a tower. But, if you could climb any tower, legally, in complete safety and with appropriate climbing gear, which tower would you climb?

Blackpool Tower Climb

Another post goes on to speculate …

Three enjoyable things about going hiking are

• getting a great view from the top of a summit,
• being in the countryside and
• getting exercise.

Vertical farms will offer all three of these things! …

What’s a Vertical farm?

… a proposal to conduct large-scale agriculture in urban high-rises or “farmscrapers”. Using recycled resources and greenhouse methods such as hydroponics, these buildings would produce fruit, vegetables, edible mushrooms and algae year-round. …

The editor of the CheapTents.com Outdoor Gear Blog proposes we build them so they can be used for fitness, as well. Great idea.

Check out that post – The Future of Hiking

October 28, 2009October 20, 2009

hiking blog – Madeira Walking

Madeira is an archipelago in the Atlantic, an Autonomous region of Portugal. Madeira Island and Porto Santo Island are the only inhabited islands.

I’ve just subscribed to Madeira Walking, a quality, impressive site.

The unique attraction of this area are Levada, irrigation channels that double as ideal hiking trails.

450px-Levada

Nature Meetings, partners on this site, offers guided half and full day Levada walks or “dramatic Mountain walks”.

Madeira-Walking

home page – Madeira Walking

October 5, 2009

moving besthike to Google Sites?

I’m still looking for a good way to move our list of the best hikes in the world to a wiki.

wiki

None of the wiki software I’ve looked at appeals.

The best of the bad bunch is Google Sites (video) … At least I know that Google will continue to improve this product into the future.

What stops me?

It would be hundreds of hours work to move the old static pages one-by-one into my personally created Google Sites template pages.

There are no “templates” out there for Google Sites, only “themes”. And I cannot find any IMPORT functions on Google Sites.

Advice?

October 1, 2009

new – Canary Island hiking blog

My name is Andrea. I was born and raised in Leicestershire in the U.K. In 1994 I drove 15,000 miles around the United States and on returning home, couldn´t seem to settle back into the old routine. So, I uprooted myself from there to come and work ´for the summer´ on the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Well, that was twelve years ago now. Since being here, I have realised that there is definately more on offer on this volcanic island than just beaches and nightlife and so, armed with my passion for walking, I have decided to share these thoughts and ideas with you along with alternative outdoor pursuit options. ..

So, what´s this blog about?

It is a blog aimed to show people a different way of exploring the island by getting away from the typical tourist bus tours where you find that you only have a limited time to discover the places that you are shown. Initially, I will cover walking tours showing parts of this impressive island that can´t be viewed from a car or bus window. I then aim to show the numerous alternative outdoor pursuits available here ranging from kayaking, diving, mountain biking, surfing and horse riding, to name a few. …

about the Outdoor Lanzarote blog

Quality of the posts is good. Click on either of the two images to see a sample.

Outdoor Lanzarote ….a walk on the wild side

I’ve subscribed by RSS to this site. The Canary Islands are high on my personal list of future hiking destinations.

September 30, 2009September 30, 2009

trekking through snow in Corsica

Can you believe this is Corsica, France?

An island in the Mediterranean.

It’s from an excellent trip report of a 6 days, 95km trek through Corsica in May.

That’s the Trailblaze blog edited by Johannes Huwe, posted in both German and English.

Though snow has been rare on the island since 1979 (presumably due to climate change) the group had significant problems with snow and melt water in 2009.

Kev Reynolds calls the GR20 high-level route across Corsica one of the toughest 3 treks in Western Europe.

September 24, 2009September 23, 2009

best site for hikers, campers, nature cravers

Have you seen the new tag line on Tom Mangan’s blog?

Two-Heel-Drive

Two-Heel Drive is the Web’s oldest regularly updated hiking blog. Born as a general-interest hiking blog in the fall of 2005, it evolved into a Bay Area-focused blog in the summer of 2007. I had to shift focus again in the summer of 2009 because the job situation obliged me to relocate to the Triad region of North Carolina (Winston-Salem/Greensboro/High Point). …

Two-Heel Drive, a Hiking Blog

I’m happy to see Tom still leading the way for hiking bloggers.

He’s a big part of a social networking website called EveryTrail.com:

EveryTrail Guides will lead you on your next adventure. Leave heavy guidebooks home – just print or download these guides to your iPhone or GPS to bring along with you. EveryTrail route maps and corresponding tips will be right at your fingertips wherever you travel.

EveryTrail

Tom and Stuart Green of Trailspotting have expertly written a number of trail guides for the USA and Hawaii.

Users are adding more over time. GPS requested.

September 19, 2009September 18, 2009

featured blog – Outdoor Afro

I’ve just subscribed.

Rue Mapp, Outdoor Afro Founder
Outdoor Afro is a website community that reconnects African-Americans with natural spaces and one another through recreational activities such as camping, hiking, biking, boating, gardening, and skiing. Outdoor Afro uses social media to create interest communities, events, and to partner with regional and national organizations that support diverse participation in the Great Outdoors. …

about Outdoor Afro

August 27, 2009

climbing Kilimanjaro for Crohn’s disease

I have a friend with Crohn’s. It’s a bad disease.

From Jeremy Twigg via email:

… This September, 16-year-old Clinton Shard of Squamish, B.C. is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro as a part of a team of six people led by Crohn’s patient Rob Hill, who is the founder of the Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society, or I.D.E.A.S. Both of these adventurers have Crohn’s disease, and have overcome tremendous obstacles in order to be able to take on this challenge.

While they are on their journey, they will be posting updates on Twitter (#roberthillclimb, #weneedideas); blogging, posting photos and videos (IBDAdventures.com); and even answering questions via video from their fans on the web while they are climbing! …

Kili

Check out their IBD Adventures website.

I’ve subscribed to the blog.

Good luck to all.

August 23, 2009September 5, 2018

trip report – hiking Mt Blanc to Matterhorn

by site editor Rick McCharles

day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | info

Chamonix to Zermatt: The Walker’s Haute Route is one of the very best hikes in the World.

One of the very best hikes I’ve ever done.

It changed my life.

Chamonix to Zermatt, Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn – … the greatest collection of 4000 metre peaks in the Alps and visit some of the most spectacular valleys. The route is more than 180 kilometres long. It crosses 11 passes, gains more than 12,000 metres in height …

This new edition includes the exciting two-day Europaweg – a true high-level path that carries the Haute Route way above the Mattertal and into Zermatt – a worthy conclusion to a great trek. …

Over the next 7 days I’ll post my trip report, one post for each day on my personal adventure. One I should call Rick’s High Route.

Rather than do the normal 12-14 day itinerary staying in alpine huts, I did 7 long hiking days sleeping all but one night in my tent.

And I cheated, skipping as many valley sections as possible in order to spend more time HIGH.

Walking between the 2 most famous mountaineering towns in the world. What could be more inspiring?

… on to the day 1 trip report

day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | info

August 18, 2009

hiking Telescope Peak, Death Valley, by moonlight

The always excellent Without Baggage blog published by Hank Leukart has a funny trip report:

… At midnight, the three of us set off to climb the seven miles and 3,500 feet from Mahogany Flat to Death Valley’s highest point in the moonlight.

In the dark, using only the almost-full moon to guide us, we trudged up the uneven, strenuous initial couple miles until we reached Arcane Meadows, a sweet, flat, two-mile treat sandwiched between the hike’s steep, challenging end caps. As we gained elevation, we began adding clothing layers — the desert certainly wasn’t too hot, but as we neared the peak, we wondered if we might freeze in the darkness. …

After five hours, exhausted and loopy from the altitude, we reached the peak. The meteorologist greeted us, then bounded back down the mountain to help the blanket-covered hikers we had seen on the way. We looked out at the supposedly stunning view, which we had heard combined Mount Whitney (the highest point in the contiguous US) and Badwater (the lowest point in North America). But in the darkness, almost everything was invisible.

Chilled by the breeze on the peak, we nestled into our sleeping bags just as an amber glow appeared on the horizon. As we drifted in and out of consciousness, we watched the Death Valley sunrise from 11,043 feet.

The last thing I remember from that night was the golden desert sun, peeking out from behind the mountains east of Badwater. Then I fell asleep.

We awoke three hours later to an expansive view of Death Valley with severe desert crags and deep valleys surrounding us. We signed our named in the summit book, repacked our sleeping bags, and began the same hike again in reverse. With the newfound daylight and panoramic desert views, it was as though we had never done it before.

moonwalking telescope peak.
hiking at night to death valley’s highest point.