Category: blogs

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5 great American hikes

Outdoor Camping Survival personal favorites:

Breakneck Ridge Trail, Hudson Highlands State Park in NY

Glacier Gorge, Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park

Mount Whitney, California

Appalachian Trail: The Pinnacle

Conundrum Hot Springs, Colorado

Hot-Springs
flickr – pixelgrain – larger version

Here’s one trip report …

… Conundrum Hot Springs near Aspen is the type of place that spawns rumors. I had heard hippies clog the nine-mile trail to the springs.

I had been told the pools attract cliquey nudes who make fun of people in bathing suits.

Was the gossip true?

For nearly a year, I had been looking forward to finding out. I had visited several other hot springs in the area, but Conundrum was the Holy Grail of hot pots — a secluded bath in the Maroon Bells, reachable only by an 18-mile roundtrip backpacking trek. …

Vail Daily – Trip to Conundrum Hot Springs near Aspen

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best Bay Area trails

From Tom Mangan of Two-Heel Drive:

Best of the best in Bay Area trails:

  • Berry Creek Falls Loop, Big Basin Redwoods State Park. …

  • Dipsea Trail to Matt Davis Trail from Stinson Beach, Mount Tamalpais State Park. …

  • Three Peaks, Mount Diablo State Park. …

  • High Peaks Trail, Pinnacles National Monument. Not exactly Bay Area, …

  • Tomales Point, Point Reyes National Seashore. …

  • Angel Island State Park. …

  • Point Lobos State Preserve, south of Monterey. …

    • These are my favorite hikes in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve done them all a few times. Links at the end of each item go to guide books and professionally produced maps available at Amazon.com and its partner retailers. …

    Best of the best in Bay Area trails

    436166825_e6f616714e

    Pinnacles National Monument trek – trip report

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    best hiking clothing system

    Frank in Oz is an expert Australian hiker. He’s co-author, with wife Sue, of Hiking the Overland Track – the downloadable book.

    Frank wears mostly Mountain Designs togs. That’s an Aussie company, their gear not easily available in North America.

    For warm weather:

    hiking_clothing

    For a particularly foul, wet adventure in Tasmania:

    hiking_clothing_warm

    Click through to Frank’s excellent site for much, much more:

    Our Hiking Blog – Best hiking clothes for a multi day hike – ideas, tips and suggestions

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    best hike blog STATS

    In the 5 months since we moved this blog to WordPress.com from crappy Bluehost, the number of visitors has almost recovered.

    best-hike-stats

    It was a good move.

    I highly recommend WordPress.com. It’s free. It works. It’s updated continually. It’s open source. Though the features are limited, they are enough for most bloggers.

    Search for “best hike” on Google. We have the top 3 hits.

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    40 Favorite Hikes of All Time

    Josh Steinitz on the NileGuide blog posted his 40 favorite hikes of all time.

    path-of-the-gods
    larger version – Path of the Gods, Italy – flickr – fractalflow

    It’s a good list. Click through for a photo and quickie description of each.

    I’ve attempted to include a good balance of trails in North America and around the world, and to feature hikes that take in mountains, canyons, culture, jungle and tundra.

    1. Buckskin Gulch/Paria Canyon

    2. Kalalau Trail, Kauai

    3. Cusin to Zuleta, Ecuador

    4. Rae Lakes Loop, Kings Canyon NP, California

    5. Virgin Narrows, Zion NP, Utah

    6. Coast Walk, Tofino, B.C.

    7. “W” route, Torres del Paine NP, Chile

    8. Baseline Creek, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

    9. Mt. Whitney, California

    10. Everest Base Camp, Nepal

    11. Mt Kenya

    12. Mt Kilimanjaro

    13. Picos de Europa, Spain

    14. Mt Lyell, Yosemite NP

    15. Tombstone Mountains, Yukon Territory

    16. Cinque Terre, Italy

    17. Pico Espejo to Los Nevados, Venezuela

    18. Queen Charlotte Track, New Zealand

    19. Basaseachi Falls, Copper Canyon, Mexico

    20. Tongariro Crossing, New Zealand

    21. Path of the Gods, Amalfi Coast, Italy

    22. Dusy Basin, Kings Canyon NP, California

    23. Berg Lake Trail, Canadian Rockies

    24. Cirque of the Towers, Wind River Mountains, Wyoming

    25. Tomales Point, California

    26. Payangan walk, Bali

    27. Canyon Creek Lakes, Trinity Alps, California

    28. Superstition Peak, Arizona

    29. Peek-a-boo Loop, Bryce Canyon

    30. Beehive Basin, Big Sky, MT

    31. Bald Mountain, Jasper NP, Alberta

    32. North Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon

    33. Taquesi Pass and Inca Road, Bolivia

    34. The Lost Coast, California

    35. The Haute Route: Chamonix to Zermatt

    36. St. Marys to Lake McDonald, Glacier NP

    37. Nelson Lakes, New Zealand

    38. Wheeler Peak, Great Basin NP, Nevada

    39. Devil’s Garden, Arches NP

    40. Chicago Basin

    see the details and a photo of each – NileGuidance: A Travel Blog – Top 40 Favorite Hikes of All Time

    basaseachi-falls
    Basaseachi Falls, Mexico – larger original – Paco Espinoza – flickr

    superstition-mountain
    sibhusky2 – flickr – Superstition Mountain Arizona – larger version

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    iPhone Apps hit the trail


    One of Backpacker Magazine’s blogs, The Daily Dirt, has been my favourite in recent weeks.

    Here’s another interesting post:

    … In a new 30-second spot, the familiar hands demonstrate apps to replace a compass, identify bird species, and spot poison ivy. Add those apps to the already impressive list including the Google Earth and GPS systems and you’ve got a handheld, do-just-about-anything, outdoor genius machine. …

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    Daily Dirt – IPHONE APPS HIT THE TRAIL

    Still, I’ll be taking my iTouch on the trail with me this season. Mainly for listening to Audiocasts and Audiobooks during the long nights in the tent.

    Where I hike there’s no free WiFi. So many of the apps will not work since the Touch has not phone service.

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    hiking tips


    I’ve subscribed to an informative site called ideal-hiking-equipment.com.

    Check the outline of a sample post:

    UPHILL HIKING TIPS:

  • Take small steps going uphill
  • Look several footsteps ahead
  • Zigzag up steep ascents
  • Use Trekking Pole uphill technique
  • Use your hands
  • Take energy snacks and water more frequently

    • DOWNHILL HIKING TIPS:

  • Kick your heels in
  • Run with gravity
  • Use zigzag routes to slow the pace down
  • Use trekking poles to reduce pressure, wear and tiredness of your knees and legs
  • Use Trekking Pole downhill technique

    • GENERAL HIKING TIPS:

  • Do warm-up and cool-down exercises
  • Build and maintain your fitness levels

    • Read our Favourite Hiking Quotes by Famous Individuals Including Barack Obama and John Muir
    Even see what Arnold Schwarzeneggar had to say about hiking!

    logo

    Click through to see specifics on each tip.

    Hiking Tips for Mountain Walking You Won’t Have Heard Before

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    best National Parks in the world?

    Rick Smith on National Parks Traveler is compiling a list of the World’s best National Parks. He kickstarted the conversation:

    Fiordland National Park, New Zealand

    Kruger National Park, South Africa

    Tikal National Park, Guatemala

    Kaieteur National Park, Guyana

    Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary, Peru

    OK, there are five of my favorites. Can you help us fill in five more blanks? If you have a great photo, send it along via email to kurt@nationalparkstraveler.com and we’ll see about posting it.

    One that jumps to mind for me is Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Home of the Paine Circuit trek.

    paine
    larger original – flickr – dagpeak

    All the National Parks in the Sierra Nevada, California are fantastic. I can’t choose one over the others along the John Muir Trail.

    john-muir-trail
    larger original – flickr

    The Himalayas are fantastic. If I had to choose only one park, it would be the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) home of the Annapurna Circuit.

    annapurna-circuit
    larger original – flickr – Mahatma4711

    thorung-la
    Thorung La – larger original – flickr – Lucy Crabapple

    But there are a dozen others I could name, just as easily.

    The world is a wonderful place.

    Check Rick’s original post to add to his list – The World’s Top Ten National Parks

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    incredible aerial photography

    You certainly have seen this famous photo.

    camels

    It was published by National Geographic. The photographer is George Steinmetz and the image is called Larger than Life.

    Here’s another of his photos.

    desert-dunes

    They are included in a slide show published on a new blog the adventure life by Steve Casimiro, who is an editor for National Geographic Adventure. (I’ve just subscribed by RSS.)

    Details on this post – the adventure life – PHOTOGRAPHY: The Aerial Art of George Steinmetz.

    Watch the must see gorgeous slide show here.

    (via The Adventure Blog)