blogs – Page 19 – besthike.com

September 17, 2007

Hike the Highlands Festival, Nova Scotia

Cape Breton’s 4th Annual Hike the Highlands Festival, Sept. 14-23, 2007 is on !!

31 hikers enjoyed the first hike of the festival – the Jack Pine Trail.

Opening ceremonies went well and attracted a large crowd and registration was brisk on the first day of the festival. The festival’s blog will have daily posts/articles each day during the festival including updates on next day’s weather forecast.

The Highlands of Cape Breton are situated on the world renowned Cabot Trail and offer some of the most spectacular coastal scenery and hiking trails in the world. …

Ten of the eighteen guided hikes featured in this year’s festival hiking schedule are within the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, the second most pristine National Park in North America – ranked by National Geographic Traveler Magazine!

Hike the Highlands Festival Official Web Site, Cape Breton Island

map

September 15, 2007

great website – Tennessee Trailhead

This is one professional looking blog. And the editor jr_ranger is a High School Senior. (Who says youth don’t care about the outdoors?)

Congratulations!

I’ve subscribed.

I believe that the observation and experience of natural things in a setting removed from the hectic world of day-to-day experience can uplift and re-create the human spirit. …

Statement of Values

A good sample post on the National Park System websites:

NPS launched new websites nearly a year ago, and while parts of the change are a bit of a shock (like hearing your computer chirp at you when you log onto NPS’s homepage), there are several significant benefits – like the new “photos and multimedia” section that every NPS site has. …

Tennessee Trailhead: Canyonlands’ New Videos

(via Modern Hiker)

September 12, 2007

Rick the nude hiker

Not me.

That would be Rick of the Nudehiker blog.

I once on this site â€” like many others â€” made light of the sport of hiking sans clothing. Rick challenged me to try it first before mocking others who enjoy walking in the buff.

Well, Rick …

That’s me. I walked away from my tent one morning in the Sierra Nevada mountains feeling very … breezy.

Though there was almost zero chance of encountering (offending) others I still felt somewhat nervous and did not get comfortable at any time over the (admittedly brief) venture.

Seems to me that most aboriginal cultures cover their genitals, if only for safety.

But I do promise to try it again, Rick, in future. Perhaps, with time, I can get to relax and then enjoy the sensation.

September 10, 2007

4WheelBob’s ascent of White Mtn – photos

The historic ascent by normal wheelchair to the summit of 14,246ft (4342m) White Mountain is old news now.

4WheelBob Coomber made the front page of the San Jose Mercury News.

Mercury News

No doubt, the editors of Backpacker Magazine are kicking themselves they did not send someone to cover his third successful attempt. They had sent a crew on his two previous unsuccessful efforts.

Tom Mangan of the Mercury News and the Two-Heel Drive blog was there. Tom took the photos, captions, wrote the headlines, and even wrote a sidebar piece called Bob wheels to the top, proving me way wrong:

Bob on summit day

Bob crawling backwards (which he did 3 times on the final day when the chair could not get past a scree section)

Two-Heel Drive: Favorite images from our White Mountain adventure

The week prior, Tom had invited me to join the support team and I’m glad I did. Bob is an inspiration!

How hard could it be? Some poor military sods at some distant time in the past were ordered to build a ROAD to the top of a high mountain. Yeesh!

Bob kept reminding over the 3 days ascent that “he couldn’t do it without us”. He’s right. Bob did no more than 97% of the work himself.

It’s much, much tougher than I expected. Much tougher than it looks in this photo. At times Bob could gain only an inch or two for each wheel stroke.

It was harsh. A monumental challenge, accomplished.

Congratulations Bob. And thanks.

I posted 50 photos of the climb on flickr.

September 10, 2007

thanks Tom Mangan of Two-Heel Drive

The editor of super-popular hiking blog Two-Heel Drive hosted me in San Jose, California. Thanks Tom. Thanks Melissa.

Tom had invited me to join the support team for 4WheelBob’s 3rd attempt to climb 14,000ft+ White Mountain in a wheelchair. I was very proud to be there when Bob summited just before sunset.

And very happy to have met Tom via the blogosphere and tied into his vast network of contacts.

Tom Mangan – Two-Heel Drive

September 4, 2007

the GOW (Great Ocean Walk), Australia

Frank Wall, his partner Sue and friends blogged the Great Ocean Walk, one of the NEW best hikes Down Under.

Wikipedia has a far-better-than-usual write up on the hike:

The GOW is a 91 kilometre track which stretches from Apollo Bay to Glenample Homestead, adjacent to the 12 Apostles, (actually 8 Apostles) and passes through the Great Otway and Port Campbell National Parks.

The GOW was launched in January 2006 and has become Victoriaâ€™s iconic long-distance coastal walk attracting many national and international walkers. …

One of the unique aspects of the GOW is that walkers can â€˜step on and step offâ€™ the trail, completing short, day, overnight or multi-day hikes, ranging from easy walks to difficult treks.

To complete the entire linear walk (approx. 91 kilometres) would take approximately eight days and seven nights.

Walkers will experience spectacular coast and forest scenery including rocky platforms, sheltered beaches, rivers, forests and coastal heathland.

Wikipedia

Frank reports that water was a bit of a problem. Weather and snakes a concern. But for Australia this is a cruisy walk. Using a vehicle to shuttle gear from campsite to campsite is easy.

Check Frank’s entertaining trip report and other posts tagged with Great Ocean Walk.

August 20, 2007

climbing White Mountain with 4WheelBob

Rick McCharles, besthike editor

Tomorrow morning Tom Mangan and I head out to rendezvous with wheelchair hiker 4WheelBob …

Read the details on Tom’s Two-Heel Drive blog (which is far better written than this one).

4WheelBob thinks he can wheel himself to the summit of White Mountain in the Eastern Sierra near Big Pine, CA. I’m going to tag along and document the experience here when we get back.

… We’ll be car camping at the Grandview Campground near the Ancient Bristlecone Pine forest till Wednesday morning, when we head up to the approach to White Mountain. Bob has a pass to park at the Barcroft Lab, six miles — and about 1,800 feet of climb — from the summit. He’s planning on camping on the mountain, summiting and returning on Thursday (he can go much much faster downhill). …

Two-Heel Drive: Where I’m going next week

Tom and I are the safety support team. Though this is the easiest high mountain climb in the USA, it’s not easy. The odds are against us.

White Mountain – Wikipedia

August 7, 2007

blog – Outdoor Food Simplified

Sarah’s Freezer Bag Cookingâ„¢ | Outdoor Food Simplified is simply the best on the net for hikers looking for great grub.

Check this post as an example:

Often I get asked if one can actually save money by doing their meals at home versus running down to the local REI for meals.

The answer is always “Yes!” but I hadn’t really ever run how much one could save. And simply put, I decided to see if it was more than just money that one could save.

Could you also eat healthier and save money? …

Sarah compared the $6 Mountain House Spaghetti and Meatballs meal-in-a-bag vs preparing her own:

Made at home Spaghetti (16 ounce serving):

600 calories
700 mg Sodium
13 g Fiber
29 g Protein

As you can easily see, you can save a lot in cost, sodium and you will get a LOT more fiber if you make your own. You will also know exactly what is in your meal. At a savings of about $4 per serving and half the sodium, that alone makes it worthwhile to make your own. You are also avoiding potential hidden MSG, and fillers.

Freezer Bag Cookingâ„¢ | Outdoor Food Simplified

July 29, 2007

Sex In A Tent – you wish

Michelle Waitzman is the author of “Sex in a Tent: a wild couple’s guide to getting naughty in nature” (Wilderness Press, Oct. 2007)

She lives in Wellington, New Zealand although she is originally from Toronto, Canada. She loves spending time in the great outdoors.

Hiking, backpacking (or ‘tramping’ as they call it here in NZ), and sea kayaking are some of her favourite ways to enjoy the wilderness. Michelle is also writing “Moon Living Abroad in New Zealand”, a guide for those who would like to follow in her footsteps and move to New Zealand.

Love In A Tent
Michelle Waitzman

– the blog

$A Wild Couple\'s Guide to Getting Naughty in Nature$

Sex in a Tent: A Wild Couple\’s Guide to Getting Naughty in Nature

(via all the hiking websites edited by those only sleeping in their tents)

This reminds me of the classic How to Shit in the Woods by Kathleen Meyer.

July 22, 2007

top 10 LEAST visited American National Parks

Since the relaunch of the National Parks Traveler blog, it’s become one of my favourite sites.

These bloggers are passionate about the Parks. Extremely knowledgeable. And the depth and breadth of coverage is amazing.

This recent post, for example, I found very interesting:

Top 10 Most Visited National Parks

Rank Park Name Visitation

1 Great Smoky Mountains NP 9,289,215

2 Grand Canyon NP
4,279,439

3 Yosemite NP 3,242,644

4 Yellowstone NP 2,870,295

5 Olympic NP
2,749,197

6 Rocky Mountain NP 2,743,676

7 Zion NP 2,567,350

8 Cuyahoga Valley NP
2,468,816

9 Grand Teton NP 2,406,476

10 Acadia NP 2,083,588

These two ‘top ten’ lists look pretty similar to last year’s numbers, but there has been some movement in the bottom ten parks.

Want to avoid the crowds? Check out these least visited park units. Aniakchak had only 60 visitors last year! It has been noted though, counting must be tough at Aniakchak considering there are no permanent buildings (NPS or otherwise) at the monument. The only real way to get there is by float plane, and even that can be tricky I’ve been told.

Counting down from 10 …

Bottom 10 : The Least Visited Park Units

Rank Park Name Visitation

10 Noatak NPRES 3,272

9 Kobuk Valley NP 3,005

8
Cape Krusenstern NM
2,598

7 Salt River Bay NHP 2,526

6 Alibates Flint Quarries NM 1,882

5
Frederick Law Olmsted NHS
1,559

4 Bering Land Bridge NPRES 1,265

3 National Park of American Samoa 1,239

2 Rio Grande W&SR 135

1 Aniakchak NM & PRES
60

Rank	Park Name	Visitation
1	Great Smoky Mountains NP	9,289,215
2	Grand Canyon NP	4,279,439
3	Yosemite NP	3,242,644
4	Yellowstone NP	2,870,295
5	Olympic NP	2,749,197
6	Rocky Mountain NP	2,743,676
7	Zion NP	2,567,350
8	Cuyahoga Valley NP	2,468,816
9	Grand Teton NP	2,406,476
10	Acadia NP	2,083,588

Rank	Park Name	Visitation
10	Noatak NPRES	3,272
9	Kobuk Valley NP	3,005
8	Cape Krusenstern NM	2,598
7	Salt River Bay NHP	2,526
6	Alibates Flint Quarries NM	1,882
5	Frederick Law Olmsted NHS	1,559
4	Bering Land Bridge NPRES	1,265
3	National Park of American Samoa	1,239
2	Rio Grande W&SR	135
1	Aniakchak NM & PRES	60