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Vermont’s Long Trail

I met Alan Wechsler on the John Muir Trail this past summer. I hiked in parallel with his group, finishing the same day at Whitney Portal.

Alan convinced me to put Vermont’s Long Trail in autumn on my personal life list. He suggested I follow the changing of the leaves starting late September and hiking south.

272 miles (437 km). 70 backcountry campsites.

Details.

Alan is a writer and photographer based in the Northeast. He recently spent a year section-hiking the Long Trail in various seasons. His 73-page narrative describes the challenge and history of the trail, along with the people he met along the way, and is generously illustrated with his photos. Download the e-book here:

long-trail-v2Download
 
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Banff Mountain Festival 2021

Click PLAY or watch the teaser on YouTube.

The 2021 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival is happening virtually and in-person this year from Saturday, October 30 to Sunday, November 7!

Featuring over 75 films, live events in Banff and Canmore, and 30 virtual programs to watch from the comfort of your home over nine epic days. Get your festival passes, Tuesday, October 5—available to purchase only until November 2 👉

BanffCentre.ca

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#AskCicerone: Walking in Europe

Cicerone is by far the best publisher of guidebooks for hiking Europe.

Podcast episode 28 gives an overview of their 162 guidebooks to Europe.

Too many good choices in that continent. This is a good place to start.

#AskCicerone: Walking and trekking in Europe

Listen here.

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A funny John Muir Trail Book

I read Almost Somewhere by Suzanne Roberts in advance of our upcoming JMT hike.

Day One, and already she was lying in her journal.

It was 1993, Suzanne Roberts had just finished college, and when her friend suggested they hike California’s John Muir Trail, the adventure sounded like the perfect distraction from a difficult home life and thoughts about the future.

But she never imagined that the twenty-eight-day hike would change her life. Part memoir, part nature writing, part travelogue, Almost Somewhere is Roberts’s account of that hike. …

Amazon
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Arctic Circle Trail, Greenland

… At just over 100 miles long, and taking 7 to 10 days to complete, the Arctic Circle Trail crosses the largest ice-free patch of West Greenland.

This splendid backpacking route, lying 25-30 miles north of the Arctic Circle runs from Kangerlussuaq to Sisimiut – both with airport access.

a summer walk, ideally from mid-June to mid-September, when the tundra is bursting with life; during the long winter, snow and ice, short days and bitter cold are the norm …

Cicerone

Bo Normander posted an excellent trip report from 2017:

GUIDE TO THE ARCTIC CIRCLE TRAIL IN GREENLAND

Lisa Germany (from Australia) posted her trip report.

Or you can listen to an interview where she describes Greenland and the ACT in detail.

The Best Treks in Northern Peru: Cordillera Huayhuash and Cordillera Blanca – The 10Adventures Podcast

On this episode we dive head first into the incredible trekking regions known as the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Huayhuash in Northern Peru. Our guest Christian Alvarado, owner of Huaraz-based adventure tour operator Go2Andes shares his expertise on these 2 incredible mountain ranges and the 3 main treks offered here.  If you’re a lover of high altitude trekking, you don't want to miss this in depth look at the 3 most popular treks here, the Alpamayo Trek, the Santa Cruz Trek and Huayhuash Treks. Find out what goes into preparing for these types of high adrenaline adventures as Christian shares everything from acclimatization plans, transporting gear, and best times to travel.    Check out a full list of Go2Andes incredible trekking tours on 10Adventures or going to https://www.10adventures.com/tour-operator/go-2-andes/
  1. The Best Treks in Northern Peru: Cordillera Huayhuash and Cordillera Blanca
  2. Adventuring in Europe Now: What‘s it like to travel right now
  3. The GR5: Trekking from the Alps to the Mediterranean with 10Adventures founder Richard
  4. Cycling from Brighton to Budapest with Ryan
  5. Cycling and wild camping 5,000 km around Europe with Jens
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Free Outside by Jeff Garmire

Jeff “Legend” Garmire is an adventurer who climbed the Colorado 14ers, survived The Great Western Loop, broke the Arizona Trail self-supported FKT, Long Trail Unsupported FKT, and the Colorado Trail Unsupported FKT and much more.

Free Outside is his telling of his Calendar Year Triple Crown: Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail.

I listened to the audio version which Jeff reads himself.

Fast paced. No dull moments.

8000 miles averaging over 30 miles a day.

I enjoyed the book.

It’s real to his experience. So real that no editor seems to have corrected spelling nor typos.

Seemed to me the CDT would be my least favourite of the three — overall. Too many cows. Too much dirty drinking water.

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The Adventurer’s Son by Roman Dial

A good book. And important look at the role of parents in the raising of their children.

The Adventurer’s Son is Roman Dial’s extraordinary account of his two-year quest to unravel the mystery of his son’s disappearance in the jungles of Costa Rica.

… Before he left, Cody Roman Dial emailed his father: “I am not sure how long it will take me, but I’m planning on doing 4 days in the jungle and a day to walk out. I’ll be bounded by a trail to the west and the coast everywhere else, so it should be difficult to get lost forever.”

They were the last words Dial received from his son.

… Roman had raised his son to be fearless, to be at home in earth’s wildest places, travelling together through rugged Alaska to remote Borneo and Bhutan. Was he responsible for his son’s fate? Or, as he hoped, was Cody Roman safe and using his wilderness skills on a solo adventure from which he would emerge at any moment?

Amazon

You might have seen the documentary Missing Dial on National Geographic channel.

The parents agreed to participate out of desperation to continue the search for their missing son. They are disappointed in how it turned out. Wild hyperbole and speculation.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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Free Fire by C.J. Box

I downloaded this book because it was set in Yellowstone National Park.

The plot is dumb, I thought. But the location kept me going.

The Yellowstone Caldera supervolcano supereruption possibility is one thread of the story.

Joe Pickett’s been hired to investigate one of the most cold-blooded mass killings in Wyoming history.

Attorney Clay McCann admitted to slaughtering four campers in a back-country corner of Yellowstone National Park—a “free-fire” zone with no residents or jurisdiction.

In this remote fifty-square-mile stretch a man can literally get away with murder. Now McCann’s a free man, and Pickett’s about to discover his motive—one buried in Yellowstone’s rugged terrain, and as dangerous as the man who wants to keep it hidden.

CJBox.net
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The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

Winn and her husband Moth, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness, became homeless after a bad investment and decided to walk the 630-mile (1,010 km) South West Coast Path. …

In September 2019 it was the number one bestselling book in UK independent bookstores.

An excellent read.

The couple had not hiked for decades. Pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

And they survived on an income of about £40 a week.

Amazon

related – Couple walked 630 miles and lived in a tent after bad investment left them homeless