Category: books and magazines

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hike Zuni Acoma Trail, New Mexico

I’m a huge fan of hiking author Peter Potterfield, especially his Classic Hikes of the World: 23 Breathtaking Treks.

His most recent article:

I’ve come to do the legendary Zuni Acoma trail, famous for hard going and rugged terrain as it traverses ridge after ridge of charcoal colored lava flows. The route also makes up a section of the 3,100 mile Continental Divide Trail, running from Canada to Mexico.

I’m fortunate to be hiking with Bureau of Land Management ranger Karen Davis, an Acoma Indian, and park ranger Susan Olin. I’m eager to learn as much as I can about the cultural elements in this part of New Mexico, a place that has seen 10,000 years of human habitation, but where, ironically, the peak population actually occurred around 1000 AD, when nearby Chaco was in it’s hey day. And I’ve got a lot to learn about the natural history in this quirky place where volcanic vents, spatter cones, sandstone arches and elaborate cave systems add variety to the usual New Mexican lodgepole forests and pinion trees. Having experts along will add a crucial element to this journey. …

Fajada Butte - Peter Potterfield
Fajada Butte - Peter Potterfield

read more – GreatOutdoors.com – From Chaco Canyon to Sky City

Note to self: Fly to Albuquerque. Rent vehicle. Hike New Mexico.

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hike Zillertal Rucksack Route, Austria


Listed by Backpacker magazine as one of the World’s Best (Unknown) Treks.

It sounds great:

… This 50-mile, nine-day loop has it all: glaciated 11,000-foot mountains, high alpine passes, deep valleys, waterfalls, gemsbok mountain antelopes, alpine roses, and martigon lilies. The well-marked route requires no technical expertise, but expect long, strenuous days (despite the relatively short mileage) and adrenaline-fueled climbing with fixed ropes and ladders. …

new Olperer Hut - <a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45269853@N00/2754474176/sizes/o/">original</a> - flickr - Alex Bergsten
new Olperer Hut - original - flickr - Alex Bergsten

Life-list moment: Catch your breath–and savor it all–on the small terrace at the Olperer Hut, perched hundreds of feet above the Schlegeisspeicher reservoir, with a view of the serrated ridge of Grosser Moseler in front and a cold Austrian lager in hand.

Hike the loop clockwise, starting in Mayrhofen–the views get better every day, and this way you’ll start with an easy two-mile hike to Edel Hut, so you can sleep in the mountains the same day you arrive in Austria. From Edel, get your bearings by hiking the three-hour round-trip to 9,754-foot Ahornspitze, a rocky summit high above the Zillertal Valley. You’ll know you’re in the heart of the Alps on day 4, en route from Greizer Hut to Berliner Hut, when in one short section you cross a picturesque–if rickety–footbridge over a glacial stream, scramble through a field of avalanche debris, and climb fixed ropes and a 16-foot ladder bolted to sheer rock. Be sure to stop on Lake Schwarzsee’s north shore and snap a photo of the reflected peaks–visual proof of your epic trek. …

Backpacker – World’s Best (Unknown) Treks

The best guidebook is Trekking in the Zillertal Alps: Hut-To-Hut Walks (Cicerone) by Allan Hartley.

details - <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1852843705?ie=UTF8&tag=interneneedto-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1852843705">Amazon</a>
details - Amazon

Here’s one of the useful maps from the guidebook.

map

We’re sold. It’s been added to our list of the best hikes in Europe.

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top 10 undiscovered treks


The Adventure Blog tipped me again to another great list:

Backpacker – THE WORLD’S BEST UNKNOWN TREKS

  • Pyrenees Traverse, France

  • Cape Wrath Trail, Scotland

  • Zillertal Alps, Austria

  • Tongariro Northern Circuit and Heaphy Track, New Zealand

  • Cordillera Apolobamba, Bolivia

  • Overland Track, Australia

  • Sarek National Park, Sweden

  • Rolwaling and Khumbu Valleys, Nepal

  • Polar Route, Greenland

  • Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

    • First, that’s 11 treks.

    Second, they would have discovered 6 of the 11 if they had checked our list of the best hikes in the world.

    Still, I’m off to research the other five. Right now.

    Thanks Backpacker!

    greenland_1_berne.jpg
    Polar Route

    france_lescun_445x260.jpg
    Pyrenees

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    Trekking in the Nepal Everest Region

    A new Trailblazer guidebook by Jamie McGuinness.

    The only guidebook when I hiked up and above the north side of Everest Base Camp was Trekking in Tibet by Gary McCue. (In fact, I lost the guidebook while on that trek.)

    Hiking Everest from the Tibet side has been getting increasingly problematic.

    We recommend you hike the Nepal side, instead. Here’s the newest guidebook:

    Trek-Everest.jpg

    Amazon – Trekking in the Everest Region, 5th: includes Kathmandu City Guide

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    Trail Life: Lightweight Backpacking

    “Ray Jardine revisits and rethinks his classic ultralight backpacking text…”

    Overview

    Ray Jardine, arguably the founding father of ultralight backpacking as we know it, wrote a book entitled Beyond Backpacking and, within its pages, presented to a backpacking community with weary backs and knees tips and techniques by which they could lighten their loads and travel easier. The book was a sellout success, and copies nowadays (if you can find one at all) fetch dozens if not hundreds of dollars on eBay and Craigslist.

    Jardine is back with a revised and revamped book in which he revisits many of the principles in Beyond Backpacking and touches on new information as well. His latest installment is entitled Trail Life: Ray Jardine’s Lightweight Backpacking; 25,000 Miles of Trail-Tested Know-How.

    With chapter titles such as Packweight, Equipment, Wilderness Skills, Trail Biology, and Long Distance Hiking, one can begin to see Jardine has a diversity of knowledge to impart to his readership. Jardine continues to preach some of the tenets of ultralight backpacking such as tarp vs. tent and lightweight shoes vs. boots. …

    Backpacking Light

    adventurelore_traillife_md

    Amazon – Trail Life: Ray Jardine’s Lightweight Backpacking

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    7800mi backpacking the Andes

    Deia Schlosberg & Gregg Treinish were named Adventurers of the Year by one of the National Geographic magazines.

    Congratulations.

    did-itTwo years. 7,800 miles. No roads. That was how Deia Schlosberg, 28, and Gregg Treinish, 26, vowed to trek the length of the Andes. They had no idea what they were getting into. Beginning in Papallacta, Ecuador, the two Montana-based wilderness educators cobbled together a route of llama tracks, old Inca roads, and forgotten trade paths down the spine of the world’s longest mountain range. It was an Andes few outsiders had seen before. For good reason: “We were lost the entire time,” Treinish says. “Every time we wanted to quit, we were so far in the middle of nowhere that it wasn’t even an option.” …

    National Geographic Adventure – Trekking the forgotten Andes

    As I write I’m listening to their audio interview on Wend magazine.

    … successfully completed the trek, after covering 56 degrees of the globe, trekking more than 7800 miles, we became the first two people to backpack the Andes Mountain Range, the first two to walk it through the mountains without relying on roads, and Deia became the first woman to have walked South America. …

    finalmap

    It was a struggle at many times. There are no fixed long distance trails.

    across-the-andes

    home page – Across the Andes

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    Backpacker bungles Best Hike in Each State


    Backpacker Magazine, as part of their Readers’ Choice Awards 2009, named “the best hike in every state” in the USA.

    usa

    No need to click through to the list, however.

    Not unless you want to add your comment to these:

    The “best trail in Nevada” points at a link titled Great Basin National Park? Nope, but instead takes you to a description of a little known side trail outside of Las Vegas at Cathedral Rock. Read a map sometime. What hooey.

    Lord help us all if this is the kind of dis-information my favorite magazine prints!
    Posted: Jan 30, 2009 Iowa Hike

    Delaware’s best hike is in Virginia? That’s ridiculous! …

    I don’t know where Backpacker comes up with this best of crap. The best hike in Florida is a three day paddle in the everglades? It wasn’t long ago they highlighted the bridge to bridge trail in White springs Florida, that’s a bicycle trail on the opposite side of the river from the FNST. As a volunteer trail coordinator for the Florida trail I’m offended by their lack of knowledge when it comes to hiking in Florida.
    Posted: Jan 29, 2009 Alton Snellgrove

    I especially like the fact that Big Creek is in NC not TN
    Posted: Jan 29, 2009 Ricky

    You guys need to chill out. Please. How are you going to diss Backpacker? I mean, how many other magazines are there that tend to the desires and needs of a hiker/climbing/packer? The writers are human, they will make mistakes.
    Posted: Jan 30, 2009 AJ

    I love Backpacker magazine too. But this is a good example of the mistake many websites make banking on “reader contributed content”.

    The Wisdom of Crowds only works if you have a large enough crowd. Clearly Backpacker did not get enough feedback on the best hikes to put together a reasonably good list.

    (via The Adventure Blog)

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    Canadian Hiker’s and Backpacker’s Handbook


    J.P. recommends a new volume by Ben Gadd called “The Canadian Hiker’s and Backpacker’s Handbook” (publisher, Whitecap, 2008).

    The book is slanted towards Canadian terrain and weather, so the gear and other recommendations are for those types of conditions. As a result super lightweight backpacking options aren’t emphasized in this book. Gear and hiking decision making is based with hypothermia- risky weather condtions always being a factor in much of Canada.

    ben-gadd-hiking-book

    The Canadian Hiker’s and Backpacker’s Handbook: Your How-to Guide for Hitting the Trails, Coast to Coast to Coast

    On the trail in the Canadian Rockies we call our local legend Ben God.

    His Handbook of the Canadian Rockies we’ve recommended hundreds of times in the past.

    … I’m gone to log in to my local library website to put a request in for Gadd’s latest book.

    Thanks J.P.

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    eBook for The Overland Track

    The best walk in Australia — our #10 best trek in the World — is Tasmania’s Overland Track.

    John & Monica Chapman self-publish the best guidebook for the OT. (Chapman’s guidebooks are the best in the world, in fact.)

    But personally I prefer the just released Overland Track eBook (PDF format) by Frank & Sue Wall.
    .


    What hiking gear you will need?
    What food to take?
    How to organise your meals?
    How to get the start of the walk and home again?
    What are the best transport options?
    What first aid kit you need?
    Can you walk the Overland Track solo?
    How hard is the Overland Track?
    What is the best way to get to Cradle Mountain?

    Why is an eBook better than a hard copy guidebook?

  • easy for the authors to update
  • links to web pages and email addresses
  • downloads instantly
  • I can carry it on my iTouch

    • And DIRT CHEAP at A$7 for 18,000+ words and heaps of photographs

    Check out a couple of sample graphics:

    overland-track

    Beautiful.

    hiking-clothing

    Brilliant.

    This is exactly the kind of information I need when planning a major hike.

    Thanks to Frank in Oz for putting this together based on his past 10 OT tramps.

    Download a free sample of the eBook from this page: Hiking the Overland Track – the downloadable book

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    legend of Kayak Bill

    Rocco forwarded us an amazing feature story in Sea Kayaker magazine:

    … We asked the clerk at the Echo Bay general store about the kayaker, “Oh, that’s Kayak Bill. He has a camp at Eden Island, and a bunch of other camps around. He does a few odd jobs sometimes, but mostly he lives off the land. He started off from Vancouver about ten years ago to paddle to Alaska, but after wintering at Eden Island, he said he didn’t need to go any farther.” …

    Kayak Bill – A Requiem

    It’s well worth the read. Thanks to the author Keith Webb.

    kayak
    original – flickr