Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
The 2023 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival is in Banff, Alberta, from October 28 to November 5.
… 84 films from 13 countries.
Online film screenings during the Festival are also back, bringing on-demand films to your homes in Canada/USA from October 28 through November 5, plus some award-winning films online from Nov. 6-8.
Get your tickets for events in Banff or your Online Film Pass today 👉 https://www.banffcentre.ca/film-fest
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
NEPAL
UPDATE. BAD NEWS. As of April 1, 2023 the Nepal government required that major treks can no longer be done independently. Hiring a guide is mandatory. The obvious alternative is the Indian Himalaya.
A trip to The Kingdom of Nepal may well be the best hiking holiday of your life. IF you want to hire a guide.
It’s the abode of the Gods.
The exotic Buddhist and Hiindu culture is as fascinating as are the world’s highest peaks.
Most trekkers are set on Everest or Annapurna, but there are many other great choices, especially if you sign on with a trekking company that can get you into restricted areas like Mustang.
Tourism is important to the Nepalis. Foreign hikers feel welcome as soon as they arrive. And hiking in the world’s highest mountains can be “easy” on “tea house” treks where you stroll with just a day pack.
Or, if you want the full mountaineering experience, sidetrip up, up, up towards the clouds.
The weather and conditions are much milder than you might expect. Best months to trek are Oct-Nov (post-monsoon) and April-May (pre-monsoon).
More information on our Nepal information page.
Our favourite hike in Nepal is Everest Base Camp / 3 Passes.
Some feel Annapurna is in decline as roads and motor vehicles are degrading the Circuit. That won’t happen to the Mt. Everest region. Check out the Nov. 2009 16-day Everest trip report by besthike editor Rick McCharles.
Central Andes
Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia
Hiking holidays in Peru are hot right now. More popular than ever. Political stability since the leader of the Shining Path terrorist group was captured in 1992 resulted in a booming tourist industry.
The second highest mountain range on Earth is fantastic. Broad valleys and endless vistas. You are always above the tree line. Arid desert to the west, Amazon jungle to the east.
Our contributors have hiked most of the major treks in Peru the past few years. The peaks, glaciers and canyons are outrageous. Everyone is thrilled with the Andes.
Unfortunately, management of treks is atrocious, the Peruvian government seemingly bent on ruining their fantastic tourist draw. Do your homework before booking a flight to Lima. Or sign on with a trekking company with which you have had a strong, recent recommendation.
The weather in the Andes can be deadly, of course, but sometimes you get weeks of sunny blue skies, especially in the Cordillera Blanca out of Huaraz, Peru. The best weather for the high peaks out of Huaraz (the best jumping off point for hikers in the Central Andes) is the drier “Andean summer”: May-Sept.
In fact, there are good hikes somewhere in this region year round.
More information on our new Central Andes information page.
Our favourite hike in the Central Andes is the little known Ausangate Circuit in Peru, our #4 best hike in the world. Quite a few trekkers have decided on Ausangate (instead of the over-hyped Inca Trail) based on our recommendation. And all have been happy with that decision.
See our Ausangate Circuit Information page.
The best guidebook for the Central Andes, by far, is Lonely Planet:
Note that Bolivia is not nearly as popular as it should be due to lack of infrastructure for tourism, security concerns and political instability. Honestly, unless you know the language and culture well, it’s better to hike Peru. Or much neglected Ecuador.
The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains. …
The Pamir Highway, the world’s second highest international road, runs from Dushanbe in Tajikistan to Osh in Kyrgyzstan through the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, and is the isolated region’s main supply route. …
The Pamir Trail is a proposed 1000km+ route. A work in progress.
Jan Baaker, author of Cicerone Trekking in Tajikistan, hopes to connect the entire route in 2024.
We wish him luck. Some of the rivers can be impassable.
To learn more, click through to the PamirTrail.org.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Of all celebrities, the one I’d like to most go for hike is Nick Offerman.
I got to know him as the hilarious Ron Swanson in the sitcom Parks and Recreation (2009–2015).
He’s an actor, comedian, boat builder, wood craftsman, and author.
This book starts with day hikes in Glacier National Park with friends Jeff Tweedy and George Saunders. The three are well prepared — but ultimately incompetents.
It’s very entertaining while being smart and philosophical.
Nick is a humane and thoughtful guy.
I recommend Where the Deer and Antelope Play.
Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders (2022) is deep dive into the unsolved murder of two free-spirited young women in the wilderness, a journalist’s obsession—and a new theory of who might have done it.
In May 1996, two skilled backcountry leaders, Lollie Winans and Julie Williams, entered Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park for a week-long backcountry camping trip.
… During their final days in the park, they descended the narrow remnants of a trail and pitched their tent in a hidden spot. After the pair didn’t return home as planned, park rangers found a scene of horror at their campsite, their tent slashed open, their beloved dog missing, and both women dead in their sleeping bags.
The unsolved murders of Winans and Williams continue to haunt all who had encountered them or knew their story.
A 300-page coffee table book that showcases 26 of the finest hikes from the world’s highest mountain range (along with a handful from the adjoining Karakoram Range).
The featured trails include established classics such as the Annapurna Base Camp, Markha Valley, and K2 Base Camp Treks, along with lesser-known excursions such as Bhutan’s Jomolhari Trek and Tibet’s Ganden to Samye Monastery Trek.
The Hiking Life
With the release of Wanderlust Himalaya, the series now numbers six in total. In order of their release, the first five books were as follows: 1. Wanderlust: Hiking on Legendary Trails; 2. The Hidden tracks: Wanderlust off the Beaten Path; 3. Wanderlust USA; 4. Wanderlust Europe, and; 5. Wanderlust Alps. …
Sadly, I didn’t find the full set under the Christmas tree 2022.
Awesome. As always.
7 minutes of inspiration. Watch right to the end.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
An excellent book. Even if you have no interest in hiking or pipelines. 😀
In fact, you won’t learn much about hiking. A thru hiker would not be impressed. Ken’s gear was too heavy. And he hiked the wrong months of the year.
Ken Ilgunas has a Masters in English from Duke. He’s a terrific writer.
This book has given me the best insight into how poor North American rural people think. An insight into why they vote for political Parties that make the rich richer, the poor poorer. Worse education and health care.
Children and grandchildren leave for big cities. Life is tough for those remaining.
Ken mostly sought out small town religious leaders, asking them for advice on where he could tent safely. He was astonished by the generosity of those spiritual leaders.
Ken worked as a backcountry ranger in Alaska. And was forced to take a job as dishwasher in a high Arctic oil camp.
Jobs there were high pay — very low quality of life.
Those arguing for the Petrotoxin industries usually shout JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. Ken came away thinking these were actually lousy jobs. High rates of alcoholism and drug abuse.
In September 2012, I stuck out my thumb in Denver, Colorado, and hitchhiked 1,500 miles north to the Alberta tar sands. After being duly appalled, I commenced my 1,700-mile hike south following the route of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast. It would become a 4.5 month journey across the Great Plains. To follow the pipe, I couldn’t take roads. I’d have to walk across fields, grasslands, and private property. I’d have to trespass across America.
The book is about my journey–fleeing from cows, taking cover from gunfire, and keeping warm on a very wintry and questionably-timed hike. But it’s also about coming to terms with climate change and figuring out what our role as individuals should be in confronting something so big and so out of our hands. It’s about taking a few months of your life to look at your country from a new perspective. Ultimately, it’s about embracing the belief that a life lived not half wild is a life only half lived.
kenilgunas.com
Most of the folks he met were supportive of Keystone XL Phase IV — but over the months Ken didn’t come away with even one good argument in support of the project.
Few jobs. Short term jobs. MOST of the money kept by the corporation, not those people who had dirty oil flowing over their property.
Most of the dirty Canadian oil is shipped overseas.
There are plenty of pipelines in North America. If you must ship Petrotoxins, pipelines are likely the least terrible way.
But Keystone XL became symbolic of the debate over how to slow or reverse climate change.
On January 20, 2021, Biden revoked the permit for the pipeline on his first day in office. It may never be completed.
BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Inspired by Cam Honan’s 2018 adventure, I set out for the Long Crossing – a 160 km (99 mi) hiking route through the spectacular heart of the island chain.
It’s not all that popular yet. In fact, AllTrails doesn’t have it. And it has every trail everywhere.
After one day — 9 hours in perfect weather — I’ve decided to QUIT. That day was too difficult and too dangerous for me carrying a heavy pack.
It LOOKS easy in the photo. But it’s mostly route finding through marshy terrain. Worst was a risky descent clutching a water pipe and safety ropes. Starting up near the top of the waterfall.
This was the Kleppstad to Svolvær leg.
I’d already visited Lofoten on another trip, doing most of the popular day hikes.
I’ll follow the general path of the Long Crossing. But camp low. And climb high with a day pack. Weather will dictate which established day hikes I choose.
I’ll be following recommendations set out in the Rando-Lofoten guidebook by Souyris & Brede:
Wish me luck. Things tend to #fail in Arctic Norway — usually due to weather.
besthike.com 