Category: coastal

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exploring coastal Patagonia

Cristian Donoso, a Chilean lawyer, has been exploring the remote western coast of Patagonia for over a decade. He won a 2006 ROLEX associate Laureate award.

His latest expedition is a 5 months journey, 1250 miles (2,039 km), using kayaks to reach inaccessible waterways, glaciers, summits, caves, underground rivers, and wildlife preserves.

The climate is harsh and unpredictable.

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Now this is ADVENTURE.

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Scroll down the trip website and you can quickly get an idea of what they face in that part of the world: transpatagonia expedition – official homepage

(via The Adventure Blog)

This journey reminds me of the concurrent Journey on the Wild Coast now in Alaska.

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Kauai – Alaka’i Swamp Trail, Hawaii

Stuart at Trail Spotting recommends the Kauai – Alaka’i Swamp Trail 11mi (17.7km). Hard.

… Take a westerly drive around Kauai until you run out of road and you’ll find yourself overlooking the plunging cliffs of Kalalau Valley on the fabled Na Pali Coast.

The only way to explore beyond this point by land is on foot, and the well-maintained Pihea trail leading to the Alaka‘i Swamp trail is an exhilarating way to do so. Hike along cliff edges, through jungle and across misty mountain-top swamps to reach the trail’s end and clifftop views over Wainiha Pali. …

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Click through for photos and maps: Trail Spotting

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Hiking and Backpacking in Hawaii Blog

A Google search for “Hawaii Hiking Blog” gets you to the #1 site: the Hiking and Backpacking in Hawaii Blog.

A place to read about hiking in Hawaii, backpacking in Hawaii, and trails in Hawaii. Read Hawaii hiking stories, Hawaii hiking information, information about Hawaii trail locations and conditions on the Big Island (Hawaii island), Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, and Lanai. Find out about the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands.

It’s good. I’ve just started working backwards through the many posts, looking for the the best hikes in Hawaii.

Dayle, the site editor, has great knowledge of the islands. He and his wife Jacqueline lead hikes for the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club (HTMC).

Of the best hikes in Kauai specifically, Dayle says most people name Kalalau and Awawapuhi-Nualolo.

He posted another GREAT hike on that island that appeals to me:

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Photo credits: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/fu-kei

A lesser used trail but one that is equally fantastic is the Honopu Ridge Trail located in the Kokee area of Kauai. …

Along with my wife Jacque, I did this a few years ago and the payoffs at the end were fantastic views of the Na Pali Coast far below plus some awesome ridge hiking on some thrilling sections of trail. A very interesting and unexpected finding at the end of the trail are benches and lounge chairs made of sticks and slats of wood that have been lashed together. If you are like me, you’ll be amazed to find something like those manmade benches there.

This area is the domain of mountain goats (literally). Very likely, if you hike the Honopu Ridge trail you will encounter, or at least hear, these horned denizens of the cliffs. …

If you are looking for an adventure off the well-trampled paths used by most tourists, then Honopu Ridge is for you.

Honopu Ridge Trail on Kauai

Of course I have subscribed by RSS feed.

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East Coast Trail, Newfoundland

Check this out …

Located on the East Coast Trail between Port Kirwin and Aquaforte, Newfoundland

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original – flickr – iJohn

The 540 km East Coast Trail is located on the east coast of Canada along the scenic shores of the Avalon Peninsula in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

220 km of the Trail have been hardened to a world class hiking standard. This section of Trail stretches from Fort Amherst, in historic St. John’s, to Cappahayden, on the beautiful southern shore. It is equipped with trail signage, maps and supporting trail information to enhance your hiking experience along our shores and through the wilderness. This section of Trail consists of a series of 18 paths each with a northern and a southern trailhead that is marked with distinctive signage. Each of these paths can be hiked as an individual experience. Some paths are easy strolls, and some are longer and more rugged. …

320 km of Trail are under development and are not supported with trail maps and signage. This section of the Trail includes the northeastern tip of the Avalon, from St. John’s to Topsail Beach, as well as the southeastern tip of the Avalon, from Cappahayden to Trepassey. This section offers many hiking routes that have not been hardened or signed, presenting a greater number of hiking challenges. You should contact us directly, at eastcoasttrail@nfld.net, for specific information on trail conditions, description and access points.

Our goal is to have the 540 km fully constructed, signed, with map and route descriptions available by 2016. The following outline provides a brief overview of our trail development schedule. This schedule is subject to funding and change. …

East Coast Trail | The Trail Overview

Since the West Coast Trail in Canada is our favourite hike in the world, we should get out to compare the East Coast Trail.

Recommended guidebook:

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Hiking the East Coast Trail Volume II Guide Book

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best hikes on Kauai, Hawaii?

Friends just confirmed today they are spending 2wks on Kauai the end of March.

Of course, that got me thinking. …

This is the guidebook my friends are using. It has a pretty good overview of hikes on the island.

Kauai Revealed

The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed

Other resources include this DVD: Hiking Hawaii: Kauai

And these guidebooks:

  • Kauai Trailblazer: Where to Hike, Snorkel, Bike, Paddle, Surf
  • Kaua’I Trails: Walks, Strolls, and Treks on the Garden Island
  • Day Hikes on Kauai, 3rd

    • At first glance, looks to me the best area is Waimea Canyon State Park. Dubbed the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” by Mark Twain. It’s close, I think, to the famed Na Pali Coast. (Got to kayak there, too.)

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    Na Pali Coast – Wikipedia – Julius Silver

    The most interesting website looks to be Waialeale Basecamp. Their trails page has some extreme off-trail trip reports.

    Mike (volcantrek8) from that site has a flickr page dedicated to hiking photos from Kauai. Some samples:

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    Gazing into Olokele Valley – flickr

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    Mount Waialeale – flickr

    Leave a comment if you have any advice regarding hikes on this beautiful isle. (I’m looking for cheap airfare next.)

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    warn LOVED ONES – the dangers of coastal hiking

    (… trying to tie-in a Valentine’s Day theme. Pitiful.)

    The “dangers of hiking” are almost always exaggerated in my opinion. Not so the dangers of coastal hiking.

    I have a friend who was once caught in a surge channel, lucky to survive.

    Uncooped has a good post on the hazards of California coastal hiking including this warning:

    Never turn your back on the ocean. I have a good friend who got slammed by a freak wave while hiking on a coastal trail. When she regained consciousness, she needed over a hundred stitches in her face to repair the damage. Now she’s got hella cool scars, but still – that’s no fun. So watch your back.

    more tips – Uncooped

    Reminds me of the terrible Lost Coast Trail school trip where two students and a parent chaperone drowned in 2000.

    Coastal hiking can be VERY dangerous. Experienced hikers need educate the general public. And boneheads like the guy in the photos below:

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    close-up screenshot

    a photographer risking his life at the inland side of the jetty to get a close shot… rogue waves at this time of the year can completely cover the spot where he is standing.

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    original – flickr – Mike Baird

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    paddling and hiking Alaska mid-winter

    My favourite travelogue over the past few months has been Erin McKittrick and Bretwood (Hig) Higman’s Journey on the Wild Coast:

    “From the Puget Sound to the Bering Sea: Four thousand miles along the edge of the Pacific, by foot, raft, and skis.”

    After 8 months, they are only half way finished. (The original plan was 9 months for the entire 4000mi.)

    The text and photos are terrific. But it was this video that really brought home to me the difficulty of travelling Alaska in winter.

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    It’s well worth checking out Erin’s post: Midway Reflections

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    all day long I dream about Tasmania

    Must be the crappy, global freezing winter we are suffering in North America. A year ago I was in Taz. (Wish I was there right now.)

    Nadine from Calgary, Canada has a wonderful blog on TravelPod.

    She’s trekked in Patagonia, the Andes and is now Down Under.

    They had a fantastic time on the South Coast Track, one of the best coastal hikes in the world.

    … The next morning we were up before sunrise again, and onto the boats at first light in calm water. We had to paddle an aluminum boat across with our gear, drop the gear off, tie up a second boat to our boat with oars, row back to the side we started on, leave a boat and oars, and row back. The three crossings of the boats were really fun, and good practice for something we would do a few days later 🙂 We then crossed over a dune onto Prion Beach, took off our boots, and walked barefoot for nearly 4km on the hard packed sand at the surf line!!!! It was slightly windy, but just gorgeous walking. …

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    larger original

    Later on the adventure:

    … Crossing this mountain range often stops people for a full day or more, going either way, since it should not be crossed in bad weather. 100km per hour windows and blowing snow are common. Luckily for us, today was turning out to be a scorcher. …

    Nearing the top, the rain forest gives way to cloud forest, with all sorts of things just growing on anything. Really beautiful. Then it tops out without any trees, and we could see our entire route forwards and backwards! 40km ahead of us and 40km behind us!

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    See the rest of the trip report and photos.

    My own mini-trek there in 2007 did not go nearly as well as Nadine’s. I covered only about half the distance I had hoped after nearly losing a shoe in a mud pit.

    South Coast Track – besthike information page

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    jump off the waterfall – are you crazy?

    Would you jump from here?

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    … With myself and 4 others gathered at the top of the fall, our guide dutifully pointed out the best angle at which to jump so as not require the services of either a stretcher or neck brace. Then, whilst waving his arms wildly and delivering something akin to an war cry by an Apache with Tourette’s Syndrome, he promptly disappeared over the edge. I stood for a moment, stunned by what I thought I had just seen. It just didn’t add up. Y’know, for a moment I could have sworn that he just jumped off the edge – but surely he can’t have, that would have been incalculable stupidity.

    …

    As our guide swam toward the shallows (which, I must say, took a reassuringly long time) he flipped over onto his back and shouted up to the 5 bewildered gringos AKA ‘Team Terrified’ yet to make the jump.

    “You must jump out far as you can…!” he hollered, looking exceedingly chuffed with himself and wiping the spray from his hair and face. Almost as an afterthought he followed up with “…And watch out for the rocks!” as if we weren’t already well aware of their unyielding, body-busting presence.

    To see if he survives, read this trip report from a trek in El Impossible National Park, El Salvador: Wetter and Wilder: Impossible Thrills in El Salvador – UberTramp

    If that fall looks too dangerous, consider this leap on the Great Ocean Walk in Australia instead:

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    Frank in Oz

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    Lost Coast Trail – surf, fish, hike

    I was thinking of walking the Lost Coast Trail in California in February. This week!

    Expert in all things “California is the center of the Outdoor Universe” Tom Mangan advises against.

    Might have to return in warmer weather, though.

    Two-Heel Drive linked to an interesting trip report:

    “A writer for Forbes hiked in nine miles with five days’ gear — and a surfboard — to catch some of the finest waves in the West at a place called Big Flat.”

    … We’d come equipped not just for camping and surfing but for fishing. This section of coast swarms with halibut and king salmon; if we could get our poles in the right place, surely we could hook ourselves a dinner or two, we figured. The problem with so much gear, however, was that our packs had grown comically large. To get mine on my back I needed the assistance of my two friends. I might as well have been an armor-laden knight being winched onto a horse. Hip-bruising would be inevitable. But visions of perfect surf and an empty lineup urged us on.

    Paradise Lost – Forbes.com

    Combining multi-day hiking trips with other activities (paddle, cycle, scramble) is a growning trend.

    But a fishing surf trek? That’s a new one on me.

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    more Lost Coast Trail photos – flickr – Zach

    The Lost Coast Trail in California is one of our best hikes in North America.