Category: coastal

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start in Seattle and walk NORTH

Married couple Erin McKittrick (Molecular Biologist turned jewelry artist) and Bretwood (Hig) Higman are incredible adventurers.

Where to begin …

Currently they are on a 9 month trip from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska by human power:

Journey on the Wild Coast will be an unprecedented four-thousand-mile expedition along the northern edge of the Pacific Ocean, through some of the most rugged terrain in the world. No road or trail follows this steep and fragmented coastline.

We’ll be traveling through forests, between islands, around glaciers, and across the tundra – by foot, packraft, and skis. No one has done this before.

Journey on the Wild Coast

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more detailed itinerary

I’ve subscribed to their trip blog. It’s an expeditions to explore environmental issues.

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I’ve you’ve any doubt Sig and Erin have the ability to finish it, check their previous Alaska Treks. Wow!

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Blockade Glacier – 2005

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how to hike The West Coast Trail in Canada

Nassib Elkadri works on the Parks Canada website.

He tells me they’ve launched a new start section for anyone looking to walk our favourite hike The West Coast Trail on the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve of Canada home page.

This information will be kept up-to-date.

Parks Canada – Pacific Rim National Park Reserve of Canada – Home page

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We’ve added this new link (prominently) to our West Coast Trail information page. And tried to remove the old broken links.

PS

Nassib. Tell the department poobahs there you want to update Parks Canada pages, but NOT change the URLS.

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All-in-one Map Tool review

It’s very rare for me to add any item to my “base” hiking kit. (It’s too heavy already.)

The new essential must be very valuable. Or very light.

The All-in-one Map Tool is both. I carry it with my map and compass.

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Bob Moseley from Brooks-Range Mountaineering Equipment Co. asked me to test this award winning product.

I took it with me on a solo kayak hiking trip out of Bamfield, British Columbia on the west coast of Canada. Since the weather was good, I was able to paddle directly to the Deer Island group, the closest to town.

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It was a great, relaxing trip. I saw bear, seals, sea lions and nearly stepped on a baby puffin.

Normally mornings on this, the “Shipwreck Coast” are fogged in. On a previous trip to the nearby Broken Group Islands we were a number of times confused in the fog. It’s essential to know where you are on the map, have an exact compass bearing, and a good estimate of your speed and distance to the next island.

The All-in-one Map Tool is ideal in this situation as it has 6 different, easy-to-read map scale rulers to help estimate distance.

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More photos from this trip – flickr

Sadly I had atypically excellent weather and did not need to do any dead reckoning in the morning.

So I’ll take it heli-hiking into the Tombstone Mountains in the Yukon in August. Certainly I should have a good chance to get lost there, having to rely on Topo, compass and map tool for survival.

All-in-one Map Tool – US$18 – Brooks Range Mountaineering Equipment Co.

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looking for a hiking kayak?

FirstLight® is advertised here as the world’s lightest folding kayak.

Weight is a far more important factor to me than seaworthiness. I want to hike in, paddle out. That kind of trip.

Weighing a mere 17.6 and 19.8 lbs, these amazing touring kayaks are incredibly light, yet fully seaworthy. Fast and lively, they allow excellent paddling speed & tracking.

FirstLight®-380: 23”x12’6”, 17.6 lbs., 238 lbs. capacity
$3095

FirstLight®-420: 23”x13’9”, 19.8 lbs., 253 lbs. capacity
$2895

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Inflatable Kayaks, Canoes, Folding Kayak, Boat – Taiga Works, Vancouver, Canada

Leave a comment if you have any opinion on this product. Or know where I can get a used one for closer to $1000.

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unlikely survival on the West Coast Trail

About one in a hundred hikers are evacuated off the WCT on Vancovuer Island in British Colombia. It’s difficult and dangerous.

But this is the strangest WCT evacuation story I’ve heard yet.

Disaster struck the group when they tried to cross a deep surge channel in the sandstone early in the day. …

Peterson’s father, Neil, a veteran hiker, had looked at the width of the surge channel and instructed the others to get their ropes out of their backpacks.

Taking off their packs probably saved their lives.

“The packs would have dragged you down immediately,” said Neil, 63.

As they pulled out their ropes, there was no sign anything was amiss. “There was no water in the area and it was close to low tide,” he said.

Seconds later they were thrashing around in the churning water, buffeted by huge pieces of driftwood.

Death by rogue wave. Death trying to cross a surge channel. Those are old stories on the West Coast.

The amazing part (one I still can’t picture) is that the hikers were left stranded in a “hole”. I assume in the surge channel and surrounded by washed-up logs.

One of their group had crossed the surge channel successfully. He — eventually — was able to call in the American Coast Guard helicopter. They all survived.

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Photograph by : John McKay, Times Colonist

Watery trap was ‘like certain death’

(via Two-Heel Drive)

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Safety & Staying Healthy – Are surge channels a problem? – i-NEEDtoKnow

I’d like to update this post with photos of where they were trapped.

West Coast Trail – besthike information page

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Shackleton Crossing, South Georgia Island

Selected by Outside Magazine as their “2004 Trip of the Year”.

In November 2000 we were the first company to guide travelers across South Georgia Island, following in Sir Ernest Shackleton’s valiant footsteps. …

The Shackleton Crossing is an outing for the adventurous and historically minded. Shackleton’s traverse of the mountainous island was the culmination of one of history’s great survival epics.

Al Read sums up the adventure: “The crossing is straightforward; however, the island can be a real weather factory. We rope up all the way, with glacier travel protocol, pulling sleds and carrying packs. But it is a fantastic adventure, one of which we are very proud.”

South Georgia: The Shackleton Crossing with Dave Hahn – Geographic Expeditions – To the ends of the earth

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Many consider Shackleton’s 1914-16 Endurance Expedition hike to be the end of the greatest Explorer survival story of all time.

A DVD The Endurance is fantastic!

The Endurance - Shackleton\'s Legendary Antarctic Expedition

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hiking Isla del Sol, Bolivia

Eu-Jin Goh had the same reaction as I did when he visited Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca, Bolivia.

He wished he’d stayed an additional day on the island.

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larger original

We took the boat to the southern end of Isla del Sol and walked up the stairs to Yumani. In Yumani, we stayed in Inti Kala, which is at the northern end of the village (at the time it was the last hostal). We dropped our bags and then walked to the northern end of the island to the Chincana ruins and then hiked back around sunset.

The trail running North-South is one of the best day hikes we’ve done; it follows the ridgeline closely and spectacular views abound on both sides. We had a really relaxing time on Isla del Sol and wished that we had planned to stay an additional day on the island. Isla del Sol is also great for acclimitization because its extensive hiking trails are around 4000 meters.

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larger original – by Serene Koh

Isla del Sol, Bolivia – gorgeous photos and trip report by Eu-Jin Goh

Everything you need to know to get there is on our Isla del Sol information page.

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sphincter-tightening fjord vistas in Norway

Already pondering a future date to hike Besseggen, Norway — I found an even better destination.

Two of the best day hikes in Norway (some would say in the world) are located a couple of hours out of town on the beautiful Lysefjorden. Not too far from Stavanger …

Prekestolen (aka the Pulpit Rock) is a massive rock overhanging the fjord. It’s a 3-4 hour round trip hike with fabulous views.

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larger version

more breathtaking Pulpit Rock photos – flickr

About 90,000 made the 6km scramble up to Preikestolen in summer of 2006.

Less crowded is nearby, similarly spectacular Kjerag:

Kjeragbolten is a rock wedged in the cliff 604 meters above the fjord. It’s a more strenuous 4-5 hour hike out and a longer drive, but a spectacular look down from the rock. The free fall makes Kjerag (or Kiragg) a very popular location for BASE jumping.

Stavanger tourism – Wikipedia

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original – Wikipedia

more Kjerag photos – flickr

Where is this wondrous fjord?

Close to the SE tip of Norway:

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The jumping off point for hikers is the town of Stavanger.

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There must be more best hikes in Norway. It’s spectacular country.

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hiking for weight loss – Former Fat Guy

I prefer hikes 5-days or more as I need that long to see a significant fitness gain. I lose a few pounds and feel trim and toned.

The secret to successful weight-loss might just come with hiking boots and a backpack. And we have scientific proof. According to a study from the University of California that studied a whopping 31 diets, cutting back on calories short-term doesn’t help you from packing the pounds back on long-term.

“If dieting worked, there would be a bunch of skinny people walking around,” said obesity researcher Dr. David Katz at Yale in an Associated Press release earlier today.

Since 1970, the number of obese people has swelled to epidemic proportions in America. And even though weight-loss promises come packaged in bottles, expensive diet programs and fat actresses going skinny for their public, there really is no magic bullet.

Nomadik has a suggestion. …

Want to feel better fast? Dig out those hiking boots and take them for a walk.

The Nomadik Fanatiks : Get Outside and Get Skinny

The best example I know is Rob, the Former Fat Guy. He was 175lbs in Grade 5, 320lbs in Grade 12, and eventually topped out around 500lbs at age-21.

Here is Rob hiking the West Coast Trail in 2004:

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How does he look to you?

Former Fat Guy – weight loss story

Former Fat Guy – WCT 2004 trip report

West Coast Trail information page. (Opening late due to storm repairs, about May 15th in 2007)