Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
One of the main attractions of the Pacific Northwest is the opportunity to hike and cycle year round.
The climate is relatively mild, even on Vancouver Island.
Getting ready for my hiking / cycling adventures in Europe summer 2024, I put together this video in Parksville, B.C.
Mainly I wanted to test my NEW DJI Mini 4 Pro Drone “follow me” capabilities — as well as the obstacle avoidance.
Does it work? 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube to find out.
The extremely harsh World Championships of Adventure Racing will be hosted by Canada in British Columbia. Host city Penticton.
Adventure Racing World Series Announces Canada as the 2025 World Championship Destination
I’d love to be involved somehow as a volunteer. Perhaps roving VIDEO crew.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Here’s a good documentary of the 2023 Worlds in South Africa.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (41min)
In the temperate rain forest of Vancouver Island you can hike almost anywhere, year round.
It’s fantastic.
One local hike I’d avoided is Roosevelt – Chinook – Channels – Clay Banks near the excellent Englishman River Provincial Park.
I’d heard it was mainly used for mountain biking.
Home made mountain biking trails tend to be rugged, muddy — and not all that hiker friendly.
Turned out that wasn’t the BIG problem.
Very close to the Provincial Park, logging companies have been Thinning.
In this area, they claim to be removing about half the trees so the other half will grow faster.
It’s a kind of salvage logging.
Not clearcut — but still ugly and muddy.
There were a few good moments — but I won’t again be hiking in any area that has been thinned.
At 3 pounds, it’s doubtful I’d carry the Shine ultra-compact wind turbine on a hike.
Cost November 2023 is CAD $400 (US $290).
At this time it’s only available in Canada and the USA.
BUT I’m thinking it might be ideal for bikepacking central Iceland summer 2024.
AND ideal if I were to camp out in one place for a number of days.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Postponed in 2023 … this time I made my reservations 10 months in advance to get the ferries I wanted. And inexpensive accommodation.
I can cancel accommodation at no cost.
If I eventually have to cancel the ferries, I’ll pay 10% of the € 337 total cost for me, my bike, and a bunkbed on the ship.
The Faroe Islands are expensive and in high demand, high season. Far less so if you book long ahead of time.
July 27th – depart Hirtshals (Denmark) on the Smyril ferry
July 28th – arrive Tórshavn (Faroe Islands)
Aug 7th – depart Tórshavn
Aug 8th – arrive Seyðisfjörður (Iceland) at 8:30am
That gives me 9 full days for cycling and hiking. Weather is a factor, of course. Faroe Islands are just south of the Arctic Circle.
The more days, the more opportunity for clear skies. 😀
I booked during the Olympics.
IF it rains 😀, I’ll instead be following the action in Paris online. Indoors.
by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Summers 2022 and 2023 I cycled and hiked the west coast of Norway.
Mostly on the Eurovelo 1. Perhaps half of the Norway section.
On my personal website, I posted 3 trip reports and VIDEOS. Cycling is a great (and inexpensive) way to get to the wonderful hikes in Norway. 😀
Wild camping is free by law almost everywhere in Norway.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
+ Kristiansund & Atlantic Road
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
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.
Moab is one of our top 10 hiking towns in the world.
We had about 30 people rendezvous there over the school Spring Break end of March 2023. Great fun!
You can read my trip report here.
Click PLAY or watch HIGHLIGHTS on YouTube.
I’m flying to Moab, Utah today.
One of the best outdoor adventure towns of the world.
March / April should be excellent weather for hiking.
There are 19 in our group — so far. Should be FUN. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
By BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Over the past few years I’ve spent a lot of time on the famed Bermuda Rail Trail. Hiking, running, cycling.
Sound wonderful? A long day hike on tropical islands. 🌴
However … there are a number of sections where you must walk busy roadways to regain the trail. And the Flatts bridge was not yet opened February 2023.
Without question, Rick’s new video is the most comprehensive online. In fact, if you watch all 10 minutes, you may feel there’s no need to actually do the adventure yourself. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (11min)
If that’s too long, I have a 1-minute teaser VIDEO alternative.
Our recommended itinerary starts with a ferry to Dockyard and continues past the official trail end in St. George’s — making it much longer. AND we recommended side trips to forts, light houses, and beaches along the way. BEST is to do the Rail Trail over 2 or more days.
The Bermuda Railway was a 21.7-mile (34.9 km) common carrier line that operated in Bermuda for a brief period (October 31, 1931 – May 1, 1948). …
More than 10 percent of the line was elevated on 33 separate structures of timber or steel construction spanning the ocean …
It was said to be one of the most expensive rail lines built …
In 1984, 18 miles (29 km) of the defunct rail line’s right-of-way were dedicated as the Bermuda Railway Trail for hiking …
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