Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon, Canada.
A popular day hike is the scramble from the parking lot at this tower up to one of the Grey Mountain summits overlooking town.
Autumn is the best time, I reckon.
The best guidebook, available from Tourist Information, is “Whitehorse & Area Hikes & Bikes” by Harbour Publishing. It describes the longer, tougher climb on foot from the city. (403m elevation gain, 7km return)
… I drove up.
The former hunting ground for the Southern Tutchone peoples is now a No Harvest Zone.
Today, Tachäl Dhäl (Slim’s River) is a popular Dall sheep viewing area. I saw many, many when I was in Kluane in September.
The best hike to shoot these magnificient alpine beasts (with your camera) is … Sheep Mountain. (aka Sheep Creek)
related – Parks Canada – The Dall Sheep of Tachäl Dhäl
The Adventure Blogger posted his recent adventures with wolf guru park ranger Rick McIntyre.
And also posted an account on Gadling:
… In 1995, 70 years after the last wolf has been spotted in the park, a controversial plan was announced to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone. Experts saw them as vital to managing the overall health of the park’s ecosystem, which had seen its elk herds grow to record numbers, unchecked by any natural predators. Meanwhile opponents to the plan feared that the wolves would wander out of the park and once again raid the livestock of ranchers. It turns out both parties were right …
Tracking the various wolf packs of Yellowstone is quite a job, as they are regularly on the move and prefer to stay well hidden from prying eyes. They all have their own territories however, which helps to define their locations to a degree, so if you are traveling through Yellowstone, it is worth the time and effort to see if you can spot them in the wild. Be sure to bring a good pair of binoculars or a spotting scope of your own …
Gadling – Spotting wolves in Yellowstone
Coincidentally, I saw my first wolf there a few days earlier. At night, in the dark, one lingered beside the highway looking at my vehicle before slipping away down slope.
I didn’t have time to get a photo. But I’ll pretend this one is mine:
Not albino.
SenecaWhiteDeer.org is a site dedicated to preserving a unique herd of white deer in Seneca County, New York State.
(via New York Outdoors Blog and Hiking in the Smokys)
trip report by besthike editor Rick McCharles
• 28mi (45.1km)
• moderate difficulty
• free backcountry permit
• 4 passes all higher than 12,000ft
For years I’ve wanted to get to this, one of the most photographed idyls in the Rockies.
The Maroon Bells is a mountain in the Elk Mountains that consists of two peaks, South Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, separated by about a third of a mile.
… about 12 miles southwest of Aspen. Both peaks are counted as fourteeners …
The Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop starts here, high at 9580ft (2920m), mostly above the treeline.
The wildflowers were still quite good mid-August.
As usual in late afternoon in the Rockies, weather was iffy.
It was an emergency tent site I finally found just at dark. Happily, next morning dawned brilliantly clear:
Early morning I crossed pass #1: West Maroon.
En route to Pass #2: Frigid Air:
The trails are fantastic, … aside from one much cursed section I called THE QUAGMIRE. Once you reach the biggest waterfall on the Crystal river, the track disappears into a bog of mud and fallen trees.
Who’s responsible?
Here I am cleaning my shoes (deliberately) on a creek crossing.
When I met an oncoming hiker who had heard about THE QUAGMIRE, he decided to bushwhack on the opposite side of Crystal river. It couldn’t possibly be worse.
See the next high pass?
That’s #3, Trail Rider.
It was a long, exhausting climb. Yet gorgeous.
Hikers on Trail Rider pass:
The vistas of Snowmass Lake on the other side were all that was keeping me going.
Tenting is super popular at Snowmass. I decided to carry on until dusk, approaching the 4th and final pass. …
Next morning I was up at first light, first human at pass #4 Buckskin. It was just me and the mountain goats.
I’ll always remember the big open vistas of the Maroon Bells. And the wildflowers.
Highly recommended. One of the best hikes in the world.
A few days before my solo Beartooth High Lakes hike, nearby a camper was killed and eaten by a bear.
Montana Department of Fish, WIldlife, and Parks (MFWP) officials have captured a 300 – 400 lb. grizzly sow that went berserk in a Montana campground, fatally mauling Kevin Kammer, 48, of Grand Rapids, MI. Two other people were injured in the attack, which took place around 2 a.m. Wednesday, July 28 in Soda Butte Campground on the Gallatin National Forest northeast of Yellowstone. Witnesses said the sow was with three yearling cubs.
MFWP officials say Kammer was by himself in a tent when the attack happened. He was found at around 4 .M. about 25 feet from his tent by a team of state park investigators dispatched to the area on a report of a bear attack. He was a husband and father of four children, ages 8,9, 15 and 19 and he was alone on a fly-fishing vacation. …
The mother bear was euthanized, the cubs sent to a Zoo.
… I saw no bear sign on my own trek.
trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
35mi (57km) on the Continental Divide
This lollypop loop circuit, as recommended by Lonely Planet Hiking in the USA, starts and (supposedly) finishes at the Island Lake trailhead on the intensely scenic Beartooth Highway, an access to Yellowstone National Park.
The wildflowers here in early August are insanely great.
Unfortunately, the horseflies and mosquitoes are insanely awful. Fish food, I guess.
For all the wildlife in nearby Yellowstone, I was surprised to see nothing larger than this marmot. … Perhaps the mosquitoes drove them out.
The High Lakes hike is aptly named. You trek from one remote lake to the next. With all the granite, at times it reminded me of the Sierra Nevada.
You are going to get your feet wet, for sure. But normally there is a way across the widest streams.
Many love this wilderness for the remote tenting options. Set up wherever you want.
Lonely Planet rates this adventure easy-medium, the worse misranking of any hike in the book. It is correct here:
… Waymarkings and signposts are unreliable. …
The Beartooth High Lakes circuit is very challenging due to the many rocky and wet scrambles. The snow that stays into late July. The lack of signage. Trails that often fizzle out completely.
In fact, I’d not recommend you try it without a good topo and GPS. One lake looks like the next up here.
Here I am wandering out through charming alpine meadows, looking for a good spot to leave a Summit Stone.
Though I was blissfully unaware at the time, I was far lost.
I ended up at the Clay Butte lookout tower, miles from my vehicle. … It was a long highway walk back to my car.
I loved the High Lakes hike. But I’d never do it again until after the mosquitoes are mostly gone. Perhaps September.
The best day hike is the section up to Becker or even Albino lakes.
See all photos from my High Lakes hike.
This would be yet another story of the mad French doing some insane long distance hike. …
If William and Laetitia hadn’t decided to bring a cat along with them on a walk from Miami to Ushuaia, Patagonia.
Kitty looks to be enjoying the adventure.
Check their videos, podcasts and press releases.
official blog (translated to English)
Thanks George.
besthike.com 