Bears aren’t so smart.
We’re going to need some backup here: Car thief turns out to be… a hungry bear
hiking Picos de Europa, Spain – day 4
Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Kraig Adams video
Trip Report – Picos de Europa Circuit – by site editor Rick McCharles
Here I am, elated to have tented rather than staying under roof at the Collado Jermoso refugio.
It’s a long, slow, pretty 1200m (3937ft) descent. Check out the wall looking back up from the valley.
My 4km return detour along the river to the town of Posada de Valdeon was well worth the time.
I resupplied at the bakery and two grocery stores.
I took time, too, to visit the Mirador del Tombo.
more interesting photos of this monument
Ascending back into the trees, I was shocked to see the leaves changing. This was the first time it had dawned on me that my summer of hiking Europe was ending. This was to be my last.
There were many more Chamois on this section of trail, the largest herds I’d yet seen.
Though I had still not found a water supply, I finally set up the tent in a pretty spot well above the Picos mist.
Eventually the mist rose up to engulf me.
See the rest of my photos from day 4.
hiking Picos de Europa, Spain – day 3
Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Kraig Adams video
Trip Report – Picos de Europa Circuit – by site editor Rick McCharles
This was the most photogenic day. Amazing.
I started by climbing up from Bulnes La Villa through high pasture land towards the central summits.
I was looking forward to the iconic peak of the Picos, Naranjo de Bulnes.
It’s a world class climbing destination, obviously. But I was more surprised by the normally shy Chamois that hang about the Vega d’Urriellu refugio (1953m) as if they are domesticated.
A cable assisted scramble takes you up and over Torre de los Horcados Rojos.
At the top, this weird silver igloo draws your eye. What the heck is it?
That’s Cabaña Veronica (2325m), once an American aircraft carrier cannon mount. Three hikers can sleep in it.
The most difficult part of the entire Circuit for me was the section from Veronica to Refugio Collado Jermoso. Here’s the high, bleak terrain. There are cairns at the start. But soon you’ll be guessing wildly, route finding and scrambling for a couple of hours. Convinced that you are hopelessly off route.
A GPS is essential. …
Somehow I made it. As did a dozen other hikers that day. Many, I noted, arrived late to the refugio.
This was my favourite sunset of the entire summer.
I set up the tent in a marvelous spot, very high with grand vistas in every direction.
Curious Chamois came by to check out my tent.
Hiking doesn’t get any better than this. .
See the rest of my photos from day 3.
hiking Picos de Europa, Spain – day 2
Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Kraig Adams video
Trip Report – Picos de Europa Circuit – by site editor Rick McCharles
The morning dawned clear. Quickly I climbed up above the valley cloud.
I met one of the alpine hut guards … with his free running dogs.
Here’s the large sign posted at his refugio, Marques de Villaviciosa:
National Park regulations are somewhat flexible in Spain. And they vary wildly from place to place.
The main “story” of this Circuit are the climbs into and out of the huge Canal de Trea, one of the most spectacular canyons in the world.
There are many slippery and unstable sections before you reach, with relief, the Garganta del Cares gorge at the bottom.
…A remarkable engineering feat, the 3m-wide path running the length of the gorge was gouged out of its sheer walls in 1946 …
This relatively flat day hike is the best and most popular in the Park.
I “cheated” and took the Bulnes Funicular (an underground train) part way up the other side of the gorge, avoiding 4.5km distance and about 400m ascending.
My goal for the next day came into view.
A long but fantastic hiking day in perfect weather.
See the rest of my photos from day 2.
hiking Picos de Europa, Spain – day 1
Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Kraig Adams video
Trip Report – Picos de Europa Circuit – by site editor Rick McCharles
An unforgettable (91.5km) route covering the … most extaordinary limestone landscapes – river gorges, alpine lakes, depressions, dense beech woods, narrow canals, cliff hanging trails and peaks with breathtaking views
MAGIC …
The rain in Spain
falls mainly
… in the NORTH.
Green Spain, it’s called, home to a wealth of flora and fauna. Including, perhaps, 90 bears.
The weather in Picos de Europa is very atypical for Spain. Happily, September is normally the best month.
Cangas de Onís is the busiest and most easily accessed of the gateway towns. … and can supply all last-minute needs.
Frequent buses deliver you from Cangas to Covadonga, an impressive tourist attraction.
… In 722 AD, Iberian Christians won the battle over the Moors in Covadonga. This was the first significant Christian victory over the occupying Moors; as such, it is often considered to be the start of the Reconquista, the 770-year effort to expel the Moors from Iberia. …
During the summer you can bus all the way from Cangas to the trailhead at Ercina Lake. Unfortunately I arrived the day after those buses stopped running for the season. I hitched the last 12km or so from Covadonga. The Spanish couple who picked me up were also hiking a variation of the circuit staying in refugios, alpine huts providing beds and meals.
Here’s how the lakeside looked to me.
I’d arrived into the frequent, infamous Picos mist. A thick fog bank that often clouds the valleys and lower elvations of this micro climate.
After wandering around blind for 3hrs … I finally set up my tent right at the trailhead. A rotten start to the adventure.
Later I learned the couple that had driven me to the trailhead walked directly to the refugio using GPS.
Note to self: Get me a GPS.
See the rest of my photos from day 1.
hiking Banff Tuesday …
Indian Summer is fading rapidly.
But we’ll try to squeeze in one more hike (at least) before the snow flies.
If you are one of the few people left who do not know the story of this photo, click through to one of the links.
The Banff Lake Louise Tourism Board has set up accounts for the squirrel on Facebook and Twitter.
14,000 bears in continental Europe
Are you surprised that the number is that high?
There are about 200,000 brown bears in the world. The largest populations are in Russia with 120,000, the United States with 32,500, and Canada with 21,750. …
… Although many people hold on to the belief that some brown bears may be present in Mexico and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, both are almost certainly extinct. …
The brown bear of Europe is closely related to the Grizzly. And looks like a Griz.
… In Europe, there are 14,000 brown bears in ten fragmented populations, from Spain in the west, to Russia in the east, and from Scandinavia in the north to Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia (with about 800–900 animals), and Greece (with about 200 animals) in the south. They are extinct in the British Isles, extremely threatened in France and Spain, and in trouble over most of Central Europe.
The Carpathian brown bear population is the largest in Europe outside Russia, estimated at 4,500 to 5,000 bears.
Scandinavia is home to a large bear population, with an estimated 2,500 (range 2,350–2,900) in Sweden, 840 in Finland, and 70 in Norway. Another large and relatively stable population of brown bears in Europe, consisting of 2,500–3,000 individuals, is the Dinaric-Pindos (Balkans) population, with contiguous distribution in North-East Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, and Greece. …
Wikipedia – Brown Bear
Note that the smaller American Black Bear is much more numerous: up to 476,000 in Canada, and up to 465,000 in the United States.
We’ve had 3 people killed by bear since 2005 in my home Province of Alberta. So I’m quite bear aware when I hike.
In the Picos de Europa mountains in Spain, I’d swear “digs” I saw along the trail were made by bear. But I saw no other bear sign. The few animals in that range are very closely monitored.
fox in the Pyrenees, Spain
I’m not sure how rare these critters are in Spain.
I got a good look at this one from inside my tent.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
not recommended – West Highland Way, Scotland
Trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
I flew into Scotland on a Thursday.
Friday I hopped the train directly to what most consider the best multi-day hike in Scotland, the West Highland Way.
… The West Highland Way, from Milngavie to Fort William, a distance of 95 miles … Hills, dense woodland and wildlife make it one of the favourites with hikers from all over the world. …
This kind of hyperbole is typical of the WHW.
I was quickly disgruntled.
Unless you are a Glasweigan bent on bragging rights for walking out the pub door all the way to the top of Ben Nevis, I can’t see any reason to spend a week of your life doing this hike.
Problems:
• midges (Spring and Summer) • bad weather • many sections walking on roadways • litter • inconsistent signage • inconsistent trail maintenance • too few highlights / km
You won’t get lost. The trail is blazed.
But why spend a week on this route when there are so many better hikes in Scotland? And the world.
As many guidebooks recommend, I skipped the first two days and started at Balmaha. On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
That section alongside the lake was OK, especially between Rowardennan and Beinglass Farm. Not one of the great walks of the world, but OK.
From there to King’s House Hotel was disappointing in many ways.
But I must admit, the torrential rain from King’s House over Devil’s Staircase was the quintessential Scottish Hill Walking Experience. Even the Scots called it a “heavy rain”. High praise. My most lasting memory.
Next day the forecast was for clear skies. I hopped a bus at Kinlochleven, giving up on the WHW for good. I wanted good weather to climb Ben Nevis.
Over the 3 days on the West Highland Way I have only 22 photos worthy of posting. That’s sad.
I love Scotland. But why is the hiking so unimproved there?
Why was the first National Park not established until 2002?
That famed son of Scotland, John Muir, must be rolling in his grave. Authorities are trying to promote a John Muir Way, a 73km coastal walk.
As Lonely Planet Walking in Scotland says:
… you can’t help but wonder what Muir would think of a path through two power stations, one of them nuclear …
He would not be amused.
Walk the John Muir Trail in California. Not the one in Scotland.
And don’t make a special trip to hike the West Highland Way. Instead, go to … Spain.
Mt Blanc to Matterhorn – day 6
Hiking trip report by site editor Rick McCharles. Day 6 of 7.
day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | info
Out of bread, as usual, I wanted to stop in the quaint, quiet town of Gruben for supplies.
There was only one stale loaf of bread left in the small hotel shop. What! This is Europe. The grocery stores are terrible. But you can always get good fresh bread! (subsidized by the National government)
Turned out that these blokes had tented by the river in town. And then bought up all the bread first thing in the morning.
Here are manly men, even the 2 wearing skirts. They were the first to pass me on the trail since I started this hike.
Amongst the 7 friends they were fluent in French, German, Spanish and Italian. Nice.
We hiked the same day towards a challenging goal, Augstbordpass. It was high. Well above the helicopters.
In fact, Augstbordpass is the last high pass before the Zermatt valley. Many are excited to cross it. I was less so having opted to do the high, long and difficult 31km Europa Way traverse to finish.
But it was fun to drop down and down towards the valley far, far below.
A hiker walking the other direction tipped me to the fact that Ibex were posing on the rocks.
We assumed they’d been staked there by the tourist industry. What a photo op!
When we finally got to the valley floor, I dashed around like a madman trying to resupply with food. And still catch the bus up the other side to the trailhead. I wanted to get up high so I could start the long traverse to the finish first thing in the morning.
… the U.K. hikers passed me again! Waving from another bus.
Blast.
Pushing hard, I did manage to climb back up to 2300m to greet St. Bernard at dusk.
Kev Reynolds:
The satue of St Bernard … commemorates the opening of the Europaweg in 1997. This patron Saint of mountain travellers was … Bernard of Menthon, who had spent many years caring for travellers and pilgrims in trouble after crossing the alpine pass named after him…
Bernard died in the 1080s and was beatified shortly after. In 1923 Pope Pius XI conifrmed St Bernard as patron saint of the alps. …
I could just see the top of the Matterhorn in the distance.
The goats were my only companions up there.
My best tent site of the trip.
besthike.com 