Day 3 – West Coast Trail 2021

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.

Day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Day 3 – June 11, 2021
Tsusiat to Cribs

Finally. Serious rain.

But I was dry in a little tent secured under a Tsusiat cliff overhang. Didn’t need my fly.

Put on the water shoes — trail runners with neoprene booties — in the morning as I’d be starting on the beach. Tide was low enough.

My rain gear perfect.

I enjoyed walking through Tsusiat Point a second time, 12 hours after exploring it the previous evening.

The shelf in the rain is classic West Coast Trail. But you are forced inland at the impassable headlands of Tsuquadra Point.

I stayed with the water shoes due to muddy pools on the inland trails.

IF you have the agility of a gymnast, you can often save time by walking natural log bridges.

In the rain, it’s tempting to stop and see if there is availability at the Ditidaht First Nation Comfort Camp.

The inland trails were overgrown after having seen no hikers for almost 2 years. The WCT was closed due to COVID in 2020.

It’s always a thrill to reach Nitinat Narrows, cold, deep and fast moving tidal waters. A symbolic half way point.

For days I’d been looking forward to fresh caught salmon lunch.

There are cabins to rent here though I’ve never stayed.

As you can see, my camera fogged up badly.

Departing the crab shack, there’s a lot of new (slippery) boardwalk. Careful.

And the way got even more overgrown. At one point, I thought I’d missed the main trail. Tempted to head back to the crab shack to borrow a machete. 😀

There’s a good suspension bridge over the Cheewhat river.

This day I really enjoyed switching back and forth between trail and coastline.

At one point — for fun — we tried and failed to cross an impassable headland. Waves were too high to wade. I turned back to the last beach access, but some younger hikers managed to scramble up the cliff to rejoin the inland trail.

Didn’t arrive Cribs until 7:30pm. Very tired.

Set up my tent in the trees in the first available spot. Next to the outhouse.

January 27, 2021January 27, 2021

BestHike #9 – Haute Route in the Alps

The Haute Route, from France to Switzerland, is one of our top 10 hikes in the world.

Click PLAY or watch a 1 minute introduction on YouTube.

Haute Route

Chamonix to Zermatt, Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn – in two weeks of mountain travel you will see the greatest collection of 4000 metre peaks in the Alps!

AT A GLANCE

also known as the Walker’s High Route
Alpine charm: valleys, lakes, glaciers
great food, history, culture
from Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe (4810m, 15,781ft)
to the Matterhorn, the most beautiful peak in the alps
9-15 days
180+kms (112mi)
best months June-Sept
crosses 11 passes, gains more than 12,000m elevation
difficult hiking

Read more on our Haute Route information page.

August 8, 2020

GSI Pack Grater for Camping

Each year a group of friends heads out for a week of hiking and camping.

Each year they compare gear. And consider adding something NEW to their kit.

In 2020 I was very impressed with Karen’s GSI Pack Grater. Less than $10.

Very lightweight and compact, it did a terrific job grating cheese for our traditional Trail Quesadillas.

We typically make the Rockin’ Ronnie Shewchuk version including fresh apple and Rosemary.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’m purchasing a GSI Pack Grater for myself.

June 10, 2020June 8, 2020

Kraig Adams – Favorite Hiking Food

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

June 1, 2020

Ursack Quick Release Knot

I recall being reluctant to buy an Ursack to protect my food from bears and other critters — but finally got one in 2011.

This was the first time I used it, on the Howe Sound Crest Trail out of Vancouver.

I was won over instantly.

Though I own two Bear Vaults, I always carry the Ursack instead if it’s allowed where I’m hiking.

It’s much less bulky.

Though my old white one is going strong, Ursack has newer models in black . And a quicker way of tying the bag to the tree.

I’ll probably get the larger capacity URSACK MAJOR XL when I eventually have to replace my old white one.

On my recent cycling / hiking trip through Vancouver Island I tented 6 nights.

There are PLENTY of black bears. I’d never seen so much scat anywhere as on the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, for example.

You absolutely MUST PROTECT YOUR SMELLIES in this part of the world.

For the first time I used the new recommended quick release knot to attach the Ursack to a tree. It is a big improvement.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

May 8, 2020May 5, 2020

Southern Sierra High Route

Pie on the Trail:

The Southern Sierra High Route (SSHR) was developed by Alan Dixon and Don Wilson in 2014.

It is 100 miles long and the majority is off-trail travel mixed with sections on the JMT. Elevation loss and gain are high and the going is hard.

2019 Backpacking Trip Report

Blake Bole’s 2019 trip report was posted in rhyming verse!

Hiking this route requires a wilderness permit from Inyo National Forest.

Bear canister(s) required. There are no easy re-supply points. Snow is an issue some years.

November 7, 2019November 8, 2019

Khopra Ridge trek, Nepal – day 6

Naya Pul to Ghandruk trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.

day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6/7

Nov 5, 2019 – Tadapani to Ghandruk

The end of the Khopra Ridge trek (according to Lonely Planet) is Tadapani.

Unexpected rain resulted in a power failure for most of the night.

For trekkers that means Kindle light dinner.

Did you see what I did there? 😀

As usual on this trip, next morning skies were clear.

This has been the best vista so far of my favourite peak – Machapuchare.

After evening rain, the village was washed clean.

Lodges in Nepal are very similar. There’s not much difference between yours and HOTEL MAGNIFICENT.

From Tadapani it’s easy to get back to Pokhara in a day. But I decided, instead, to spend one more mountain night in Ghandruk, a Gurung village, famed starting point for many treks.

Ghandruk was only a couple of hours downhill stroll. A very easy day for me.

Lonely Planet recommended Hotel Trekkers Inn in Ghandruk which had won many hospitality awards over the years. It’s good, but not much different than any other IMHO.

As prices are fixed at all lodges in each village, they try to match each other in features, as well.

Hotel Trekkers Inn did have good food including some menu items I’d not seen anywhere else. I tried the Moussaka … tasty, but unrelated in any way to Moussaka.

And also the local smoked, dried, spiced meat called sukuti,

In the restaurant I met a young American who will be volunteer teaching at the largest school in the area. She’ll be living at Hotel Trekkers Inn for the next 2 months.

We both met a Brit who’s an old Nepal hand. This trip he’s come to photograph the Kulung’ honey hunters‘, men who climb bamboo rope ladders to harvest the world’s largest bees. An interesting man.

Pro tip – bring a tiny luggage lock for your room. What they provide are bulky and awkward.

The Khopra Ridge Trek I just finished is excellent.

In fact, Nepal needs more like it. And there is plenty of opportunity to develop more trails in higher, less developed spurs of the Annapurna massif.

Widely circulated in local lodges is this 2014 article by Donatella Lorch who lives in Kathmandu:

… The tea-houses and lodges are packed. Hikers have to share the stone steps with Nepal tourism’s unsung heroes: the unending series of mule convoys, loaded down with everything from water and food to cooking propane, kerosene, mattresses, stones and bags of cement to feed the mountain region’s lodge construction boom. …

ACAP faces socio-economic, ecological and political challenges. New roads have jeeps and trucks competing with trekkers and brings with it increased risk of landslides. There is little variety as the vast majority of trekkers stick to a small number of routes that are at times crowded walking highways …

Many trekkers along the route are willing to pay more for a more Nepali experience, and were in search of less crowded trails. …

Value-added hiking

Nepal’s trekking is at a cross-road, in need of a quality upgrade

It’s nice to wander Ghandruk’s narrow old stone trails.

But that experience is being lost in the clutter of new construction and added solar water heaters.

Next morning — day 7 —dawned, as usual, clear. I never tire of looking at these peaks.

I saw my first monkeys of this trip. Always entertaining.

As the bus stand below town looked good, I decided to take a chance on the local bus to get back to Pokhara.

Yeesh. Getting to and from trailheads in the Himalaya is by far the most dangerous part of trekking.

The only good news about this ride was the cost — $5 for 5 hours of very rough going.

Back in Pokhara, I took a couple of showers. Then headed for Utopia for Chicken Sizzler.

day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6/7

related – Click PLAY or watch another trip on YouTube. (30min)

November 4, 2019November 7, 2019

Khopra Ridge trek, Nepal – day 3

Naya Pul to Ghandruk trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.

day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6/7

Nov 2, 2019 – Ghorepani to Dhan Kharka

I set an early alarm. BUT everyone in my lodge had already headed up to Poon Hill before I awoke.

Not having people to follow, I used trusty Maps.me offline to find the trail.

It takes about an hour from Ghorepani (2870m) to climb to the famous Poon Hill viewpoint (3210m).

Though I’d heard plenty of complaints about the crowds, I really enjoyed dawn looking over at Dhalagiri and Annapurna.

An ideal time to use my PeakFinder app: Dhaulagiri I (8167m), Tukuche (6920m), Nilgiri (6940m), Annapurna South, Annapurna I (8091m), Hiunchuli (6441m) and Tarke Kang (formerly known as Glacier Dome; 7193m). And Fishtail, of course.

The Pokhara – Jomson planes zipped past frequently.

One of the last to arrive, I was also one of the last to leave.

My $4 room in Ghorepani had a million dollar view.

After climbing all the way UP to Ghorepani yesterday, I now dropped 900m to the Ghar Khola river. It was fast and enjoyable to descend instead of climbing. The non-motorized trail stays far away from new road building.

And Interesting seeing where the farms were at with winter coming.

Many are trying to encourage farmers to switch to petrotoxin fuels. But everywhere I looked, families and lodges were using free firewood, instead.

Up to Ghorepani the buildings all had blue corrugated iron roofs. Here they have more stone houses, many retaining traditional rock-slab shingles.

After crossing the Ghar Khola it was UP again to Swanta (2270m).

Lonely Planet:

The increasing popularity of Khopra Ridge is evident here with the number of new lodges recently built or under construction.

Swanta is the prettiest village so far. Super clean.

But I carried on up the mountain on a narrow path through bamboo forrest.

I was hungry by the time I reached Evergreen Rest Cottage (2540m) for lunch.

Egg noodle soup is my regular lunch feed.

The restaurant is in an isolated, lovely spot close to waterfall, hydroelectric and lumber cutting yard.

I reached Dhan Kharka (3020m) by about 3:30pm. Happy to stop, I lay down for siesta.

Though Ghoripani had no mobile phone reception for my network, Dhan Kharka did — IF I walked out to a rocky point away from the lodge. I was able to post some things online celebrating my 62nd birthday — November 2nd.