Category: health & safety

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Surviving the Kalalau Trail, Hawaii

I met Blake and Eli cycling the Tuscany Trail in Italy.

World travellers, they’ve been living and working online from locations like Hawaii, Australia, Bali & Thailand.

Living the dream.

Click PLAY or watch one of their hikes on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel if you enjoy it.

Kalalau is one of our Top 10 coastal hikes in the world.

Details.

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NEW – Pamir Trail, Tajikistan

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.

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BestHike #8 – Everest Base Camp / 3 Passes

The Everest Base Camp via 3 Passes is one of our top 10 hikes in the world.

Click PLAY or watch a 1 minute introduction on YouTube.

Base Camp / 3 Passes

Everyone wants to hike to Everest Base Camp (5,320m / 17,450ft). The 3 Passes route is the most epic.

Based on weather and fitness, you can do one or more passes as well as peaks like Kala Pattar (5,545m) that don’t require a permit.

base camp sign

AT A GLANCE

Nepal
  • majority of hikers in the Everest region hire a guide, porter(s) and/or pack animal(s) but it’s fairly easy to do independently. As of April 1, 2023 guides are probably required on Everest.
  • guided trekkers stay in lodges, or sprawling tent encampments
  • October to November best months
  • beginning of March to mid-May next best
  • 16-18 days minimum for 3 Passes. 21 days would allow for rest / illness / sidetrip / and other unanticipated delays.
  • if you don’t have time, it’s recommended 14 days just to get to Base Camp and back safely.
  • generally easy hiking on good trails with a light pack. Some very challenging, potentially dangerous sections, if you cross any of the 3 Passes
  • on the main trails buy food as you go and stay in simple “lodges”
  • Everest trails are not expensive, but many spend more than they anticipate on luxuries
  • be clear — you might have to QUIT if by bad luck or rushed ascent you suffer altitude sickness (Acute Mountain Sickness or AMS).
  • many suffer respiratory problems. And fatigue.

Read more on our Everest Base Camp / 3 Passes information page.

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Hikers SHOULD Carry a Paper Map

  1. Hard copy won’t kill your battery.
  2. Redundancy.
  3. GPS is rotting our brains. 😀
  4. Maps are fun!
  5. Guidebook pages are more convenient to check on the fly.
  6. Keeps me from checking my phone every five seconds.
  7. Context.

That’s from a good article by KELLY FLORO:

Why I Always Carry the FarOut App AND a Guidebook or Map

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Torres del Paine in a Wheelchair

At the age of 18, Álvaro Silberstein had a tragic accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down.

But his passion for the outdoors never died and years later, he made history while doing Patagonia’s most famous trek (the W Trek in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile) in a wheelchair.

While founding the Wheel the World project and partnering with local tourism organizations, he started a real revolution of inclusive tourism in South America.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Check out Wheel the World.