Category: health & safety

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Greater Patagonian Trail update

My last day in Chile I was lucky enough to meet up with Jan Dudeck and his partner at the Santiago bus station.

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We carbo-loaded on ice cream while I got a personal update on what happened on this their 3rd season on the long distance hike. Carrying an Alpacka packraft on sections.

Greater Patagonian

Once back in Europe, Jan will be updating the wikiexplora page with new data. New alternative routes.

The Greater Patagonian is not an official trail but rather 1500km or more of connected best routes in Chile and Argentina. You’ll be lost for sure unless you have KMZ and GPX files downloaded from wikiexplora.

As they research possible new options Jan actually starts with cached Google Earth images. Then looks for the faint trails he sees there to mark waypoints on their GPS. They don’t bother carrying heavy topo maps.

I tried and failed on section 1 of the Greater Patagonian in January. But am very tempted to go back next Jan/Feb to try other sections.

Greater Patagonian Trail

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day 4 – return to Laguna Ánimas

trip report by besthike editor Rick McCharles

day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | info Condor Circuit  

Sunburn was my biggest worry at this point. I had plenty of No-Ad Sport Sunscreen slathered on, but this sun is unrelenting. I was wearing socks on my hands as they were most burnt, so far.

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I made one last climb up to the “corner” of the valley to see if it looped back over a pass in the direction I wanted to go …

The cows thought I was crazy.

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I was crazy. Odds were slim that it would work. I turned back here.

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It was a relief, actually, to finally know where I was going.

River crossings are a big issue here. There are no bridges. Happily this was the most difficult I crossed. Not bad.

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Descending to the hot springs, the group had already vacated. I had the place to myself. 🙂

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One last look back up my side valley.

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Mid-day I took the shade and studied Spanish for 90 minutes or so. Then resumed my high traverse of the massif.

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Today the two condors came to check me out.

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I was clinging to life yet. 🙂

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People curse slogging through ash. Personally, I like it. Very soft on the feet. The best screeing surface possible.

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I was surprised to come across 4 Chilean hikers in the afternoon. They had put up the tents and got directions from me to the hot springs. Two had just been married. This was part of the honeymoon. Both were just about to move to Montreal for work. Small world.

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One of the guys asked me if I knew the way back to the Pass. Of course I did. I’d just come from that direction.

How could I get lost? 🙂

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I got lost. 😦

Things truly do look completely different when walking the opposite direction.

My good camera had broken, the telescoping lens mechanism wrecked. 😦 I wasn’t in much of a mood to take photos in any case. 😦

My audio book – Red Rising by Pierce Brown – kept me going.

I was first diverted for about 2 hours. Then about 30 minutes. (Several times I considered backtracking to the honeymoon party tents. I could have walked out with them next morning.)

But – finally – I found the way back to Ánimas. I set up my tent above the lake at this junction of alpine meadow and desert. My best campsite.

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day 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | info Condor Circuit  

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Nepal open for business

If you’ve been wanting to travel here but have been deterred by recent events, let this ease your mind. The trails are in good condition. Food and water are abundant. The tea houses are staffed. The only thing missing is you.

Chris Brinlee Jr. – Six Months After The Earthquake, Nepal Is Open For Adventure

Nepal

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the Barkley Marathons

… In the nearly 30 years since the Barkley’s inception, only 14 people have finished the race. …

Outside – How Two Filmmakers Cracked the World’s Most Bizarre Trail Race

Stu Gleman fist pumps at the start of the Barkley Marathons
Stu Gleman fist pumps at the start of the Barkley Marathons

The Barkley Marathons is a 100 miles (160 km) run and a 60 miles (97 km) ‘fun run’ held annually in Frozen Head State Park near Wartburg, Tennessee in late March or early April.

The course itself, which has changed distance, route, and elevation many times since its inaugural run in 1986, currently consists of a 20-mile (32 km) loop with no aid stations except water at two points along the route and the runner’s parked car at the beginning of the loop. Runners of the 100 Mile version run this loop five times, with loops three and four being run in the opposite direction and loop five being runner’s choice. …

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

Buy it.

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Cam Honan – off-trail hiking

Great interview.

Are there extra safety precautions you take when you hike an unmarked route?

I generally leave a more detailed description of my proposed route with friends or family before setting out. For someone that is relatively new to off-trail backpacking, I would recommend erring on the side of caution in regards to food, water, sufficient layers, distance estimates, etc. You may also consider carrying a personal locater beacon, such as a SPOT or Delorme inReach. …

What kinds of maps do you use? What Scale? Have they been difficult to get? How much do you study the maps before starting?

In western countries such as the United States, it’s easy to find great topo maps (e.g. USGS 1:24,000 series). In developing nations, it’s often a very different story. Over the decades I’ve made do with everything from 1:250,000 overview sheets to a sketch map on the back of a napkin from a waiter in Arequipa, Peru (Volcan Misti hike, 1996). …

HIKER Q & A – CAM ‘SWAMI’ HONAN ON CREATING ONE’S OWN HIKING ROUTES

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related – Cam’s 2015 – The Year in Pictures

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“stupid light” hiking

Andrew Skurka :

Ten- or fifteen-thousand miles ago I believed fervently that “light is right” and “lighter is better.” I proudly considered myself a “lightweight,” “ultralight” or “super ultralight” backpacker, and I believed that the weight of my pack was linearly correlated with the quality of my experience — the lighter my pack got, the better the hiking became.

But in my blind pursuit to shed weight, I made decisions that compromised my efficiency, thus negatively impacting my trips. In other words, in an effort to “go light” I ended up going “stupid light.” (Special thanks to Phil Barton and Pat Starich for sharing this expression with me.)

I went “stupid light” by:

Not taking gear and supplies that were necessary given the conditions, and …
Taking gear and supplies that were too light.

read more – “Stupid light”: Why light is not necessarily right, and why lighter is not necessarily better

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hiking the Camino del Rey

I was in Spain recently, one of my main goals to hike the newly reopened Camino del Rey.

Unfortunately you can only access the trail after booking through the official portal page.

Caminito booking

The portal shows up 3 months in advance. But it’s ALWAYS booked. 😦

I couldn’t get a reservation.

Update: It turns out that the Garganta Hotel, near the train station in Alora, will sell you an expensive lunch for 25 euro … with a “free” ticket for the hike. Other restaurants may do the same.

Here’s a May 2015 trip report (tickets from Garganta Hotel).

I wished I’d known. The official website does not mention this option.

El Caminito del Rey (English: The King’s little pathway) is a walkway, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Ardales in the province of Málaga, Spain. The name is often shortened to Camino del Rey.

The walkway had fallen into disrepair and was partially closed for over a decade. After four years of extensive repairs and renovations, the walkway re-opened in 2015. It has been known in the past as the “world’s most dangerous walkway” following five deaths in 1999 and 2000. …

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