Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
Where will you find this guy?
Fattest Cities (according to Men’s Fitness)
1. Miami
2. Oklahoma City
3. San Antonio
4. Las Vegas
5. New YorkFittest Cities
1. Salt Lake City
2. Colorado Springs
3. Minneapolis
4. Denver
5. Albuquerque
source – USA Today
How do think this turned out?
Mail Online – Chilling game of hide and seek with a hungry polar bear
(via Sierra Blogging Post)
Wow. Check out a 39-day mega-trek photo trip report posted by Tubby.
And this is only PART 1 of their adventures in Nepal.
Tubby’s group connected a trek around Manaslu with the Annapurna Circuit. AND the sidetrip to Annapurna Base Camp.
They had wondrous moments. And many challenges.
Here’s the receipt from Maoist rebels for the group “donation”:
This extortion is supposed to be ended. But I expect the odd local in Nepal will still be asking for cash for the cause.
As always, the charming people were a highlight:
I can’t find a way to summarize this monster trip in a short blog post. You need to check it out yourself: Trekking our arses off in Nepal #1
Manaslu
Annapurna Circuit information page.
Annapurna is one of our top 10 hikes in the world.
David Roberts was air rescued in Alaska this past summer at a cost of over $90,000.
Though he had a lot of experience with arctic wilderness in Saskatchewan, the media is reporting that he was totally unprepared, and a “goofy guy”.
Roberts, a 54-year-old Australian, was trying to walk almost 100 miles across the Brooks Range wilderness when he set off a long-distance distress call on Friday. He’d been out there alone for two months.
…He hauled a 140-pound sled full of supplies behind him, he said. A persistent stomach bug left him dehydrated while frequent, stabbing pains pierced his cold feet.
He traveled fewer than 40 miles in two months — far less than he’d expected.
…
Alaskans have little patience for seemingly ill-prepared adventurers, and news of the rescue prompted comparisons to another explorer who trekked into the wilderness 16 years ago — Chris McCandless. McCandless starved to death after trying to survive on his own for more than three months near Denali National Park.
…Roberts didn’t know who would have to pay for his rescue when he made the decision to get help, he said. “I didn’t presume that somebody else was going to pick up the tab on that.” …
Anchorage Daily News – Adventurer’s wilderness trek ends with air rescue, free hotel
Roberts will not be billed for the rescue costs.
Israeli hikers are the most adventurous of all, in my experience.
That’s why I’ve so often joined up with them on treks around the world.
Unfortunately, they often get themselves in trouble. Like these two who decided to leave their group and strike out on their own for an easier itinerary:
Happy ending: Romi Givon (21) and Tal Bar (21), the two Israeli hikers who went missing for two days in the Villarrica National Park in Chile were found safe and sound on Tuesday afternoon, according to Tami Bar, Tal’s mother.
…
Ran Givon, Romi’s father, along with an Israeli rescue team, was scheduled to fly to Chile in the evening to assist in the search.
The 138,600 acre Villarrica volcano is dominated by the Villarrica volcano, which towers at an altitude of 9,338 feet and in considered most active volcano in South America. The weather in the area is notoriously fickle, and is characterized by heavy rain, fog and low temperatures. …
The story of Omri Kidron did not end happily.
When I hiked the Huayhuash Circuit in Peru, two Israelis were shot resisting bandits. At least one died of his wounds.
Please, please be careful out there.
I lived in the Canadian prairies for years. Every once-in-a-while a cougar would be sighted. They can travel long distances along river valleys.
Two this year have been conclusively confirmed far outside their current range. This one was captured by a cottage surveillance camera.
An extremely rare sighting of a cougar has been confirmed in the Lac du Bonnet area of Manitoba. …
Cougars have seen me in the wild many times. But I’ve never spotted any of them. They are very elusive.
Here’s is the “normal” range:
Pumas (Puma concolor), also called cougars or mountain lions, are large wild cats, … mainly tan-coloured, and can be up to 1.85 metres long.
I visited Denali in Alaska last year.
But it was too miserably overcast to hike far.
Has anyone ever had a GOOD hike there?
This trip report by Hank Leukart on Without Baggage is typical of others I’ve read:
… the best place to cross a braided river like the McKinley is at its widest point, when the river’s water spreads across many channels (or braids). The individual channels are shallower and slower moving than at river’s narrowest point, where all of the braids are combined into a dangerous, freezing, fast-moving current. Using our topographical map and compass to guide us, we walked to the river’s widest point and began crossing.
Each braid was harder than the previous; at first the water only reached our shins, but in later braids it reached our knees, our waists, and eventually, about halfway through our crossing, it reached our chests. Silt made the water opaque, so we painstakingly searched for the best place to cross each braid by throwing rocks into the water to test depth as we slogged through a labyrinth of rock bars between braids. We used all of the crossing techniques we knew (facing upstream, walking sideways, using walking sticks, and stabilizing against each other), but the crossing became progressively more difficult as the river became deeper and we became colder and wetter (water at 36 degrees Fahrenheit without a dry suit is unbearable for any length of time).
Eventually, we became trapped on a small rock bar with very little space to move up or down stream. We knew (by throwing rocks) that the next braid was at least as deep as the last, but there wasn’t much we could do to change the situation without crossing braids in reverse and moving backward, so we decided to try crossing the next channel from our current position. As we stepped in, the water reached above our waist, but we knew it would be passable. Then, we took a second step and discovered that the river-bottom had a sheer drop-off.
In an instant, water was above our heads and we were floating downstream at 20 miles per hour in 36-degree water with 45-pound backpacks strapped to our backs.
As I looked into my brother’s eyes, I could see that he thought we were going to die, and I telepathically agreed. I thought to myself, “This is how those stupid people you read about in newspapers die in the wilderness.” …
Did they drown?
Or was it another Alaskan sufferfest? Off route? Running out of food?
Click through to find out – Accepting Wet Feet.
The photography is terrific.
related post: hiking in Alaska … disappointing
First off, this adventure does not have you hiking into Machu Picchu.
It finishes 7mi away in (amazing) Ollantaytambo. From there you take the train to Aguas Calientes. Then the bus up to the ruins.
larger version – flickr – FranUlloa
On the other hand, it does look pretty good compared with the over-popular, problematic Inca Trail.
It passes through seldom-visited Andean villages, Inca and pre-Inca ruins and heads onto a beautiful altiplano plateau surrounded by glaciated peaks. Most groups won’t encounter any other tourists for the entire trek and the combination of stunning mountain scenery and wildlife, fascinating relics and real isolation is truly rewarding. …
Supported by horses rather than porters. It’s claimed to be a little tougher than the standard Inca Trail, as “it goes higher and covers slightly more distance”.
Exodus Guide Tours – Moonstone Trek
larger version – flickr – FranUlloa
(via The Adventure Blog)
The best alternative is still Choquequirao to Machu Picchu.
My old hiking buddy from South America 2004, Canadian Grant Assenheimer, just climbed down from the high Himalayas. He was on a “holiday” between assignments for Doctors Without Borders.
From Grant’s email:
Just got back from ABC and had a fantastic time. The ‘scare’ tactics used by the tour companies almost had me convinced that I should take a guide but it is TOTALLY NOT NECESSARY. Pass the word! Even if you are only moderately fit, you can easily do any of the teahouse trekking without a guide or porter.
larger version – flickr
My favorite day was a scramble up from the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). Although most people stop at ABC, I rounded up a couple of New Yorkers and the 3 of us did this great day trip UP to the base camp for Tent Peak, one of the smaller ‘trekking peaks’ in the area. We started at 4100 m, went down and crossed the stone-covered glacier and then climbed to 4800 m via a steep morrain, icy river through a narrow gorge and finally a bit of a slog through steep high-altitude grassy slopes. This gave us GREAT views of the Annapurna Range, Machapuchre and some other ‘lesser’ 5 and 6 thousand meter peaks. The way UP was a bit challenging (ie. GREAT) because we didn’t see the PATH until we were already pretty much at the top. Lets just say that the way down was MUCH easier and didn’t involve navigating that icy river in that steep canyon or the 60 degree grassy slopes…
I also read Annapurna by Herzog during the hike. Wow. All I can say is that the Nepal of today is NOTHING like the Himalayas of the early mountaineers. I mean, they actually walked in from India. No apple pie or internet cafe waiting at 4000 m for them. What a story.
I started in Phedi, walked to ABC and then came out via Gorenpani and Poon hill. Truly spectacular and worth putting up with everyone else for the views. Definitely NOT a wilderness experience but if you go in without expecting one, its a great time.
larger version – flickr
Thanks Grant.
The Base Camp is the best side trip off the famed Annapurna Circuit.
Photographer Hank Leukart penned one of the best trip reports I’ve yet seen on our #1 hike in the world …
WEST COAST TRAIL, Vancouver Island, British Columbia — After our extraordinary Alaskan backpacking experience this past August, my brother and I had become addicted. For months following the excursion, we daydreamed, researched, and gushed about the possibilities for our next adventure. We considered a number of tempting options, including a Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim hike, a journey along the pristine Lost Coast of California, and even a long trek through remote Patagonia. But then, we read about the Graveyard of the Pacific. …
… When we arrived at the trailhead, Parks Canada gave us and the rest of the “West Coast Trail Class of June 2, 2008” a short presentation about the hike’s dangers. We were warned to use tide tables to time our coastal hiking and avoid being trapped by dangerous swells; we learned that if a helicopter flew overhead dropping tsunami warnings in bottles (seriously!), we would need to immediately drop our backpacks and sprint up towering ladder networks to avoid being swallowed by the sea; we were told to use the cable cars whenever possible to perform river crossings, which made us laugh due to “our extensive river crossing experience”; and we were urged, once again, never to run from a bear (or a wolf or a cougar).
After the park ranger sufficiently scared us, she sold us our trail permits. We donned our 50-pound backpacks (we were arguably overprepared for this trip, with more than two extra days of food and of course, the requisite board games we always take on backpacking trips) and stepped onto the ferry that took us to the beginning of our adventure. …
read the rest on Without Baggage – Brothers tackle dangerous surge channels on the West Coast Trail.
The annotated photos are spectacular!
West Coast Trail: Days 1 – 3 Photography.
West Coast Trail: Days 4 – 5 Photography.
West Coast Trail: Days 6 – 8 Photography.
Congratulations to Hank and his brother. That was some adventure!
I instantly subscribed to Without Baggage. And recommend you do too.
besthike.com 