Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
I’d love to hike across Iceland — but this is not an adventure for any but the hardiest.
Cam “Swami” Honan did it with Kate “Swept Away” Pickett in late August/September, 2023.
This post covers the first 2 stages from Hraunhafnartangi Lighthouse to Lake Mývatn.
Finding protection from the WIND is just one of many problems they faced.
Of course there are other routes across Iceland.
IF you ever consider this adventure, study Cam’s trip reports carefully:
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
I had A.I. software remake me into a proper pilgrim. 😀
I cycled 300+km of the French Way in 2022. That was terrific. It’s the most popular of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage routes.
By comparison, the Camino del Norte (Northern Way) totals 817 kilometres (508 mi) across northern Spain from the border with France to Santiago de Compostela. It’s only the 6th most popular of the many Caminos. Over 21,000 pilgrims / year.
SO … in 2026 I did 6 days from French border town Irun to tourist mecca Bilbao.
The red section on the map below.
Click PLAY or get a glimpse of what it’s like on YouTube.
Camino pilgrimage routes attract many different kinds of people. Much different than on other thru hikes, I find. Some are spiritual seekers & reflective travellers. The highlights for others are the food, history, and culture.
Since the Camino del Norte attracts less than 5% of the Camino Francés numbers, accommodations are not all booked. It’s not nearly as crowded.
Many feel Irun to Bilbao is the best and most scenic section of the Camino del Norte.
Steep climbs, rugged coastal cliffs, and longer stretches between services make the START of the Northern Way the most challenging.
I stayed in combination of albergues (pilgrim hostels), hostels, and emergency tent one night. Accommodation is quite inexpensive.
It’s easy and comparatively inexpensive to fly into Bilbao.
I arrived late night on an inexpensive flight.
I picked up my Camino de Santiago pilgrim passport (credencial del peregrino) at the Cathedral. This gains you entrance into some of the pilgrim accommodation en route.
It’s easy to find a direct bus to Irún close to the the French border.
I stayed at the Jakobi Pilgrim Hostel (Albergue de Peregrinos Jakobi) in Irun, the official starting point for the Camino del Norte. Payment is by donation.
Next morning, off and running.
The rain in Spain falls mainly in the NORTH. Over the coming week I had all kinds of weather, including lightning storm.
The Camino is well signed. I mostly used AllTrails to confirm turns. But it seemed there were many other apps in use.
There’s one ferry crossing – the Pasaia River.
First night I stayed just outside San Sebastián, a tourist city very competitive with Bilbao.
Some stay 2 nights here as there’s a lot to see. I toured the town one evening and again the next morning.
This is the kind of place in Europe some feel is over-touristed.
San Sebastián is a beach town, popular with surfers.
Onward.
One problem with ALL the Caminos … you end up doing a lot of walking on concrete and cobblestone.
By day 6 I felt one of my feet was bruised.
I did enjoy the coastal sections.
I happened upon a hostel in Getaria that was just serving up dinner. I stayed.
Early next morning I wandered the town before many more people were awake.
Got an early start on the hiking day.
It’s a very rural area. Plenty of farm animals to keep you company.
Some vineyards.
And eventually back to the coast.
Sections are very remote.
No bus. You might ride a horse out. 😀
Everyone wants to stay at the Monastery. Paid by donation.
Meals and room are quite basic.
But the place is beautiful.
The town of Guernica is infamous for the 1937 painting by Pablo Picasso.
One of the best known anti-war paintings. Germans had bombed the people here relentlessly.
Many stay over in this historic city.
Early enough in the day, I walked on.
Skies darkened. I decided to wild camp before the rain. This is not legal — except in emergency situations like this one.
Surprisingly, I didn’t hear much about the Basque separatist movement.
With an even more torrential rain storm looming, I caught the first bus I saw on arrival to civilization to the centre of Bilbao. Happily, I made it to my very cool Pod Hostel before the worst of a deluge.
31 litres of rain / square meter in just a matter of minutes. It does rain in Spain.
Here I am at the Bilbao Cathedral. The rest of my clothes in the laundry. 😀
I’m considering a return to the Camino del Norte in future. Perhaps Vilalba to Santiago de Compostela, the final 100km. It merges with the bustling Camino Francés for the final 2 days of walking.
Kraig Adams – September 2025 – 75 miles hut to hut alone on the Alta Via 1 in the Dolomites of Italy.
In and out of Venice airport.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
This long-distance walking route is the GR 223 of the Senderos de Gran Recorrido network in Spain that connects some of the most inaccessible beaches of Menorca. …
The path is divided in 20 different stages, each of them between 5 and 14 km.
Check it out on AllTrails.
Steve Berger did it wild camping. But setting up your own tent is actually illegal here. You might be fined.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
I really enjoyed a couple of weeks alongside thru hikers in a hot, dry desert section of the PCT.
Click PLAY or watch my highlights on YouTube. (6min)
Hot, dry — but not flat. I ended up on the summits of Mt. San Jacinto (10,834 ft) and Mt. Baden-Powell (9,399 ft). Then had to descend.
Palm Springs to Agua Dulce is about 245 PCT miles. My section was mostly rocky, sun-baked canyons and scrub.
Many complain about the relentless wind. Personally, I like wind as it cools you off.
I skipped some of those miles taking 3 rides along the way. Of course I added miles hiking in from the Palm Springs Tramway. And ALL hikers add miles when they hike into and out of resupply stops.
I flew into Palm Springs. Bought camping gas and stopped at a grocery. Then took the bus to the bottom of famed Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.
Turns out there’s no public transit for the last 3 miles. Oops. Happily, a guy on a motorcycle noticed my dilemma, offering a lift to the base. My first Trail Angel.
Within an hour, I had my only real injury. Standing up, I forgot I was wearing a heavy pack, and fell backwards over a rock. Getting scratched up. … Dumb mistake.
I enjoyed the short side trip to San Jacinto Peak. It’s over 10,000 feet higher than Palm Springs.
I camped nearby. And was surprisingly chilly in the sleeping bag.
Rather than post a day-by-day account, here are major themes of my 2 weeks on trail.
About 5:30pm I’d start looking for a campsite. Ideally near a water source.
IF there is a Bear Locker, use it. At the excellent Little Jimmy Campground we advised everyone to lock up food and backpacks.
About 2am a bear arrived to check if lockers were closed. Checked every tent. Started dragging a backpack out of a vestibule as it had some food in it. The hiker (now known as Bear Bait) shouted and had a tug-of-war with the beast, eventually winning the battle for his pack.
If there is no Bear Locker, hang your backpack away from insects & rodents.
I had my food in an Ursack, and tied it away on a tree.
I do love having a picnic table.
As it turned out, I only put my fly on the tent 2 nights of 17. Why didn’t somebody tell me it never rains in southern California? 😀
As I’d suffered blisters on the PCT once in the past, this time I brought 2 pairs of hiking shoes, both about 1.5 sizes larger than what I wear in the city. And both were WIDE sized.
I changed shoes regularly. Changed socks often. Washed and cooled my feet every chance I got. And it worked.
Near the end of my desert hiking, I bought a pair of Injinji toesocks. I think they might have helped, too.
Only hiking a couple of weeks, my pack was heavier than most. Starting with 10 meals, carrying 3-4 litres of water, it might have been close to 40 pounds.
After a week or so, it was near 32 pounds.
The lighter, the better. I did find my pack too heavy.
On the other hand, I love my pack itself ➙ the Hyperlite Unbound 55 Backpack.
Here’s my full gear list. You can decide what I should have left behind. 😀
Personally, I love the southern California weather. Sunny and dry. Day after day of blue skies.
Of course I kept covered up as much as possible. A sun hoodie is essential.
I did use a hiking umbrella for the first time. IF it was very hot. I found it easier to carry and adjust for wind often, rather than tie it on to my pack. They are popular in the desert section with PCT hikers.
One very experienced desert hiker known as Iceaxe suffered from a long day in the sun. Two day hikers helped get him to town where he took a zero to recover. We camped for free behind a pub.
At one of the rare hoses, PCT girls gone wild soaked themselves. Smart.
Much discussion regards water sources in the desert. And how many litres to carry. Often I started with 3-4 litres. The heaviest thing in my pack.
Most hikers filtered almost everything. For me boiling is best. If the water looked great — directly from a high mountain spring — I did not treat. If worried, I threw in a purification tablet & flavouring. Usually Mio.
I probably should have had an electrolyte replacement like Tailwind.
Wonderful on the PCT is when you arrive near a roadway and find that some volunteer has left water and/or treats for hikers.
My best Trail Magic was hiking in to find Marco all set up in a parking lot.
Many hikers stayed for hours enjoying his cold drinks, fresh fruit, hot dogs, and burritos. He’d driven 3 hours from home to provide help in a tough spot on the trail. In fact, I’m now planning to join Marco on an adventure next summer.
The highlight for me was meeting and chatting with people crazy enough to want to hike continually for months. Here are 2 legends known as Canadian Bacon. They’d finish the entire PCT in 2026, their last section over a number of years.
The guy I met most likely to finish the entire PCT in one year was Roman from Switzerland. He hadn’t acquired a trail name, as yet. Here he is after one month, looking like he just got off the plane. With a budget of $10,000 and no injuries, so far, Roman’s cruising to Canada.
From Palm Springs to Agua Dulce, 3 times I skipped miles, taking motor vehicles. Only the purists — like Roman — do every single mile. It’s often logistically smart to bypass difficult sections.
For example, I shared a Lyft from Whitewater to Big Bear to avoid a huge, hot climb.
OUT of Big Bear, however, it’s a huge hot climb of thousands of feet to the top of Mount Baden-Powell.
Like most others, I indulged in high calorie food every chance I got.
All these hikers gorging at McDonalds swear they never enter the place in their real lives.
On the trail, I carried a stove and made up meals that had been flash frozen by my niece Stacey. Delicious.
Happily, my 2 weeks were unaffected by fires in 2026. We saw smoke behind us one day. And hiked sections that had been burnt in recent decades.
One mandatory detour had us road walking. Surprisingly, I found it a refreshing change.
Almost everyone uses the expensive FarOut PCT app. It works offline and has some up-to-date comments on waypoints that are super valuable.
On the other hand, the interface is ugly and not detailed enough. I often switched to the free Maps.me app offline. Every hiker gets lost, sooner or later.
There is signage. But it’s not always clear which way to go when you reach an intersection.
I found one tick on my leg. Removed it before a bite. And saw one tick on a leaf.
It’s an issue, for sure, in southern California. I carried tweezers specifically for tick removal, if necessary.
Check this post ➙ PCT First Aid.
I saw 3 snakes over two weeks. No Rattlers. The only one of the 3 that stood still for a photo was this friendly Gopher Snake.
It’s quite common to find Rattle Snakes close to the trail.
Surprisingly, I suffered many campsites with annoying insects. This despite the weather being hot and dry.
Keep your tent closed or you may have to hunt down mosquitoes before going to sleep.
I finished my 2 weeks at Farmer John’s excellent Serenity’s Oasis in Agua Dulce.
A professional chef grilled New York steak on the barbecues provided.
Most hikers needing to leave the trail on my section try to find a bus heading west to Los Angeles.
I convinced friends to drive 5 hours and pick me up. Calling it a desert rescue. 😀
Great fun. I certainly will try to hike more sections of the PCT in future.
You’re almost certain to get one or two good ideas from this video.
Lessons learned on thru hikes.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
If you like that, there are 20 more here.
Site editor Rick McCharles will be mostly offline well into June 2026. He’s section hiking part of the Pacific Crest Trail in California out of Palm Springs.
by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
I have a PERMIT for 523.0 miles from Idyllwild to Kennedy Meadows South in California.
Starting May 26, 2026.
I’m hoping to survive for at least 14 days of that. 😀
GEAR should be as light as possible.
Of course there will be resupply food and plenty of water to carry, as well.
For this particular adventure, my priorities are …
I’m trying a hiking umbrella for the first time. Plan to switch between shoes & socks several times each day. I once had to quit another section of the PCT due to blisters.
Gear brand Jack Wolfskin recently announced the Wolf Trail — a 3,493 km (about 2,175 miles) thru-hike that meanders through six European countries. .
Poland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and Slovenia. Hiking the entire trail means climbing about 78.416 meters in elevation – equivalent to ten times the height of Mount Everest.
A full hike takes four to six months, but even the seven individual sections provide perfect opportunities for long-distance hikers who want to discover Europe, or for shorter day hikes for a quick escape.
by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
I have a PERMIT for 523.0 miles from Idyllwild to Kennedy Meadows South in California.
Starting May 26, 2026.
It remains to be seen just how many of those 523 miles I can finish. 😀
I’ll be happy with 14 -21 days.
Wish me luck.
I’ll be testing some new gear. Hiking lighter than ever before — as there will be some major water carrying in the desert.
