Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
The John Muir Trail in California is one of our top 10 hikes in the world.
If southbound — the most popular direction — watch Drew Robinson’s succinct trip report.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
If northbound, I’d recommend Tim Seymour’s detailed video.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
A survey of more than 700 John Muir Trail thru-hikers gave researchers insight into what makes a hiker more likely to get injured or ill while backpacking. …
First off, the (2018) study didn’t find sex to be a determinant of getting hurt or sick on the trail.
Here are the factors correlating with injury:
Surprisingly, older hikers reported fewer adverse events on the JMT.
… Often abbreviated as BMI, body mass index is a measure of the size of the human body, calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms dividing by the square of their height in meters. …
The study’s authors found that base pack weight correlated with an increased risk of illness and injury; the heavier the pack, the greater the likelihood of morbidity.
This Study Predicts Who Is Most Likely to Get Hurt in the Wilderness
I hiked the John Muir Trail myself in 2021 at age-63. And found myself ‘healthiest’ on finishing after 19 days. I got in ‘shape’ by hiking.
When they finished off the PCT at the end of October, Potter and Parell became the 11th and 12th finishers of the Calendar-Year Triple Crown, and at just 21 years old, the youngest to boot. …
Potter and Parell finished all three in a little over 10 months. …
… Potter was a thru-hiking novice before 2021. Parell had only the relatively modest El Camino de Santiago under his belt. …
Twenty-four pairs of shoes and one cavity …
ExplorersWeb
I met Alan Wechsler on the John Muir Trail this past summer. I hiked in parallel with his group, finishing the same day at Whitney Portal.
Alan convinced me to put Vermont’s Long Trail in autumn on my personal life list. He suggested I follow the changing of the leaves starting late September and hiking south.
272 miles (437 km). 70 backcountry campsites.
Alan is a writer and photographer based in the Northeast. He recently spent a year section-hiking the Long Trail in various seasons. His 73-page narrative describes the challenge and history of the trail, along with the people he met along the way, and is generously illustrated with his photos. Download the e-book here:
Formerly called the Vancouver Island Spine Trail (VISpine), the Vancouver Island Trail is planned to end up close to 800km long.
About 95% of the Trail has been located and is defined on the ground well enough to be followed/hiked.
However, much of the route north of Port Alberni is not officially open since gaining the permission and support of several Indigenous Communities is on-going and a number of administrative arrangements (land use agreements, Section 57 approvals etc.) have not yet been completed.
Where the Trail is located across private forest lands, detailed planning and location of the trail has been progressing following completion of a Memorandum of Understanding that reflects the co-operative working relationship between Vancouver Island Trail Association (VITA) and Mosaic Forest Management, the timberland manager for both TimberWest and Island Timberlands. …
Current Status of the Vancouver Island Trail
The southern section from Victoria to Port Alberni you can do right now. Brendan Sainsbury cycled it. I’ve cycled all of the southern section, as well — and would say it’s better cycling than hiking.
Alex and Sarah hiked the entire island summer 2021. For them it was 40 days of backcountry camping and nights in motels when they hit small towns.
Magpie and her partner hiked it summer 2020 putting together a LONG video trip report. Watch that here.
Łukasz Supergan posted a terrific summary of options for hiking across Iceland.
I’m looking to do some bike touring and hiking summer 2022. #research
Łukasz did the #4 route (green) in winter, for example.
He recommends we do it in summer.
Variant no. 2 may be the easiest, but it leads through the roads used by cars, which may be tiresome.
Variant no. 1 is more demanding.
Variant no. 3 is the fastest traverse from all of the options. Going east-west requires more time and planning, and it is combined with bigger difficulties (less roads, more paths and sometimes the wilderness, crossing the rivers, long distances with no water). Choose it, if you are sure of your skills and you can survive far away from people. …
Crossing Iceland. Part 1: the route and preparations
I’m also researching options for bikepacking Iceland.
Kevin Ginisty and friends want to officially launch the Hexatrek by summer 2022. In fact, you can join them in the first year.
This 3000 km trail will connect 14 of the most beautiful nationals parks and crossing France from the Vosges to the Pyrenees.
The path follows the highest mountain regions of our hexagon, joining along the way some of the most emblematic summits, natural wonders and wildest places. …
The route has been designed to connect the most beautiful places and maximize wild camp use where it’s allowed.
They are fund-raising for the project. And the documentary.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
One of my favourite outdoors podcasts is 10 Adventures.
Check it out.
A good starting point is their interview with Jim Kern on how to Save America‘s Outdoors.
… As the founder of the Florida Trail, co founder of the American hiking society, and president of Big City Mountaineers, Jim has led an awe-inspiring life and career that has gone far beyond the scope of just his own adventures, helping at-risk youth by introducing them to the outdoors and inspiring real change. …
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
The John Muir Trail in California is our #2 hike in the world.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Though I’d hiked almost every segment over the years, this was my first time hiking over 200 miles continually.
There are hundreds of excellent JMT Trip Reports online. For example, I enjoyed Jai’s joyful photo journal from Aug 11-30, 2021.
Rather than post a detailed day-by-day account, here I’ll simply recount some of my own HIGHLIGHTS.
If this page is too long 😀 … watch highlights of my trip in less than 5 minutes.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Jai’s group finished one day before Forest Fire closures were announced.
We were lucky too. Aug 7 – 24, 2021. No closures. Haziest day was Aug 23rd near Whitney.
Climate change will — in future — increasingly make thru hikes of the John Muir Trail more difficult.
The other big worry on the JMT is afternoon lightning. This season Nicholas Torchia, 37-years-old, died after trying to take cover by leaning against a tree while hiking close to the John Muir Trail.
For this adventure, I was happy to have my old hiking buddies Brian and Rocco join me for the first week.
Hiking with friends is more fun. But logistics more complicated.
Under my failed leadership in the past, we are known as the Backcountry Bunglers. AND we managed to bungle logistics again — though the hiking itself was superb.
We had Pacific Crest Trail 500+ mile permits rather than JMT permits. PCT are much easier to get. BUT require that you start exactly the day and trailhead on the permit. Also, you have to carry a print copy. Lessons learned.
Near Reds Meadows we made the short detour to Rainbow Falls.
And Devil’s Postpile.
Rocco is a student of flora and fauna. He particularly enjoyed the many kinds of beautiful (and weird) trees.
When in town we felt obliged to CARBO LOAD in advance of our freeze dried future.
One of our favourite restaurants was Breakfast Club in Mammoth.
On the trail my dinners were mostly based on ramen, instant mashed potatoes and instant stuffing. REAL bacon pieces were one of my treats as were Jelly Belly.
Critical to a successful hike is footwear and foot management.
What worked best for me in the California dry heat was trail runners and Injiji toe socks. In fact, I left my usual Merrell Moabs in Mammoth after the first 5 days.
I cleaned and cooled my feet as often as possible during the day.
Mid-day I’d stop for about an hour to use solar power to recharge my devices.
In the Sierra Nevada there are plenty of opportunities to wild camp. Set up your tent anywhere not too close to water. … Unless it’s posted.
Late afternoon we had set up our tents … before noticing this sign.
It’s EASY to find fantastic places to tent. Actually.
Many on the JMT stick to the trail, unwilling to miss even a single official step. Not me.
I took 4 side trips:
On past hikes I’d never made the famed side trip to VVR.
On arrival, the new owners welcome you warmly and offer a free cold beer.
I’m really glad I did VVR this time, taking a ZERO miles recovery day. I met more people there than the rest of the days combined. Found myself at the same table with PhD students and veteran thru hikers.
I stayed for the Saturday night all-you-can-eat barbecue. $26.
Due to drought and low snow fall the previous winter, governments had held back water from Lake Thomas Edison. When this happens, the ferry can’t shuttle hikers to VVR. It’s a half day extra walking.
For me it was well worth the side trip.
I skipped the Ranch.
Highlights for one and all. Yet I’m disappointed I didn’t take more photos. I should have woken up more often to see the Milky Way.
The story of the southern JMT is climbing a high pass every day.
I enjoyed it. By Seldon I was feeling fit. My feet were great. In fact, I was in the BEST physical shape for hiking at the end of 19 days. It would have seemed EASY to hike back north.
Weather was good — but cold and windy when I reached famed Muir Pass hut.
Navigation is easy on the John Muir trail with most of the popular hiking apps.
I used Guthook and the free Maps.me app.
Another I really appreciated is the free PeakFinder app. You must download the regional data when online as there’s very little service on the JMT.
Of many, many impressive peaks en route — including Whitney — my favourite was Fin Dome.
The south gets higher and bleaker. I re-read DUNE on this section as it was appropriate to the environment. Hiking alone I was able to finish quite a few audio books, in fact.
Here’s the final push to the top of Whitney.
I was briefly the highest person in the lower 48.
Since the weather was good, I decided to have dinner atop the peak. Stay for sunset. It was very hazy.
A highlight, however, was walking down to Trail Camp on the far side of the mountain by headlamp and moonlight. My only night hiking of the trip.
Next morning I was up for dawn to enjoy my final morning on the John Muir Trail.
Finally down at Portal, we celebrated with the traditional burger and fries. Relived highlights with hikers whom I’d been walking with in parallel for many days.
A wonderful trip.
Emma Rowena (Caldwell) Gatewood, known as Grandma Gatewood was an American ultra-light hiking pioneer.
After a difficult life as a farm wife, mother of eleven children, and victim of domestic violence, she became famous as the first solo female thru-hiker of the 2,168-mile (3,489 km) Appalachian Trail (A.T.) in 1955 at the age of 67.
She subsequently became the first person (male or female) to hike the A.T. three times …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
besthike.com 