NEW – John Muir Trail

We’ve updated and moved our JMT information page.

AT A GLANCE

  • one of our top 10 hikes in the world
  • start in stunning Yosemite, Muir’s “Range of Light”
  • 223mi (360km) to Whitney Portal adding sidetrips to Half Dome, Vermillion Resort and Mt. Whitney 14,505ft (4,421m)
  • 15-21 days recommended
  • most hikers carry their own food and tent (pack animals can be hired, however)

Rick on the JMT

… read more here

If you’ve hiked the John Muir recently, check that page for accuracy. We’ve not been there since 2007. Too long.

 

 

Alastair Humphreys – Greenland

In the last 100 years, twelve people have stood on the moon, more than 500 have been into space, and more than five thousand have climbed Everest. Yet the journey Captain Scott and his team died trying to complete a century ago remains unrealised. No one has ever walked from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back again.

… Ben Saunders, Alastair Humphreys and Martin Hartley take on arguably the most ambitious polar expedition in the last century: the four-month Scott 2012 – the first return journey to the South Pole on foot, and at 1,800 miles, the longest unsupported polar journey in history. …

Click PLAY or watch 2012 training expedition on Vimeo.

The Scott Expedition did not go in 2012.

Instead, an expanded Team starts October 2013. Wish them luck.

NEW – GR 20 Corsica

We’ve posted a new information page on the GR 20 in Corsica, France.

I hiked the more difficult, rugged northern half in 2011.

Europe’s toughest trek250px-Corse_in_France.svg

… The trail (conceived by Michel Fabrikant back in 1970) is long (even if you walk half of it) and tough. Don’t underestimate it! You need to be fit, well trained but most of all you must be highly motivated. …

 

The path is basic: i.e. there actually is no real path underfoot for 98% of the time. So much that on many occasions if you don’t see the next waymark or cairn you won’t know where to go. Seriously. In addition to that forget the flat path you’re probably used to; most of the time you’ll walk on rugged and tormented terrain, rocks, stones galore, granite slabs … you get the idea. Get used to it. …

 

The huts are basic. If we leave out the minor exceptions of the decent buildings at Haut Asco and Castel de Verghio, the huts are small rudimentary (some of them) bergerie-style buildings with small suffocating dormitories …

My advice instead is to bring your own tent. …

AT A GLANCE

  • corsicamorenkop one of the best treks in the world
  • 180km
  • 15 days (many hike only half)
  • 19,000m of ascent and descent
  • sleep in tents or mountain huts (refuges or gîtes)
  • hiking permit not required. Reservations for the refuges recommended.
  • located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the Italian island of Sardinia

GR_20_map

read more – BestHike GR 20 information page

fastest PCT ever – Heather Anderson

High Country News:

Heather Anderson, 32, arrived in the dark around midnight on Aug. 7, exhausted and alone.

… she set two even more impressive records, becoming the fastest woman to hike the PCT (in 60 days), and the fastest self-supported hiker – male or female – breaking a 2011 record by nearly four days. …

Anish

HCN: What motivated you to try to set a speed record?

HA: I first thru-hiked the PCT in 2005, and it’s one of those funny things you think about while you’re out there. I saw people attempting speed records and wondered how fast I’d be. I like the idea of seeing how far I can push my body. (I had) a lot of fears and weaknesses that I wanted to address, and there had never been a woman that had done a self-supported attempt of this length. …

HCN: How many miles a day were you hiking?

HA: Between 40 and 50 miles every day. I hiked a lot in the dark. That was one of the challenges that I knew I wanted to overcome. I was scared of mountain lions, and I’ve always been terrified of being out at night. In the past, if it was starting to get dark and I hadn’t found a place to camp, I’d literally be running down the trail almost crying. So on this trip I made myself hike three or four hours each night. I saw four mountain lions. …

Woman breaks an all-time fastest Pacific Crest Trail record

Pacific Crest Trail Days – Sept 6-8

From September 6-8, 2013 the 7th annual Pacific Crest Trail Days will take place in Cascade Locks, Oregon!

PCT DAYS 2013 is a great time for people to check out the latest outdoor products and gear, participate in classes and activities, play in the disc golf tournament, visit with old and new friends, listen to music & watch movies, and celebrate the past, present and future of the Pacific Crest Trail.

The event site is bordered by the Columbia River and surrounded by the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area; an area where the Pacific Crest Trail and other trails offer access to some of the most beautiful scenery in Pacific Northwest. …

PCTDays2013colorflyer

read more on PCTA.org

researching Manaslu Circuit

The Manaslu Trek (or Manaslu Circuit Trek) is a 14-day tea-house trek which circumnavigates the 8th highest peak in the world (8,156 m). …

map

The trek is much easier than it used to be with greatly improved trails along the Budi Gandaki river gorge. In terms of difficulty, it is comparable with the Annapurna Circuit Trek or Everest Base Camp trek. Its highlight is undoubtedly the spectacular unhindered views of Manaslu.

Just over 2,000 people complete the trek per year with more than half visiting in October. This is substantially fewer than visiting Annapurna, Everest or Langtang. There are two main reason for the fewer numbers.

The first reason is that the trek used to require camping, as there were too few tea-houses …

The second reason is that the trek has restricted area status. This means it requires a special permit … that the group have two or more members and that a registered trekking guide accompanies the group.

wikitravel

I’d like the option to trek alone. Therefore, Manaslu is probably out … though I’ll double check if and when I go to Nepal in November.

Some hikers with permits manage to do it independently.

Man

The best website I’ve found is Manaslu Circuit Trek.

Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail

Here’s ANOTHER (fairly) new long distance trail.

The Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT), now designated as the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, is a 1200 mile hiking trail running from the Continental Divide in Montana (connecting it with the Continental Divide Trail), through the northern panhandle of Idaho, to the Pacific coast of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. It traverses the Rocky Mountains, Selkirk Mountains, Pasayten Wilderness, North Cascades, Olympic Mountains, and Wilderness Coast. The trail crosses three National Parks and seven National Forests. The trail was designated a national scenic trail in 2009. …

The trails route was first conceived and explored by Ron Strickland in 1970. …

click for LARGER map
click for LARGER map

related:

Ron Strickland – The Pacific Northwest Trail, a National Scenic Trail

Pacific Northwest Trail Strip Maps

Ron Strickland’s book: Pathfinder – Blazing a New Wilderness Trail in Modern America

NEW – Oregon Desert Trail

A 33-year-old hiker has just become the first person to hike a proposed trail that spans roughly 800 miles across Oregon’s high desert.

The trail runs from Bend to the Owyhee Canyonlands near the Idaho border. The Oregon Desert Trail — as it’s being called — connects many wilderness areas and proposed wilderness areas. …

read more – 800 Miles Of Juniper And Jack Rabbits: First Hiker Completes Oregon Desert Trail

Click through that link to hear an audio interview with Sage Clegg.

Clegg

Water was her biggest problem. She cached some in advance in order to complete the mission.

click for FULL SIZE map
click for FULL SIZE map