Category: long hikes

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Nepal’s Great Himalaya trail in 152 days

If I could do ANY thru hike in the world, it would be this one.

GreatHimalayanTrail-Map-600

… one continuous trek. The 152 day trek commences in the far east in the Kanchenjunga region where the world’s third highest peak stretches skyward, and traverses the country to the high plateaus on the Tibetan borderlands in the far west.

Along this 1700km trail you’ll encounter some of the wildest and most remote mountain environments imaginable. You’ll see all of Nepal’s 8000 metre peaks, cross tens of passes ranging from moderate to extreme and witness villages where the culture has remained intact for centuries.

It’s a trek that should only be considered by those with extensive trekking and mountaineering experience, a high level of fitness and a flexible approach as there will be the need to adapt to a range of situations throughout the trek. …

World Expeditions

Cost is about $35,000 / person, I’ve heard.

UPDATE:

Another agency — Adventure Geo Treks Deutschland — is offering the adventure over 167 days for about 16,000 euro or $23,000. Danke Dieter.

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The Empty Quarter – Trailer

Alastair Humphreys:

Wilfred Thesiger was one of my heroes. It was his books who inspired me to join (very briefly!) his old Boxing Club at university. They encouraged me to think ambitiously but simply about making big journeys. And when he died (I was cycling through South America at the time), I felt sad that I never had the opportunity to meet him.

Thesiger pushed himself hard to test himself. He lived ascetically, and scorned modern convenience, speed and luxury. The harder the life, he believed, the finer the person. His prose is simple and measured, thoughtful and honest. His photography was superb, particularly when you consider that he took fewer photographs in an entire expedition than I do on a single day. Thesiger “had the man’s courage to live out the boy’s dream.” And ever since I read Arabian Sands, I have dreamed of one day making a journey in Thesiger’s footsteps.

So Leon McCarron and I walked 1000 miles across the Arabian Peninsula, inspired by the spirit of Thesiger’s own expeditions in the Rub ‘al Khali desert, the Empty Quarter.

“Into The Empty Quarter” will tell the story of our journey.

Release date: Autumn 2013.

intotheemptyquarter.com

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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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.

 

 

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.