Category: long hikes

Posted on

International Appalachian Trail Ireland 120sec

In April 2010 Greenland became the seventh chapter of the International Appalachian Trail. The route is on the Nussuaq Peninsula near Uummannaq Fjord.

Greenland was followed by Scotland in June, when the West Highland Way became the first IAT trail in Europe.

In October 2010 the IAT expanded further into Europe when nine new chapters joined … The new chapters include Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, England, Ireland, Wales, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland.

In 2011 the IAT plans to expand to Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

The Irish leg begins at the Slieve League cliffs in Co Donegal and proceeds eastwards along the Bluestacks Way and then the Ulster Way and finally the Causeway Coast Way terminating in Ballycastle, Co Antrim.

Click PLAY or watch the first Irish thru-hike on YouTube.

I’m thinking it would be easier simply to name ALL hikes in the world part of the IAT. 🙂

Posted on

Great Himalaya Trail – celebrities needed

… On January 15, two of Nepal’s prominent mountaineers will embark on a 1,700 km trail lasting 120 days with the aim of bringing tourists and investment to less visited and underdeveloped parts of the country as well as highlight effects of climate change.

To do this, Apa Sherpa, who holds the world record of summiting Mount Everest 21 times and Dawa Steven Sherpa, who has reached the peak twice, will take part in the marathon walkathon starting in Ghunsa in easterner Nepal and ending in Darchula in the far west. …

Hindustan Times – The mother of all treks and climate change

They are looking for … “global sports personalities and Hollywood and Bollywood stars to join some such portion of the trail and give the much needed publicity to the effort.”

The Great Himalaya Trail

(via Adventure Blog)

Posted on

Pacific Crest Trail Journal

Kolby Kirk is some kind of Da Vinci of the trail. Check this sample page from his 2011 PCT journal.

I saw JEFF THROPE link to that on Adventure Journal:

… After being laid off from his job in April 2011, Kolby Kirk (The Hike Guy) decided he would attempt to complete as much as he could of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail.

Starting at the Mexican border near Campo, California, he walked for 159 days and nearly 1,700 miles. In that time, Kolby wrote 850 pages in his journals, a few of which he has started to scan …

Kolby is now working on a book …

Declination: Pacific Crest Trail Journals

More samples and links to Kolby via that post.

Adventure Journal was ranked #1 Adventure Blog by Ouside, by the way.

Posted on

walking home from Mongolia

Rob Lilwall and Leon McCarron are surviving (so far) a mid-winter a 5,000km winter expedition through the heart of China.

Carrying all of their gear, they will start amidst the wastelands of Outer Mongolia from where they will head south by foot through the Gobi Desert. Crossing into China, they will follow the Great Wall down to the turbulent waters of the Yellow River, where they will inflate the kayaks in order to paddle downstream to the legendary city of Xi An. Leaving the water, they will then hike onwards through the snow-capped mountains of central China, until finally they reach their finishing point at the glittering skyscrapers of Hong Kong.

The Expedition

Or follow them on Facebook.

Posted on

Thru-hikes are expensive

Take a Long Hike has a sobering post …

… Let’s consider the Appalachian Trail, 2178 miles long. The days of averaging a dollar a mile are long gone, although it can be done. Twenty-three years ago, Roland Mueser, in his later book, Long Distance Hiking–Lessons from the Appalachian Trail, came up with an average cost of $3200.00 dollars or about $1.50 a mile. But that was 1989. …

So what about today? Figure about $2.50 a mile, or $5500.00 for the A.T., and that is conservative. One recent blogger said he wouldn’t feel comfortable unless he had saved $10,000 for the hike. …

Take a Long Hike – Thru-hikes are expensive

Ouch.

Posted on

Te Araroa – the long pathway

Is finally opening officially.

Te Araroa is a foot trail stretching from Cape Reinga in the North of New Zealand to Bluff in the South.

mapOpening at the end of 2011, Te Araroa is one of the world’s longest walking trails. Hundreds of volunteers have helped create the continuous 3000 kilometre-long route.

Down the coastline, through the forest, across farmland, over volcanoes and mountain passes, along river valleys, and on green pathways through seven cities. …

official website – teararoa.org.nz

Buzz Burrell:

Leave it to the Kiwi’s to come up with a clever slogan:

“Because it wasn’t there.”

(via Adventure Blog)

Posted on

hiker of the year – Jennifer Pharr Davis

National Geographic Adventurers of the Year 2012:

The Hiker: Jennifer Pharr Davis

… For the last 40 years, men have held the Appalachian Trail record. In the last 20, it’s been confined to an elite club of ultra runners who typically covered the requisite 30 to 50 miles per day in an 11- to 13-hour period.

Conventional wisdom suggested that breaking the record would mean running faster with the same strategy. And a new record holder would most certainly be male.

Pharr Davis, 28, took the standard strategy and turned it upside down. Moving from north to south, she covered the trail’s 2,181 miles by hiking for 16 hours a day beginning at 4:45 in the morning and walking well into darkness. To stick to an average pace of 47 miles a day, she slept on the trail or at road crossings to eliminate needless commute times to and from the trail. Her husband, Brew Davis, served as the support crew.

Pharr Davis trained by hiking rather than running—and the novel approach worked.
…

details

Follow her Tumblr blog – Becoming Odyssa. It supports her book – Becoming Odyssa: Epic Adventures on the Appalachian Trail (2010).

Posted on

NEW – Great Eastern Trail USA

The Great Eastern Trail Association, working with American Hiking Society and local trail partners are creating America’s newest long distance hiking trail. This path is 1800 miles long and crosses nine states. …

official website – maps page

(via TakeaLongHike)

Posted on

Africa Trek – Alexandre & Sonia Poussin

Alexandre and Sonia Poussin are two impressive adventurers.

I’ve just finished vol. 1 of their 3yr, 14,000km, walk of the length of Africa epic. They traveled the Rift valley.

Amazon – Africa Trek I: From the Cape of Good Hope to Mount Kilimanjaro

Here are some video highlights. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Volume 1 was translated very quickly into English resulting in some interesting word usage. Most entertaining en Anglais.

I’m keen to follow up with Africa Trek II: From Mount Kilimanjaro to the Sea of Galilee. Unfortunately it’s not available as an audio book in English, so it I may never get to it. These days it’s pretty much audio or nothing, for me.