Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
Do you know the Way of St. James (Camino De Santiago)?
… the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried.
Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube. Martin Sheen did a great job depicting the experience.
I’m more likely to bike, than hike.
(via Gadling)
During the summer of 2011, a group of multimedia artists spent 25 days hiking the 219 mile long John Muir Trail. …
This is the first glimpse into their epic journey, accompanied by the single, ALMOST THERE by Opus Orange.
Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.
The John Muir Trail is our #2 hike in the world.
by site editor Rick McCharles
I hiked half the GR20 in June — trip report — and can confirm it’s bloody tough.
Guidebook author Kev Reynolds calls the GR20 high-level route across Corsica one of the toughest 3 treks in Western Europe.
GR stands for Grande Randonnée, which means big excursion in French. It is a network of long-distance footpaths in Europe, mostly in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. GR20 is considered to be the most difficult of all the GR routes. Its Corsican name is Fra li monti (sometimes spelled wrong as Fra li monte), what means “across the mountains” in Corsican. …
The trail is well marked with red and white rectangles on rocks, boulders and trees. Feeder paths are marked with one colour. There are also small stone heaps along the path. It’s still easy to get on a feeder path or to lose the way, so having a good map is necessary.
photo from David Nobel’s trip report
Possible side trips
Monte Corona — ascent to the 2144 m high summit at the end of the 1st stage (or the beginning of the 2nd stage).
Monte Cinto — ascent to the highest summit of Corsica (2706 m) at the end of the 3rd stage.
Monte Rotondo (Monte Ritondu) — ascent to the 2nd highest summit of Corsica (2622 m) in the 7th stage.
Monte Renoso — ascent to the 2352 m high summit above the glacial lake of Bastiani (2089 m) in the 11th stage.
All those text grabs are from corsica.forhikers.com
The best section is in the north.
Kev Reynolds compares it in difficulty to two other challenging adventures in Western Europe:
• Pyranean Haute Route
• Tour of the Oisans (GR54)
Speed-hiker extraordinaire Jennifer Pharr Davis this weekend set a new overall thru-hike record on the 2,181-mile Appalachian Trail. Her time of 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes, is the quickest recorded completion of the iconic East Coast trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. …
Note that she wore compression socks for some of her (average) 50mi days.
Salomon EXO IV Calf — Salomon’s EXO technology supports calf muscles, improving blood flow for better performance and recovery. …
Gear Junkie – Speed Hiker! Pharr Davis sets Record on Appalachian Trail
When Andrew Skurka says a trail is tough, it’s tough.
The Sierra High Route (SHR) is a 195-mile trekking route that runs north-south across the heart of the Sierra Nevada Range, through Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park, John Muir Wilderness, Ansel Adams Wilderness, and Yosemite National Park.
It is a rugged alternate to the John Muir Trail (JMT)– it boasts about 100 miles of cross-country travel, numerous Class III scrambles, and endless miles of boulder hopping. SHR hikers are rewarded with pristine alpine settings, long stretches of solitude, and a sense of true adventure.
I hiked the SHR in early-July 2008 with famed ultra runner Buzz Burrell, who at 56 years young is still going really strong. We were both taken back by the immensity of the High Sierra — its alpine regions are vaster than any other place we’d been in the Lower 48, in both length and girth, which is not necessarily the impression given by the JMT. I would have to imagine that this trip with Buzz will be just the first of several trips on the SHR. We comfortably did the entire route in 8 days and 4 hours, an average about 23 miles a day. …
Skurka’s site links to the best guidebook and Andrew’s personal Mapset & Databook.
I’m going to want GPS coordinates and a SPOT Satellite Messenger device.
Leave a comment if you might be interested in doing this trip summer 2012.
The ultimate long trek in the world, I reckon, is the Nepal section of the GHT.
The Great Himalaya Trail is one of the longest and highest walking trails in the world. Winding beneath the world’s highest peaks and visiting some of the most remote communities on earth, it passes through lush green valleys, arid high plateaus and incredible landscapes. Nepal’s GHT has 10 sections comprising a network of upper and lower routes, each offering you something different, be it adventure and exploration, authentic cultural experiences, or simply spectacular Himalayan nature. …
read more on The Great Himalaya Trail
2011 guidebook – Nepal Trekking & the Great Himalaya Trail (Trailblazer)
Thank Richard for the update. And for the link to an interview with thru hiker Shawn Forry (trail name Pepper). He and Trauma did 57 days carrying their own gear cache to cache. Some harsh sections.
One big problem with Nepal is the complexity and cost of trekking permits. They tried to do it legal, relying on Adventure Alliance in Kathmandu to organize the paperwork.
Respect guys.
James Vlahos in National Geographic:
… It’s midnight when I emerge from the forest atop a plateau beneath an infinite canopy of blackness and stars. The terrain ahead glows under the moon as if lit from within. Moving slowly, I cross a meadow and pass clusters of wizened mountain hemlocks. To the right something glimmers white, drawing me magnetically. Soon I stand transfixed by reflected moonlight that sweeps across an alpine lake to the base of a snowy massif. A light breeze drops to nothing, ripples in the lake go still, and the light coalesces into the single dot of the moon, the water around the reflection so placid that it reveals the pinpricks of stars.
This view at Island Pass in California’s High Sierra is sublime and rarely witnessed, too, though not for lack of hiker traffic. Every summer hundreds of people follow the route I’m hiking the John Muir Trail (JMT), which runs for 211 glorious miles from the base of Half Dome in the Yosemite Valley to the top of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48. En route are a dozen major passes, alpine lakes photographed by Ansel Adams, and granite whipped skyward like the surface of a giant lemon meringue pie. The trail is well loved—too well loved, if you value unbroken solitude in the wilderness. But almost nobody sees Island Pass like this, when scenery that’s merely pretty during the day becomes downright magical at night.
I’ve made moonlit hikes before, out-and-back walks of only a few miles. Those jaunts were so memorable that I was inspired this past summer to tackle the entire JMT that way. My plan was to sync my movements to the rise and set of the moon, which would typically encompass late afternoon, dusk, and several hours of moonlit night. …
read more – Star Trek: Yosemite to the Moon
Check our besthike JOHN MUIR TRAIL information page.
(via The Goat)
I happened upon this scene while driving near Idyllwild, California.
It’s a rest stop for PCT hikers.
Here’s “Dr. Sole“, Trail Angel volunteer at the time. He offers foot repair, much needed by hikers still at the very start of the 2,663 mi (4,286 km) long PCT.
It was a lot of fun chatting with the thru hikers. Actually, they’re just regular folks. You need not be some super hiker to try the PCT.
I’m quite inspired to do at least the first half of the PCT, one day. … Of course I’ll need the technology to be able to get online daily. 🙂
Here’s PCT thru hiker Joshua Pinedo.
And here’s one of his photos of the 2011 Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kick Off. (ADZPCTKO)
Looks like FUN.
What’s the date of ADZPCTKO 2012?
I’m contemplating putting it on my personal calendar. And go for the first couple of weeks, just to see how much I enjoy the experience.
Josh has already hiked the Appalachian Trail. He told me that AT Trail Days in Damascus, VA. (May 13-15th this year) is a drunken party.
PCT Kick Off is very serious, in contrast.
I’ve long disparaged ‘hiking canes‘, … despite evidence to the contrary. Most of the best hikers in the world use them for longer trips.
Yet I’m ready (finally) to try a pair. Here’s why my Adventure Racing team is testing them:
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Backpacker calls them the “best carbon poles we’ve ever tested“, awarding them the Editors’ Choice 2011 award.
besthike.com 