Category: long hikes

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BestHike #2 – John Muir Trail, California

John Muir Trail is one of our top 10 hikes in the world.

Click PLAY or watch a 1-minute preview on YouTube.

John Muir Trail

If there’s a hiker’s paradise on earth, it’s the JMT in the Sierra Nevadas.

213 miles without a road. Fantastic weather. 11 high passes. Unbelievable nonstop vistas. And Mt Whitney.

AT A GLANCE

Yosemite map
  • Yosemite, Ansel Adams and John Muir wilderness, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks
  • 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
  • carry your own food and tent
  • JMT about 10% the length of the Pacific Crest Trail

Read more on our John Muir Trail information page.

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Women – 140 days Great Himalaya Trail

Wow. What an undertaking.

The Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) Women Leaders on the Trail Campaign (GHT Women Leaders campaign) is a once in a lifetime opportunity to elevate the roles and status of female Nepali guides and porters in Nepal.

The campaign involves organizing a group of female Nepali guide(s) and porters to trek on the Great Himalaya Trail for 140 days beginning February until July of 2024.

This campaign is in support of the mission of the non-profit human rights organization, The Porter Voice Collective, which aims to advocate for the human rights of porters in Peru, Nepal & Tanzania via all forms of media and storytelling. …

Details

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Anu Shrestha, Campaign Manager (Nepal)

Gauri Malakar, Campaign Advisor

Sara Frenning, PVC Researcher & Campaign Coordinator, Videographer

Pema T. Sherpa, GHT Logistics Coordinator

Marinel de Jesus, Campaign Manager (Global)

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Thor Pedersen 203 Nations without Flying

Trailer for the planned 2024 documentary called THE IMPOSSIBLE JOURNEY.

Danish traveler and adventurer Torbjørn C. Pedersen (Thor) made history on May 23rd by becoming the first person ever to visit every country without air travel. …

Onboard a container ship, he arrived in Male, the capital of the Maldives, marking his 203rd and final country.

Thor, a Salomon ambassador, described the journey as “an incredible and challenging adventure that aimed to promote peace, understanding and cultural exchange while raising awareness about global issues”.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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Chris Lewis Walked 19,000 Miles, 6 Years

An ex-paratrooper has completed a 19,000 mile walk around the UK coast and raised £500,000 in the process.

Chris Lewis, 43, was joined by hundreds of cheering supporters as he finished the final mile of his journey …

He set off with just £10 in his pocket and has returned with a fiancee, a baby son named Magnus and a pet dog called Jet. …

Mr Lewis, who served with 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, struggled to cope after entering civilian life.

He decided to walk the UK coast after suffering anxiety and depression. …

BBC
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Overrated ➙ Scotland’s West Highland Way

I was looking forward to the West Highland Way in 2009. Ended up quitting early. Now we don’t recommend that adventures.

There are MANY better hikes in Scotland.

Kraig Adams went in 2023. And his lovely drone videos make it look appealing.

Watch his entire video, however, and you’ll see he was tortured by midges.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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NEW – Pamir Trail, Tajikistan

The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains. …

The Pamir Highway, the world’s second highest international road, runs from Dushanbe in Tajikistan to Osh in Kyrgyzstan through the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, and is the isolated region’s main supply route. …

The Pamir Trail is a proposed 1000km+ route. A work in progress.

Jan Baaker, author of Cicerone Trekking in Tajikistan, hopes to connect the entire route in 2024.

We wish him luck. Some of the rivers can be impassable.

To learn more, click through to the PamirTrail.org.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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#4 best hiking region in the world is the …

Sierra Nevada

The longest, highest, most diverse mountain range in the continental United States is not the Rockies. It’s the Sierra Nevada range in California.

Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite … everyone loves these mountains.

In the summer of 2007 we met a hiker there who enjoyed 41 days in a row of perfect weather. Where else in the mountains can you get that? (Starting day 42 he had pounding hail and was at risk of death by lightning.)

The range is about the same size as the Alps, 430mi long, 40-80mi wide. It’s all great.

Many come here specifically to climb Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous States. Others come to see astonishing Yosemite Valley. And to scramble Half Dome.

Lower elevation hikes are accessible year-round. The Parks are within easy driving distance of major urban areas and, unusual for the USA, have good public transportation. Kids love this region.

In fact, everyone leaves John Muir’s “Range of Light” elated.

More information on our new Sierra Nevada information page.

Our favourite hike in the Sierra Nevada is the John Muir Trail, our #2 hike in the world. (Every photo of the JMT is a postcard.)

See our JMT Information page.

A good starting point is the somewhat dated Lonely Planet Hiking in the Sierra Nevada – Mock & O’Neil, 2002. There are many other good guidebooks for this region, however.

Lonely Planet Hiking in the Sierra Nevada

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WHO is Hiking for Years?

Rebecca McPhee:

Long-Distance Hiking Roundup

  • Alexander Campbell – plans to walk 40,000km across 30 countries
  • Paul Salopek – possibly 15 years walking the original migration route of humans
  • Yann Busnel – 50,000km the southern tip of Africa, to Cape Horn, South America
  • Karl Bushby – Chile to England, around the world
  • Angela Maxwell –  32,000km across four continents and 14 countries
  • Juls Stoden – hiking to every bothy in the UK
Karl Bushby’s route so far
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Carly Hiked the Vancouver Island Trail

Solo.

Approximately 800km / 500miles

She saw no other hikers outside the 2 provincial parks.

There are multiple route options, but here’s the gist.

Carly Wiechnik:

The two higher elevation mountainous sections, the Beauforts and Strathcona, can be snow covered until the end of June, and snow can begin to fall again around the month of October.

A thru-hike might take a month (fast) to six weeks (slower), which can easily fit into the window of July-September.

The best month to hike would probably be August, as by then the snow is mostly gone in the higher elevations, precipitation is low and it is warm and dry. (However, campfire bans are common around this time to prevent wildfires). Coastal trails are also less muddy. …

Resupply: A cool thing about the VIT is that it goes straight through towns at reasonable intervals, so it’s easy to hit up a grocery store every 3-6 days …

Vancouver Island Trail: Recap (and Tips!)