Category: long hikes

We got an important comment from the official AT.

UPDATE:

“Actually the terminii of the Appalachian Trail were determined by an act of the U.S. Congress when it established it as the first National Scenic Trail in 1968. To “lengthen” the official Trail would take a similar act of Congress.”

Martin A. Bartels – www.appalachiantrail.org

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original post:

Most finish the AT at Mount Katahdin, Maine.

But the Appalachian Mountains continue into Canada. Surely the standard 2,175mi is not long enough.

You could cross the U.S.-Canada border at Fort Fairfield and add another 500mi or so. This is one of the extensions referred to as the International Appalachian Trail.

Trek Through to the True End of the Appalachian Mountains – GORP

But is that far enough?

Why not extend your walk through to the north tip of Newfoundland?

source – InternationalAT.org

Walking for walking’s sake is not necessarily a good thing. Because it’s there, not a good enough reason.

Be discriminating when you choose your hikes. That’s what besthike.com is all about.

Life is short.

Ken Powers and his wife Marcia have done all four: Appalachian, Pacific Crest, Continental Divide and — a weak fourth — the American Discovery Trail.

larger version

Having done none of the four myself, I was interested in their answer to this question:

Which trail is the hardest, best, prettiest, most fun?

This is a difficult question to answer. The Appalachian Trail is usually considered the hardest because of it greater (and steeper) elevation gains.

But many things on the AT seem easier because of its proximity to civilization. Sometimes it is too easy to go off-trail to get pizza and ice cream.

Best, prettiest, and most fun becomes a subjective question. We usually say the Pacific Crest Trail is the prettiest. It seemed to have the most views per mile. But the Continental Divide Trail also had great views and was our greatest accomplishment. The constant focus on navigating the CDT was an additional challenge.

The western portion of the ADT also has incredible views. The red rock areas of Utah are incredibly beautiful, but bring your own water.

We felt the Appalachian Trail was a more social trail. There were many more hikers and the frequent shelters became a gathering place for hikers every night. The trail passes through hardwood forests for most of the trail. The views are limited by the constant cover of leaves. Our AT hike was very different than hiking in the western states.

FAQs

(via Two-Heel Drive)

I saw on the Two Heel Drive blog details of the Eden to Addo Corridor Initiative.

UPDATE – This hilarious picture (the socks are not hers) comes from a collection contributed by 7 hikers, so far. It gives you a good feel for this new hike.

more photos on a group shared Flickr photo stream

This extreme hiking experience is the first of its kind in South Africa, and your opportunity to traverse more than 400km of mountain landscape in the Southern Cape in support of the establishment of conservation corridors.

The objective of the Mega-Hike, is two-fold, firstly to give hikers the opportunity of walking through remarkable landscapes and secondly to raise funds for the Eden to Addo Conservation Corridor Initiative. The mega-hike is an inspiring walk through some of the most incredible landscapes of the region linking various nature reserves, national parks, working farms, communities and private lands.

official Eden to Addo Corridor Initiative website

Most PCT thru-hikers will start from Campo on the Mexican border after the annual kickoff party in late April or early May and hike northbound to Manning Provincial Park along the U.S-Canadian border in 5 to 6 months, averaging about 20 miles a day. Some PCT thru-hikers will finish in 4.5 months–starting in mid-May and finishing in late-September, averaging about 22 miles a day with a zero (rest) day every 7-10 days. Planning to do it this quickly, however, doesn’t factor in time for contingencies like illness and other medical issues.

plan your trip on the pacific crest trail – Backpacker