long hikes – Page 44 – besthike.com

April 11, 2007

check out Florida Hikes

Guidebook author Sandra Friend runs the Florida Hikes website. We’ve linked to it under WEBSITES on the right hand navigation.

She’s just revamped the site and it looks great.

Happily, Sandra will be advising besthike.com on the very best hikes in Florida. And will introduce us to other experts in the region.

She’s is always on the trail in Florida and networks with the SE hiking community. Sandra’s friends with Mike DeWitt of Florida Trail video fame.

Sandra got a good photo of Mike, exposing the fact that he is no ultralight walker:

Now hereâ€™s a real comparison in pack weight for long distance hikers. To the left, Mike â€œSmileageâ€ DeWitt, with a pack that many of us gals could crawl into and sleep in, itâ€™s so danged big. He wonâ€™t say but Iâ€™m guessing it tips the scales past 50 pounds. To the right, the esteemed Nimblewill Nomad and his pack, roughly 12 pounds with water. I split the difference when Iâ€™m hikingâ€¦.

floridahikes.com Â» Pack Weight

Florida Hikes! – website

Here’s just one of Sandra’s guidebooks:

50 Hikes in South Florida: Walks, Hikes, and Backpacking Trips in the Southern Florida Peninsula, First Edition

April 10, 2007

only 6,875 miles left to hike

Andrew Skurka has begun his â€œGreat Western Loopâ€ â€” nearly 7,000 miles!

I’ll be following this adventure. It may just be the greatest thru hike of all time.

You can get email updates by signing up on his official website. (The RSS feeds for photos and podcasts are not up-and-running as yet.)

April 7, 7AM – Just about everything has come together over the last 24 hours and I am feeling confident in my level of logistical preparedness for this trip.

My maildrops are about 75 percent packed (all the maps, most of the supplies and food, and some of the gear), my extra gear has been neatly organized in the basement so that it can be sent out quickly and correctly when I need it, the website is pretty much dialed ….

Andrew Skurka

(via Cutter’s blog)

April 8, 2007

best section of the Colorado Trail?

Running 479mi from Denver to Durango, the Colorado Trail is a classic. It shares about 200mi with the CDT.

planning – ColoradoTrail.org

For those of us who do not have a long month, what’s the best section?

Outdoor Magazine recommends:

… concentrate your efforts during a ten-day romp along a remote 95-mile ribbon that runs just east of San Luis Peak to Molas Pass, in the southwestern part of the state.

Start at Spring Creek Pass, 33 miles northwest of Creede amid the 13,000-foot-plus San Juan Mountains. Plan on grinding up to 15 miles a day along airy ridges, down steep gorges, and up winding switchbacks.

You’ll spend four days cruising above tree line, at nearly 12,000 feet, and the closest you’ll come to a town (Lake City) is about 17 miles, which means tackling thousands of vertical feet each day with a heavy pack.

Take a break and frolic in Snow Mesa, a flat, grassy expanse so huge it takes a few hours to cross.

Outdoor

Sounds great. We’ve added San Luis Pass to Molas Pass to our list of the best hikes of the world.

ColoradoTrail.org calls it Section 6 – San Luis Pass to Molas Pass (advanced difficulty).

Next, what’s the best guidebook?

Colorado Trail: The Official Guidebook (Colorado Mountain Club Guidebooks)

Get packing!

April 3, 2007

video – Florida Trail hike

Superbly edited slide show of journalist Mike DeWitt’s hike of the Florida Trail.

His reporting of that adventure was a huge hit, as well.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(Thanks Joe Moraca)

March 29, 2007

Scott Williamson Yo-Yo-ing the PCT, twice

Recommended – A great audio podcast was posted by BackpackingLight.com.

Scott Williamson is best known for his thru-hikes of the Pacific Crest Trail. He has walked the trail nine times in its entirety, including a Yo-Yo from Mexico to Canada and back – twice.

… topics from his 191-day Yo-Yo of the PCT in 2006, including the psychological challenge of touching the Canadian border and having to turn around and go back; on-trail surgery for septic blood poisoning; the use of ultralight footwear (by Inov8) for long-distance hiking; and more.

Scott is featured in an upcoming film about long distance hiking on the PCT entitled Tell It On the Mountain.

Podcast: Scott Williamson and Yo-Yo-ing the Pacific Crest Trail @ Backpacking Light

That same page hosts a trailer of the soon-to-be-released film.

movie – Tell It On The Mountain (official website)

Scott Williamson – official website

Scott and his new bride will be doing the PCT the summer of 2007. Congratulations and good luck!

March 21, 2007

3300 miles around the Alps

We recently posted Andrew Skurka’s audacious 7000mi Great Western Loop. I doubt there are any unbelievers.

In Europe Judy Armstrong has already begun a 3300mi quest she’s calling the Alpine Challenge, the first to attempt to circumambulate the Alps.

Judy has a fantastic website â€” AlpineChallenge.info posted in four languages!

Check the brilliant way she shows the map of her intended route.

And her detailed gear list: 7.13kg (15lb 11oz).

You look terrifically well organized Judy. Good luck!

March 19, 2007

Andrew Skurka attempts the “Great Western Loop”

Walk the entire west of the USA? Is he crazy?

Skurka is the man these days. (We link to him from the right hand navigation under HIKERS if you want to check on his progress.)

Andrew starts as soon as April 1st. Good luck!

The numbers tell half the story: 7,000 miles, 7 months, 12 national parks, 75+ designated wilderness areas, 5 existing long-distance trails, 2 desert traverses, and zero attempts or completions to date. …

In early-April I will begin the Great Western Loop, in a location and direction that will depend on this winter’s snowpack (I’m leaning towards going counter-clockwise, starting near California San Gorgonio Pass). This is going to be an awesome trip!

And, to a greater degree than ever, those who wish to will be able to share in the experience via a soon-to-be overhauled AndrewSkurka.com website, Podcasts, and more frequent postings of photos and updates. With this enhanced trip interactivity, I’m hoping to help others develop a stronger connection with the outdoors, which I think is a key component in a much-needed, more eco-friendly lifestyle that emphasizes doing more with less and minimizing one’s impact on our planet.

More details will be forthcoming over the next 2 months.

AndrewSkurka.com

February 21, 2007

Snowman Trek, Bhutan

Rogier Gruys is an expert on the West Coast Trail in Canada, the hike we rated #1 in the world. Rogier’s BluePeak Travel Photography pics of the WCT are still the best we’ve ever seen.

But Rogier likes the Snowman Trek even better.

Very few have ever done that long Himalayan trek (minimum 19 days) due to high cost (US$200 / day) and high risk.

The Snowman trek is the most difficult trek in Bhutan because one has to walk and camp at high altitude for nearly three weeks. As long as one has no problems with the high altitude and the weather is good, it is not a particularly difficult trek. But, if something were to happen along the way, someone would have to carry you down to the nearest house, or try to find a telephone to get a helicopter from Thimphu. Both are often several days’ walk. Initially, many people planned and wanted to go with us on the trek, but in the end they all bailed out and only two of us went.

Snowman trek description, Bhutan

BluePeak photo – high resolution version – flickr

Rogier recommends the Cicerone guidebook. It’s essential advanced reading for anyone considering trekking in Bhutan.

Bhutan: A Trekker’s Guide (Cicerone)

December 24, 2006

John Muir Trail in 15 days

Jeffrey Hunter, Southeast Trail Programs Director of the American Hiking Society, did the JMT August 11 – 25 this past summer.

He recommends August as biting insects are in decline, “water is still plentiful, and the days are long”.

I can do long days, myself. Having never thru-hiked it, I would try for a fast trip like this. For one thing, it reduces the amount of food I would have to carry on the challenging second half.

Thanks for the advice.

Check Jeffrey’s blog: Southern Appalachians Initiative

Kings Canyon National Park – Jeffrey Hunter

This is just one of his 2006 – The Hiking Year in Pictures series.

John Muir Trail – more information

December 19, 2006

book – Ten Million Steps

Ten million steps is the incredible story of a 10-month walk from the Florida Keys to Quebec.

“Eb” Eberhart has another book, Where Less the Path is Worn: First Trek O’er Appalachians of North America, recounting a 347-day trek, over 5000mi, from Belle Isle, Newfoundland to the tip of Key West, Florida.

After getting medical advice he needed a pacemaker, Eb instead he walked over 17,000mi since 1998. If you see him on the trail, he goes by the monicker of Nimblewill Nomad. Age-68, he is not slowing down yet. He did the Lewis and Clark Trail in 2006.