March 6th to April 19th.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
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.
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.
#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.
WHO is Hiking for Years?
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
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!)
BestHike #9 – Haute Route in the Alps
The Haute Route, from France to Switzerland, is one of our top 10 hikes in the world.
Click PLAY or watch a 1 minute introduction on YouTube.
Haute Route
Chamonix to Zermatt, Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn – in two weeks of mountain travel you will see the greatest collection of 4000 metre peaks in the Alps!
AT A GLANCE
- also known as the Walker’s High Route
- Alpine charm: valleys, lakes, glaciers
- great food, history, culture
- from Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe (4810m, 15,781ft)
- to the Matterhorn, the most beautiful peak in the alps
- 9-15 days
- 180+kms (112mi)
- best months June-Sept
- crosses 11 passes, gains more than 12,000m elevation
- difficult hiking
Read more on our Haute Route information page.
Michinoku Coastal Trail, Japan
Airbnb host in in Morioka, Iwate, Quinlan explains that it’s better to section hike parts of the NEW 1,000km Michinoku Coastal Trail as much of it is placed alongside roadways.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Official website.
It does look tempting.
$10,000+ to hike the Pacific Crest Trail
The average Pacific Crest Trail hiker 2022 spent $9593 on the adventure. Plus $1510 updating gear.
Details on Mac’s Halfway Anywhere Pacific Crest Trail Hiker Survey (2022)
Pacific Crest Trail GEAR 2022
Details on Mac’s Halfway Anywhere Pacific Crest Trail Hiker Survey (2022)
- Average pre-hike base weight 16.3 lbs (7.39 kg)
- Average backpack size 54 litres
- Most Common PCT Backpacks
- Most Common PCT Shelters
- Most Common PCT Sleeping Bags/Quilts
- Most Common PCT Shells
- PCT Hiker Apps
- 98.0% FarOut Guides
- 33.8% Garmin Explore App
- 18.9% Gaia GPS
There is much, much more on the Halfway Anyway survey results page.
