Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
Just started to upload my best photos of our big Adventure Sports Week event in Idaho.
see more on flickr
Good FUN so far. Not much sleep.
I was a “leader” for a kid’s Adventure Race, Saturday. (My team finished last after 4.5hrs. But we had a GREAT day.)
It was an honour to assist arguably the greatest Adventure Racer of all time, Mike Kloser (PDF), in the children’s clinic before the race.
I’ve criticized Bear Grylls in the past.
But it’s with mixed feelings that I link to this mocking News article:
The Scout law begins with a solemn declaration that ‘A Scout is to be trusted’.
So one might expect the figurehead of Britain’s 450,000 Scouts to be one of the most trustworthy men in the country.
But the woggle of Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the youth movement, must be spinning in his grave at the news that his latest successor as Chief Scout is TV presenter Bear Grylls – whose survival programmes were rumbled for containing faked scenes. …
Mail Online – Scouts pick TV’s action man faker Bear Grylls as their chief
In the real world, Grylls is likely to inspire the Scouts. And build that wonderful program.
I wish him luck.
… Perhaps Ray Mears would have been a better choice, though.
Tom Mangan— I’ve heard that name before … somewhere — published an article on hiking guru Brian Frankle of ULA-Equipment.
Frankle’s ULA-Equipment essentially goes out of business every fall, when he shuts down his garage-based backpack factory in Logan, Utah, and hits the trail, typically for weeks or months along little-known routes like Utah’s Hayduke Trail or Idaho’s Centennial Trail.
Then it’s back to the sewing machines.
“Basically, from the day that I reopen in November until all the way to the day that I close, it’s full-on,” Frankle says. “I’m in here 10 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Sounds like a crazy workload, but Frankle’s grown into it over the decade since he completed the Pacific Crest Trail in 1999. He started ULA-Equipment in 2001 to bridge a gap: commercially built backpacks were too heavy, and ultra-light packs were too bare-bones.
Trailspace – Gear Maker Profile: Brian Frankle of ULA-Equipment
(via Two-Heel Drive) … and Facebook
I am looking for a new multi-day hiking pack this season. My beloved Granite Gear Virga is getting “holey” and is somewhat underfeatured to carry my preferred gear list.
Deia Schlosberg & Gregg Treinish were named Adventurers of the Year by one of the National Geographic magazines.
Congratulations.
Two years. 7,800 miles. No roads. That was how Deia Schlosberg, 28, and Gregg Treinish, 26, vowed to trek the length of the Andes. They had no idea what they were getting into. Beginning in Papallacta, Ecuador, the two Montana-based wilderness educators cobbled together a route of llama tracks, old Inca roads, and forgotten trade paths down the spine of the world’s longest mountain range. It was an Andes few outsiders had seen before. For good reason: “We were lost the entire time,” Treinish says. “Every time we wanted to quit, we were so far in the middle of nowhere that it wasn’t even an option.” …
National Geographic Adventure – Trekking the forgotten Andes
As I write I’m listening to their audio interview on Wend magazine.
… successfully completed the trek, after covering 56 degrees of the globe, trekking more than 7800 miles, we became the first two people to backpack the Andes Mountain Range, the first two to walk it through the mountains without relying on roads, and Deia became the first woman to have walked South America. …
It was a struggle at many times. There are no fixed long distance trails.
home page – Across the Andes
Sadly I missed the world’s greatest hiker when he spoke in my city last week.
He’s on tour following his 11,000-kilometre Great Western Loop in 208 days, a blistering pace of 53 kilometres per day.
Next on his calendar:
Thurs, Nov 20 — National Geographic Adventurer of the Year — Washington DC
Sat, Nov 22 — Explorers Festival – Lodz, Poland
Fri, Jan 9 — Cuyahoga Valley National Park — Brecksville, OH
Thurs, Jan 15 — Mystic Seaport — Mystic, CT
events will be updated on his services page.
Guidebook author Sandra Friend has done it again. Added another cool online feature.
A new free resource for hikers: head on over to the Florida Trail website to download yourself a set of Grab-and-Go Hikes. … These are mini-guides to popular day hikes (many with opportunities for camping) along the Florida Trail, and include mileages, directions, and a map.
Quality is excellent. Here are screenshots from the Big Oak Trail PDF download:
Florida Trail Association – Grab-and-Go Hikes
Check out, too, Sandra’s main website: FloridaHikes.com
Jim Denevan made the world’s largest freehand drawing a few weeks ago on a dry lake in Nevada. How big is it? Three mile across, which took 100 miles of walking to draw the pattern:
… The artist says: “My drawings are made totally freehand – large, then shrunk (if photographed).” “At low tide on wide beaches Jim searches the shore for a wave tossed stick. After finding a good stick and composing himself in the near and far environment Jim draws– laboring up to 7 hours and walking as many as 30 miles. The resulting sand drawing is made entirely freehand with no measuring aids whatsoever.” …
The Art of Jim Denevan – official website
(via Dark Roasted Blend – The Largest Human-Made Art on Earth)
Tom Mangan’s Two-Heel Drive is the most popular hiking blog on the Google.
But does Tom Mangan actually carry Tom Mangan’s 10 Essentials for Day Hiking the Bay Area on the trail?
I’ve assembled my version of the 10 things I need for a happy hike in the Bay Area, where the notable absence of such climate annoyances as blizzards and hurricanes means we don’t have to dwell on the 10 Essentials for Wilderness Survival unless we really, really screw up.
1. A water supply
2. A reliable map
3. Comfortable socks
4: Comfortable shoes
5. Underwear that doesn’t chafe
6. Something to keep crud out of your shoes
7. Nylon hiking pants
8. Something to block the sun
9. Nourishment
10. The real 10 Essentials
I’d love to tell the world that Tom actually hikes barefoot — with only a Diet Coke for provisions. But it was not so on our hike last weekend.
Tom Mangan
Unfortunately for me, Tom walked the talk on the first 9 of 10. (I’m only assuming his underwear were comfortable.) Tom even had healthy snacks. (I stopped at Rotten Ronnie’s on the way to the trailhead.)
Once again, Tom Mangan makes me, the best hiker, look bad by comparison.
Dang.
Here are a few of the 10 real essentials Tom left at home:
3. INSULATION.
4. ILLUMINATION.
5. FIRST-AID SUPPLIES.
6. FIRE.
7. REPAIR KIT AND TOOLS.
10. EMERGENCY SHELTER.
Mangan’s 10 Essentials for Happy Hiking – Two-Heel Drive
Istvan Hernadi has travelled over 30,000 kilometers in Northern BC, Yukon, NWT and Alaska during the last 3 years to the most remote and desolate places of the Far North in search of the Masters, in order to meet them and to learn their teachings.
He sought out mountains, trails, rivers and lakes for hiking, biking, and paddling his small Alpacka packraft. He met strange characters during his wild adventures, people who live amazing lives in these remote places.
photos – flickr
the author’s blog
Istvan’s even published a book of photos:
In an Outside Magazine interview, Andrew Skurka was quite definite on the best section of his 6,875mi Great Western Loop:
The best section was through Colorado, from the Indian Peaks Wilderness to the South San Juan Wilderness, about 500 miles. No other state can boast as much consistently world-class trail and scenery …
… there is so much alpine walking that I actually was looking forward to getting back in the timber. Also, the elk were in the peak of their rutting season, the aspens were glowing gold, and the trails were essentially empty.
When asked if we mortal hikers could repeat his feat …
A more accessible approach might be to hike it over two years, figuring about 150 or 180 days a year, at 20 miles per day, which is a completely doable pace for someone who is reasonably fit, who carries lightweight gear, and who can resist frequent temptations to spend lots of time in civilization.
besthike.com 