Category: scrambles

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best hikes in Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas

Every time I get to Lost Wages, I spend at least one day at Red Rock. It’s only a few miles from the strip to 197,000 acres of beautiful desert wilderness.

While most outdoors folk go for the bouldering, you can quickly access great hiking, as well.

Branch Whitney posted his favourite hikes there:

Easy Hikes

  • Calico Tank
  • Fern Canyon
  • Las Vegas Overlook

    • Moderate Hikes

  • Juniper Peak
  • Boot Boulder
  • Terrace Canyon

    • Advanced Hikes

  • Bridge Mtn via Ice Box Canyon
  • Mt. Wilson via Cleaver Crack
  • Rainbow Peak without the Ledges

    • It’s Prime Time for Red Rock Canyon! – Hiking Las Vegas blog

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    That excellent website content is available to members only. But non-members can still read their blog in advance of a trip to Sin City.

    I am hoping to get there in April, myself.

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    rock climbing in Joshua Tree National Park

    Joshua Tree is NOT most famous for hiking. It’s set-up more so that casual day hikers won’t get lost and die of dehydration.

    Nor is it most famous for Joshua trees.

    JT is most famous for climbing. Photos I took close to Hidden Valley Campground:

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    larger version – flickr

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    larger version – flickr

    Joshua Tree National Park is one of the most popular rock climbing areas in the world. More than 4,500 established routes offering a wide range of difficulty are concentrated within about 100,000 acres of park land.

    Rock Climbing – National Park Service

    Even for a manic hiker like myself, the most fun I had in the park was scrambling.

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    Half Dome in Micronesia

    In the tropical paradise of Pohnpei stands a pretty good clone of Half Dome. Where? The scuba diving mecca of the Federated States of Micronesia. … Sokehs Rock, or Paipalap, juts out and towers over the northern extreme of Sokehs Island. About five hundred feet from base to summit, the massive basalt formation is easily the most impressive natural formation on Pohnpei. Very similar also to Diamondhead.

    … A rope has been strung along the route to the top to provide some support (mostly psychological). Below the sloping backside of the Rock there’s a flat grassy area where you can get some good views of the lagoon through stands of pandanus. Finally, a utility pipe runs all the way to the top to help haul yourself up. The summit, which is larger than it looks from the bottom, is frequently very windy. The rugged surface is composed of coarse, cracked basalt covered in part by low scrubby vegetation and wild pineapple plants. This prominent feature served as a primary location for Japanese defenses on Pohnpei, which included concrete bunkers, twin-barrel guns and 6-inch coastal defense guns.

    Sokehs Rock – Hike Half Dome

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    original – Sokehs Rock – Pohnpei – pbase

    (via Two Heel Drive)

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    #3 best hiking region in the world is the …

    Rockies

    Spectacular vistas, frequent wildlife encounters, the best wild flowers we’ve ever seen. Hot springs, quaint mountain towns, perhaps the best long distance hikes on the planet.

    There are options to scramble ridges and peaks virtually everywhere.

    “You can’t lose in the Rockies.”

    … so says frequent contributor Rob Glaser who has hiked here all his life.

    rockies.jpgTrails are safe and well managed. The infrastructure excellent. (In fact, it’s hard to imagine there are two regions in the world we rate better.)

    The weather and conditions are variable to say the least, but in many parts of the Rockies Aug-Sept are the best months. A very short window! On the other hand, if you ski or board, you’ll never lack for adventure in the Rocky Mountains.

    More information on our new Rockies information page.

    Our favourite trip in the Canadian Rockies is Sunshine to Assiniboine, our #5 hike in the world.

    Anemones and Assiniboine, Alberta, Canada

    Our Assiniboine Information page.

    Just a short drive away is our favourite trail in the USA Rockies, Glacier North Circle, our #6 hike in the world. One of the best places in the world to see wildlife.

    Our North Circle Information page.

    Leave a comment if you have your own favourite hike in the Rockies.

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    More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies

    Where I come from, the guidebook Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies, 3rd edition by Alan Kane is essential. Increasingly my hiking friends prefer hard, fun one day adventures over multi-day walk hauling a pack.

    I love this book. And curse it, alternately. Needless to say, route finding on scrambles are not without their challenges. (We’re still arguing about the actual summit of Storm Mountain.)

    I’m happy to announce the sequel, by a new author: Andrew Nagura.

    Looks great. New routes for those of us who like to climb high, but don’t want to gear up for climbing.

    More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies

    More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies

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    scrambling Woodson Mountain, California

    Have you tried the sport of geocaching?

    Here’s a good trip report:

    San Diego rocks!

    Indians called it “Mountain of the Moonlit Rocks”, while early settlers dubbed it “Cobbleback Peak”, both names appropriately describes the rugged, boulder strewn slopes of Woodson Mountain.

    However, this mountain for the past 100 years appeared on maps simply as “Woodson Mountain”, in honor of Dr. Woodson who homesteaded some property nearby over 100 years ago. …

    Hiking Woodson Mountain- The Mountain of the Moonlit Rocks « Our Beautiful World at the Backroads

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    cantilevered “potato chip rock” near the summit of Woodson Mountain

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    scramble to Conrad Kain hut in the Bugaboos

    Photographer Phil Armitage has a terrific photo gallery that any hiker will love. His best photos are available for sale.

    I was particularly interested in Phil’s pics from a hike to shoot “The Hound’s Tooth” in the “Bugs”, a granite range in the Purcell Mountains of eastern British Columbia, Canada.

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    From Phil’s trip report:

    … Bugaboo spires trailhead, at the end of the road in Bugaboo Provincial Park.

    Although this is by far the most popular spot in the Purcells, it’s still pretty remote – you’ll need to violate the spirit as well as the letter of a rental car contract to negotiate the 30 miles of dirt roads between Brisco (18 miles north of Radium Hot Springs on Highway 95) and the trailhead.

    You’ll need detailed directions from a guidebook, or from maps available locally, but it’s not too tricky to find. In summer 2006 the road was pretty rough, with plenty of potholes, but numerous low clearance 2WD cars and vans had successfully made it to the Park. …

    The hike to the Conrad Kain hut is very short – just a 6 mile round trip – but brutally steep. There’s 2200 feet of elevation gain to the hut, all of it attained in the last two miles.

    In places the route is protected by cables bolted into the rock, and in one spot you climb a steep section with the aid of a metal ladder, but the trail is in excellent shape and at least in dry weather these aids are more for reassurance than for necessity. The views of the Hound’s Tooth, with the Bugaboo glacier flowing past the spire and down the valley, are continual and astounding throughout the hike. When we did this in mid-August, there were nice patches of wildflowers in several small meadows along the trail.

    The hut is perched on a rocky shelf with a panoramic view of both the spires and the valley along which the trail ascends. It’s a great spot for lunch. You can also scramble off-trail without much difficulty to attain a small ridge that allows a closer vantage of the glaciers. This feels about as wild a spot as can be reached by mere hikers. I highly recommend this hike – it’s one of the best short day hikes I’ve done.

    Day hikes in the Bugaboos and Purcell Mountains of British Columbia

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    I checked with a local hiking buddy who had done this trip a few years ago. He confirmed it was one of his best hikes ever.

    We’ve added Conrad Cain to our list of the best hikes in North America.

    Bugaboo Provincial Park     – official website

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    Angel’s Landing, Half Dome, Huashan – too dangerous?

    There is talk of closing Angel’s Landing in Zion and Half Dome in Yosemite.

    The controversy with the first two (American hikes) is rekindled — not surprisingly — each time a tourist falls to their death. Access is simply too easy for the inexperienced and under-prepared.

    But if you (like us) feel you are capable of these moderate difficulty scrambles, do not fear if access in the USA is eventually restricted.

    You can always head to Xian, China and Huashan.

    … between the West and North Peak, is a path called ‘Changkongzhandao‘ (The cliff side plank path).

    cimg1635.jpgThis path is pretty much the whole reason for me coming to Mt. Huashan. Originally seeing photos of this awesome sight in an email when i was working, i decided i had to come and take a look for myself.

    The path leads to a small lookout where it is about 70 metres in length. Once you reach the end, you just come back and continue on your way. It is a cliff face. 90 degrees. To get across, they have whacked large nails into the side of the cliff and placed planks of wood over the top for you to cross. The path is about 40cm wide!

    There is also a chain nailed to the rock for you to hold onto as you make your way across. For $5AUS you can choose to hire a safety harness (you would be absolutely stupid, i mean insane not to have one). Half of the path are planks of wood and the other half are foot holes carved into the rock. As the people i was with were too scared to go, i went alone taking the photos myself trying not to drop the camera with my hands shaking as if i had just drunk 20 cups of coffee.

    I took my time and on the way back another brave bloke was coming towards me to do the same walk. I asked him to take a photo of me and he explained to me that the ultimate photo to take on this path is a pose where you lean back facing the cliff wall (because of your harness), your body 45 degrees, relying 100% on your harness with both arms waving in the air! The ground by the way is 1km down.

    The best i could do was lean 45 degrees over the edge but my hands were stuck firmly to the strap connecting my body to the wall. I couldn’t let go, my brain was telling me “Go on, do it”, but my hands wouldn’t budge. Now i see myself as an adventurous person willing to try anything, but this was the first time in my short years where my brain and body disagreed with one another and it felt really strange.

    I hit my limit where i had no idea what my limit was up until now. And I’m actually quite glad knowing it’s hanging off a cliff relying on a piece of metal and strap, 1km up on a plank of wood, now that can’t happen too often, can it? There is a saying ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’. That was actually shuffling across those wooden planks.

    The adrenalin rush i got from that and hiking Mt. Huashan lasted all the way back down to the cable car where it was 7:00pm and the perfect time to leave for a 3 hour bus ride back to Xi’an.

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    Andre’s World Trip: Mt. Huashan

    Angel’s Landing – our information page

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    “Worlds Most Dangerous Tourist Route”

    UPDATE from Brad in California:

    Unlike every other report I’ve read on the internet, Brad’s actually been there.

    It’s a good sidetrip out of Xian, site of the astonishing Terracotta Warriors.

    A few more facts: It is not "Mt." Hua Shan. It is just Hua Shan. …

    A hostel is available on the mountain top — what a cool place for a midwinter honeymoon?! Despite the vigor and risk involved in the climb, it is crowded in fair weather! …

    The mountain has multiple summits, and looks somewhat like a blossoming tulip: hence the name flower mountain.

    You can take a cable car to the vicinity of the lowest summit, or you can hike about 5 or 6 klicks to the same area. The "hike" option is very worthy, with incredibly lengthy and steep staircases carved into the stone, — awesome. Rusty chain handrails are anchored into the rocks.

    Once on the lowest summit, you can climb the circuit of the other higher summits. This is where you will encounter the most harrowing exposures, and the pictures that accompany this page.

    Again, on a crowded day, it would suck! Everything is one-way, or narrow, etc… We went on a rainy day, with fog, and had the mountain almost to ourselves. It was incredible when the fog cleared!

    Snow or freezing rain would make this hike very dangerous. I would not do it!

    Mount Hua (Hua Shan) – Wikipedia

    We’ve added Hua Shan to our list of the best hikes in Asia.

    Click PLAY or watch a “hiker” on the route on MetaCafe.
    Snapple Scores With Super Premium Tea Ad During Super Bowl XLI – Click here for funny video clips

    ==== original post Nov. 6th, 2006:

    The most dangerous tourist route in the world is located in Tibet.

    Damn Cool Pics: Worlds Most Dangerous Tourist Route

    But … they have the location wrong.

    It seems these photos are actually from (or Mt Hua or Mt Hua Shan) in Shaanxi province, China. It is the Western Mountain of the Five Sacred Mountains. This error was pointed out in a comment on Cool Pics by JJ.

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    More photos:

    Welcome To China – Welcome2CN.Com

    photo set – Fosdick

    To a hiker like me, this scramble looks like good fun. Similar to Half Dome in Yosemite.

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    blog – Waterton Scrambling

    We just discovered a cool new blog, 6-months-old, devoted to adventure in Waterton National Park. Eight contributors are participating, so far.

    Good job guys!

    Waterton Scrambling is a model for localized adventure sport blogs.

    We have linked to you from our Blogs category (right-hand navigation) and subscribed to your RSS feed.

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    photo contest winner – Custer – Blair Piggot