Hank and Susan put together a terrific video of their guided Base Camp trip. The three passes are Renjo La, Cho La, and Kongma La, all more difficult than Base Camp itself.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (31min)
read more – Without Baggage – How to Hike Nepal’s Three Passes
Three Passes is one of our top 10 hikes in the world.
Check our Three Passes information page.
Without question one of the best hikes in the world. Most popular is the W Circuit.
Click PLAY or watch a teaser on YouTube.
Cost is about $600 / person for 5 days / 4 nights in 2017 if you sign on with Vertice Patagonia.
Even better and longer is the the full Paine Circuit (often called the “O” as contrasted with the red “W”).
If interested know that logistics are getting increasingly difficult. Costs are going up. But it’s still well worth making your way to southern South America in the trekking season.
Click over to our Paine information page for details.
Have you been following Peter McBride & Kevin Fedarko?
Epic Grand Canyon Hike: A 650-Mile Challenge (Part 1)
Epic Grand Canyon Hike: Frozen Shoes and Low on Food (Part 2)
I liked the 3rd and final instalment best.
Click PLAY or watch Thirst and Threats in the Godscape on YouTube.
trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
You’ve heard of Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.
It’s adjacent to the Gila Wilderness.
Gila Wilderness was designated the world’s first wilderness area on June 3, 1924. … part of New Mexico’s Gila National Forest. …
The Mogollon Mountains traverse an arc across the wilderness. The tallest peak within this range, Whitewater Baldy at 10,895 ft (3,321 m) …
I headed for the most popular Baldy trailhead – Crest Trail #182.
I never made it due to mountain road improvements January 2017. ROAD CLOSED.
So I read some of the Peakbagger trip reports instead.
The consensus was not good: bad roads, snow into July, forest fire recovery sections, hunters. It will not go on our list of the best hikes in North America.
The most popular hike in Gila Wilderness is the Catwalk – “… a one-mile trail suspended above a rushing stream in a gorge only a few feet wide.”
It had been rebuilt over a period of 2 years costing over $4.4 million dollars. And opened again in 2016.
I’d been advised by a Ranger that only the catwalk part of the trail was open. Hikers often continue on to #207. I would have wild camped if it had been open.
Sadly, that Ranger was wrong. It was all closed due to flooding.
Still, the Catwalk does look very cool.
The 1.1-mile Catwalk National Recreation Trail winds through the canyon’s steep, pink walls of volcanic rock, following the path of a pipeline built in the early 1890s to provide water and electricity for the mining town of Graham. …
LESSON LEARNED — Before driving out to hike the Gila Wilderness, phone first to be sure your trail is open.
trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
I took the Sandia Peak Tramway trip on one of the snowiest days of the year.
It’s one of the top tourist attractions in New Mexico.
I first tried hiking to the top. Planning to ride down on the Cable Car. That would have been GREAT.
The La Luz Trail (Trail 137) … on the west face of the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico. The trail begins at the La Luz Trailhead and proceeds approximately eight miles to either Sandia Crest or the Sandia Peak Tramway. The hike is strenuous, with 3,775 ft (1,151 m) of elevation gain and a grade of 12%. …
click for larger map
I started at the Tramway parking lot on the Tramway Trail (82). Planning to connect to the La Luz.
It’s a pretty traverse above lovely residential homes.
I’d heard a foot of snow had fallen up top. It did not look good for me getting up there.
I – happily – backtracked to my vehicle.
At one point I stumbled off trail. Easy to do in the desert. While scrambling an arroyo to regain the trail I kicked a cactus and drove a spine into my foot.
Lesson learned = STAY on the trail in the desert.
The main reason to go to Albuquerque are the 200 miles of Sandia hiking trails many of which are off limits to mountain bikes.
We’ve added the La Luz Trail to our list of best hikes in North America.
Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.
As exciting as that looks, first take a reality check – click over to the Across Iceland Journal Day 5.
(via tywkiwdbi)
Veteran climbing guide Dave Adlard led some new mountaineers on a climb of Mt Adams, Washington.
Thousands climb it every year.
The weather went bad.
“If you haven’t figured it out already we’re not going up. We need to get the hell off this mountain alive.” as our guide and friend, David Adlard, said to us at six in morning.
Read the entertaining trip report on Mtn Talk – Mt. Adams: Get Down Alive
