Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
Outdoor Vancouver posted an an excellent information page:
Rating: Difficult
Distance: 15 km
Net Elevation Change*: 889 m
Highest Point: 1,628 m
Time Needed: 7 Hours
Type: Out-and-back
Season: July – September
Dogs Allowed: No (not permitted in the Rainbow Mountain Alpine Trail Network)
Est. Driving Time from Vancouver: 2 Hours
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
As there is not much information online about Elk Pass, I put together a video.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Easy access from Campbell River on Vancouver Island.
The Elk River Trail in Strathcona Provincial Park is super popular. But not many hikers continue to Elk Pass (in yellow).
For one thing, it’s not easy to find the Elk Pass trailhead.
Everyone sees the damaged sign pointing to Landslide Lake.
From there, search the trees on the left and you’ll find the high and overgrown Elk Pass sign.
Very quickly you realize Elk Pass is no trail. It’s a route you try to follow using bits of flagging tape and cairns.
Demanding hiking.
You’ll have to navigate dozens of blowdowns.
Worst was this dry log jam. I bushwhacked around, finding a bypass trail on my return.
In some cases multiple route options have been flagged by past hikers. I somehow missed the unofficial “Hemlock” Campground.
Instead I bashed on up the Elk River valley.
With no better option, I finally decided to build a flat platform on the snow.
Great camp, actually. But there’s always the risk more snow will fall from high up Mt Rambler.
In addition, mosquitoes were terrible at higher elevation.
Next morning dawned another lovely day.
It didn’t take long to reach the bowl below Elk Pass.
There are some campsites near tarns.
Up there!.
And it didn’t take long.
Here’s the view back down the valley from the Pass.
At the top I spoke briefly with a couple attempting the long, challenging Golden Hinde Traverse. (47km 5-8 days)
Did they make it? I’m not sure.
One hiking group did complete the Golden Hinde(less) Traverse between July 18-24, 2020.
I too carried 8 days food with faint hope of continuing on the Traverse. But decided it was too difficult, remote and dangerous to do solo. What if I got hurt?
In fact, I fell badly twice on the Elk Pass trail: scratches and bruises.
But I did continue part way over the Pass towards this large unnamed lake, a continuation of the Traverse.
Backtracking, I decided to traverse/scramble up to the next pass to the S.W. of Elk. That turned out to be the highlight.
Big vistas over low clouds.
From there it was down, down, down. Back into the trees.
I found hiking down even more challenging than on the way up.
It was nearly 6pm by the time I reached “Hemlock”, the unofficial camp I’d missed the previous night.
It’s named for huge Hemlock trees.
About 8pm I began hearing bombs dropping.
Loud.
Turns out it was a squirrel cutting down pinecones. From on high.
Next morning I returned to the highway via the Elk River trail.
Great hike.
See our list of the best hikes in North America.
The best hiking guidebook is Exploring Strathcona Park. Dead tree version available only.
Iðunn Bragadóttir and her 20-year-old daughter, Þóra Dagný Stefánsdóttir, have spent 32 days traversing Iceland. The duo started on the Reykjanes peninsula and hiked diagonally, southwest to northeast, across the country to Langanes Point.
The 786km route is one of the longest possible ways to traverse Iceland. …
Mother and Daughter Hike Across Iceland
(via Adventure Blog)
One of the must do day hikes in the Canadian Rockies is Maligne Canyon close to Jasper, Alberta.
… the canyon measures over 50 metres (160 ft) deep. Popular for sightseeing and exploration, the area contains waterfalls, underground stream outlets, birds and plant life. …
Best is to start from the main parking lot close to the tea house and the Hi Maligne Canyon Lodge.
The canyon is deep here.
The canyon was named by a zealous Jesuit missionary, who called the canyon “la traverse maligne”, after his horses were swept away by the swirling waters. There are six bridges built across the canyon to help one explore this magnificent work of nature : the first bridge was built in 1914.
I’d recommend you hike at least to the point of seeing the 5th bridge. From there you could loop back on the cycling / horseback trail.
There are interesting interpretive displays en route. This hike is great for kids.
With each bridge, you get closer and closer to the water.
When the river freezes over in winter, the experience is completely different. If you are one of the brave venturing to Jasper National Park in winter, consider doing a guided ice walk in Maligne Canyon in winter. It is an out of this world experience.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
Experts agree that the Flower Ridge trails are some of the best in Strathcona Provincial Park, Vancouver Island.
The up-and-back Flower Ridge Trail:
If adventurous, you could return via other longer routes including:
Good navigation needed on all those options, of course.
I was actually hoping to return via the Henshaw Creek Horseshoe since it returns you to where you started. A perfect loop.
In fact, it’s one of guidebook author Phillip Stone’s favourite hikes in the Park.
But I would have needed a guide and full mountaineering gear to pull that off in June. Perhaps a helicopter, as well. 😀
I was there early season.
Beautiful morning. Ideal campsite in the Marine Park next to Buttle Lake campground.
It was June 14th. Free. ($10/night/site starting June 15th.)
I enjoyed a leisurely morning.
Next cycled to the trailhead, easy access from gorgeous Buttle Lake Parkway.
It’s close to Ralph River campground.
Full Strathcona Park map (PDF).
Strathcona Park had just opened following the COVID-19 shutdown.
The previous day I’d tried King’s Peak with a light day pack. Didn’t get higher than 770m due to high creeks.
Learning my lesson, for Flower Ridge I brought food for up to 3 days. Full pack.
Started up about 5pm.
Like many Strathcona hikes, Flower Ridge starts with a steep climb. But less steep than most others
Not many views early on. When you do, it’s of the the Myra Falls Mine (opened 1959)
The mine is currently owned by Nyrstar and produces zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold concentrates.
Any time you are hiking a ridge, finding running water might be a problem. But my guidebook said there was one reliable creek — I never found it.
No worries. There is plenty of snow to melt. You dig to find the clean white stuff.
I set up 8:30pm at the first obvious campsite. Days are long in Canada in June.
Normally my dinners are based around instant mashed potatoes. But for this trip I went all in for instant stuffing.
I carried my 1.2 pound solar charger for the first time. Normally it stays with my bikepacking gear.
There’s no electricity in Strathcona. No mobile phone service.
I climbed higher next morning. But quickly the snow got too deep. Just like King’s Peak the previous day, I only reached perhaps 800m elevation before turning back.
The ridge is about 1200m. In those meadows I would have found more famed spring flowers.
I really need to return to Strathcona late season: August – September.
#LessonLearned
If you want to do it right, click over to MBGuiding:
The best hiking guidebook is Exploring Strathcona Park. Dead tree version available only.
See our list of the best hikes in North America.
Last year I tried and failed to complete the Dientes Circuit on Isla Navarino, Chile.
The trail was covered over with snow, and I had no guide to lead the way. I only tented one night. Then turned back.
This guided group had far worse weather than me. And still made it.
Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.
To find out how to do this trip yourself, click over to our Dientes Circuit information page.
Pie on the Trail:
The Southern Sierra High Route (SSHR) was developed by Alan Dixon and Don Wilson in 2014.
It is 100 miles long and the majority is off-trail travel mixed with sections on the JMT. Elevation loss and gain are high and the going is hard.
Blake Bole’s 2019 trip report was posted in rhyming verse!
Hiking this route requires a wilderness permit from Inyo National Forest.
Bear canister(s) required. There are no easy re-supply points. Snow is an issue some years.
I was planning on making this trek August 2020 …
… not much chance it’s going to happen this year. #COVID-19
Atlas & Boots was there in 2019:
My 14-day K2 base camp trek in Karakoram mountains of #Pakistan, followed by a crossing of the technical Gondogoro La Pass.
At 8,611m (28,251ft), #K2 is the second highest mountain in the world.
The K2 base camp trek route is via Concordia, the confluence of the Baltoro and Godwin-Austen glaciers at around 4,700m (15,419ft).
It is one of the few places in the world where you can see four 8,000m peaks: K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II.
Read the trip report.
Click PLAY or watch their trip on YouTube.
Backpackers Review recommends a 13 mile loop/circuit including Takakkaw Falls, the Iceline Trail, Little Yoho Valley, and Laughing Falls.
Check it out. A classic.
One of our best hikes in North America.
Mardi Himal is one of our favourite hikes in high season.
… What about winter?
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
(via Adventure Blog)
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