Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
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)
Deer 139 (Tour Edit) was one of the films selected for the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour 2019-20.
Very entertaining.
“Three women follow the 137km migration path of a scruffy, pregnant mule deer doe and in the process, learn to see the world differently.”
Hopelessly overloaded, much of the entertainment is watching their misadventures en route in Wyoming.
Deer 139 knows how to migrate. These ladies … not so much. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.
Since 2013 I’ve been recommending hikers boycott Pakistan after terrorists killed 11 at Nanga Parbat Base Camp.
The U.S. State Department advises against travel due to terrorism.
On the other hand, I’m inspired by Eva zu Beck, a Polish travel vlogger, who spent many months there. She thinks it could be the next Nepal for trekkers.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I’m talking to the Epic about their trips in 2020.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
The weather was lovely in the morning. As it so often is in California.
Unbelievably I’d forgotten to bring coffee! 😞 So it was Earl Grey tea for breakfast.
No worries. I was headed 2 miles back to the Mountain Station atop Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. They served coffee. Right? … It turned out to be the most expensive java I’d bought outside of Switzerland.
This morning the Ranger Station was open and I was happy to go register for my free trail permit.
I’d planned to take the most direct route to Idyllwild – Willow Creek trail. Unfortunately I learned it was still near impassible due to snow. My best bet was to return back the way I came and try to get through the snow to Saddle Junction.
Not having spikes or hiking poles I promised to return and take the Tramway down if the snow was too deep.
I was using the free Maps.me app for navigation at this point. It’s not all that accurate.
On the upside, this is the most popular trail to climb San Jacinto peak (10,834 ft). Crazies find a way to get up there in all seasons.
As it turned out the snow was still hard packed. It was fairly easy to quick step from one footprint to the next.
It got easier after Wellman’s Divide.
At Saddle Junction I ran into a PCT hiker in a hurry to get to Idyllwild. The Saddle is on the Pacific Crest Trail.
A teenager from Michigan, he had the smallest pack he’d seen so far over the first 10 days.
As we descended snow disappeared. The switchbacks very well graded.
PCT hikers were waiting at the parking lot hoping for a Trail Angel to arrive and deliver them a ride to town.
It wasn’t a local Trail Angel but tourists who drove up siteseeing. They happily agreed to make 3 trips delivering dirty hikers to the $5 PCT camp site in Idyllwild (pop. 3500).
I ordered a LARGE pizza and watched Game 1 of the Calgary Flames playoff series.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Fleeing Spring allergies in British Colombia, I flew to Palm Springs.
Where to hike?
My first choice was something on the Pacific Crest Trail.
North to South so I’d meet thru hikers headed the other direction.
I rented a car at the Palm Springs airport and drove a couple of hours to the famous PCT campground at Warner Springs.
The Warner Springs Resource Center runs this campsite (by donation) as a fundraiser.
With over 40 tents full of thru hikers it’s an ideal place to get information and tips. 😀
A fellow at the information desk recommended I return the car … then take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to start the walk to Idyllwild, one of the most popular towns on the PCT.
I’d hiked out of Idyllwild in 2011 and loved the area. Sounded GREAT.
Perfect. I left a bag at the Resource Center. I’d pick it up when I got there.
It was 5pm by the time I got on the Tramway. Late.
I took time to watch the video on Mount San Jacinto State Park.
There are more than 50 miles of trails, ideal for hikers trying to escape the Coachella Valley heat 2640 feet below.
By the time I got to the Ranger Station, however, it was closed.
The closest campsite was Round Valley … so I filled out the confusing paperwork as best I could … and hustled off to get there before dark.
I love hiking in California. It’s heaven.
Whoa. Though it’s 100F down in Palm Springs, there’s still a lot of snow up here on April 11, 2019.
Signage is rustic. And minimal. (Keep your map and apps handy.)
Some of that rustic signage is near buried.
I knew I’d reached Round Valley when I got to the long drops. 🤔
I set up the tent at the first clearing I found. Close to the Ranger Station.
Though I’d not seen any animal tracks aside from squirrel, I put my smellies in an Ursack. Bears are hungry in the Spring.
I cooked at 7:30pm. It was quite dark by 8pm.
The jumping off point is Puerto Williams.
Potentially no vistas. Potentially a slog in the fog.
related – bookmundi information on this hike
trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Zoe Agasi and Olivier Van Herck from Netherlands spent 2 months in Ushuaia. For them the best local day hike (of many) was Laguna de los Tempanos and Glacier Vinciguerra.
That was good enough for me.
I walked from my hostel to the trailhead.
Like the north of North America, everyone here has big dogs. Most roam loose. This one probably needed to be chained up.
What I hadn’t realized that morning is that it was 7.3km to the start. I should have taken a taxi.
From there it’s only a steep 5.6km up to Laguna de los Tempanos below the glacier. The sign says 6km.
Up there’s where I was headed.
The weather was atypically reasonable today. Very little wind.
Once at the trailhead, navigation is not difficult.
Your feet do get wet on this hike — I wore neoprene booties rather than socks — but at least you don’t have to wade the largest river.
Next is a long, steep section through the trees.
It’s muddy and you need to be agile as a gymnast to negotiate fallen trees. There doesn’t seem to be much trail maintenance.
Near the top you reach an alpine meadow. Then a short climb up a waterfall to the Laguna.
Carlos from Colombia and I walked up together. He’s a Master’s student studying in Argentina currently on his summer holiday.
The glacial lagoon is gorgeous.
It’s not often the weather is this good. One woman went for a swim!
Like most in the world, this glacier is rapidly receding. ☹️
Looking back at the Beagle Channel.
I highly recommend Laguna de los Tempanos and Glacier Vinciguerra. But only in good weather. It’s tough, as well. I fell once into the mud on the way down.
And organize transport to and from the trailhead. The Los Humedales cafe at the trailhead will call you a cab if you don’t have phone that works in Argentina.
P.S. There are two side trails that I didn’t have time to do:
Laguna Encantada
Laguna del Caminante
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