Category: volcanoes

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Around Taranaki – New Zealand

On my one shot at Taranaki, we were turned back due to weather. Later in the day it cleared up completely. Timing is everything in New Zealand.

We tried climbing the distinct volcano.

Perhaps we should have done instead the hike around the mountain. Mountain Zone published a good trip report article:

The mountain is perfect—a beautiful cone, distinctive from all angles. Seen from many miles inland as a stunning silhouette, seen from the roaming eye of a satellite camera as a dark areola on a sea of cultivation, it’s a mountain we all know something about.

Around Taranaki – Hiking New Zealand’s Sleeping Giant

It’s the photogenic mountain used in the Tom Cruise film The Last Samurai.

Most of the great New Zealand hikes are on the South Island. But Taranaki, like Tongariro, are on the North. The circumnavigation is 55km (34mi).

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Taranaki NZ

(via The Adventure Blog)

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Colca, Peru: The grand, GRAND canyon

This is real adventure. Not for the faint hearted.

Colca is a 5-day trek (difficult & dangerous) over a 5100m (16,732ft) pass. It’s only 60km (37mi) but you will likely need to hire pack animals due to the rugged, remote terrain. And altitude.

Noel Wigdor posted one of the best trip reports we’ve seen in a while.

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Wow what a week.

Exactly a week ago I left for Colca Canyon for what is considered one of the hardest, but most rewarding, hikes in South America. Here is the breakdown of one of the most amazing, exhausting, and trying experiences of my life. Day 1 Ohad, my Israelli hiking partner, and I woke at 2:45 to catch a 3:30 bus to Cabanaconde, the starting point for our hike. Although we were both very nervous about this hike (we had both read that it is extremely hard), I was especially nervous because I was starting the whole thing with a bad case of diarrhrea … read more

Colca Canyon: The grand, GRAND canyon

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If you are up for this kind of challenge, check out the details on besthike.com Colca Canyon.

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Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Every hiker wants to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa at 5896m (19,344ft). It’s actually the highest freestanding mountain in the world, a volcano rising 4600m (15,000ft) above the giraffes and elephants roaming the plains.

No independent hiking is allowed. You must sign on with a trekking company — minimum cost in 2006 is US$800 on the Marangu Route. Over 80% of people choose Marangu often disparaged as the tourist route, or the Coca Cola route. This is the easiest, fastest and quickest line. And the only route where you have the option to sleep in huts.

If you can afford it, opt instead for one of the more challenging tent routes: Machame or Rongai.

The other major consideration is altitude sickness. Unlike the Andes and the Himalaya, it is difficult to acclimatize here. Best strategy is to climb lower Mt. Meru just before you start Kilimanjaro.

The snows of Kilimanjaro are melting. Get there soon.

Mt. Kilimanjaro on besthike.com

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