Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
Another gear site to check out. Sadly I have far too much gear in my basement already.
… hand-picked and tediously browsed for by real people who enjoy being active and outdoors. …
Hugo
Outdoor Gear, Equipment, & Apparel Deals | TheCheapOutdoors.com
Good luck, Larry!
With 50,754 Photos and almost 800 hikes, HikeArizona.com is an incredible resource. It’s run by Joe Bartels.
Contributor Al_hikesAZ posted in 2005 a list of The 20 Most Popular hikes in Arizona:
Flatiron
West Fork of Oak Creek
Peralta Trail
Humphreys Summit Trail
Brown’s Peak
Havasu Canyon
Fossil Springs Trail
Camelback Summit via Echo
Horton Creek Trail
Piestewa Peak Summit Trail
Bright Angel
Barnhardt Trail
Rogers Canyon
West Clear Creek Trail
Hunter Trail
Kaibab – South Rim
Boynton Canyon
Bell Trail
Inner Basin Trail
Tonto NarrowsThis isn’t necessarily the 20 best hikes in AZ, just the 20 Most Popular hikes.
He also recommends:
Bright Angel Trail
South Kaibab Trail
Thunder River/Deer Creek (photos)
Nankoweap Trail (photos)
Ribbon Falls (photos) just west of the North Kaibab Trail
Superstition Ridgeline
Al_hikesAZ also recommends 2 other sites for AZ Hikes:
Arizona Hikers Todd’s Desert Hiking Guide
I am now planning on hiking Arizona in 2008! (There is a lot of research to be done.)
Early morning at Carney springs – Superstition Wilderness – larger original
Arizona Black Rattlesnake – larger original
See all of Al_hikesAZ photos sets on Flickr. They are excellent.
American Hiking Society posted a list of under appreciated hikes. Under appreciated because they are not in “Parks”, but are regulated by the Bureau of Land Management.
Many BLM lands are unique and wild, offering exceptional views, few people, and a rare opportunity to experience the “wild west” in the same way the pioneers did hundreds of years ago. But, because many of these fantastic landscapes aren’t very well known, it’s hard to find information about exceptional hikes on BLM lands. To encourage people to enjoy and steward trails on BLM lands, American Hiking Society launched a search in summer 2007 for the “Best BLM Hikes” in the west.
Winning hikes feature midnight sun, knee-deep wildflowers, petroglyphs and the opportunity to experience traditional western lifestyles. Best yet, most of these hikes are part of a new system of BLM lands known as the National Landscape Conservation System – 26 million acres of the best places to experience the history and wild beauty of the west.
Learn more about American Hiking’s work to protect and promote the Conservation System.
… some of the hidden treasures of the west.
Hike: Virgin Peak Hike (Nevada)
Hike: Continental Divide Trail
Hike: Cow Creek Wilderness Hike (Montana)
Hike: Little Blitzen Gorge Hike (Oregon)
Hike: Fisher Towers Hike (Utah)
Hike: Lost Coast Trail (California)
Hike: Kingston Range Wilderness Hike (California)
Hike: Lovell Canyon, AKA “Anniversary Narrows” (Nevada)
Hike: Calico Tank Hike (Nevada)
Hike: White Rock Loop Hike (Nevada)
Hike: Pinnell Mountain National Recreation Trail (Alaska)
Hike: Paria Canyon (Arizona, Utah)
Hike: Mill Creek Canyon Trail (Utah)
Hike: Main Wash Hike (Nevada)
Only those in bold are specifically included on our list of the best hikes in North America. I’ve got some research to do on the others.
(via Two-Heel Drive)
Bonus BLM hike courtesy of the Gambolin Man:
Hike: Harris Wash / Hurricane Wash to Coyote Gulch / Escalante River (Utah)
There are a number of good Hawaii hiking sites. But I like best the map interface used by Na Ala Hele – Hawaii Trail System & Access. (It’s far better than the one we use on besthike.)
screenshot
If you click Kauai:
screenshot
Click on one of the numbers and you get quite a good information page on the specific trail.
It could not be simpler. Check it out for yourself:
“Na Ala Hele†is the State of Hawaii Trail and Access Program. Established in 1988 in response to public concern about the loss of public access to certain trails and the threat to historic trails from development pressure. Na Ala Hele has become increasingly engaged in trail management and regulatory issues due to both public and commercial recreational activities and emerging legal issues.
Administered by the Division of Forestry and Wildlife – Department of Land and Natural Resources
Now … Why don’t they add a list of “best hikes in Hawaii”?
Related: Hawaii State Parks
Our list of the best hikes in the world should be a wiki.
Seriously.
But the wiki software available as of today still … sucks.
Those packages are unusable by normal hikers.
Internet Duct Tape explains why. And holds out a glimmer of hope for the near future:
…
Any day now Google will be opening up registration for it’s JotSpot wiki software. It’ll be interesting to see if they can get over their product schizophrenia and intelligently integrate wikis with wordprocessing, spreadsheets, slides, blogs, email, calendar, rss readers and build an intranet solution that far outclasses anything currently available. They have all the pieces, and the killer knowledge that everyone is missing — how to build an intranet search that works over all the formats.
We will certainly put our database of best hikes into a wiki format once the software gets good enough.
… Tennessee State Parks System has been named the best state parks system in the country by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration and the National Recreation and Park Association. …
Some of the key accomplishments of Tennessee State Parks since 2003 include:
* Immediately reopening 14 parks that had been previously closed;
* Removing access fees from the 23 state parks that had instituted them …
read more … Tennessee State Parks System Named Best in the Country
Hiking Trails – Tennessee State Parks
I like it. (The font could be larger, though.)
Congratulations Sandra!
… hikes now have embedded Google maps, which you can print as you print off the hike information, and I’m learning how to embed my GPS tracks into the maps so they’re available too. The new website is more flexible, so I can post news snippets and articles as well as hikes, and I’ve added a much more robust forum for you to chat about Florida hiking.
Alas, because of the problems I had with forum spammers this summer, you must register to use the forum. However …. if you register, and send me a little detail about yourself (link to your own website, info about your hiking interests, etc), I will bump up your registration status to that of “author†so you, too, can submit your own pieces of content for the website: hikes, trip reports, articles, photos, whatever you like! You’ll see the option on the user menu after signing in.
I generally avoid hiking forums because of SPAM. Your new registration process will help.
Also DUMB. The misinformation posted by spelling-challenged morons. That is more difficult to restrict.
What are the best day hikes in the world? Certainly you must include:
Rick Deutsch is the author of One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome, our recommended guidebook to one of the most exhilarating hikes anywhere. (See video)
Rick has a dedicated website as well — hikehalfdome.com — focused on the Half Dome hike and related topics.
One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome
UPDATED October 12, 2007
I finally heard back from The Parks Listens Panel Team (Ipsos-Reid) regarding their confusing Parks Canada survey and $1000 contest. The entire email is reprinted in the comments below.
A quick summary for those like me mightily confused:
There are two separate links:
www.join.parkslistens.ca is the official website for individuals who have received an invitation card to join the Parks Listens panel ($1000 contest)
www.parkslistens.ca is the login webpage for individuals who have already registered with the Parks Listens panel.
In order to clarify eligibility to participate in the Parks Listens panel and the prize draw contest, we have added more information to both web pages.
questions to parkslistens-parcecoute@ipsos-reid.com
original post from September 28th, 2007 below =====
I want to thank Frank Grigel of the Canada Parks Listens project.
He’s the first person who has acknowledge to me from the Project that he listens.
BACKGROUND:
I love Parks Canada — but complain consistently that their Park Entrance fees and User Fees are much higher than the USA:
So far as I can see, Parks Canada is a typical, socialist government bureaucracy unaccountable to the Canadian taxpayer.
The one hope I might have some input into policy was an initiative called PARKS LISTENS.
At least they made an effort to collect input from the users of the National Parks.
Though I’ve been getting email surveys circulated by Parks Listens since the beginning, the Project to me seems to have been bungled. It’s run not by Parks Canada, but the Ipsos-Reid Corporation.
I have no idea where the Project is going. The time line. Nothing.
If you check the official website — www.parkslistens.ca — you will be none the wiser. (This redirects to http://iaf.ipsos.ca/iaf/parkslistens.html)
No information is available to the general public.
To promote the project, Parks Listens offered some $1000 prizes to those who join up to participate in their on-line surveys. The catch is … YOU NEED TO BE INVITED AND HAVE A PASSWORD. AND FIND THE RIGHT PAGE ON THE INTERNET TO REGISTER.
This process works for some, but not for many others.
In frustration, people ended up on this blog … venting. As am I.
Finally Frank sent us this message:
I work on the Parks Listens project. A person recently contacted us and said that when they tried to access http://www.join.parkslistens.ca that they were referred to this blog. I assure you that our site is operating and we receive new entries every day.
If you type http://www.join.parkslistens.ca into a search engine (such a Google) you are referred to this blog. Please try typing http://www.join.parkslistens.ca into your browser’s address. If you are still having problems, please contact us at parkslistens-parcsecoute@ipsos-reid.com.
I apologize to anyone who had trouble registering for the contest. It is real and the next entry deadline is October 31, 2007.
Thanks again, Frank.
I will refer people to the correct URL and email address.
But, seriously, why doesn’t Ipsos-Reid explain the project — and the contest — on the website? Here’s what it looks like today:
How friendly or helpful is was this?
Please tell Ipsos-Reid to put full information on the Project and Contest on the site. And to link to the seemingly hidden contest registration page so that those with invitations can find it.
Yeesh … Ipsos-Reid is one of the biggest and best survey companies in the World. They have thousands of employees.
How can they have messed up this Project so badly?
official website — www.parkslistens.ca/
Tech pundit Robert Scoble announced that Microsoft was making big improvements in their search engine.
In the past Microsoft was terrible, giving a much lower ranking to specialized sites like besthike.com than did Google.
Scoble might be right. Here’s the result for a Microsoft Live Search for “best hike South America”.
Way to go Microsoft! This will help more people find the best hikes, faster.
besthike.com 