Dogon Escarpment, Mali

The Dogon Escarpment is an amazing geographical feature in Mali.

… it’s pretty much obligatory to do it with a guide on a ‘trek’. …

Most of the hiking in Dogon Country is on flat, sandy ground. There is a climb up the 500 metre escarpment (probably) but apart from that the terrain is unlikely to challenge any one. One walks from small town to small town, where you can see traditional life going on without a HUGE change from the outside world. The towns don’t have electricity for example, and you won’t see many vehicles. …

Andy’s World (2007)

dogon-trek-8

dogon-trek-1

Check the security situation before planning any trip to Mali.

related – our list of best hikes in Africa

Sultan River Canyon Trail, Washington

trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

4.4mi round trip
850ft elevation gain

North of Seattle.

Opened in 2015, this new tail takes you deep into the Sultan River Canyon where towering old growth trees and steep slopes shade a remote section of the Sultan River. …

That was enough for me. I was first on the trail April 9th, early in the hiking season. I ran some of the flats and downhill … and walked uphill.

You can drive out as far as Culmback Dam.

dam

Spada Lake is the reservoir for Everett, WA.

lake

Sultan River Canyon

From there it’s about 1mi walk on a good logging road before you drop steeply into the canyon.

trailhead

The trail dead ends at the river. I relaxed on a rock in the river for a good 10 minutes.
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Then began the climb back up while listening to an audio book for motivation. 🙂

Check the Evergreen Endurance trip report.

Southwestern Horseshoe USA 2012

Cam Honan:

The Southwestern Horseshoe (SWH) is an approximately 1800 mile (2896 km) backcountry route from Arches National Park to Albuquerque.

Southwestern Horseshoe

… of all the thru-hikes I have done in the US, the Southwestern Horseshoe (SWH) was perhaps the one I was looking forward to the most. The Colorado Plateau in particular, with its hoodoos, rock monoliths, natural bridges and slot canyons, had long been on my backcountry radar, ever since reading the works of Colin Fletcher and Edward Abbey as a young man growing up in Australia.  …

This Hiking Life

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Kungsleden trail, Sweden

Cody Duncan:

While the Kungsleden trail is one of the most popular hiking routes in Sweden, as August passes to September and the end of the short arctic summer nears, the crowds begin to thin and the trail grows quiet as the land awaits the coming of winter.

The arrival of September sees the birch forests turn a golden yellow and the blueberries glow bright red, while the wide valleys rise to snow-capped mountains. The days become cold and the air crisp as snow flurries blow over you. The nights become dark again and northern lights once again dance in the sky.

Female hiker with snow covered mountains and autumn colors in southern end of Tjäktjavagge on Kungsleden trail, Lappland, Sweden
Female hiker with snow covered mountains and autumn colors in southern end of Tjäktjavagge on Kungsleden trail, Lappland, Sweden

Autumn is a wild, colorful, lonely, exhilarating, adventurous, time to experience the wilds of Sweden’s north. …

The mountain huts are seasonal, typically closing in mid September. September 21 for 2014.

Candlelight illumintes room Singi mountain hut at night, Kungsleden trail, Lappland, Sweden
Candlelight illumintes room Singi mountain hut at night, Kungsleden trail, Lappland, Sweden

The longest distance between any two huts is 21 km, Alesjaure – Abiskojaure. The average distance for the rest is about 12-14 km.

The price for a bed while the huts are open is between 295 – 330 SEK (in September).

Hiking the (Northern) Kungsleden Trail from Nikkaluokta to Abisko in Autumn, Sweden

300 SEK is about US$40.

top 10 coastal hikes worldwide?

by site editor Rick McCharles

updated April 2016

But what are the best coastal hikes anywhere?

Top-10#1) West Coast Trail, BC Canada
#2) Otter Trail, South Africa
#3) Abel Tasman Track, New Zealand
#4) Lost Coast Trail, California
#5) Thorsborne Trail, Australia
#7) Kalalau Trail, Kauai, Hawaii
#8) Pembrokeshire Coast Path, U.K. 
#9) South Coast Track, Tasmania
10) Great Ocean Walk, Australia

Leave a comment if you have more to add to this list.


Canada’s West Coast Trail is so popular that many other alternatives have been developed nearby:

What about Canada’s east coast?

I’ve still yet to hike all of the Shipwreck Coast Trail (Rialto Beach to Shi Shi Beach) in Washington State.

Hiking is so popular and so well developed in the U.K. that there are many alternatives to the Pembrokeshire:

  • South West Coast Path
  • Cleveland Way
  • Norfolk Coast Path
  • Fife Coastal Path
  • Arran Coastal Way
  • Ayrshire Coastal Path
  • Anglesey Coastal Path
  • Causeway Coast Way
  • Lecale Way

In Italy there are some classic short walks suggested by Andrea:

Other recommended in the past:

Australia must have more coastal hiking than any nation in the world. There are many good candidates including:

Personally, I liked the Queen Charlotte Track in New Zealand even better than the Abel Tasman.

And the Fisherman’s Trail, Rota Vicentina, Portugal is high on my personal life list.

Waterloo Bay Beach, Australia

related – Adventure JunkiesTOP 11 BEST COASTAL HIKES FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO ENJOY IN 2016

Olympic National Park, Washington

… This video is the culmination of a month spent backpacking through Olympic National Park. We chose Olympic as our first of the More Than Just Parks short films due to its incredible diversity. It is unlike any park on the planet offering glacial mountain peaks, old-growth rainforests, and over seventy miles of wilderness coast – all within a day’s drive. This film was shot entirely in 4K.

Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.

12 rain forests that aren’t on the equator

4. Valdivian temperate rain forests of Chile

In addition to being the second largest temperate rain forest in the world, they are also an indispensable haven for endemic Antarctic flora, and the windswept landscape of the neighboring Magellanic subpolar forests are just as otherworldly.

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12 rain forests that aren’t on the equator

Carrot Quinn – PCT memoir

This looks great.

Carrot Quinn fears that she’s become addicted to the internet. The city makes her numb, and she’s having trouble connecting with others. In a desperate move she breaks away from everything to walk 2,660 miles from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. It will be her first long-distance hike.

In the desert of Southern California Carrot faces many challenges, both physical and emotional: pain, injury, blisters, aching cold and searing heat, dehydration, exhaustion, loneliness. In the wilderness she happens upon and becomes close with an eclectic group of strangers- people she wouldn’t have chanced to meet in the “regular world” but who are brought together, here on the trail, by their one common goal: make it to Canada before the snow flies.

Carrot Quinn

Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart: An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail