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Egypt Lake 2001 photos

by site editor Rick McCharles

The Lakes and Larches hike to Egypt Lake in the Canadian Rockies out of Banff was fantastic.

In bright sunshine, one day temperatures approached 30 degrees Celsius!

Most of these photos are close-ups as those tend to turn out best from (the fairly low resolution) camcorder. I included some of the amazing wild flowers and many of the animals we saw.

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001_sheep_lick

002_sheep_young

004_mark

005_rob_packin

006_ron_sunglasses

The hat has a disgusting collection of flies stuck to it — a failed gear innovation..

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008_flower_yellow

010_heally_haze

011_larches_and_lakes

012_rons_vista

013_rob_old_cheesie

014_les

015_john

016_elaine_lake

017_rick_bits

018_rob

019_elaine_flowers

020_wolf

021_les_lunker

022_les_happy_camper

The deer is a surprising illusion — it’s made of deadfall and underbrush.

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024_whiskeyjack

025_marmot_attack

026_group_whistler

027_rick_summit

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030_peak_profile

031_brian

032_grouse

033_goats

034_rob_pissin

035_john_bigrock

036_mark_finishing

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Merrell Men’s Moab GORE-TEX®

My hiking transportation of choice.

Just bought my 4th pair over the past 5 years. In yet a bigger size. The bigger the better for me it seems when it comes to approach shoes. I’m up to size 10.

Moabs

Durability is terrific. I wish they had wider sizing than 2E. (“wide”)

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trekking the Everest region, Nepal

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Cost is about $40 / day / person in 2016 staying and eating in Tea Houses. Carrying your own pack. There’s no earthquake damage in that part of the Himalaya.

Everest

Check our Everest Base Camp / 3 Passes information page.

(via The Longer, The Better – Three Pass Trek)

 

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back to the Sunshine Coast Trail

11 of us tried to hike British Colombia’s  Sunshine Coast Trail summer of 2015.

We lasted only 3 days. 🙂

I’m heading back to the Sunshine Coast today on my own to see if I can knock off a big chunk of the 180-kilometre trail that stretches from Sarah Point in Desolation Sound to Saltery Bay.

newmapmore maps

The huts are basic. First come, first served. I’ll carry a tent, just in case.

Tinhat hutNo fees. No registration. Easy access from multiple trailheads means you can resupply en route. Logistics will be easy.

My main worries are bugs. And mud.

I’ll swat the bugs with the guidebook by Eagle Walz.

 

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1997 trek to the Lost City,

trip report by besthike editor Rick McCharles

Santa Marta, the oldest city in Colombia (1525), is pretty & undeveloped. Backpackers love this place. Cobble-stoned houses, overhanging balconies, churches and military fortresses. Kids, dogs, pool halls, power failures and loud music.

It is the jumping off point for the Lost City trek.

I was psyched.

jlost_riverSix-day return treks to the ruins of La Ciudad Perdida are only allowed through a government agency. Guides arrange transport, food and accommodation — essential because the area is a significant marijuana and coca-growing region.

I, like the other backpackers in Santa Marta, was nervous about making the trip.

A selling point, however, was that hikers of all nationalities were allowed to trek except Americans — they make too attractive kidnap victims.

k_guideOur guide was most famous and experienced having made the trip over 500 times since the Lost City had been rediscovered in 1976.

I carried my tent on the trek, much to the consternation of my old guide. He insisted we sleep in hammocks in the South American tradition.

… read more

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remote Mount Edziza, British Columbia

This is a relatively unknown trek in British Columbia, maybe receiving around 30 visitors each season.

Every day of the trek is different from the other, passing through mountain valleys of incredible orange and red mineralizations to volcanic plateaus littered with cinder cones and fine sandy pumice.

Mt. Edziza and the Spectrum range are located in the Mt. Edziza Provincial Park in the Tahltan First Nation territory of northern British Columbia, 35 km. west (by air) of Highway 37 at Tatogga Lake. From the air, you can see where the lava poured across the plateau and down through the trees to the lakes and creeks below. Normally, trekkers undertake one section at a time – either a 5-day trip along the Edziza plateau or a 5-day trip through the Spectrum range. For either one of these 5-day treks, most people fly out from Mowdade lake which is roughly the dividing line between the Edziza and Spectrum regions.

Trekking Partners – One of the most beautiful treks in BC

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From the Vancouver airport you might be able to drive to Telegraph Creek, BC in 24 hours.   This adventure truly is remote.

Edziza

 

 

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Borneo’s Mount Kinabalu

… Bisected by the equator and set between Peninsular Malaysia and the Philippines, Borneo is the third-largest island on Earth. Three countries share this landmass — Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia …

I’ve joined a G Adventures group for their 10-day Borneo-Sabah Adventure. With wildlife-seeking along the Kinabatagan River, a visit to an orang-utan preserve and touring Turtle Islands National Park on the horizon (see sidebar), I’m now primed for the premier alpine hike in this storied region of Asia — a setting that’s still very much a frontier, yet on the cusp of tourism greatness. …

Kinabalu is climbed in two legs — the first is a 1,270-vertical-metre ascent to Laban Rata, a guesthouse at 3,270 metres …

Explore – Travel: Climbing Malaysian Borneo’s Mount Kinabalu

Kinabalu

related:

• Mount Kinabalu, 2 Tough Days in Borneo

• The Highest I’ve Ever Been: Trekking Mount Kinabalu