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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

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360 mile Bigfoot Trail, California

The Bigfoot Trail … begins in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness and ends in Redwood National Park at the Pacific Ocean near Crescent City, California. …

Northwest California’s Klamath Mountains foster one of the most diverse temperate coniferous forests on Earth and this route is a celebration of that biodiversity. …

Due to the strenuous nature of the trail and the fact that some section have been un-maintained for many years it is not a trail that can be hiked quickly. Experience using map and compass as well as the ability to read the landscape are necessary for a successful thru-hike. The Bigfoot Trail was originally proposed by Michael Kauffmann in 2009 …

Bigfoot-Trail-Route

Get the map from the official website.

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Sage Clegg hiked it in 2014.