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Alastair Humphreys – Greenland

In the last 100 years, twelve people have stood on the moon, more than 500 have been into space, and more than five thousand have climbed Everest. Yet the journey Captain Scott and his team died trying to complete a century ago remains unrealised. No one has ever walked from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back again.

… Ben Saunders, Alastair Humphreys and Martin Hartley take on arguably the most ambitious polar expedition in the last century: the four-month Scott 2012 – the first return journey to the South Pole on foot, and at 1,800 miles, the longest unsupported polar journey in history. …

Click PLAY or watch 2012 training expedition on Vimeo.

The Scott Expedition did not go in 2012.

Instead, an expanded Team starts October 2013. Wish them luck.

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Polar bear attacks hiker

… pulled from his tent and attacked by a polar bear in Torngat Mountains National Park in northern Labrador.

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Matt Dyer, a lawyer from Maine, was badly injured during the attack at around 1:30 a.m. AT on July 24. …

The bear ripped through the electric fence the group had set up around their campsite that night.

When the campers realized what was happening, they acted quickly and fired flares to try to scare the bear away. …

nl-300-polar-bears-20130816

Parks Canada strongly advises visitors to hire an armed bear guard during their stay, but it is not mandatory.

The Inuit bear guards are hired through the Nunatsiavut base camp set up within the park.

However, Castaneda-Mendez said his group was never offered the armed bear guard, and said that the outfitter they hired insisted it was not necessary. He said his group was under the impression the portable electric fence was an adequate deterrent. …

CBC

related – Polar bear attack survivor played dead to save his life

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NEW – GR 20 Corsica

We’ve posted a new information page on the GR 20 in Corsica, France.

I hiked the more difficult, rugged northern half in 2011.

Europe’s toughest trek250px-Corse_in_France.svg

… The trail (conceived by Michel Fabrikant back in 1970) is long (even if you walk half of it) and tough. Don’t underestimate it! You need to be fit, well trained but most of all you must be highly motivated. …

 

The path is basic: i.e. there actually is no real path underfoot for 98% of the time. So much that on many occasions if you don’t see the next waymark or cairn you won’t know where to go. Seriously. In addition to that forget the flat path you’re probably used to; most of the time you’ll walk on rugged and tormented terrain, rocks, stones galore, granite slabs … you get the idea. Get used to it. …

 

The huts are basic. If we leave out the minor exceptions of the decent buildings at Haut Asco and Castel de Verghio, the huts are small rudimentary (some of them) bergerie-style buildings with small suffocating dormitories …

My advice instead is to bring your own tent. …

AT A GLANCE

  • corsicamorenkop one of the best treks in the world
  • 180km
  • 15 days (many hike only half)
  • 19,000m of ascent and descent
  • sleep in tents or mountain huts (refuges or gîtes)
  • hiking permit not required. Reservations for the refuges recommended.
  • located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the Italian island of Sardinia

GR_20_map

read more – BestHike GR 20 information page

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fastest PCT ever – Heather Anderson

High Country News:

Heather Anderson, 32, arrived in the dark around midnight on Aug. 7, exhausted and alone.

… she set two even more impressive records, becoming the fastest woman to hike the PCT (in 60 days), and the fastest self-supported hiker – male or female – breaking a 2011 record by nearly four days. …

Anish

HCN: What motivated you to try to set a speed record?

HA: I first thru-hiked the PCT in 2005, and it’s one of those funny things you think about while you’re out there. I saw people attempting speed records and wondered how fast I’d be. I like the idea of seeing how far I can push my body. (I had) a lot of fears and weaknesses that I wanted to address, and there had never been a woman that had done a self-supported attempt of this length. …

HCN: How many miles a day were you hiking?

HA: Between 40 and 50 miles every day. I hiked a lot in the dark. That was one of the challenges that I knew I wanted to overcome. I was scared of mountain lions, and I’ve always been terrified of being out at night. In the past, if it was starting to get dark and I hadn’t found a place to camp, I’d literally be running down the trail almost crying. So on this trip I made myself hike three or four hours each night. I saw four mountain lions. …

Woman breaks an all-time fastest Pacific Crest Trail record

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Red Rock Canyon, Waterton

trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

Three teens from Calgary SOMEHOW had never been to Waterton Lakes National Park, even though it’s only 3hrs drive from their homes.

teens

Almost immediately we came upon 4 bears grazing the hillside.

bears

Like adjacent Glacier National Park, Waterton is a great place to see wildlife.

Due to bear problems in the National Park campgrounds, tenting was not allowed at Crandell Mountain Campground in 2013. We decided to stay outside the Park at Crooked Creek.

Crooked Creek

car camping eggs

We shared the Creek with a family of Beavers.

Beaver

Red Rock Canyon is a classic day hike, an easy loop.

More adventurous is to follow the Canyon up the mountain for as long as possible.

Red Rock

Red Rock 2

The guys ended up scrambling over and under logs, getting wet and generally having a blast.

Red Rock logs

All and all, a pretty good introduction to the joys of Waterton National Park.

more Red Rock Canyon photos

more Waterton photos

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Crypt Lake trail

Highly recommended. 🙂

We had a terrific adventure.

The Crypt Lake Trail is one of the premium hikes in Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is accessed by a dedicated ferry service operating from the Waterton Park Townsite. …

Voted “Canada’s Best Hike” in 1981 …

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The crux comes at the top.

… ledge is about 50 cm wide, and continues over to a steel ladder and access to the tunnel. For nearly 100 ft you crawl through a natural mountain tunnel before arriving at the cable traverse. This section of the hike involves a scramble along a sheer cliff, with the assistance of a steel cable. …

The hike is a total of 17.2 km round trip, with a gradual 2,300-foot elevation gain. …

full resolution photos

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Wildflowers of Banff Park

By luck we ended up camping next to outdoors author / photographer Ian Wilson. He and wife Jacinthe Lavoie self-published Wildflowers of Banff Park in 2012.

Here’s a sample photo — a Western Wood Lily.

Western Wood Lily - 3

Click through to see a SAMPLE of the entire book online.

We bought 2 copies and some Scenic Wildflowers Cards.

Best trails near Banff for wildflowers:

Johnson Lake

Spray River

Sunshine Meadows

Healy Pass

Bourgeau Lake

Eiffel Lake

The Plain of Six Glaciers / Lake Agnes trail

Molar Pass

Helen Lake

Nigel Pass

banff-bookcover

details on WildflowersOfBanff.com

Actually, we met Ian near Waterton. They had been there for months researching their next book — Wildflowers of Waterton Park.

Looking forward to that one! 🙂

If you have any questions, comments, or would like information regarding book orders or special edition books, please email hyacinthpress@gmail.com

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Waterton – Akamina Parkway Repair

On June 19, 2013, Waterton Lakes National Park received over 200 mm of rain in less than 24 hours, twice the amount which normally triggers a flood watch.

Most facilities that were damaged by the June 19 storm were quickly repaired and re-opened. This includes all campgrounds, most trails and bridges, the Red Rock Parkway and the sewage lagoons.

The Akamina Parkway sustained the heaviest damage … and repairs began July 1. …

The Akamina Parkway remains closed during reconstruction. …

read more – Akamina Parkway Repair Updates

We were there this past week. Akamina Parkway is still closed.

That means road access to about ⅓ of the most popular hikes in Waterton have been inaccessible this season.

That means I was once again not able to complete the Fantastic Four hiking challenge, a sponsor of this site. 😦

Akamina Parkway repairs have actually been going well. Everything will be open again for 2014.

Parks Canada operates three vehicle-accessible campgrounds in Waterton:

• Townsite Campground
• Crandell Mountain Campground
• Belly River Campground

Right now — due to BEAR activity — you can only tent at Townsite.

We wanted to tent so opted instead for Crooked Creek Campground outside the Park, privately-operated, less expensive.

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best hammock shelter ever?

Looks like it to me.

The Nubé (new-bay) is more than just a hammock shelter, it’s a safe haven for you and your gear wherever you are.

With it’s patent pending 3 in 1 system the Nubé is the most complete hammock shelter ever produced.

The Nubé protects you from torrential down pours, pesky insects, and keeps your gear elevated and protected …

The Nubé is designed to be compatible with any camping hammock …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Nubé Weight (no stakes): 2 lbs (0.90 kg)

Total Weight (with stakes): 2.24 lbs (1.01 kg)

kickstarter – Nubé the Perfected Hammock Shelter
by Sierra Madre Research
– Richard G. Rhett Jr.

This should be available next year. They’ve already raised more than triple the money needed to start production. 🙂

related – How to Set-Up the Nubé (VIDEO)