Rue Mapp, Outdoor Afro FounderOutdoor Afro is a website community that reconnects African-Americans with natural spaces and one another through recreational activities such as camping, hiking, biking, boating, gardening, and skiing. Outdoor Afro uses social media to create interest communities, events, and to partner with regional and national organizations that support diverse participation in the Great Outdoors. …
As a career gymnastics coach, I can assure you that hiking is NOT the best way to get fit.
For each hour of exercise, gymnastics conditioning and Crossfit are the easiest ways to get strong and lose weight. Using your own body weight as resistance works best.
However, the LSD (Long Slow Distance) exercise methods do work. But they take many, many more hours.
above Chamonix, France
I hiked most days this past summer, many with a full pack.
Within the first few weeks my fitness (for hiking) was perhaps best of my life.
Rarely could any walker pass me, with or without a pack.
Climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland I must have passed 700 people including trail runners who walked up, ran down. None passed me. The 1,344m (4,409 ft) seemed easy in the good weather.
You need weeks on the trail if you plan to get fit by hiking. But it will work.
The best air mattress on the market right now is the NeoAir made by Cascade Designs Therm-a-Rest.
I was lying on mine one night in the tent during an 8-day hike of the Haute Route in the Alps. A strange sizzling sound began.
At first I thought I was being attacked by insects under the tent.
Then my NeoAir began to swell in one small spot.
Bizarre.
Each night after being inflated the swelling increased in size. It seemed to stop when internal pressure reached a specific point. (under-inflated)
weird bulge on an air mattress
I slept on the thing anyway though, being a savvy hiker, I was actually carrying a second small air mattress, using it as a pack frame and pillow.
I’m BRILLIANT to have a back-up. Right?
Sadly, my “pillow” had developed a slow leak. It was worse than the NeoAir.
The NeoAir is not widely available in Europe as yet. By luck I happened to find a demo model in Chamonix, France reduced to 109 Euro (US$156).
I’ll be returning the damaged NeoAir on warranty when I get home.
But I’m wondering if this was a fluke. Or a design flaw in a new product. Leave a comment if you’ve heard of this happening to any other NeoAir mattresses.
I’ll post it to Twitter tagged #NeoAirFail, as well.
Jeremy Twigg sends us the update on that inspiring fund-raiser:
I wanted to share some good news: Team IBDadventures safely reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro on September 13!
Says team member Clinton Shard from Squamish, BC:
“What an emotional roller coaster when we got to the summit. Incredible views, ice everywhere, and cold. Very cold. I hope when people hear about this trip they will recognize they can accomplish anything and they shouldn’t let Inflammatory Bowel Diseases stand in their way.”
I did take a free trial, years ago. Was not so much impressed at that time.
I’ve never liked “walled garden” members only websites.
Seems to have improved a great deal since then. Here’s the email they sent me when I inquired as to cost:
The US$49.95 charge covers a 1 year subscription to Trails.com. Your subscription includes:
* Unlimited access to more than 44,000 Trail Guides – complete with driving directions, trail directions, maps and more.
* 20% OFF one entire order in our Gear Store (some exclusions apply). This benefit alone could easily pay for your entire Trails.com subscription!
* Unlimited access to every USGS Topographic Map in the USA.
* Trail Finder for fast and easy searching.
* Tools to track your favorite trails, and the ones you’d like to visit.
* The ability to create, download and save, email and print maps and guides.
* Real-time weather and GPS integration (coming soon).
* Trail reviews, photos and many more community features.
* The Trails.com Newsletter – with exclusive offers for Trails.com members.
In tribute to the greatest mountaineer of all time (Dick Bass, my ass), Reinhold Messner, I visited one of his Messner Mountain Museums. (He has 4 museums already and is working on a 5th.)
Reinhold Messner has dedicated to the mountains and the mountain culture a unique project, a network of museums located in five extraordinary places in the Alps. The Messner Mountain Museum is a place of encounter with the mountains, with humanity and ultimately with oneself.
The Messner Mountain Museum Firmian is located at Castle Sigmundskron near Bolzano, Reinhold’s home town.
It is very well done. I highly recommend it even to those not particularly interested in mountaineering.
In fact, the Himalayan section made me homesick for Nepal.
By the way, after 35yrs, in 2005, the remains of Günther Messner, Reinhold’s brother, were found on Nanga Parbat.
Reinhold had lived those decades with accusations that he abandoned his 23yr-old brother to die on that tragic expedition.
I always believed Reinhold’s version of the story. That his brother must have been caught in an avalanche.
It’s nice to see him vindicated in his own lifetime.
Fjällräven, a Swedish company specialising in outdoor clothing, sponsors an annual hiking race.
Hiking race?
I’ve never heard of this concept before. And 2000+ partipants attended this year!
The competition element is downplayed, however. It’s not in the same category as most other trail races. In this event, you must carry a pack. And sleep in a tent. Most people do it for FUN.
photographer: Kikki Brink
Under the RULES, it seems littering is the biggest breach – immediate disqualification! (I do like that.)
Participants walk from Nikkaluokta 110km to Abisko. (This is the first section of the famed Kungsleden trail. Of the 2000 racers, some no doubt continue to the end of that 440km (270mi) through hike.)
Medals are awarded: Gold if you finish in less than 72hrs, Silver less than 96hrs, Bronze under 120hrs.
Wild Backpacker has a good summary of our favourite hiking destination in the American Southwest:
… Buckskin Gulch is the longest and deepest slot canyon in the Southwest, and while others are narrower, prettier or more challenging to explore, the length and variety of the terrain in the ever changing narrows make it an amazing experience. The narrows extend for nearly 15 miles, with some parts only 10 feet wide. The cliffs grow steadily higher downstream, reaching a height of 500 feet above the streambed at the confluence of Buckskin Gulch and Paria Canyon. The walls of both canyons are rather dark, as the sun rarely reaches the bottom of the deep canyons. The walls of the gulch still show interesting swirls and curves worn by floods.
Buckskin Gulch and the Paria Canyon, is located in the Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area of Southern Utah. Buckskin Gulch is best done at least as a two-day canyoneering and backpacking adventure, although there are day hiking options …
But even more extreme is Coyote Gulch in Escalante, Utah.
… The most challenging part of this hike is the climb out of Coyote Gulch near Jacob Hamblin Arch. The climb involves scrambling up a 100-foot pitch of slick rock that ascends from the canyon floor at an angle close to 45 degrees. A 100-foot length of rope is useful here for raising backpacks. A compass is also useful for the last part of the hike, which involves a 2-mile cross-country walk from the canyon rim back to Jacob Hamblin Trailhead. Sneakers or other wettable shoes are the most practical footwear inside the canyon, as you will frequently be required to cross the stream bed. …
In (relatively) good weather, this is one of the great urban walks of the world.
I had a lovely, mellow morning up there.
Arthur’s Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park, a remarkably wild piece of highland landscape in the centre of the city of Edinburgh, about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 251 m (823.5 feet), provides excellent panoramic views of the city, is quite easy to climb, and is a popular walk. …
The hill bears a strong resemblance to the Cavehill in Belfast in terms of its geology and proximity to a major urban site. …
besthike.com 