Posts

Posted on

BIG in Europe: Nordic Walking

My stand on hiking canes remains unchanged.

I think they’re great for the elderly and infirm.

elderly-couple-hiking-poles

Just kidding.

I’m astonished at how popular this new activity is in Europe. It’s HUGE compared with North America.

Europe has dedicated Nordic Walking paths.

Nordic walking is defined as fitness walking with specially designed poles. … Hikers with knee pain discovered they could walk more powerfully with a pair of trekking poles, often eliminate or reduce hip, knee, and foot pain, and backpackers found relief from painful backs when using poles. …

Wikipedia

Nordic-Walker

Check out a video tutorial by trekkingpoleguru.

Swedes call it stavgång. In Norway and Denmark it is stavgang. And to the Estonians it is kepikönd.

Posted on

camping, hiking, kayaking on the rise

On Paul Gilbert’s blog:

… In just the last year, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority has seen a jump in camping of 10 percent increase over last summer, and an astonishing 75 percent increase since 2004. …

kayaks

… Tom Doyle, Vice President of Information and Research at the National Sporting Good Association, says the increase in visitation is no fluke. “In our last national survey, we found that camping has dramatically increased, from 46 million campers (nationally) in 2005 to 49.4 million last summer.”

Those figures show no sign of slowing either. Camping, hiking, kayaking – all three areas remain on the rise according to Doyle. Meanwhile, tent sales nationally have been trending up the last few years.

“I fully expect the increase in camping to continue,” Doyle said. “People are foregoing expensive travel.” …

Regional Parks

(via TrailVoice on twitter)

Posted on

$80 US Parks Pass FREE from Amazon

Promotion Details

While supplies last, get a National Parks and Federal Recreation Land Annual Park Pass for free (an $80 value) when you purchase $299 or more of eligible outdoor recreation gear sold and shipped by Amazon.com. To take advantage of this offer, please review and follow the steps below:

Add eligible outdoor recreation gear to your cart totaling $299 or more (before shipping, gift wrap, and taxes) shipped and sold by Amazon.com.

Add the National Parks and Federal Recreation Land Annual Park Pass to your cart.

Proceed to checkout.

The value of the National Parks and Federal Recreation Land Annual Park Pass ($80) will be deducted at checkout. Verify that your discount has been taken to ensure that your order qualifies for this offer before clicking the “Place your Order” button.

Once you’ve placed your order, your products and the Park Pass will be shipped to you.

This offer applies only to select Amazon.com purchases. Items eligible for this offer will feature a promotional message indicating that it is an eligible item. Applies only to products sold by Amazon.com. Does not apply to products sold on our site by third-party merchants or through third-party areas such as Amazon.com Marketplace, or Auctions.

Amazon

annual-park-pass

(via Trailspotting)

Posted on

besthike pilgrimage to the Alps

by site editor Rick McCharles.

Jeff asks whether the Tour of Mont Blanc truly is the best hike in Europe.

He’s planning a hike in the Alps in the next couple of weeks.

And it sounds to Jeff … and to me … that the more difficult, longer High Route would be the better adventure.

I may see Jeff on the Trail. Today I start at Mont Blanc … and walk to the Matterhorn. That could be 180km … if I don’t cheat.

Mont-Blanc

The Matterhorn
The Matterhorn

I’m using Chamonix to Zermatt: The Walker’s Haute Route by Kev Reynolds as my guidebook.

besthike must ajudicate, once and for all, if the High Route is better than the TMB.

That’s our mission.

… Actually, the TMB and the High Route have one common section. It may be a … tie.

Posted on

hiking and biking Sportgastein

Sportgastein is the highest ski resort in the ski-intensive Gastein valley in Austria.

In the Summer it’s a lovely place to hike or bike. The best destination out of the alpine town of Bad Gastein.

A few pics from my two days there.

Sportgastein-Rick-bike

Sportgastein-horses

kids-climbing-a-small-mountain

It was more work than I expected climbing up to Nidersachsenhaus. Great views though.

more of my Sportgastein photos on flickr

everyone’s Sportgastein photos on flickr

Posted on

where is the best hike in Austria?

by site editor Rick McCharles

Though I’ve been hiking in Austria out of Bad Gastein for a week, I’m still not clear where to find the best hikes in this country. More than 60 percent of the nation is mountainous. Seems to me you would enjoy hiking almost anywhere.

A good starting point for someone hiking Austria for the first time, however, is Hohe Tauern, the largest of Austria’s six national parks.

National-Park-Hohe-Tauern

Grossglockner 3,798m (12,460ft) is the highest peak in Austria.

Grossglockner

Every Summer, over 1.2 million people drive an expensive toll road to see it.

I wasn’t one of them this Summer.

Instead, I tried to spy the big guy from the top of Kitzsteinhorn. That’s a very popular day trip out of Zell am See.

Kitzsteinhorn

The Alexander Enzinger trail here is often touted a best hike in the area.

The day I rode one of the longest cable cars in the world (50min) the weather turned bleak. And I ran out of time to make it to the top station.

In fact, I must report that it was very ugly at the top of the ski lift. My least favourite place in the Alps, so far.

construction-atop-ski-resort

It was here, too, that 155 people died Nov. 11, 2000 in a tragic railway car tunnel fire.

… enough grim reporting from me …

Check out some gorgeous hiking photos of the area from Adventure4Ever. Everyone else aside from me loves this region.

Posted on

Your Own Machu Picchu: Choquequirao, Peru

An excellent article on one of the best hikes in Peru was posted on Matador Trips: Discover Your Own Machu Picchu: Choquequirao, Peru

Did you visit Machu Picchu thinking you’d arrived 50 years too late? Wish you could’ve seen it before the tourist hordes and luxury hotel moved in? Then Choquequirao might be for you. …

There are very few trekkers there in comparison with Machu Picchu. We did it in 2005 and had the ruins to ourselves.

photo George Novak
photo George Novak

It’s a massive up and down hike. We hired a mule and mule driver to carry our packs.

The scenery is fantastic, of course.

photo George Novak
photo George Novak

Our biggest concern was the tiny biting flies. (Especially after their bites get infected.)

read the entire Matador article: Discover Your Own Machu Picchu: Choquequirao, Peru

Read the comments for some personal stories on continuing from Choquequirao to Machu Picchu without a guide.

P.S.

There’s one drastic mistake in the story:

From the village to the ruins and back, you’re looking at 74 km (46 miles). …

It’s nowhere near that far. … Is it?

More details and links on our besthike Choquequirao Trek information page.