besthike.com

February 16, 2009February 13, 2009

best National Parks in the world?

Rick Smith on National Parks Traveler is compiling a list of the World’s best National Parks. He kickstarted the conversation:

Fiordland National Park, New Zealand

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Tikal National Park, Guatemala

Kaieteur National Park, Guyana

Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary, Peru

OK, there are five of my favorites. Can you help us fill in five more blanks? If you have a great photo, send it along via email to kurt@nationalparkstraveler.com and we’ll see about posting it.

One that jumps to mind for me is Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Home of the Paine Circuit trek.

paine
larger original – flickr – dagpeak

All the National Parks in the Sierra Nevada, California are fantastic. I can’t choose one over the others along the John Muir Trail.

john-muir-trail
larger original – flickr

The Himalayas are fantastic. If I had to choose only one park, it would be the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) home of the Annapurna Circuit.

annapurna-circuit
larger original – flickr – Mahatma4711

thorung-la
Thorung La – larger original – flickr – Lucy Crabapple

But there are a dozen others I could name, just as easily.

The world is a wonderful place.

Check Rick’s original post to add to his list – The World’s Top Ten National Parks

February 15, 2009

who stole Lance Armstrong’s bike?

They are going to get caught.

From Lance:

There is only one like it in the world therefore hard to pawn it off. Reward being offered.

lance-bike

TwitPic

February 12, 2009February 11, 2009

incredible aerial photography

You certainly have seen this famous photo.

camels

It was published by National Geographic. The photographer is George Steinmetz and the image is called Larger than Life.

Here’s another of his photos.

desert-dunes

They are included in a slide show published on a new blog the adventure life by Steve Casimiro, who is an editor for National Geographic Adventure. (I’ve just subscribed by RSS.)

Details on this post – the adventure life – PHOTOGRAPHY: The Aerial Art of George Steinmetz.

Watch the must see gorgeous slide show here.

(via The Adventure Blog)

February 11, 2009

Adventure Sports Week 2009

New website for our big Adventure Race in Idaho – AdventureSportsWeek.com

From June 5—14, 2009, Farragut State Park, located just north of beautiful Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, will host 24 different races and contests for outdoor enthusiasts and athletes of all ages and abilities!

With activities ranging from 4 & 8 hour mountain bike races to an orienteering meet, the official XTERRA Northwest Cup race, a Duathlon, 6 trail runs ranging in distance from 6k to 50 miles, five different adventure races (including one especially for kids!), a distance swim, a paddling event and many more, we’ve got something to satisfy the whole family!

Over 1000 athletes are expected to participate, and we want you to be a part of one of the USA’s largest outdoor festivals!

BestHike.com will be there.

adventure-sport-week

official website – AdventureSportsWeek.com

February 11, 2009

Incredible Crater Lakes

Another amazing photo article from Environmental Graffiti – 12 Most Incredible Crater Lakes On Earth

… While popular belief is that crater lakes are formed after water fills up meteorite impact craters, very few such lakes actually exist. Most of them are formed in volcanic craters – but all offer spectacular sights for sore eyes!

Fascinating, spectacular, stunning and at times deadly, this is a trip into the extraordinary world of crater lakes. …

see the rest – 12 Most Incredible Crater Lakes On Earth

related post – hiking Earth Impact craters

February 10, 2009

7800mi backpacking the Andes

Deia Schlosberg & Gregg Treinish were named Adventurers of the Year by one of the National Geographic magazines.

Congratulations.

Two years. 7,800 miles. No roads. That was how Deia Schlosberg, 28, and Gregg Treinish, 26, vowed to trek the length of the Andes. They had no idea what they were getting into. Beginning in Papallacta, Ecuador, the two Montana-based wilderness educators cobbled together a route of llama tracks, old Inca roads, and forgotten trade paths down the spine of the world’s longest mountain range. It was an Andes few outsiders had seen before. For good reason: “We were lost the entire time,” Treinish says. “Every time we wanted to quit, we were so far in the middle of nowhere that it wasn’t even an option.” …

National Geographic Adventure – Trekking the forgotten Andes

As I write I’m listening to their audio interview on Wend magazine.

… successfully completed the trek, after covering 56 degrees of the globe, trekking more than 7800 miles, we became the first two people to backpack the Andes Mountain Range, the first two to walk it through the mountains without relying on roads, and Deia became the first woman to have walked South America. …

finalmap

It was a struggle at many times. There are no fixed long distance trails.

across-the-andes

home page – Across the Andes

February 7, 2009February 5, 2009

View from 7 Highest Peaks

The Sierra Trading Post blog linked to a terrific photo article on the 7 Summit.

Only a select few have conquered the Seven Summits, a grueling challenge that involves climbing the highest peak of every continent. They’ve seen the spectacular mountain-top views firsthand, and now you get a chance to soak in the scenery too as we go on a whirlwind tour of images captured by these exceptional mountaineers. …

But first, an explanation: Because of conflicting continental border definitions, there are actually two lists of the Seven Summits; the first was created by Richard Bass and the second revised by Reinhold Messner shortly after. Without question, six of the seven peaks on each list match, although one is disputed: Bass chose Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m) as the highest peak in Australia whereas Messner decided on the more challenging Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m) in Indonesia as the top of Australia-New Guinea.

In any case, bravo to the 229 people who have completed all seven on either list …

Click through to see photos of all 8 Seven Summits: Environmental Graffiti – The View from the Seven Highest Peaks on Earth

February 6, 2009February 4, 2009

Best treks in Africa

Anouk Zijlma on About.com posted a terrific list of the Best Hikes and Treks in Africa.

… Africa’s most popular trekking destination is Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the continent. Lesser known ranges like Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains offer an incredible array of snow-capped peaks right next to the equator.

Other fantastic hikes in Africa that don’t necessarily involve great heights include the Wild Coast (South Africa) and the Fish River Canyon (Namibia). …

Others on the list:

Mount Kenya

Simien Mountains, Ethiopia

The Drakensberg, South Africa

Mount Meru, Tanzania

Mount Elgon, Uganda and Kenya

Mount Cameroon, Cameroon

Mulanje Mountain, Malawi

Click through for more information, links and recommended guides – About.com Best treks in Africa

Most foreign trekkers prefer to go with a guiding company to ensure their safety.

mountstanley Mt. Stanley – Sylwia Duda/Creative Commons

mulanje Mulanje Mountain, Malawi – larger original – flickr – fffriendly

Compare this About.com list with our own Best Hikes in Africa

February 5, 2009February 3, 2009

Backpacker bungles Best Hike in Each State

Backpacker Magazine, as part of their Readers’ Choice Awards 2009, named “the best hike in every state” in the USA.

usa

No need to click through to the list, however.

Not unless you want to add your comment to these:

The “best trail in Nevada” points at a link titled Great Basin National Park? Nope, but instead takes you to a description of a little known side trail outside of Las Vegas at Cathedral Rock. Read a map sometime. What hooey.

Lord help us all if this is the kind of dis-information my favorite magazine prints!
Posted: Jan 30, 2009 Iowa Hike

Delaware’s best hike is in Virginia? That’s ridiculous! …

I don’t know where Backpacker comes up with this best of crap. The best hike in Florida is a three day paddle in the everglades? It wasn’t long ago they highlighted the bridge to bridge trail in White springs Florida, that’s a bicycle trail on the opposite side of the river from the FNST. As a volunteer trail coordinator for the Florida trail I’m offended by their lack of knowledge when it comes to hiking in Florida.
Posted: Jan 29, 2009 Alton Snellgrove

I especially like the fact that Big Creek is in NC not TN
Posted: Jan 29, 2009 Ricky

You guys need to chill out. Please. How are you going to diss Backpacker? I mean, how many other magazines are there that tend to the desires and needs of a hiker/climbing/packer? The writers are human, they will make mistakes.
Posted: Jan 30, 2009 AJ

I love Backpacker magazine too. But this is a good example of the mistake many websites make banking on “reader contributed content”.

The Wisdom of Crowds only works if you have a large enough crowd. Clearly Backpacker did not get enough feedback on the best hikes to put together a reasonably good list.

(via The Adventure Blog)

February 4, 2009February 2, 2009

Rockies hiking pics – Lake O’Hara

Photographer Conny Ellison loves Lake O’Hara in the Canadian Rockies.

We agree it’s the most photogenic hiking area of all, the best place to take first time visitors to the region.

Check out a slideshow to see for yourself.

No doubt about it: Lake O’Hara is our most favourite place (“Happy Place”) on this planet. We have been very fortunate and been able to make a trip here at least once every year since 2002 (getting seats on the bus into O’Hara can be a bit of a hassle). Often there is too much snow on the alpine traverse and we have to “make do” with the Lake Oesa and Opabin trails. The highline is definitely our favourite trail though!

opabin-lake