Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
Outside San Diego is posting a different favourite hike each day over the holidays.
Here are the picks, so far:
1. Garnet Peak (Laguna Mountains)
2. Arroyo Tapiado
3. Torrey Pines
4.Oak Canyon, Mission Trails Regional Park
5. Ghost Mountain
6. Iron Mountain
David Roberts was air rescued in Alaska this past summer at a cost of over $90,000.
Though he had a lot of experience with arctic wilderness in Saskatchewan, the media is reporting that he was totally unprepared, and a “goofy guy”.
Roberts, a 54-year-old Australian, was trying to walk almost 100 miles across the Brooks Range wilderness when he set off a long-distance distress call on Friday. He’d been out there alone for two months.
…He hauled a 140-pound sled full of supplies behind him, he said. A persistent stomach bug left him dehydrated while frequent, stabbing pains pierced his cold feet.
He traveled fewer than 40 miles in two months — far less than he’d expected.
…
Alaskans have little patience for seemingly ill-prepared adventurers, and news of the rescue prompted comparisons to another explorer who trekked into the wilderness 16 years ago — Chris McCandless. McCandless starved to death after trying to survive on his own for more than three months near Denali National Park.
…Roberts didn’t know who would have to pay for his rescue when he made the decision to get help, he said. “I didn’t presume that somebody else was going to pick up the tab on that.” …
Anchorage Daily News – Adventurer’s wilderness trek ends with air rescue, free hotel
Roberts will not be billed for the rescue costs.
… Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois are thinking of selling or leasing toll roads, parks, lotteries and other assets to raise desperately needed cash. …
Bluepeak was the first blog to announce the opening of the Monkman Pass Memorial Trail in Northern British Columbia.
This 63-km long trail follows the route that Alex Monkman and his band of pioneers established in the 1930s. Most of this little-known, but spectacular trail is in Monkman Provincial Park, leading from Kinuseo Falls over the Rocky Mountains to Hobi’s Cabin on the Herrick River. There are very few facilities along the route – this is a true wilderness experience.
The most famous feature is Kinuseo Falls.
original – flickr – wgelnaw
Monkman Expeditions can guide you on the new historical trail.
But it looks quite doable for experienced wilderness hikers independently.
Start planning your future adventure. First you have to get there …
related:
It’s on our list of best hikes in Asia.
It should be one of the best trekking adventures in China.
But ceaseless Chinese development may have already ruined it. (Though a proposed hydroelectric dam that would have submerged the Gorge was cancelled in 2007.)
larger version – flickr – livepine
Tiger Leaping Gorge (Chinese: 虎跳峡; pinyin: Hǔtiào Xiá) is a canyon on the Yangtze River …
Around 15 km in length, the gorge is located where the river passes between 5,596 metre Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山; Yùlóngxuĕ Shān) and 5,396 m Haba Xueshan (哈巴山; Hābā Shān) in a series of rapids under steep 2000 metre cliffs. Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point (still 25 metres wide), hence the name. …
The hiking path (“the high road”) is well-maintained and marked, although sometimes narrow, and is used by the Naxi as part of everyday life. This trail is longer than the lower road, approximately 22 kilometres (14 mi), but more varied, with fantastic scenery—mainly mountain views—a challenge for most but well worth it. It features a surprising variety of microecosystems, waterfalls and a fair number of guesthouses for trekkers. …
I hiked it about 11yrs ago. And it was already too developed for me. By the sounds of the trip reports I’ve read, it’s gotten much worse.
Someday the Chinese governments will learn to preserve their best wilderness areas. This is part of a World Heritage Site. And yet it’s still threatened.
Read a positive trip report with photos by Edbo on Shutterfly.
Famously, in his classic book A Walk in the Woods, author Bill Bryson was outraged that top-of-the-line backpacks were not waterproof.
That’s finally changing.
Shopping my favourite gear store (Mountain Equipment Co-op) with Christmas gift certificates, I was surprised how many waterproof backpacks were on the shelves. Their website lists 16 products in the hiking section.
MEC carries Outdoor Research (OR) and Seal Line. Both looked great.
For example, the OR Drycomp Summit Sack:
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Only $55.00 CAD. Cheap.
For myself, I picked up a $10 MEC Sil/Pu Pack Liner.
What gear did you buy yourself for Christmas?
Leave a comment.
As posted on Smashing Magazine.
see more – (Really) Stunning Pictures and Photos
(via Campingblogger’s twitter feed)
As reported in Treehugger:
57,000 New Jobs Could Be Created in US National Parks
With the economy foundering at the moment, it’s not surprising that many people are proposing projects to the incoming Obama administration that will create new jobs and benefit the economy as a whole. A new report from the National Parks Conservation Association does its part for promoting reinvestment in the US National Parks system as another worthy area for green investment.
The report says that they are $2.5 billion worth of job-creating projects in the National Parks, and furthermore that for every dollar invested there it could bring back four dollars in value to the public. …
Certainly spending money on infrastructure is a good strategy for economic recovery over the coming years.
I’d be thrilled if building up the National Parks infrastructure is part of that. In the USA and around the world.
larger version – flickr – SC Fiasco
Next … we need to convince State governments to invest in State Parks. Florida, for example.
The best walk in Australia — our #10 best trek in the World — is Tasmania’s Overland Track.
John & Monica Chapman self-publish the best guidebook for the OT. (Chapman’s guidebooks are the best in the world, in fact.)
But personally I prefer the just released Overland Track eBook (PDF format) by Frank & Sue Wall.
.
What hiking gear you will need?
What food to take?
How to organise your meals?
How to get the start of the walk and home again?
What are the best transport options?
What first aid kit you need?
Can you walk the Overland Track solo?
How hard is the Overland Track?
What is the best way to get to Cradle Mountain?
Why is an eBook better than a hard copy guidebook?
easy for the authors to update links to web pages and email addresses downloads instantly I can carry it on my iTouch
And DIRT CHEAP at A$7 for 18,000+ words and heaps of photographs
Check out a couple of sample graphics:
Beautiful.
Brilliant.
This is exactly the kind of information I need when planning a major hike.
Thanks to Frank in Oz for putting this together based on his past 10 OT tramps.
Download a free sample of the eBook from this page: Hiking the Overland Track – the downloadable book
Ian’s agreed to add our new event — Adventure Week 2009 — to his busy calendar.
Ian is the most successful adventure racer of all time with six world championship wins, 15 world championship podium finishes and 14 international adventure race championship titles. He is a three time and current world record holder for endurance kayaking (262 miles in 24 hours.) Ian has competed internationally in adventure racing, canoeing, kayaking, orienteering and sailing.
Ian has been a professional adventure athlete since 1997 and currently races as co-captain of Team Nike.
I’m planning on kicking his butt in at least one of the races.
besthike.com 