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legend of Kayak Bill

Rocco forwarded us an amazing feature story in Sea Kayaker magazine:

… We asked the clerk at the Echo Bay general store about the kayaker, “Oh, that’s Kayak Bill. He has a camp at Eden Island, and a bunch of other camps around. He does a few odd jobs sometimes, but mostly he lives off the land. He started off from Vancouver about ten years ago to paddle to Alaska, but after wintering at Eden Island, he said he didn’t need to go any farther.” …

Kayak Bill – A Requiem

It’s well worth the read. Thanks to the author Keith Webb.

kayak
original – flickr

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Israeli hikers lost, again

Israeli hikers are the most adventurous of all, in my experience.

That’s why I’ve so often joined up with them on treks around the world.

Unfortunately, they often get themselves in trouble. Like these two who decided to leave their group and strike out on their own for an easier itinerary:

hikers

Happy ending: Romi Givon (21) and Tal Bar (21), the two Israeli hikers who went missing for two days in the Villarrica National Park in Chile were found safe and sound on Tuesday afternoon, according to Tami Bar, Tal’s mother.

…

Ran Givon, Romi’s father, along with an Israeli rescue team, was scheduled to fly to Chile in the evening to assist in the search.

The 138,600 acre Villarrica volcano is dominated by the Villarrica volcano, which towers at an altitude of 9,338 feet and in considered most active volcano in South America. The weather in the area is notoriously fickle, and is characterized by heavy rain, fog and low temperatures. …

YnetNews

The story of Omri Kidron did not end happily.

When I hiked the Huayhuash Circuit in Peru, two Israelis were shot resisting bandits. At least one died of his wounds.

Please, please be careful out there.

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redirecting from the OLD blog

I want to steer people from the OLD blog:

https://besthike.com/blog/

… to this, the NEW blog:

https://besthike.wordpress.com/

I tried a WordPress plugin called Redirection.

It’s working for the home page. But I really need to redirect the individual pages, as well. Leave a comment if you have any advice for me.

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everyone loves a hotspring

Especially in the winter.

These incredible pictures are of Japanese macaques relaxing in a hot spring in Yamanouchi, central Japan.

Nicknamed the snow monkey, the cheeky-looking animals live a much chillier existence than their tropical cousins and they appear to like nothing better than keeping warm in steaming-hot pools such as this one. …

snow-monkeys-jpn1

more photos on the Daily Mail

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guided hiking tours in China

China Volkssport Associon (that’s the correct spelling) contacted us regarding their guided walking tours.

hiking-china

Their website is translated into 6 languages, imperfectly. Many of the links do not work.

The tours all seem to be about 2 weeks long. Offered throughout China year round.

I would only sign on if I had personal recommendations from people I trusted who were happy with the service. In general, the tourist industry in China is not well managed. It may be decades before the quality of service matches standards elsewhere in the world.

hiking-china2

China Volkssport Associon

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trek to Mt Tronador, Argentina

As usual, the best trip report was posted by Photodiary of a Nomad.

Their 3 day traverse of Nahuel Huapi National Park in Argentina — on an unusual route — without meeting any other hikers on the trail, appeals to me. (They did have a dog or two tag along.)

… it was hard to decide the highlight – was it the glinting granite slabs of Cerro de las Cristales, the amazing blue of Laguna Azul, the perfect form of the green-clad glacial valleys, the richness of the wetlands, the great vistas of Tronador glistening in the sun – was today better than yesterday? – did it really matter? – tonight we would have some very pleasant dreams.

Personally, I want to see Mt Tronador.

tronador.jpg
larger version – flickr – fainmen

Check the trip report for yourself: Nahuel Huapi Traverse

Our besthike Nahuel Huapi Traverse information page.

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trek Easter Island

Easter Island truly is in the middle of nowhere.

orthographic_projection_centred_over_easter_island.png

Everyone has heard of the monolithic human figures carved from rock called Moai.

easter-island.jpg
larger version

But I also want to hike Rano Kau in Rapa Nui National Park world heritage site.

500-osterinsel_krater-rano_kao.jpg
larger version

David Stanley, author of Moon Handbooks South Pacific (Moon Handbooks), says Easter Island is the Pacific Island that “offers most to the hiker“. That’s surprising since the island is only 11km wide, 23km long!

I will get there. Sooner or later.

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is that a cougar in your back yard?

I lived in the Canadian prairies for years. Every once-in-a-while a cougar would be sighted. They can travel long distances along river valleys.

mbcougar.jpgTwo this year have been conclusively confirmed far outside their current range. This one was captured by a cottage surveillance camera.

An extremely rare sighting of a cougar has been confirmed in the Lac du Bonnet area of Manitoba. …

CBC

Cougars have seen me in the wild many times. But I’ve never spotted any of them. They are very elusive.

Here’s is the “normal” range:

cougar-range.jpg

Pumas (Puma concolor), also called cougars or mountain lions, are large wild cats, … mainly tan-coloured, and can be up to 1.85 metres long.

Wikipedia