besthike.com

February 9, 2008

fewer hikers – more room for ME

Most of the more interesting blogs than this have already commented on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study by Oliver Pergams from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

… Since the late 1980s, the percentage of Americans taking part in such activities has declined at slightly more than 1 percent a year. The total effect, Pergams says, is that participation is down 18 percent to 25 percent from peak levels. …

NPR

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Cone trail, originally uploaded by chaybert.

Lassen National Park in Northern California.

it’s not clear that the number of hikers has been reduced. But if they have, there’s more room in the wild for me. And you.

What’s the problem?

February 8, 2008

remember your car keys when out hiking

We are usually VERY careful with the keys to the vehicle. (It’s best to have two or more sets with you and hide one set close to the get-away vehicle.)

In some cases, it’s the difference between life and death.

… Sandra Ordner, 47, of Daphne, whose body was found last week outside her locked SUV at a North Carolina mountain parking lot, died of hypothermia hours after she told her husband she was going hiking, the local sheriff said Thursday.

Macon County, N.C., Sheriff Robert Holland said that it had been extremely cold and raining in the hours before Ordner’s body was discovered in the parking lot of the Whiteside Mountain Trail.

Ordner’s keys and cellular telephone were locked inside her 2002 Land Rover sport utility vehicle, Holland said. …

Daphne woman dies out in cold

February 8, 2008

all day long I dream about Tasmania

Must be the crappy, global freezing winter we are suffering in North America. A year ago I was in Taz. (Wish I was there right now.)

Nadine from Calgary, Canada has a wonderful blog on TravelPod.

She’s trekked in Patagonia, the Andes and is now Down Under.

They had a fantastic time on the South Coast Track, one of the best coastal hikes in the world.

… The next morning we were up before sunrise again, and onto the boats at first light in calm water. We had to paddle an aluminum boat across with our gear, drop the gear off, tie up a second boat to our boat with oars, row back to the side we started on, leave a boat and oars, and row back. The three crossings of the boats were really fun, and good practice for something we would do a few days later 🙂 We then crossed over a dune onto Prion Beach, took off our boots, and walked barefoot for nearly 4km on the hard packed sand at the surf line!!!! It was slightly windy, but just gorgeous walking. …

larger original

Later on the adventure:

… Crossing this mountain range often stops people for a full day or more, going either way, since it should not be crossed in bad weather. 100km per hour windows and blowing snow are common. Luckily for us, today was turning out to be a scorcher. …

Nearing the top, the rain forest gives way to cloud forest, with all sorts of things just growing on anything. Really beautiful. Then it tops out without any trees, and we could see our entire route forwards and backwards! 40km ahead of us and 40km behind us!

larger original

See the rest of the trip report and photos.

My own mini-trek there in 2007 did not go nearly as well as Nadine’s. I covered only about half the distance I had hoped after nearly losing a shoe in a mud pit.

South Coast Track – besthike information page

February 7, 2008May 15, 2013

do you like hiking boardwalks?

I must say I do. Though not “natural”, there’s something classic about walking a rotting wooden sidewalk in the wilderness.

Frank in Oz edits the wonderful Our Hiking Blog.

A recent post included some of my photos from a 2007 Overland Track hike in Tasmania. It’s a series of photos showing the wooden boardwalks.

see more – The Overland Track – Track images

Frank’s post got me thinking about other boardwalk hikes.

The West Coast Trail, for example:

original – flickr – Christine Rondeau

On flickr, I found more. Atop Whistler Mountain in Canada:

original – flickr – sbat

And the famed Milford Track in New Zealand:

original – flickr – amy&kimball

Leave a comment if you have a favourite boardwalk walk.

February 6, 2008

PNG – Kokoda Trail closed to hikers

The only way to bring media attention to this great trek, I reckon:

Papua New Guinea’s historic Kokoda Trail has been closed to tourists until a dispute over a proposed copper mine is resolved, Australian media is reporting.

Local Koiari landowners have felled a tree across the track near the village of Naoro, 55km from Port Moresby. Villagers say they will stop travellers who try to pass until the PNG government allows the Australian company Frontier Resources to dig up 600m of the track to mine a $US5.9 billion copper and gold deposit.

The Koiari people have been offered a 5% stake in the mine that could deliver them more than $US100 million over the proposed 10-year life of the mine.

Australia, who is seeking a world heritage listing for the trail, is lobbying the PNG Government to kill the mine project in favour of the tourism dollar.

About 5000 tourists travel walk the 96km Kokoda Trail each year. One of the world’s great treks, it links the southern and northern coast of PNG, and was the scene of bitter fighting between Australian soldiers and Japanese troops in 1942.

Lonely Planet

related post: Kokoda Trail – Papua New Guinea

more Kokoda Trail photos – flickr – Nomad Tales

February 6, 2008

best hike in the Bay Area, California – Mt Tamalpais

Tom Mangan, hiking columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, and popular blogger, took me out to one of his favourite hikes.

The forecast was for rain. Tom considered a dozen options for me, finally settling on Mt Tam. Beautiful in any weather. Year round.

First, look at Tom’s trip report and photos from that glorious day:

… So hereâ€™s where we went: Straight up the hill via the Ben Johnson Trail. We caught the Dipsea Trail in an open area looking out over the Pacific, above, then we dived down into another canyon till we got to Steep Ravine Trail, which we took to the Pantoll trail head. From there it was a short jaunt on the Alpine Trail and a steep dive back downhill along the Bootjack Trail, which was glorious, and back to Muir Woods. Nine or 10 miles of the finest hiking the Bay Area has to offer. Might even make Rickâ€™s â€œBestâ€ list.

Mount Tamalpais: get thee to the south side

I’ve added Mt Tamalpais to our list of the best hikes in North America.

(There are so many good hikes in California, it’s really quite difficult to name those that are “best”.)

A few more of my own pics:

original – flickr

I always enjoy Tom’s photos. This trip I got a chance to see the kinds of shots he looks for. And how he sets up, sometimes using his new “GorillaPod“:

original – flickr

Adding challenge to the beautiful, appropriately named, Steep Ravine Trail, is a 10ft ladder.

original – flickr

(Note how much superior is Tom’s photo of this ladder. I still have a lot to learn.)

more of my Mt Tam photos on flickr

February 4, 2008

Lost City hike in Colombia – now safe(er)

I loved the Lost City (Ciudad Perdida) hike when I was there in 1997. But it was somewhat dangerous.

No worries if you want to do it today. From a recent trip report:

… Darren and I took an overnight bus to Taganga, a tiny town on the Caribbean coast. We wanted to go on the famed Ciudad Perdida hike, which travelers in Colombia rave about. Ciudad Perdida (Â¨Lost CityÂ¨) is a series of ancient ruins nestled deep in the jungle of the Sierra Nevada mountains, accessible only by foot. You are required to go with a licensed guide, so we signed up with Turcol and ended up in a ragtag group of nine with a people from London, Los Angeles, Seattle, Bogota and France. …

The trip cost $230 for the six day hike, all food and accommodation (hammocks) included. Every day except the fourth day (which was spent wandering around the ruins) we woke up around 7am, ate breakfast, and hiked until about 2pm through steamy hot jungle and crossed the river many times. In the afternoon we would have lunch and usually jump into a pristine swimming hole. This left us with a LOT of free time. …

Ciudad Perdida itself was pretty stunning, lots of circular stone ruins set into the green, green jungle. I think we definitely appreciated the effort it took to get there. About forty soldiers patrol the area, and they are all young, friendly and very bored. We heard them shrieking as we climbed the last 1200 steps to reach Ciudad Perdida. When we got to the top we realized what was causing all the commotion – they were taking turns swinging on a vine into the trees, Tarzan style (not paying much attention to their M-16s). Since the last incidence of guerrillas kidnapping tourists in 2003, the government has stationed soldiers there around the clock and it is extremely safe now.

I loved the fact that we saw almost no other travellers during the entire hike. Generally speaking, the only people we passed were indigenous people living in the area. If Colombia continues becoming safer and safer, this hike is going to explode in popularity.

Lost in the Jungle – perpetualwanderlust

Lost City Ruins – flickr – Gavin Rough

Lost City trek – besthike information page

February 4, 2008

jump off the waterfall – are you crazy?

Would you jump from here?

… With myself and 4 others gathered at the top of the fall, our guide dutifully pointed out the best angle at which to jump so as not require the services of either a stretcher or neck brace. Then, whilst waving his arms wildly and delivering something akin to an war cry by an Apache with Touretteâ€™s Syndrome, he promptly disappeared over the edge. I stood for a moment, stunned by what I thought I had just seen. It just didnâ€™t add up. Yâ€™know, for a moment I could have sworn that he just jumped off the edge â€“ but surely he canâ€™t have, that would have been incalculable stupidity.

…

As our guide swam toward the shallows (which, I must say, took a reassuringly long time) he flipped over onto his back and shouted up to the 5 bewildered gringos AKA â€˜Team Terrifiedâ€™ yet to make the jump.

â€œYou must jump out far as you canâ€¦!â€ he hollered, looking exceedingly chuffed with himself and wiping the spray from his hair and face. Almost as an afterthought he followed up with â€œâ€¦And watch out for the rocks!â€ as if we werenâ€™t already well aware of their unyielding, body-busting presence.

To see if he survives, read this trip report from a trek in El Impossible National Park, El Salvador: Wetter and Wilder: Impossible Thrills in El Salvador – UberTramp

If that fall looks too dangerous, consider this leap on the Great Ocean Walk in Australia instead:

Frank in Oz