Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
Warren Long suggested this knife to lighten your pack yet some more:
Joel sums up: “Atwood’s multitools, unlike the common flip-out models, tend to be made from just a single piece of metal with various nubs that enhance the functionality. For instance, the ‘Mini Son of PryThing‘ above has a prying tool, a blade, and a bottle opener, wrapped with a simple cord around the hilt that is easily replaceable.”
Michelle is everywhere these days. Look for a cover article on New Zealand Wilderness magazine.
Promoting her new book (which will certainly be a huge success) has Michelle on the book tour, both virtual and in the real world.
She was even interviewed by The Outdoor Station: listen to the audiocast.
Sex in a Tent: A Wild Couple’s Guide to Getting Naughty in Nature, Wilderness Press 2007
Sex in a Tent is a new book that tells you everything you need to know (but were too embarrassed to ask) about thoroughly enjoying the outdoors with a romantic partner.
Sex in a Tent is a mostly fun, sometimes serious guide to love, sex, and adventure in the great outdoors. In this penetrating look at what really goes on behind the tent flap, expert camper and outdoor love-maker Michelle Waitzman reveals everything you need to know to fulfill your wild fantasies. Showing you the best positions for campers (the tent tango), to recipes for a romantic meal in a Ziploc bag, to how to look and feel sexy when you’re wearing grimy zip-off hiking shorts and haven’t bathed in days (hint: zip ’em off and go skinny-dipping), she inspires you to leave behind the boring bed sheets and crawl into a tantalizing tent.
About the author:
Michelle Waitzman was a late bloomer when it came to the great outdoors. Born in the urban wilds of Toronto, she didn’t fall in love with camping until her late twenties, when a trip around Australia and New Zealand introduced her to the pleasures of a starry sky and a cozy sleeping bag.
Now spending time in the wilderness is an integral part of Michelle’s life, and she shares her passion for the outdoors (and outdoor passions) with her partner Gerhard. They live in Wellington, New Zealand where a tramp in the bush is never far away. Michelle decided to write this book after a decidedly uncomfortable and unsatisfying night in the woods, trying to break in their new tent. While there were lots of books on the market about how to start camping, or take your kids camping, couples seemed sadly under-represented.
Michelle blogs about the outdoors at LoveInATent.blogspot.com .
It’s family friendly blog though you may see the odd photo like this:
Sex in a Tent – get it on Amazon.com
Oct 15 is Blog Action Day. Bloggers are asked to post something to do with the environment…
GREEN is GOOD !!!
You see … I learned from TreeHugger.com that putting the word “Eco” in a blog post title brings in the readers. Don’t feel duped. Reading this post shows you care about the environment.
Remember, GREEN is GOOD.
screenshot
This blog produced with 100% recycled pixels.
Yes, the ecology is a good cause. Hikers are great advocates for wilderness.
But this is one blogger who has ECO-fatigue.
My latest tirade against branding with the word ECO are the EcoTaxis in Mexico. They drive around, empty, harassing tourists that conspicuously do not want a cab at the moment. A mobile oxymoron.
The real Ecotaxis are in Rome.
So, the University of Alberta Outdoors Club in Edmonton decided to hike the Skyline Trail in Jasper National Park in the Fall.
That’s crazy, man!
This — our favourite hike in the Canadian Rockies — is difficult enough in August.
Did they survive?
Check the trip report by Ewen on his Outdoor Video Magazine site:
… When I awoke in the morning, I discovered the rain had turned to 4 inches of snow over night, and everything was frozen solid. A temperature somewhere between -5C and -10C coupled with the rain the night before meant people had to resort to licking tent poles to get them to collapse, and I had to spend nearly 10m de-icing the bear hanger before we could get our food down.
…
Outdoor Video Magazine » Hiking the Skyline Trail- Jasper National Park
We’ve linked to Ewen’s trip report from our Skyline Trail information page.
… you start seeing vistas like this:
It’s the vision of German airbrush-wielding photorealistic fantasy artist H.P. Kolb. His most popular creation.
hpkolb-gallery.de – the world of fantasy – Bestseller – Magic Mountain
If you follow this blog, you know I have no confidence in Parks Canada.
Love the Parks, distrust management.
In fact, I recommend hikers go to the American National Parks instead if they want best value. (And I live next to the Canadian Rockies.)
Yet, I credit Parks Canada for at least making the appearance of listening to the taxpayers who pay their salaries. Ipsos-Reid was hired to do a survey.
It’s been a mess. I’ve been in the survey process for months, yet I have no idea when the thing will end. Is Ipsos-Reid simply milking Parks on this? What does this survey cost?
Worst of all, Ipsos-Reid managed to further disgruntle users of the Canadian National Parks when they decided to dangle a $1000 / month prize for those taking part in the survey.
Many who received an invitation to join the survey were confused when trying to log-in to the website.
I could go on-and-on … (Backtrack through earlier posts on this issue if you are interested.)
Finally today I got this email from Ipsos-Reid which clarifies some things. And leaves many other questions unanswered:
Dear Mr. McCharles,
Thank you again for bringing this issue to our attention. There are two separate links:
www.join.parkslistens.ca is the official website for individuals who have received an invitation card to join the Parks Listens panelwww.parkslistens.ca is the login webpage for individuals who have already registered with the Parks Listens panel.
In order to clarify eligibility to participate in the Parks Listens panel and the prize draw contest, we have added more information to both web pages.
If you receive any further communication from visitors who are having technical difficulties on the http://www.join.parkslistens.ca website, please direct them to our email address parkslistens-parcecoute@ipsos-reid.com and will assist them.
Sincerely,
The Parks Listens Panel Team
You cannot join the survey without an invitation. Those you can only get by visiting the Canadian Mountain National Parks and being randomly selected.
Photo sharing site flickr popularized this feature called “NOTES”. And it is fantastic.
(Left to Right) Paiju Peak (Trango II?), The Trango Monk, Trango Nameless Tower (6,239 m), and the mass of the Great Trango (6,286 m) on the northern lateral moraine of the Baltoro Glacier in the Baltoro Muztagh Range. …
K2 Basecamp Trek
Baltoro Glacier
Pakistan
Late July 2006
Ahmad A Karim has many wonderful photos on flickr, by the way. Here’s another:
Sunrise from the top of Gondogoro La (5620m) on a very cloudy morning.
Between West-Vigne and Gondogoro Glaciers
Baltistan District, Northern Areas
Pakistan
3 August 2006
LAS Summer Trek 2006
And if NOTES does not impress you, Alex on the photopreneur blog posted 36 more Reasons Flickr is a Photographer’s Ultimate Tool.
Do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?
Right Brain v Left Brain | Herald Sun
Stare long enough at the bottom foot with a half-dazed, drooling drooling facial expression, and she will switch direction.
(Via Gymnastics Coaching.)
Have you tried the sport of geocaching?
Here’s a good trip report:
San Diego rocks!
Indians called it “Mountain of the Moonlit Rocksâ€, while early settlers dubbed it “Cobbleback Peakâ€, both names appropriately describes the rugged, boulder strewn slopes of Woodson Mountain.
However, this mountain for the past 100 years appeared on maps simply as “Woodson Mountainâ€, in honor of Dr. Woodson who homesteaded some property nearby over 100 years ago. …
Hiking Woodson Mountain- The Mountain of the Moonlit Rocks « Our Beautiful World at the Backroads
cantilevered “potato chip rock” near the summit of Woodson Mountain
I’ve been following The Journey on the Wild Coast blog since July. That’s the 9 month pack raft trip from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska by human power — Erin McKittrick and Bretwood (Hig) Higman.
I think this is their best post yet:
… After four months in the Inside Passage, we had come to wonder how much it had left to offer us: thinking of drizzly coastlines and thick forest brush, and turning our thoughts prematurely to the open Gulf of Alaska coast… But there are always suprises. The ocean between Petersburg and Juneau was one of the most alive chunks of coast we’ve seen the whole trip.
Humpback whales sang for us the rest of that night, and a good part of the next one. During the day, white columns of whale breath were visible everywhere we looked, cruising Stephens Passage. We could hear the spouting, honking, and squeals of the closest whales, watching their rounded backs and the occasional graceful flash of a tail.
Humpback whale tailJust when we were wondering if we might get close enough for a picture, a humpback surfaced twenty feet from my packraft. Half of me was terrified it would flip me, while the other half marveled at the knobby texture of the whale’s skin, imagining that great big eye underwater, peering at my small yellow boat…
read more … – Journey on the Wild Coast: Trip Blog » Calm Oceans, Stormy Woods
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