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video – hiking Flat Top Mountain, Alaska

Alaska Podshow has introduced a Hike of the Week feature. It’s well done

To see a sample, check out the 7min video for Flat Top Mountain close to Anchorage, the most popular day hike in the State:

We take you to the famous Chugach State Park! This park offers 495,000 acres of forests, lakes, mountains and valleys located right at Anchorage’s doorstep – and the welcome mat is out.

Today’s Hike of the Week is just a 30-minute drive from downtown places you in prime Alaskan wilderness adventures, which offers the ultimate solitude and wilderness beauty in every season!

» Blog Archive » Show #155 “Flat Top Mountain / Hike of the Week”

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top 10 LEAST visited American National Parks

Since the relaunch of the National Parks Traveler blog, it’s become one of my favourite sites.

These bloggers are passionate about the Parks. Extremely knowledgeable. And the depth and breadth of coverage is amazing.

This recent post, for example, I found very interesting:

Top 10 Most Visited National Parks

Rank Park Name Visitation
1 Great Smoky Mountains NP 9,289,215
2 Grand Canyon NP

 4,279,439
3 Yosemite NP 3,242,644
4 Yellowstone NP 2,870,295
5 Olympic NP

 2,749,197
6 Rocky Mountain NP 2,743,676
7 Zion NP 2,567,350
8 Cuyahoga Valley NP

 2,468,816
9 Grand Teton NP 2,406,476
10 Acadia NP 2,083,588
These two ‘top ten’ lists look pretty similar to last year’s numbers, but there has been some movement in the bottom ten parks.

Want to avoid the crowds? Check out these least visited park units. Aniakchak had only 60 visitors last year! It has been noted though, counting must be tough at Aniakchak considering there are no permanent buildings (NPS or otherwise) at the monument. The only real way to get there is by float plane, and even that can be tricky I’ve been told.

Counting down from 10 …

Bottom 10 : The Least Visited Park Units

Rank Park Name Visitation
10 Noatak NPRES 3,272
9 Kobuk Valley NP 3,005
8

Cape Krusenstern NM

2,598
7 Salt River Bay NHP 2,526
6 Alibates Flint Quarries NM 1,882
5

Frederick Law Olmsted NHS

1,559
4 Bering Land Bridge NPRES 1,265
3 National Park of American Samoa 1,239
2 Rio Grande W&SR 135
1 Aniakchak NM & PRES

 60

It’s well worth the time to read the entire post written by Jeremy Sullivan: Top 10 Most Visited National Parks – National Parks Traveler

Now …

What about best hikes in those least visited Parks?

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Great Coastal Hiking Trails of the World


Richard Nichols of California Coastal Trail links to other great coastal walks including these:

* Olympic National Park, Washington: Coastal Trail

* Nootka Island Coastal Trail, Vancouver Island

* West Coast Trail, Vancouver Island

* Western Australia Bibbulmun Track, 600 miles

* South Africa, Tsitsikamma National Park, Otter Trail

* Oregon Coastal Trail, Gold Beach, Brooking, Boardman SP

* England, Cornwall, The South West Coast Path, 630 miles

* Cape Chignecto, Nova Scotia

* The East Coast Trail, Newfoundland, Canada

People around the world are attracted to the coast, and consequently one can find many noteworthy coastal trails on almost every continent. Here are links to a few.

California Coastal Trail

Quite a good list, actually. Thanks Richard. We would recommend adding:

* South Coast Track, Tasmania, Australia

* Queen Charlotte Track, New Zealand

* Abel Tasman Track, New Zealand

At besthike our favourite trail of all is coastal. And we have a great fondness for all of the other wonderful seaside walks.

Any other amazing multi-day coastal walks come to mind? Leave a comment.

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start in Seattle and walk NORTH

Married couple Erin McKittrick (Molecular Biologist turned jewelry artist) and Bretwood (Hig) Higman are incredible adventurers.

Where to begin …

Currently they are on a 9 month trip from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska by human power:

Journey on the Wild Coast will be an unprecedented four-thousand-mile expedition along the northern edge of the Pacific Ocean, through some of the most rugged terrain in the world. No road or trail follows this steep and fragmented coastline.

We’ll be traveling through forests, between islands, around glaciers, and across the tundra – by foot, packraft, and skis. No one has done this before.

Journey on the Wild Coast

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more detailed itinerary

I’ve subscribed to their trip blog. It’s an expeditions to explore environmental issues.

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I’ve you’ve any doubt Sig and Erin have the ability to finish it, check their previous Alaska Treks. Wow!

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Blockade Glacier – 2005

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TV – Survivorman vs Man vs Wild

My hiking buddies prefer the TV show Survivorman over Man vs Wild.

200px-lesstroud-survivorman.jpgThe Survivorman — Les Stroud — is believable.

In comparison, the Man vs Wild — Bear Grylls — is untrustworthy. Some of his “feats”, we suspect, are faked. (Aside from the fact he “survives” with a camera crew at the ready.)

Higgins of Mental Floss magazine agrees:

One of my favorite TV shows is coming back for a second season in August, after a long hiatus.

Survivorman is a one-man survival show, hosted by Canadian survival expert/musician/TV producer Les Stroud.

Each episode finds Les completely alone in the wilderness for seven days, carrying his own cameras and recording himself on a seven-day survival trek. Let me emphasize that: this guy is alone, schlepping fifty pounds of camera gear himself, while devising his own food, water, and shelter (he typically brings the most absurdly minimal survival gear with him, like a single match, a candy bar, maybe a rusty tin can).

He’s hardcore. And he’s quite a nice guy, which makes you root for him as he survives the elements.

mental_floss magazine – Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix

Leave a comment if you have an opinion. Check out both TV shows if you’ve not seen both.

UPDATE: Season 2 of Survivor Man Begins August 10th on the Discovery Channel. (via The Adventure Blog)

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world’s most southerly trek – Isla Navarino

Any arguments?

The Dientes Circuit is the most southerly track we can find listed in a hiking guidebook.

It’s in Patagonia, the jumping off point Puerto Williams, Chile.

From there you can circumambulate the jagged spires of Cordon de los Dientes with constant vistas as most of the route is above treeline.

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Nick & Jenni felt it was one of the big highlights of their round-the-world adventure. Certainly Jenni posted the best trip report we’ve yet seen:

From the Paso de los Dientes we had great views over the islands making up Cape Horn (about 150km further south). We wondered how many people there were further south than us at this point, not many – cruise ships in Antartica & the scientists on Antartica & not many others. …

… Apart from the tent on the first day, we didn´t see another soul until we hit the road on the last day. It was a really good walk & we both really enjoyed it. There was a lot of fresh snow on the Dientes and the surrounding mountains – making it all very picturesque.

Isla Navarino – the Dientes Circuit » TravelBlog Archive » Nick & Jenni’s Wanderings

How to trek Dientes Circuit – besthike information page:

  • 53.5km (33mi) plus sidetrips
  • 5 days, 4 nights minimum

Be ready for wind and rain!

Related post: Nick & Jenni’s Choquequirao to Machu Picchu trek

Check our Dientes information page.

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desert hiking tips learned the hard way

Will of the excellent Mental Wanderings blog posted some tips on river walking our favourite track in the Southwest USA.

If you are planning on hiking Paria Canyon sometime in the future, be sure to check it out. Here’s a summary:

Tip #1 – River Water Is Gross

Tip #2 – Filtering From Rivers In the Desert Sucks

Tip #3 – Bring Plenty of Water Bottles

Tip #4 – Wear Socks

Tip #5 – Bring Shoes or Boots

Tip #6 – Hiking Poles Help The Tired

Tip #7 – It’s the Little Things

Tip #8 – Take Lots of Pictures

Tip #9 – Finally, Get a Good Book Written By a Real Expert

Return to the Paria River Canyon: Desert Hiking Tips Learned the Hard Way

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source – more photos from Will’s 2007 Paria Canyon trip

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source – more photos from Will’s 2006 Paria Canyon trip

When planning your own adventure, be sure to check the besthike Paria information page.

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how to hike The West Coast Trail in Canada

Nassib Elkadri works on the Parks Canada website.

He tells me they’ve launched a new start section for anyone looking to walk our favourite hike The West Coast Trail on the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve of Canada home page.

This information will be kept up-to-date.

Parks Canada – Pacific Rim National Park Reserve of Canada – Home page

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screenshot

We’ve added this new link (prominently) to our West Coast Trail information page. And tried to remove the old broken links.

PS

Nassib. Tell the department poobahs there you want to update Parks Canada pages, but NOT change the URLS.

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hike Carthew-Alderson, Waterton, Canada

waterton.jpgWaterton Lakes National Park is the best kept hiking secret in Canada. YOU can go — but let the non-hiking hordes jam the roadways of Banff and Jasper instead.

Contributors Kelly and Lexi (getting married Aug. 4th in the Yukon, by the way) raved about their 2006 Carthew-Alderson hike in Waterton. Based on their recommendation, we added Carthew-Alderson to our list of the best hikes in North America.

Last Friday the weather was hot and clear so we made a dash to Waterton.

Unfortunately, Saturday morning the weather changed as we approached the summit, high point of the day hike.

To see what happened click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Stuck in the clouds, we missed most of the best vistas. We even got lost crossing the top of the ridge having to ask a marmot for directions.

Click PLAY to see how it looks on a “sunny” day. Or watch it on YouTube.

You might have noticed, the biggest drawback of Waterton is wind.

Carthew-Alderson 20km (12.4mi) from Cameron Lake to Cameron Falls. Highly recommended. Hiker’s shuttle C$10 / person available at Tamarack Mall.

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trek the remote Huayhuash Circuit in Peru

I’m jealous.

Frequent contributor Eu-Jin Goh is just returned from 12 days hiking my personal favourite trek in the World.

… the Huayhuash circuit is the most spectacular extended hike that we’ve done so far.

There were four of us on the hike, Emily Rains, Ray Woo, together with Serene and I.

I had contacted Chris Benway from Cafe Andino to organize our trip for us and he did an incredible job of making sure everything went smoothly; I highly recommend Chris to anyone going to Huaraz.

I arranged for a fairly deluxe trip this time; we had two arrieros, Fernando and Juan-Carlos, taking care of the ten (!) mules and two horses, together with our cook, Zacarias Carrera, or Zac.

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Zac did an amazing job showing us the way and also cooking great food for us; he has great instincts and would figure out what we wanted to do (and then organize it) without us even mentioning it to him. I thought he was head and shoulders above anyone I’d ever had for my trips. Despite all the luxuries, it still cost about 3 – 4 times less than an organized trip by a western agency. …

Peru – Cordillera Huayhuash and Blanca, 11 June to 3 July 2007

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more favourite photos from the Huayhuash Circuit – Eu-Jin Goh

The Huayhuash is big, high and potentially dangerous:

  • minimum 140km (87mi) plus numerous sidetrips
  • many mountain passes over 4600m (15,092ft)
  • this forbidding range was made famous when Joe Simpson & Simon Yates climbed Siula Grande in 1985. Simpson wrote Touching the Void.

    • how to hike the Huayhuash Circuit – besthike information page