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Andrew Skurka attempts the “Great Western Loop”

Walk the entire west of the USA? Is he crazy?

Skurka is the man these days. (We link to him from the right hand navigation under HIKERS if you want to check on his progress.)

Andrew starts as soon as April 1st. Good luck!

The numbers tell half the story: 7,000 miles, 7 months, 12 national parks, 75+ designated wilderness areas, 5 existing long-distance trails, 2 desert traverses, and zero attempts or completions to date. …

In early-April I will begin the Great Western Loop, in a location and direction that will depend on this winter’s snowpack (I’m leaning towards going counter-clockwise, starting near California San Gorgonio Pass). This is going to be an awesome trip!

And, to a greater degree than ever, those who wish to will be able to share in the experience via a soon-to-be overhauled AndrewSkurka.com website, Podcasts, and more frequent postings of photos and updates. With this enhanced trip interactivity, I’m hoping to help others develop a stronger connection with the outdoors, which I think is a key component in a much-needed, more eco-friendly lifestyle that emphasizes doing more with less and minimizing one’s impact on our planet.

More details will be forthcoming over the next 2 months.

AndrewSkurka.com

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should you hike China?

From the train, much of China looks “devastated”. The natural environment “ruined” by over population.

Why bother hiking there?

Actually, away from the train tracks there are still some large, beautiful tracts. You can see some of those undeveloped areas on the Walking the Wall blog. (The Great Wall divides the habitable from wilderness, for the most part.)

The mountains that skirt the Tibetan plateau will — some day — be one of the premiere hiking areas of the world.

And there’s much, much more.

Need inspiration? Dark Roasted Blend posted fantastic photos of wild China:

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more photos like this: Wonders of the Chinese Landscape

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waterfalls of New Zealand

When I lived in New Zealand I strongly felt the least appreciated wonder of the country were waterfalls.

Rarely are they highlighted in any list of “tourist attractions”.

That wrong has finally been righted.

A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls

A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls

JOHNNY T. Cheng is a waterfall enthusiast who has published books on falls in Norway and Yosemite National Park in California.

His A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls is a foray into New Zealand that covers more than 100 falls. This is a practical guide, with maps and clear driving directions plus the small details needed for choosing your visit and negotiating the falls once you get there.

Judith Elen in The Australian

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girls love Paine Circuit, Patagonia, Chile

Recently a friend asked for a “best hike” recommendation for a female hiker, possibly travelling alone. She is very experienced with many serious treks completed in Europe and the States.

Immediately we suggested The Towers of Paine in Chile.

Paine is well policed and maintained. It is safe. No need to speak Spanish, though it helps.

As evidence, we link to a charming and entertaining trip report from two young women who just completed the most demanding itinerary, the Circuit. They LOVED it:

HIGHLIGHTS:

* Ascending John Garner Pass for a devastatingly beautiful view of Glacier Grey below on one side and Lago Paine on the other. I moment I will never forget.

* Eating chocolate surrounded by the Valle de Frances

* Seeing three shooting stars cross the Milky Way and a comet (and I was totally sober), whilst lying on a swing bridge, with a very energetic river flowing below us

* Drinking Pisco with Cowboys in the sunshine

* Making friends with Porters (Sherpas) and sharing our walks with them

* Watching ice bergs float past our tent whilst making a lovely cuppa tea snuggled up in my sleeping bag!

* That Condor moment! Seeing Condors sore majestically above the snowy peaks of Torres del Paine

* That vegetarian sandwich at Camp Chileno!

* The best drinking water in the world on tap! (We drank only the water that flowed through the Parque; no boiling no purification tabs). Ah, agua nectar!

* Realising what we thought may have been a clap of thunder and so the start of a wet day was only another ice berg making a splash into Lago Grey.

* Realising what we thought may have been another clap of thunder was merely another avalanche in the Valle del Frances.

* Meeting the boys from Ecuador at Camp Japonese (a camp only for climbers).

* The satisfaction of completing The Circuit when a lot of the locals thought we may be clinically insane!

Sophs in South America: Torres del Paine Circuit, Southern Patagonia, Chile.

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organize a trip to Paine, Chile – besthike.com

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movie – A Walk in the Woods

Essential reading for all hikers is A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Bryson.

It’s the hilarious, somewhat fictionalized recounting of a failed attempt on the AT. Everyone loves Bryson’s buddy, the anti-hiker Katz (Matt Angerer).

Without question the immense popularity of Bryson brought thru-hiking to the attention of the world and even increased numbers on the AT.

There’s been a bit of buzz about a movie:

In 2005 Robert Redford announced that he was interested in adapting Bryson’s book into a film, and in playing Bryson himself. He also hoped that his erstwhile co-star and friend, Paul Newman, would team up with him to play the role of Katz, although he jokingly expressed doubt as to whether the health-conscious Newman would consider putting on enough weight (and eating enough donuts) to accurately portray the rotund Katz.

Wikipedia

Personally, I would cast John Hodgeman as Bryson, and Jack Black as Katz.

Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

A Walk in the Woods

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gear – “kitchen sink” for hiking

Over at Backcountry.com, Rocky Thompson’s making fun of hikers who want to haul the “kitchen sink” with them on the trail.

GRANITE GEAR OUTBACK KITCHEN SINK… But I have friends who would buy this.

Get two of Granite Gear’s Kitchen Sink and you can haul them from the creek to your campsite by balancing them on a stick over your shoulders. Better yet, get your kids to do it. You can tell them it’s “ninja training” after they see Kill Bill. Or you could just get one Kitchen Sink and end up spilling water inside both your shoes while trying to scramble back to camp with an awkward bucket.

Backcountry.com: The Goat » Bringing the Kitchen Sink

GRANITE GEAR OUTBACK KITCHEN SINK – BUY IT NOW (and prove me right)

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source of the Tsangpo, Tibet

Outside Magazine on line selected a trek to remote Nepal and Tibet as the “2007 Trip of the Year” overall winner.

“The best of the best.”

The last time trekking guide Gary McCue set out to explore far-western Tibet, he happened upon an acre-size hot spring that tumbled from a mountainside near Lake Manasarovar. “I’d never seen a boiling creek just come crashing out of a hole in the ground,” he says. But it’s just the sort of surprise the Tasmania-based author of Trekking in Tibet: A Traveler’s Guide has come to expect from this part of the world.

Tourism may be booming—the controversial new Qinghai-Tibet Railway helped bump up visitation to Tibet by 30 percent last year—but much of this mysterious land of Buddhist temples and mist-shrouded peaks remains blissfully unexplored by outsiders.

This spring, McCue will return to the Himalayas on a quest to reach the source of the Tsangpo River, the mightiest of four rivers that flow from the sacred 22,028-foot peak of Kailas. The 42-day exploratory trek is the first commercial expedition to a pilgrimage site very few Westerners have seen since a Swedish explorer hiked nearby in the early 1900s.

After driving across the plains from Lhasa to Darchen, you’ll trek the perimeter of Kailas before camping in the Lha Chu Valley during the annual Saga Dawa full-moon festival. Then you’ll start the weeklong journey through a glacial valley to Tamchok Khabab, the river’s source.

The trip ends with a visit to the temple-strewn Limi Valley, a newly opened region of western Nepal. “It’s hard to find wilderness this wild and remote that doesn’t require Reinhold Messner-level skills to reach,” says McCue. “It’s the closest you can come to what the explorers experienced 150 years ago.”

OUTFITTER: Wilderness Travel, 800-368-2794, wildernesstravel.com; PRICE: $10,560–$13,160; DIFFICULTY: Challenging; WHEN TO GO: May–June

Best Trips 2007 | Outside Online

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sacred Mt. Kailas – Wikipedia