Posts

Posted on

Rucksack – Exploring the Inca Trail

Exploring the Inca Trail is the latest in the excellent Rucksack hiking guidebook series. It’s a perfect format for a guidebook you can carry on the trail. (waterproof, lightweight, open-flat with built-in map).

But are the authors expert?

I’ll say. It’s written by Roy Davis, editor of the most comprehensive Inca Trail website, and Jacquetta Megarry, founder of the Rucksack series.

That’s all we needed to know. The Rucksack Guide instantly jumps to our most recommended guidebook for the Inca Trail. It’s also the lightest and most durable.

That said, the Inca Trail is far over-rated. Our advice is to take the train to Machu Picchu and save your hiking days for one of the many, many other wonderful South American hikes. For our reasons why, check Inca Trail – besthike.com


“Explore the Inca Trail (Rucksack Readers)” (Jacquetta Megarry, Roy Davies)

Posted on

anti-friction skin cream

If you suffer from chaffing, check out this product. Runner Trish Monks swears by it.

bodyglide_skin_formula.jpg

I have used Bodyglide Skin Formula on my lower back (when I wear my water belt over long distances it prevents my skin being worn away), on my feet to help prevent blisters, on my inner thighs to prevent skin on skin chafing and on my chest around where my sports bra rubs sometimes. It works miracles, and has prevented many a painful abrasion ‘injury’ – unfortunately it’s only when I forget to put it on, that I realise just how great it is!

… I have only had only moderate success with it protecting my feet.

The Review: Bodyglide Anti-Friction Skin Formula

Posted on

Southern Alps New Zealand – “highlights”

satrek.jpgThe folks at Adventure South in my old home town of Christchurch offer a “best of” the Alps tour. (On the dry side of the mountains, of course.)

Their 8-days of day hiking package is accessible for any fitness level.

A spectacular itinerary featuring some amazing mountain walking, three nights camped in comfortable back country huts, with the chance to rest up at quality accommodation after your alpine experiences. A mixture of remote untracked terrain coupled with friendly trails of a relaxed grade.

Southern Alps Trek – Adventure South

New Zealand is over-all the best hiking destination in the world.

Posted on

who will be first to the lunar South Pole?

National Geographic, amongst others, are reporting that NASA has announced plans to build a base at one of the moon’s poles. The base will be solar powered, and is scheduled to be permanently staffed by 2024. By 2025 someone will announce the first solo, unsupported trek to either the North or South Lunar Pole I’m sure. Odds are, right now, that that person will be British.

With tourists going into space soon, and a permanent base on the moon announced, how long before I’m blogging on adventures from space? Or IS space the next big adventure? I can just see reports of summit bids on Mount Olympus on Mars, which for the record stands 15 Miles high. I’m guessing it won’t be done without bottled oxygen.

The Adventure Blog: Polar Exploration… On The Moon!

Posted on

Laugavegur trek, Iceland

Nordic Adventure Travel provides a nice interactive map of the Laugavegur trek, one of the principle attractions of Iceland.

The normal route is from the hot springs of Landmannalaugar to the glacial valley of Þórsmörk. That’s about 55km (34mi) over 2-4 days with potential stops at the mountain huts at Hraftinnusker, Álftavatn and Emstrur. By adding a day, you can continue over the Fimmvorduhals Pass to Skogar.

Any hike known as “The Hot Spring Route” goes on our list.

hiking_laugavegur.gif

HIKING TREKKING TRAIL LANDMANNALAUGAR THORSMORK LAUGAVEGUR, HIKING TRAILS IN ICELAND

Posted on

Tom Chandler not “just a fisherman”

Every day I check Trout Underground, Tom Chandler’s comic fishing and outdoors blog.

I met Tom at the Blogger’s Meetup hosted near his home town, Shasta, California.

But what’s this ….

Tom Chandler is not just a fisherman. Another of his sites has just been lauded one of the Top 10 Writer’s Blogs on the www. Congratulations! (Though I have no idea what good writing has to do with blogging.)

In typical Chandler fashion, he accuses his awarders of being drug-crazed.

Posted on

gear – Exped “Foot Pump Pillow”

We love the new Exped mattresses despite the one with the leaky valve that failed on Mt. Whitney last summer.

One of our few (minor) complaints, they’ve answered:

exped-pillow.jpg

Exped’s down-filled mattresses are ingenious, but they took so long to inflate that you always end up just calling it good enough when you’re halfway done.

Now Exped is making a pillow filled with open cell foam that makes blowing up your sleeping pad a lot easier. From this angle the pillow looks like it would be as comfy as sleeping on a piece of firewood, but you’ll have to trust me that it’s not too bad.

Written by Rocky Thompson

Backcountry.com: The Goat

Posted on

hiking the Netherlands

header_01.gifJan de Jong recommended the very professional wandelnet.nl website (in Dutch) for a comprehensive list of hikes 100km or longer. It includes guidebook recommendations.

To translate to English, I used the Babel Fish website. It works quite well, though only one page at a time.

The best part is the interactive map. (screen shot below) On the website version you can hover over the map and click on the routes.

nl-map.gif

If it ain’t Dutch, it ain’t much. Thanks Jan.

Stichting Wandelplatform-LAW – Lange-Afstandroutes : LAW’s (long routes page)

Posted on

West Coast Trail, Canada




IMG_5761

Originally uploaded by Guidodjones.

Guy Jones posted a terrific set of photos from their group trek of the West Coast Trail. “The Best Hike in the World” we often call it.

It was an early season adventure — May 2006 — but they lucked out and got some blue skies. The “ship wreck coast” of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada is infamous.

The photo is stunning Tsussiat Falls. Just one of dozens of highlights on the WCT.

It’s a coastal route of 75km (47mi), at C$140/person plus C$25 reservation fee, by far the most expensive hike in Canada. On the other hand, you won’t find many hikers complaining if they manage to snag one of the precious quota spots for July and August. Only 52 “Trail Use Permits” are available starting each day.

Details — West Coast Trail — besthike

Posted on

Griffin iTalk – iPod microphone

I’ve been looking for a light-weight voice recorder for use on the trail. Ideally it would be built into my camera tagging each photo with “voice notes”. (I have done this with video, of course.)

But since I carry an MP3 player anyway (for podcasts and books on tape) the Griffin iTalk might be worth a try. It works with an Apple 2 GB iPod Nano – Amazon.

iTalk Pro is perfect for capturing how the world around you really sounds.

Whether you’re taking lecture notes, conducting an interview, or just want to bring the sounds of the great outdoors indoors, your only limitations are your iPod’s capacity, and your own imagination.

iTalk’s twin built-in mics record directly to your iPod, and adjustable gain settings give you control over the volume. You can even use external microphones with iTalk Pro.

Griffin Technology: iTalk Pro – Stereo Mic for iPod – Griffin

italk.jpg

Griffin Technology 4020-TALK iTalk Voice Recorder for iPod – Amazon