besthike.com

November 16, 2006

recommended hiking books

I spend a lot of time checking Amazon, the world’s largest bookstore, especially the user reviews.

If you click through to Amazon.com from this site, we get a small commission, about 4%. This helps pay for the hosting of besthike.

Amazon is happy. We are happy. And you are happy if we get the recommendation right on the best hiking guide. We don’t endorse a book unless we have seen it.

Most amazing about Amazon to me are their low prices. I always check Amazon prices first before cycling over to my local bookstore. If you do not live in the USA, shipping is normally no hassle though Amazon can’t guarantee books won’t be stopped at your border. (It is out of their control.)

Amazon launched a new service where besthike now hosts our own bookstore page.

November 16, 2006

hike NAKED – are you crazy?

Seems it’s fairly popular in Germany and the UK.

Steve Gough is the most (in)famous proponent.

In the United Kingdom, Steve Gough, known as The Naked Rambler, received much media coverage for walking naked from Land’s End to John o’Groats in 2003â€“2004 and again in 2005â€“2006. He was arrested and imprisoned several times during both his walks. In both 2005 and 2006 the European Alps were crossed naked during a one week hiking (tour), there was little media coverage and no-one was arrested or troubled.

Naked hiking – Wikipedia

image – Integral Nacktiv

November 15, 2006

“the most shameful act in the history of mountaineering”

It was the most shameful act in the history of mountaineering: 40 climbers, including a large number of guides and clients from a team offering climbs for profit, stepped over a dying independent mountaineer en route to summit. On their way down from the top, they stopped and video filmed a chat with the fading climber, for an upcoming documentary.

Everest – Mount Everest by climbers, news

November 15, 2006

when can I get to Moab, Utah?

When I hiked in and around Page, Arizona for a week it seemed every local hiker pointed me towards <a href=”Moab, Utah. I’ve never been.

Moab is 233mi (374km) southeast of Salt Lake City. It’s a tiny town that draws mobs of tourists, mostly visitors of the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

The town is also famed for mountain bikers who come for Slickrock Trail.

I hope to get there for hiking sometime in 2007.

Delicate Arch

November 14, 2006

Harvey Manning – dead at 81

The author of dozens of great hiking guides is gone. Rest in peace.

Harvey Manning, an icon of the mountaineering community who helped shape and preserve much of this region’s wilderness, died Sunday at age 81. Manning also wrote dozens of mountaineering and hiking guides, many of which have become classics. Most area outdoors enthusiasts, armchair or otherwise, grew up on one of his “100 Hikes” series of books.

“I feel like one of the great cedars of the North Cascades has fallen,” said Rick McGuire, former president of the Alpine Lakes Protection Society and longtime friend. “It’s hard to sum up a man like Harvey. He was a force of nature.”

Manning, known and beloved for his fearsome directness, was a tireless voice for conserving the forests as well as making them accessible to citizens of the Northwest. …

Harvey Manning, 1925-2006: Author of hiking guides ‘was a force of nature’

November 14, 2006

the hiker’s satellite phone is (almost) here

Today, satellite phone manufacturer Globalstar just announced the GSP-1700, the company’s smallest satphone to date, weighing just 7.1oz (203gm) and 43 percent smaller by volume. In addition, this Qualcomm handset packs an EV-DO modem, so you can get high-speed data access from “virtually anywhere you can see sky,” according to the company’s website. The GSP-1700 also stays loaded for four hours of talk time and 36 hours of standby time on a single charge. We’re not sure on the price of this handset, but given that its predecessor, the GSP-1600 goes for $750 (without a service plan), it’s a safe bet that this one will go for at least that much when it’s released “in the coming months.”

Globalstar GSP-1700 satphone also loaded with EV-DO – Engadget

November 13, 2006

book – Lightweight Backpacking and Camping

I signed up with AppalachianTrail.org in anticipation of a trip to Appalachian Trail Days in 2007.

They strongly recommend Lightweight Backpacking and Camping: A Field Guide to Wilderness Equipment, Technique, and Style.

Reading the reader reviews on the Amazon site (always a good idea) comments are somewhat mixed.

But I am IN. It’s added to my “to read” list.

Already a lightweight Backpacker, I’m now simply fine-tuning my kit and food for various hikes. Looks like a perfect resource for me.

November 12, 2006

new look for the besthike.com blog

Six months is a long time on the web.

It seems much longer since I launched this blog. I used the default theme in WordPress with a modified header image.

I updated in early November, 2006 with these objectives:

better integration with besthike.com

new Google search box includes both blog and besthike.com

wider post column (mainly for photos)

wider navigation column (to reduce clutter)

“Subscribe to Comments” so comments can turn into conversation

(slightly) better image handling

So far I am quite happy with the new theme, based on Cutline.

It may look a little strange for a few days. Especially if you use the SAFARI browser. I am still working out a few bugs.

Rick McCharles, editor

November 12, 2006

if I could walk on water …

… I wouldn’t need a hiking kayak.

Massachusetts inventor Yoav Rosen just received patents for these water walking devices. … Rosen’s company, Wavewalk, specializes in creating water craft that can be used standing up.

Walk the Atlantic – GetOutdoors.com GO Blog

Watch a demonstration on Google Video.

da Vinci forgot to patent it after roughing out the potential prototype.

image – GizMag.com

November 11, 2006May 8, 2016

best of the Canadian Rockies – Emperor Falls

Of many, many highlights hiking Mt. Robson / Berg Lake in the Rockies, getting a shower under majestic Emperor Falls was most special. I’d actually never heard of these Falls before I hiked Mt. Robson. The are the most impressive in Western Canada, I reckon.

Emperor-Falls-is-one-of-the-many-beautiful-waterfalls-along-the-Berg-Lake-trail