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why extend the Appalachian Trail?

We got an important comment from the official AT.

UPDATE:

“Actually the terminii of the Appalachian Trail were determined by an act of the U.S. Congress when it established it as the first National Scenic Trail in 1968. To “lengthen” the official Trail would take a similar act of Congress.”

Martin A. Bartels – www.appalachiantrail.org

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original post:

Most finish the AT at Mount Katahdin, Maine.

But the Appalachian Mountains continue into Canada. Surely the standard 2,175mi is not long enough.

You could cross the U.S.-Canada border at Fort Fairfield and add another 500mi or so. This is one of the extensions referred to as the International Appalachian Trail.

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Trek Through to the True End of the Appalachian Mountains – GORP

But is that far enough?

Why not extend your walk through to the north tip of Newfoundland?

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source – InternationalAT.org

Walking for walking’s sake is not necessarily a good thing. Because it’s there, not a good enough reason.

Be discriminating when you choose your hikes. That’s what besthike.com is all about.

Life is short.

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A Year of Adventure

Lonely Planet\'s Guide to Where, What And When to Do ItA Year of Adventures: Lonely Planet’s Guide to Where, What And When is an inspiring book.

Hiking in New Zealand, diving with sharks in South Africa, ballooning in Switzerland and storm watching in Alaska. Choose from over 100 activities in 130 countries, some to challenge you, some to enjoy at a leisurely pace, and catering to all fitness levels.

Organised by month and week to allow you to plan the best adventure at the best time of year.

Country and Activity indexes provide easy access search by the destination of your next holiday, or by the adventure you want to experience.

Lonely Planet has a webpage supporting the publication.

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Bikini Wars: fishing babes

Position statement

bikini2.jpgFor the record, this blog decries what some are calling the Bikini Wars.

Trash talking blog posts used as an excuse to highlight photos of pretty girls with fish.

Indeed, I concur with Trout Underground that those bloggers are merely “traffic-hungry smut peddlers”.

Bikini Wars: The Final Battle – The Trout Underground

The Besthike blog will never stoop to those kind of tactics.

(… let me know if I am out-to-lunch on this. Perhaps scantily clad fish with girls should be a priority.)

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dog survives unbelievable mountain fall

wally.jpgMy hiking buddy (Shasta, CA), Wally the Wonderdog, took a severe fall on the ice fields of Mt. Eddy, California.

The Wonderdog hit the ice and rocketed straight down for several hundred feet, gathering speed the whole way. Unfortunately, at the bottom of the ice field lay a steep rockfield, which he hit at full speed, sending him on a cartwheeling, pinwheeling ride over 600 vertical feet of very sharp, very hard rocks.

Michelle – an experienced mountaineer and backcountry skier – said simply that “it was the gnarliest thing I’d ever seen.”

She estimated he bounced and cartwheeled in the neighborhood of two dozen times, and that the total distance of the fall was in the 800-1,000 range.

“It was like it went on forever.”

I can’t imagine what it felt like to see that, but after a lengthy traverse to the bottom of the rock field, both Michelle and Nancy expected to find a dead doggie.

What they found was a battered, stunned Wonderdog staring at them.

This launched a rescue effort where Michelle – who weighs 120 pounds if you turned a fire hose on her – resourcefully jury rigged a small daypack and carried the 80-pound Wonderdog back up the ohmigod-steep rocky slope (if you’re handy with numbers, that’s 2/3 of her body weight) while Nancy steadied him.

I’m impressed.

On flatter ground, he was able to walk (limp, actually) down the trail towards the truck, but by the time I saw him at home, he was a battered puppy.

Bleeding from a bunch of wounds, his nose, and his mouth, he’d had a tooth ripped out and the right side of his face was swollen up so bad his eye was closed.

Get well soon, Wally.

Trout Underground Fly Fish Blog » Bamboo Ascendant in Dunsmuir. Wally the Wonderdog Plummeting in Mountains.

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Shipton’s Arch – Kashgar, China

One day soon you may be able to hike to Shipton’s Arch, the world’s highest. Almost as high as the Empire State Building at 366m (1200ft).

This wonder of the world was rediscovered in 2000 when National Geographic published Journey to Shipton’s Lost Arch.

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It’s also known as also known as Pierced Rock (Uyghur) and Hole in Heaven (Chinese).

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Washington State – Ptarmigan Traverse

One of National Geographic’s World’s Best New Adventures, this is a dream trip for a hiker / mountaineer / skier.

The legendary Ptarmigan Traverse begins at Cascade Pass in the shadow of North Cascades National Park’s 8,065-foot (2,458-meter) Johannesburg Mountain and traces nearly 25 miles (40 kilometers) of the Cascades Crest, cutting across ridges and cirques to the north side of 10,541-foot (321-meter) Glacier Peak, in the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area. It’s the kind of iconic route that experienced Cascades mountaineers have been tackling unguided ever since the area’s Ptarmigan Climbing Club established it in 1938.

Next May, Seattle-based Mountain Madness will guide a tour that makes this North American classic accessible to beginning ski mountaineers. …

“The trip is equivalent to the Haute Route in the Alps, but in a wilderness setting,” says Mark Gunlogson, president of Mountain Madness. “It’s beautiful.”

Washington: Conquering a Cascades Classic

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(via The Adventure Blog)

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video – water filter race

bodiak filmed a pumpfight between his Pur filter and his hiking buddy’s MSR.

The MSR won.

Just for fun click PLAY or watch the video on YouTube.

When Katadyn (Pur) saw this clip they sent bodiak a free Guide Pro, their fastest pump, for a rematch. (Yet to be filmed)

Around the Campfire

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Horseshoe Bend, Arizona

Seemed I could jump down on top of the tourist boat on the river below.

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En route to Paria Canyon, I took the short walk from highway US89 to dangle my feet off the cliffs of Horseshoe Bend, surely one of the most incredible vistas in the world.

This oxbow in the Colorado River is just downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, a few miles from the tourist centre of Page, Arizona.

horseshoe.jpglarger version – TrekEarth

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Antelope Canyon, Arizona – polluted

I love the Colorado Plateau in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest. It’s arguably the best hiking region in the world.

The Navajo Generating Station is a coal-fired powerplant on the doorstep of Page, Arizona. The three 236m chimneys loom over the “most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest” — Antelope Canyon.

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What a shame!

Disclosure — I live in Alberta which is a heavy coal-burning part of the world. But we hide our plants away from tourist sites.

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Around Taranaki – New Zealand

On my one shot at Taranaki, we were turned back due to weather. Later in the day it cleared up completely. Timing is everything in New Zealand.

We tried climbing the distinct volcano.

Perhaps we should have done instead the hike around the mountain. Mountain Zone published a good trip report article:

The mountain is perfect—a beautiful cone, distinctive from all angles. Seen from many miles inland as a stunning silhouette, seen from the roaming eye of a satellite camera as a dark areola on a sea of cultivation, it’s a mountain we all know something about.

Around Taranaki – Hiking New Zealand’s Sleeping Giant

It’s the photogenic mountain used in the Tom Cruise film The Last Samurai.

Most of the great New Zealand hikes are on the South Island. But Taranaki, like Tongariro, are on the North. The circumnavigation is 55km (34mi).

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Taranaki NZ

(via The Adventure Blog)