Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
Stein Valley is one of the best hikes in North America.
It’s high on my personal list of hikes to do … SOON.
Wild and remote, the “route” is about 90km and has a total elevation change of at least 4300m. High elevation is about 2150m.
It’s tough. You probably want to schedule 7 days. Perhaps 9 days to enjoy some side tripping. Carry ALL your food.
Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo.
Without question you should purchase the only guidebook. And perhaps maps, as well.
Watch the great David Breashears documentary from 2002.
Guide Jacob Kyungai is excellent. Everyone on the team interesting. Including supermodel Heidi Albertsen. But for me the highlight were the two kids on the 45 mile hike: Hansi Mmari and Nicole Wineland-Thomson,
Dreaming of climbing Kilimanjaro is childlike. Full of wonder.
This short documentary is 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Highly recommended for all.
Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.
You might be able to watch the entire documentary on YouTube.
related – Mark Horrell’s review
I’m hooked on the videos produced by World Wild Hearts.
We counted 6 lakes on our way up to the Panorama Ridge viewpoint and also saw the black tusk to our left in all its glory.
The whole route was about 32 kilometers and took us just over 10 hours to complete. …
Overall it was one of the longest day hikes we’ve done, but the views from the top were worth it!
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. SUBSCRIBE.
Kristen Bor is one of my favourite hiking bloggers.
Her site is called Bearfoot Theory. Highly recommended.
Kristen recommends an adventure in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
Is backpacking the Mineral King loop in Sequoia National Park on your bucket list? …
This was hands down one of the most incredible backpacking trips we’ve been on and is easily some of the best backpacking in the Sierra Nevada.
Our 44-mile route out of Mineral King went over Timber Gap and exited via Sawtooth Pass, with a portion of the trip following the High Sierra Trail.
It took us 6-days, but if you don’t have that much time, we also suggest a shorter alternative loop that covers a lot of the same ground.
BACKPACKING THE MINERAL KING LOOP IN SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK
What a life. What a life story.
Rick Ridgeway was one of the first Americans to summit K2 in 1978.
He’s climbed new routes and explored little-known regions on six continents.
Spent a total of 5 years sleeping in a tent while adventuring.
A pioneer in filming extreme outdoor pursuits.
You might have read one of his other books — Seven Summits (1988), an account of how Frank Wells and Dick Bass planned to climb the highest mountain on each of the world’s seven continents.
Ridgeway later had some adventures with Reinhold Messner. In this book he doesn’t mention the controversy that Canadian alpinist Pat Morrow and then Messner claim to have completed the Seven LEGITIMATE Summits. 😀
Ridgeway — born 1949 — has outlived most of his climbing partners. A rare survivor.
His wife of near 40 years died too before he published his life story in October 2021.
It’s a summing up.
BEST in this book are his lifelong adventures with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, and Doug Tompkins, who cofounded The North Face.
In fact, it was Ridgeway who was paddling with Tompkins in southern Chile 2015 when they capsized. Rick was rescued. Tompkins died of hypothermia.
Yvon Chouinard is still alive as well. Age 83.
All three of the do boys, as the friends called themselves, eventually made environmental protection the main focus of their lives.
I highly recommend this book.
It is hard to imagine my life if I hadn’t met Rick Ridgeway. Rick invited me on my first National Geographic expedition and taught me how to film, but more importantly he shared how to tell a good story. In Life Lived Wild Rick recounts the most poignant moments of his legendary career as an explorer, climber and conservationist, but mostly, as an extraordinarily observant and compassionate human being. He captures the essence of a lifetime of storytelling. — Jimmy Chin, Adventurer and filmmaker
My own strategy to avoid friction — to reduce blisters — is to wear oversize shoes, but tied tight to the ankle. I also buy the widest hiking shoes I can get.
If you haven’t found a system that works for you, start with understanding the mechanism of how and why blisters form.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
I FINALLY hiked Fisherman’s, one of the world’s best coastal hikes.
Porto Covo to Zambujeira do Mar in NOVEMBER.
Click PLAY or get a glimpse on YouTube.
Sunsets are what I remember best. Usually with wine.
Weather was perfect for me in early November, though it’s considered too late in the year for hiking. I saw only about 12 other multi-day hikers over 4 days. Most hotels and restaurants had already closed for the season.
Beach walking is lovely … for a while. There’s a LOT of sand on this adventure.
In November I had most beaches to myself.
Clifftop vistas are stunning.
Charming villages are particularly charming in November, nearly deserted in the off-season.
I’d highly recommend 3 days, 3 nights Porto Covo to Zambujeira do Mar. In either direction.
As do most, I added Zambujeira to Odeceixe. But you could certainly skip that day as it doesn’t add much. And requires quite a few kms of road walking.
If looking for MORE, however, Fisherman’s Trail (Porto Novo to Odeceixe) is only one section of the longer Rota Vicentina.
In case you’re considering hiking high season, here’s how some beaches may look on a busy day.
related – STINGY NOMADS trip report
A 160km multi-day hiking trail running the length of the Grampians (Gariwerd) national park will open to the public on Saturday, becoming one of the longest trails in Victoria.
Connecting some of the park’s most spectacular peaks, the Grampians Peaks Trail is a 13-day/12-night journey starting at Mt Zero and travelling south over the ranges that make up Gariwerd and ending in the town of Dunkeld, 270km west of Melbourne. …
Guardian
Kraig Becker posted some tips:
Keep your device batteries warm, of course. The cold can kill them. 🥶
He linked to this video:
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Dream by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Many of my hiking travel plans have been cancelled starting March 2020. Pandemic. 😕
IF possible in August 2022, here’s my PLAN.
Cycle and hike Norway on my Trek Checkpoint touring bike.
Catch the ferry in northern Denmark. Stopover in the Faroe Islands.
Continue to Iceland for yet more cycling and hiking.
Fly out of Reykjavik.
Price for that ferry starts at 404.00€ plus meals onboard.
It’s 30+ hours to the Faroes. Another 15+ hours to eastern Iceland.
Travel between the islands is not difficult, I understand. Here’s an overview map of popular hikes.
besthike.com 