Hiking News

Arizona’s Wild Burro Trail is a gateway into the Tortolita Mountains

Posted by on Feb 22, 2018 @ 12:03 pm in Hiking News | 0 comments

Arizona’s Wild Burro Trail is a gateway into the Tortolita Mountains

Trekking in the Tortolitas, northwest of Tucson, Arizona, is a journey into national park-quality desert country — where some 600 species of plants create a comely, prickly, colorful landscape.

Palo verde, ironwood and mesquite trees thrive alongside cacti, including chollas, barrels and grand stands of saguaros.

The range boasts a large population of crested saguaros — those with unusual flourishes of growth atop the trunk.

Hikers venturing into the range can expect some fascinating wildlife as well — anything from birds, lizards and snakes to rabbits, coyotes, javelinas, bobcats and deer.

Petroglyphs, or rock carvings, in the Tortolitas date to a period between AD 1100 and 1450. Ancient Indians, known today as the Hohokam, pecked geometric designs and figures of animals and people onto rock surfaces — and their work endures today.

Elsewhere in the Tortolitas, hikers will pass the ruins of one-time ranch buildings. One now roofless, stone-walled structure basks in silence and desert sunshine along a winsome stretch of the Wild Burro Trail.

Learn more here…

 

Hut-to-hut systems are growing: let’s plan for them

Posted by on Feb 22, 2018 @ 7:18 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

Hut-to-hut systems are growing: let’s plan for them

What comes to mind when you think hut-to-hut: probably Europe and New Zealand. With its highly-organized system of 1,000 backcountry huts New Zealand— about the same size (area and population) as Oregon— is the hut capital of the world; Switzerland and Norway each have about 500 huts.

By comparison, the USA has about 110 huts operating within 17 different hut-to-hut systems. But American interest in hut-to-hut is quickening.

America has a very strong tradition of backpacking (4% of Americans are backpackers). This is consonant with our proud history of setting aside huge reserves of wild lands for protection and recreation. Every nation’s approach to outdoor recreation— including how its citizens organize overnight stays in the wild— is based on local causes and conditions such as geography, size of the country, climate, terrain, history, economics, politics, and cultural values.

We will always be world leaders in backpacking. But American outdoor culture is evolving to explore the options that lie on the continuum between car-camping and backpacking. For example, state parks are building lots of huts and yurts, but they are following the convenience-based model of car camping, but are not connecting the dots for those who wish to walk, ski, or bike for days on end.

This increased demand for “authentic” outdoor adventure experiences by an urbanized population presents new challenges for environmentalists, land managers and recreation planners.

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USDA Secretary Announces Infrastructure Improvements for Forest System Trails

Posted by on Feb 19, 2018 @ 9:34 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

USDA Secretary Announces Infrastructure Improvements for Forest System Trails

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the selection of 15 priority areas to help address the more than $300 million trail maintenance backlog on national forests and grasslands.

Focused trail work in these areas, bolstered by partners and volunteers, is expected to help address needed infrastructure work so that trails managed by USDA Forest Service can be accessed and safely enjoyed by a wide variety of trails enthusiasts. About 25 percent of agency trails fit those standards while the condition of other trails lag behind.

“Our nation’s trails are a vital part of the American landscape and rural economies, and these priority areas are a major first step in USDA’s on-the-ground responsibility to make trails better and safer,” Secretary Perdue said. “The trail maintenance backlog was years in the making with a combination of factors contributing to the problem, including an outdated funding mechanism that routinely borrows money from programs, such as trails, to combat ongoing wildfires.

“This borrowing from within the agency interferes with other vital work, including ensuring that our more than 158,000 miles of well-loved trails provide access to public lands, do not harm natural resources, and, most importantly, provide safe passage for our users.”

This year the nation celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Trails Systems Act which established America’s system of national scenic, historic, and recreation trails. A year focused on trails presents a pivotal opportunity for the Forest Service and partners to lead a shift toward a system of sustainable trails that are maintained through even broader shared stewardship.

See the list of forest system trails…

 

A simple step toward a sustainable economy: Alaska long trails

Posted by on Feb 18, 2018 @ 12:42 pm in Hiking News | 0 comments

A simple step toward a sustainable economy: Alaska long trails

Building a new sustainable economy can be complex and have numerous hurdles. But sometimes a simple and easy first step forward stands right in front of you. It’s not a new idea; it’s not expensive; and much of it is already in place. It’s the kind of realization that makes Homer Simpson slap his forehead and say, “D’oh.”

That first step for Alaska is trails — long trails, in particular. Long trails are the ancient paths in Alaska that were used for commerce and communication by foot and dogsled and boat. These same trails became the Klondike and the Iditarod as later settlers and gold seekers traveled for mineral riches. Long trails tell the story of Alaska. They can also now be part of framing the future.

While long trails have existed for centuries, they are now capturing the interest of people all across the world: the Coast to Coast trail in England, the Inca Trail in Peru, the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the hut-to-hut trails throughout the Alps, the Himalayan trails of Bhutan and Nepal, the Appalachian Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail in America, to name a few. Millions of visitors are now traveling to trek on these trails.

There are three possible Alaska Long Trails, or ALTs, that are now ready for development. They could rival other international long trails by filling in the gaps.

The first is the brilliant idea of Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, an Alaska legislator, to use the current TAPS (Trans Alaska Pipeline) corridor for a 900-mile Trans-Alaska Trail from the Beaufort Sea to Valdez. Two years of quiet work and a fast-growing body of public support is beginning to take this from an idea to a practical possibility.

A second could be the 129-mile connection between the Anchorage Coastal Trail and the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward. Significant portions of this spectacular hiking, biking and possibly ski trekking trail are already in place.

A third could be the 179-mile route from Glennallen to Cordova, with its breathtaking course along the abandoned railway route on the Copper River bordering the spectacular Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Chugach National Forest.

Read full story…

 

A father and son pilgrimage on the Tour du Mont Blanc

Posted by on Feb 17, 2018 @ 11:46 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

A father and son pilgrimage on the Tour du Mont Blanc

Before it was too late, writer Mike MacEacheran made a family pilgrimage to the Alps to connect with his father’s wanderlust and retrace the steps taken 50 years before he was born.

It was on a grey winter’s day in my parents’ house outside Glasgow, watching storm clouds gather and sparrows dive for shelter in the garden, that I first suggested Mont Blanc in summer. After what had happened, I knew I should make more effort to spend time with my 74-year-old dad, but what I was proposing at his age was a risk. A 10-day hike around one of Europe’s highest mountains seemed a little extreme.

Now a grandfather, he had spent his best years in the Alps – summer after summer, in fact – and to take him along this pathway in search of a route to his past, to stir memory in long-forgotten footprints, seemed like the right thing to do.

The Tour du Mont Blanc is a challenge for anyone, regardless of age, condition or state of mind. A bucket-list pilgrimage for long-distance hikers, it is a 170km, high-altitude journey on foot, a ritual walk through great landscapes and drama that plugs hikers in to something unquantifiable, yet life-affirming.

While I traveled for a love of people, food, drink and culture, my father had always been drawn to places that weren’t as easily accessible. The mountains appealed because of their unreachability. Hikers, he once told me, came to learn about themselves.

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How to not need rescuing when you hike in Phoenix

Posted by on Feb 17, 2018 @ 6:35 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

How to not need rescuing when you hike in Phoenix

In Phoenix, Arizona summer weather usually starts before the rest of the country’s winter ends.

As the temperature starts to tick upward and out-of-town guests arrive for springtime merriment, its important to remember how quickly a day hiking in the desert can turn into a nightmare mountain rescue situation.

Last year, Phoenix’s fire department had to rescue 259 hikers — 95 of whom required a helicopter evacuation.

Contrary to popular belief, Arizona does not have a “stupid hiker law,” that would require hikers who need rescuing to foot the bill for their rescue. But there are plenty of other reasons why you should avoid a rescue situation anyway.

Rescues are expensive for the city and taxpayers, embarrassing to the hiker and can be fatal if rescuers can’t reach distressed individuals fast enough.

Whether you’re an experienced hiker, new to the sport or in town on vacation and want to check out some of the Valley’s natural beauty,

Make sure to follow these tips…

 

The Fight Against a Pipeline Along the Appalachian Trail

Posted by on Feb 16, 2018 @ 11:40 am in Conservation, Hiking News | 0 comments

The Fight Against a Pipeline Along the Appalachian Trail

  A lawsuit hasn’t been enough to stop construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a proposed 300-mile natural gas pipeline that would cross the Appalachian Trail and some of the region’s largest national forests on its way, from starting as soon as this month.

The Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, and Wild Virginia filed a lawsuit in January challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of the pipeline. The case argues that the pipeline is unnecessary and its environmental reviews inadequate.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline would cut through 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest, crossing waterways more than a thousand times and the Appalachian Trail once.

Construction would require clear-cutting a 125-foot-wide zone, then digging trenches and laying 42-inch diameter pipeline. Its route would climb steep slopes and limestone cliffs laced with cave systems. Its construction would bring noise and traffic, and increase sediment in streams near the headwaters for world class fisheries and amid world class hiking.

While some 58 pipelines already cross the AT, the MVP would run alongside it for almost 100 miles, and would be visible from some of the path’s most visited and photographed vistas, including Angels Rest, Kelly Knob, Rice Fields and Dragons Tooth.

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Oregon state history hikes: 14 trails to celebrate Oregon’s past

Posted by on Feb 16, 2018 @ 6:50 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

Oregon state history hikes: 14 trails to celebrate Oregon’s past

You can trace Oregon’s history on its trails. Ever since Oregon gained statehood in 1859 – and for many years before that – pioneers have cut trails through some of the most rugged and beautiful segments of the state. Some trails were made for travelers to settle there, while others were developed for locals to enjoy public lands.

Hiking along the historic trails today can transport you back to various eras in Oregon’s history. They can trace the wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail, take you high above landmark cities, and uncover some of the darker moments in the forcible removal of Native Americans from the land.

All of those stories are important to remember, as we forge ahead through the present, careful not to make the same mistakes twice, and eager to create our own mark on history.

The farthest point reached by Lewis and Clark on their Northwest expedition was not the mouth of the Columbia River, but Tillamook Head. Clark hiked the headland with a small group in 1806, in search of whale blubber. At a viewpoint, he found himself in awe, writing: “I behold the grandest and most pleasing prospect which my eyes ever surveyed.”

Once Lewis and Clark established Fort Clatsop at the end of 1805 near present-day Astoria, their Corps of Discovery had to bushwhack through forests, bogs and beaches to reach the Pacific Ocean. Much of that route can be traced today on the Fort to Sea Trail, which runs from the Fort Clatsop Visitor Center to Sunset Beach.

Learn more about these and other historic Oregon trails…

 

At The Wave, competition for hiking permits is fierce

Posted by on Feb 15, 2018 @ 7:14 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

At The Wave, competition for hiking permits is fierce

Ranger Ron Kay glanced at an anxious crowd crammed into a U.S. Bureau of Land Management office in Kanab, Utah.

“All these hopeful faces,” he murmured as the minutes counted down to a drawing for permits to hike to The Wave, an iconic basin of striated orange sandstone just south of the Utah-Arizona state line.

More than 80 applications were stacked in front of Kay on this Thursday morning in late December, with up to six names on each request. Only 10 people would get permits. Losers could try again, but the next day, nearly 400 applications poured in.

The Wave has rapidly gained renown as one of the most spectacular destinations in the American Southwest — and its biggest appeal may be that it remains crowd-free. Divided between a monthly online lottery and the daily walk-in drawings, only 20 people each day are allowed.

The BLM began requiring permits in the late 1980s, to comply with the Wilderness Act, which requires protected areas have “outstanding opportunities for solitude.” That was incompatible with growing interest in The Wave.

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10 Tips for Hiking Downhill

Posted by on Feb 14, 2018 @ 6:49 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

10 Tips for Hiking Downhill

Hiking downhill is often taken for granted. In the minds of some it represents the equivalent of “backcountry gravy“; the reward that follows the exertion of a long, challenging ascent.

Yet hiking downhill takes its toll. Twists, slips and tumbles are most likely to occur while descending and no other type of hiking causes more wear and tear on the joints and muscles.

By learning how to hike downhill efficiently in all types of terrain, the hiker can minimize impact on the body and decrease the probability of falls and/or mishaps occurring.

As a bonus, descending with good technique means that you move faster and feel lighter, without having to put forth any extra physical effort.

Get the tips here…

 

How the Chattanooga region’s trails are built and maintained

Posted by on Feb 12, 2018 @ 11:57 am in Conservation, Hiking News | 0 comments

How the Chattanooga region’s trails are built and maintained

Mason Boring and Clayton Morgan held adjoining handles of a perforated lancetooth two-man saw, pulling the more-than-70-year-old piece of equipment back and forth.

The two were clearing a fallen tree from Fodderstack horse and hiking trail in Cherokee National Forest. Boring estimated it had been five years since a crew came to clear the path. That’s what brought the two men here, miles from civilization, hiking and pulling a saw older than many of the surrounding trees.

Boring works for Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards (SAWS) – a nonprofit partner of the forest service, where Morgan works. The groups are forbidden by the Wilderness Act of 1964 from using mechanized or gas-powered equipment in the wilderness area.

The purpose is to keep wilderness areas wild. Congress and Wilderness Act supporters wanted to ensure the areas weren’t overworked, SAWS Executive Director Bill Hodge said. They would rather see overgrown paths with downed trees than a well-manicured, overworked man-made trail system that only slightly resembles the natural landscape.

“In these wilderness areas, it’s great to see what America looked like before man got here,” Boring said.

Wilderness areas represent an extreme of trail building and maintenance. However — despite the stringent regulations and abstract rules — the overall process is similar to most trail building and maintenance projects in the region: research the audience and terrain, find funding, acquire land, design the trail, build it and keep it relatively clear of debris.

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Nova Scotia blessed with trails for outdoor adventurers for all ages

Posted by on Feb 11, 2018 @ 8:59 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

Nova Scotia blessed with trails for outdoor adventurers for all ages

It’s very easy to take to the warm and cozy of the couch during Nova Scotia winters: ripe with freeze and thaw, rain and snow and bone-chilling cold snaps.

However, more often these days there has been a growth in those that dare to venture out of the house and on to the trails that criss-cross the province.

For more than 10 years Hike Nova Scotia, a non-profit hiking and walking promotion group, has been offering a collection of guided hikes, walkabouts and workshops to allow those looking for a push into, or a hand-hold alongside, nature.

“We started off purely as a volunteer organization — very small — and decided a few years in that if we wanted to get people hiking the good way to do that is to offer guided hikes,” said Hike N.S.’s executive director, Janet Barlow. “We strive to be the voice for hikers in the province.”

Back in the day, according to Barlow, there were several organizations that represented those who took to the trails on a regular basis — cyclists, snowmobilers and others — but there wasn’t a group that represented the most common trail users — hikers.

“Hike N.S. doesn’t own or maintain trails ourselves, but we advocate better hiking trails and we have initiatives to motivate people to get out there,” she said.

Read full story…

 

A hiking trail connecting NYC to Canada is in the works

Posted by on Feb 10, 2018 @ 11:47 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

A hiking trail connecting NYC to Canada is in the works

During his 2017 State of the State address, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo laid out an ambitious proposal to develop 350 miles of new biking paths and hiking trails that will connect New York City to both Canada and Buffalo through Albany.

Dubbed the Empire State Trail, the whole project will stretch 750 miles and include roughly 400 miles of existing trails. It’s scheduled to be completed by 2020, and state officials and developers are beginning to make moves to hit that deadline.

Cuomo doubled down on his support for the trail in his proposed 2019 fiscal year budget, calling out a lack of environmental funding from Washington in the process. His proposal puts up $300 million for the state’s Environmental Protection Fund—the most in its history—and also includes funding for a sprawling 407-acre state park on the coast of Jamaica Bay.

On Tuesday, February 13, 2018, the New York State Canal Corporation is hosting a public meeting in Little Falls, New York, to pitch its latest design for the construction of a key part of the path that will connect Albany to Buffalo.

When it’s completed, the Empire State Trail will be the longest path of its kind in the entire country, and it will give cycling and hiking nuts in New York a direct path to “the scenic natural beauty” that is “vital to our future and part of who we are as New Yorkers,” according to the governor.

Cite…

 

Nine Tips for Hiking Havasu Falls

Posted by on Feb 10, 2018 @ 9:37 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

Nine Tips for Hiking Havasu Falls

Havasu Falls sits atop the desirable adventures for many hikers from the first time they see a picture of the aqua blue water cascading down red rock walls into the crystal pool below.

On the hike, you will see Navajo Falls, Havasu Falls, Mooney Falls and Beaver Falls which are some of the most picturesque waterfalls and dramatic scenery found in the Grand Canyon.

There is also Supai Village, a remote Indian village that is only accessible by hiking, horseback, or helicopter. Havasupai is roughly translated to mean, “People of the blue-green water”. The Havasupai people are an Indian tribe who have lived here for at least the last 800 years. If you are lucky enough to obtain a permit and view this magical place, you will understand why they have never left.

The water from Havasupai rises from an spring that has been stored underground for over 30,000 years in limestone caverns. While underground, the water obtains calcium, limestone and magnesium. This causes the water to reflect sunlight and make the water appear amazingly blue.

Hiking the trail to Beaver Falls is like hiking back through time. The canyon has been virtually untouched for thousands of years by man. Nature, when given enough time, can produce some of the most beautiful places you will ever see.

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Hiking across the greenest island in the Caribbean

Posted by on Feb 9, 2018 @ 11:41 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

Hiking across the greenest island in the Caribbean

“They say: stand still in the soil too long in Grenada and even you’ll start to grow.”

The southern Caribbean isle of Grenada, with its volcanic earth and generous lashings of both “liquid” and regular sunshine, is ludicrously lush. Every backyard, mountainside, valley and verge seems rife with nutmeg, cocoa and soursop, banana palms, guava, ginger lilies and dreadlock crotons; the island is like one big Christmas tree, baubled with scarlet immortelles and strung with bougainvillea.

The majority of people visit lovely, laid-back Grenada for rest and relaxation – and why not? However, you can also spend time away from the beach to explore the Spice Island’s wild forests, hill-perched villages, headlands and history via a series of short hikes. The idea being that you can learn more about a place at walking pace. And the strolls you’d be tackling aren’t too long, so there is still time for more traditional Caribbean beach-lounging each afternoon.

The island was first discovered by the Spanish in 1523, but it was the French and British who fought over ownership throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, with the latter eventually victorious, and in charge until Grenada gained independence in 1974.

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Blue Ridge Parkway’s Linn Cove Viaduct to Close for Repairs

Posted by on Feb 9, 2018 @ 6:35 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

Blue Ridge Parkway’s Linn Cove Viaduct to Close for Repairs

The National Park Service announces the closure of the Linn Cove Viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway for surface repaving and bridge maintenance from March 1, 2018 through May 24, 2018. These projects require a full closure of the Parkway, including closure of the trail below the bridge; with the reopening coinciding with Memorial Day weekend. The Linn Cove Viaduct is located at Milepost 304.

A traffic detour will be put in place from Milepost 298.6 (Holloway Mountain Rd) to Milepost 305.1 (US 221). Gates will be located at MP 303.6, Wilson Creek Overlook on the north and MP 305.1, US 221 on the south end of the work zone. Within the closed area, including the trail areas beneath the viaduct, the Parkway will be closed to all uses including motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. The public’s cooperation with these closures will provide for the most efficient work schedule and will ensure the safety of staff and visitors.

During the closure, crews will remove and replace the asphalt pavement, waterproofing membrane and joints on the bridge. Repairs to the supporting structure, stone curb, railing and drainage features will also be made.

The Linn Cove Viaduct was completed in the mid-1980s, and is commonly known as the “missing link” that signaled the completion of the entire 469-mile Parkway route. The Linn Cove Viaduct is often celebrated as an engineering marvel with the road wrapping around the contours of Grandfather Mountain. It is 1243 feet long, contains 153 segments weighing 50 tons each, and is supported by seven permanent piers.

For more information about the Linn Cove Viaduct: http://go.nps.gov/linncove

 

Montana’s Weatherman Draw offers winter hiking, ancient exploration

Posted by on Feb 8, 2018 @ 9:27 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

Montana’s Weatherman Draw offers winter hiking, ancient exploration

Winter hiking often involves snowshoes, but not if you wander along the southeastern edge of the Beartooth Mountains into Weatherman Draw.

Weatherman Draw creases one of the driest areas in Montana — a place where rain and snow are rare visitors. That makes it a great place to hike when more popular mountain trails are snowed in. By summertime, it’s too hot to hike there, so it’s the perfect off-season spot.

Also known as the Valley of the Chiefs and Valley of the Shields, the public land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management is protected as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. That’s because it contains scattered pictographs and petroglyphs, some of which date back 10,000 years to American Indian tribes that lived in the region.

The name Valley of the Shields comes from pictographs of warriors behind large shields, depictions that are believed to date to before the arrival of the horse in North America. Why this particular area was the scene of so much art is a mystery, but there is a mystical, harsh beauty to the place.

Once threatened by oil and gas development, and then with a loss of access when property along Cottonwood Road was offered for sale, the public has continually rallied to protect this sacred, spiritual, sandstone enclave.

Learn more here…

 

First look at Pacific Crest Trail after Columbia Gorge fire

Posted by on Feb 7, 2018 @ 9:26 am in Hiking News | 0 comments

First look at Pacific Crest Trail after Columbia Gorge fire

Branches flew. Trail tools smoothed the earth. Stones tumbled downhill, crackling like Rice Krispies as gravity took hold. The trail workers are back.

Hardhat-clad crew leaders began work last month on a section of Pacific Crest Trail that’s been closed near the Columbia River Gorge tourist town of Cascade Locks since a wildfire ripped through the region last summer. The Eagle Creek fire covered nearly 49,000 acres and left the West’s most famous footpath marred by downed trees and rockslides, among other dangers.

But crews have begun to spruce up a few miles of the treasured trail by filling in stump holes, clearing brush and making other improvements.

A nearly six-mile hike is required to get to the PCT, which includes time on the Herman Bridge and Herman Creek trails. There is hearty evidence of the historic blaze: scorched rocks sit exposed, their mossy covering burned away, and downed trees look like they weathered a massive bonfire. Wide swaths of greenery have been singed.

It’s difficult to understate how drastically the scenery has changed. Before-and-after photos reveal scenes that sharply contrast one another. But those expecting a bleak moonscape, barren and lifeless, won’t find it here.

Moss and other vegetation line parts of the trail. The canopy remains green. And the PCT offers many of the same redeeming qualities it did before the blaze.

Read full story…