Route, trail & area guides
The Brooks Range offers arguably the greatest wilderness trekking in North America. But it has no trails or bridges; it’s the subject of no guidebooks and few online trip reports; it’s crossed by only one road; and it’s home to a gazillion tussocks and mosquitoes — So how do you plan a successful backpacking trip…
The Sierra Nevada red fox (SNRF) is a subspecies of red fox that has become genetically isolated since the retreat of the last ice age and is one of the rarest mammalian carnivores in North America. High routes in the High Sierra — notably the Sierra High Route, Kings Canyon High Basin Route, and Yosemite…
On a fateful Sunday I found a reference to Jamal Green’s website, Across Utah!, and to his videos about his trek. Caution: Time sink! After studying this project for a year, I decided it would be my first post-retirement hike. So that I was ready to do the hike in the spring, conveniently it locked…
Editor’s note. In 2008 I completed the classic Laugavegur and Fimmvörðuháls treks as a warm-up to a longer east-to-west traverse of Iceland. I posted how-to information afterwards, but it’s relevancy is diminished by my fast-and-light style and by subsequent changes in regulations and conditions. So I asked Katherine Kane, who has been on several of…
Even within Alaska, the Brooks Range — which extends 700 miles across the state, from the Canadian border to the Chuckchi Sea — is considered to be the ultimate wilderness. It’s crossed by just one gravel road, has just one tiny Native village within its mountainous core, and has no man-made hiking trails. Gates of…
Visit Engineered for Adventure for more information about and by Sam. For years I have wanted to explore the American Southwest, with its iconic walls, rock formations, and mesas. But as a college student I’ve always struggled to get out there, due to the summertime heat and aridity. This year, however, record snowpack in the Four Corners…
I had self-imposed a deadline of March 1 for publishing the Yosemite High Route Guide, knowing that backpackers are making their summertime plans (and in some cases have already made them). The Guide is not yet complete — it’s about 85 percent of the way there — but today I’m releasing it anyway so that…
Where We Camped, Approximate Daily Mileage 2016 1. Tarn below Mt Silliman. 5m 2. Lonely Lake. 12.5m 3. Just shy of Colby Lake, just past “PR-15”. 10m 4. Avalanche Pass area Where We Camped, Approximate Daily Mileage 2017 1. Creek just before Gardiner Pass. 11m 2. Between “PR-31” and “PR-32”. 5m 3. Lake below King…
Simpson Meadow Trail I ate a nice big breakfast. Our food bags were full again, so I was back to my normal, stick-to-the-ribs pot full of energy. By the time we got to the “small trailside campsite at Horseshoe Creek” (which I thought was kinda big), I was feeling sick to my stomach. The problem…
We skipped Ionian Basin due to Skurka’s cautionary advice. Our less-than-perfect encounters with King Col, Should-Go Canyon, Woods Creek, Dumbbell Pass, and Amphitheater Pass were still fresh in our minds. Connecting our steps via the Middle Fork Trail still gave us that special brand of satisfaction that a thru-hike brings. We also got to see…