Thirteen tourists were robbed of cash, cameras and other goodies on the Inca Trail in Peru. Something to think about — and investigate — before your next eco-tour or adventure hike: are the people there desperate enough to follow you…
Monthly Archives: November 2005
Hiking boots for beginners
by tmangan • November 17, 2005 • 0 Comments
About.com has a rudimentary guide to hiking boots. I’m posting this mostly for the Googlers who are just getting into hiking. You know what they say: every hike begins with the first step — in the door of your favorite…
Morning blogroll
by tmangan • November 17, 2005 • 0 Comments
Lots o’ tasty links this morning among my favorite bloggers. At a glance: Calipidder on Backpackgeartest and the Jetboil camp stove. Felix Wong on everthing that’s wrong with Wal-Mart (off-topic and not exactly news, but a very concise summary). GoBlog…
Man, those Sherpas can really haul
by tmangan • November 16, 2005 • 2 Comments
Gadling linked to a way-cool story about how the Sherpas of Nepal carry such huge loads. This passage struck me: A porter’s gear is simple but effective: The load goes into an oversized basket, or doko, which rests against the…
Knees and poles
by tmangan • November 16, 2005 • 0 Comments
Outdoor Sports Blog gives the skinny on keeping your knees in shape for trail duty. One bullet item: Use trekking poles, especially when hiking downhill. Trekking or Hiking Poles not only help to avoid or reduce knee pain when hiking…
The fat lady hikes
by tmangan • November 16, 2005 • 1 Comment
From an L.A. Times story by a woman who keeps going despite the strange looks from skinnier, faster hikers. Maybe you have to be fat to have the “What if?” moment I had. Because that cave was not built for…
Why all these stories…
by tmangan • November 16, 2005 • 0 Comments
… about people conquering the AT, PCT, etc? Oh, yeah, because now people are finishing the trails. It helps to live in a small town with a paper desperate for anything remotely interesting to fill its pages. Long-distance hikers come…
Winter camping for newbies
by tmangan • November 16, 2005 • 0 Comments
rec.backcountry has an informative thread. On the more concrete level: in winter camping/travel moisture is your enemy and your goal. Be warm through layers; keep dry through not overlayering. Be able to ventilate without chilling; be able to hydrate without…
So much for taking the morning off
by tmangan • November 15, 2005 • 0 Comments
Well, I did get in 3.5 miles this morning, carrying about 20 pounds in the ol’ daypack. Should’ve been a fairly uneventful hour and 15 minutes with maybe 800 feet of elevation gain — trails all dry & groomed, warming…