Trail Guides, Gear Reviews, and Backpacking Tips
What happens when hiking, history* and a love of old films all come together on the Grand Enchantment Trail? A broad, toothy grin and a trip down memory lane, by way of vintage movie theatres and dusty copies of Time-Life Read More …
Food tastes better in the outdoors. Perhaps it’s a combination of fresh air, beautiful surroundings, and all that exercise you’re doing. Over the years, many of my hiking journeys have been marked by memorable meals which resulted from unexpected invitations. Luck? Read More …
On my first day in Bogota, Colombia, I decided to go for a hike. Just for something different. 😉 Specifically, a relatively easy climb up to the summit of the city’s most famous mountain, Monserrate. Rising to some 3,152 metres Read More …
The Hiking Life website has undergone a complete overhaul. After two months of rewriting, resizing and refreshing, the new and improved version is now up and running! The Hiking Life 2.0 contains many new “how to” articles, a backpacking resources guide, loads Read More …
Note: The following story took place during my 2011 thru hike of the Pacific Northwest Trail. The Tungsten Mining cabins are situated in Washington’s Pasayten Wilderness. After a long day’s walk in the rain, I arrived at the Tungsten Mining Read More …
The following events took place in May, 2009, during a hike of Ireland’s Wicklow Way. Stretching some 130 km from Marlay Park in Dublin to the village of Clonegal in County Carlow, since being established in 1980, the Wicklow Way has Read More …
Recently I’ve come across various articles relating to long distance hiking on a budget. There was 18 Ways To Prepare Your Wallet For Your Thru-Hike, How to Thru Hike on a budget and The Frugal Backpacker – The $300 Gear Challenge. Although all Read More …
With all the hullabaloo in the hiking community about Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, I couldn’t resist sneaking in at least one post with “Wild” in the title. 😉 Truth be told, this list is just a fun exercise to see how much Read More …
8.30am, October 11. Decked out in blaze orange and fuelled by a combination of “Mickey C’s” Bagels and multiple cups of coffee, Paul “Mags” Magnanti (The Trail Show) and I set off with the intentions of doing a 25 mile Read More …
“It’s like being at home and on a holiday at the same time.” Thoreau, Emerson, Muir and……………..Sam The Gardener. Say again? Yep, the above quote is from none other than Samwise Gamgee, my favourite character from JRR Tolkien’s, The Lord Read More …
The day after arriving in Huaraz, Peru, I met a sprightly 83 year old local woman by the name of Dolores. We struck up a conversation about trekking, and upon hearing that I planned to do a day hike to Read More …
You know the Pacific Crest Trail rock formation…………… You may have tried the Southern California beer……………. But apart from my Australian and New Zealand readers, I wonder how many of you have heard this classic tune by “Daddy Cool”???
When I first saw the term “Liebster Award“, I thought it was some sort of prize that Mags’ German born wife had given him for being a good hubby (i.e. Lieber translates to ‘dear’ in English). I soon discovered it Read More …
The tenth and final quote is from yours truly. The words were written some fifteen years ago during a hike in Lamington National Park. This was where I had learnt to backpack as a kid. It is one of the Read More …
To the left we have the Bee Gees, mid-strut during their classic Stayin’ Alive video. To the right, we have (L to R) Bobcat, Dirtmonger and Malto striding down the road from Whitney Portal (finish of the Lowest to Highest Route). Note Read More …
“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria.” – Dave Auerbach
In more than two decades of hiking and backpacking, I had never had a serious case of chafe. Indeed, I occasionally made fun of hiking buddies who moaned and groaned about tender thighs or raw behinds. With a wry grin, Read More …
Here is a video clip from the talk I gave at ALDHA West on September 28, 2013. This particular excerpt relates to the Southeastern Serpentine Trail, the sixth of the 12 Long Walks. It includes reminisces about robberies, solitude, hypothermic weather and Pabst-Blue Ribbon Read More …
The long distance hiking community is wonderfully inclusive. Details such as age, where you come from, what you do for a living are all but irrelevant. People from different generations and backgrounds are brought together not just by the goal of Read More …
Doing my part for the bovine population of northern Arizona.