still fuckin with climb cuz climb pays: the ILX hiking thread

so they're not huge, right? maybe the same height as an average person, standing up? tbh, that cub is too cute for words and i'd have to be restrained from attempting to pet it and consequently incurring the wrath of its mum

when we went to the zoo last year we spent aaaaaaaages hanging out talking to 'ting ting' the sun bear

I saw many deer while I was on the trail at night. I was under the impression that deer were diurnal, but I kept hearing all this rustling around between 10 and midnight. I'd flash my light over thinking it was a bear, and it'd be some beautiful deer just prancing through the forest.

xpost yeah most of them are about person sized or smaller that I've seen, there are some fucking huge mamas out there though. The babies are embarrassingly cute, and tumble around in trees and try to get you to pet them so that their moms can kill you, it's terrible

i don't like hiking but this thread title makes me really really happy

it was this or niggaz with altitude

lol

North Face backpack where I'm hold'n all the work at

haha the other day me and my hiking buddy were on a trail and we passed this huge lump of white animal hair and i was like "what could this possibly have come from?" i picked some up to inspect it, saying "haw, im disturbing this ecosystem." my buddy was like "yeah, and it's disturbing me"

i wish that could be our hiking club's motto somehow

I can't wait to get this:

http://www.mysigg.com/ProductImages/MYSIGG/8025.50.JPG

pretty much the most metal looking thing ever

On my last hike I totally ran out of water! I was only a couple miles from the endpoint, though. Next time will take two of the above.

That is pretty metal. How many ounces?

it's 33 oz

am also considering the nalgene flask

http://www.bepreparedtosurvive.com/NalgeneFlask.jpg

I ran outta water on a hike in Arizona once, a day into it (which meant a day's hike out in ridic heat w/o water). It was kinda scary at first but we found a big tree, all by its lonesome, and sure enough there was a little water hole next to it.

cute! tbh i passed lots of creek (the trail was called rabbit creek for pete's sake) but i'm to chickenshit to drink much out of creeks

i got sigg bottle today but it is purple with pretty swirls because i like things that are purple.

woah nalgene flask is neat!
btw i was at eastern mountain sports and EVERYTHING is 20% off!

i know, i am crazy about that flask

man, i wanna go hiking

there are many great options nearby, lb!
jones gap :D :D :D
used to do table rock a lot when i was a kiddie.

also the dupont forest has really cool waterfalls.

man i miss the smokies so much. i don't think i ever did the rabbit creek/abrams loop. out of cades cove, we used to go up to gregory bald a lot. and spence field, i love that hike. also did a lot of day-hiking up from the cosby side. and from newfound gap. (charlie's bunion!) you know the whole time i was there, i never hiked the chimneys. some things to do in the future.

these days all my hiking is urban. which is fine and i like it, but it's not the same. i really loved getting up, stocking up, driving out and spending the whole day walking. then a big dinner and beer somewhere. (if we went up out of townsend we'd stop by that mexican place in maryville on the way home. los something-or-other.)

chimneys suck imo!!! 2 miles straight up a bunch of red clay mud and 2 miles straight back down where you just came from, and the view is great of course, but there are a lot of great views in the smokies. i dread going up there, you didn't miss anything

my favorite short hike is alum cave bluffs, nothing else like it

i'm waiting for azalea season to do gregory's bald! did andrew's bald and it was really miserable, but i picked a stupid time of year to do it.

oh man there is nothing better than finishing a huuuuge hike and just chowing down on the way back through townsend at the heart and kettle or something

*hearth

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/images/13p2s1v6.jpg

saw three of these peeking out from a tree and was just like "do not want to be eaten by the inevitable mom" and ran through a trail junction

yeah you want the azaleas in bloom for sure.

the contours of the chimneys is why i never did it. once i got out there i wanted something more immersive than that, i guess. i love the rhythms of a nice long hike.

i think cucumber gap is the best short, completely easy hike

also love house mountain in south knoxville, so cool that a hike like that is just right there

hahaha, i must hike this!!!!

http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/Haw_Ridge_3840.asp

house mountain is more northeast than south, isn't it? out rutledge pike? but yeah that's a nice near one. that's where i saw a whole flock of wild turkeys try to take flight. they made it up into the lower branches of the nearest tree.

i did some hikes around oak ridge, don't remember if it included HAW ridge.

also good: frozen head.

Haw, I totally meant East Knoxville

http://www.gajos.org/travel/hikes/uploaded_images/DSC_3973-737723.JPG

and big south fork! site of my bachelor party. granted there was less hiking than drinking and whatnot involved there. but there's some great hikes too. east tenn. is really A+ for hiking.

hahaha

i wish i had a pic of the sign at abrams falls

"four people have died here! please do not be next"
xpost

20 miles in one day? that's some serious hiking. what kind of elevation gain?

there's a million place to hike in the East, and it's good to get out there in the fresh air (smokies haw) and go up and down and such, but there's not a lot that's as interesting as most of the stuff in the other half of the country. i gotta start doing some stuff here though in preparation for out there.

in hawaii there were massive warning signs about swimming in waterfalls and getting caught in riptides and swept out to sea. it was scary but also kind of gnarly and awesome.

we've been out to the marin headlands a few times this year (san francisco), i like it because it's all open hills, beautiful views of the ocean, and this totally weird-ass old military stuff (like forts and stuff).

re that nalgene drink bottle: nalgene is responsible for making a lot of the equipment involved in animal testing (battery cages, immobilisers, restraints etc), fyi.

i dont know how to calculate elevation gain but it was mostly an easy hike with a couple uphill climbs, i.e. definitely climbed straight up pine mountain

xpost i did not know that

i want to hike the Tennessee Valley at some point, but the other parts of the headlands i saw weren't super exciting

guys!
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m163/bl82/ColcaCanyon.jpg;
omg

it's true that hiking the smokies is not like hiking the tetons or rockies (or i assume so, i haven't done any western hiking except walking up camelback mountain in phoenix). a lot of southern appalachian/cumberland hikes are sort of just uphill walks in the woods with occasional spectacular views. but they're really nice walks in the woods.

i dont want to hike a place that isn't woodsy!

i suppose 20 miles isn't that bad if you've got real boots and just a daypack

that's one thing i love about the southeast! on christmas day we went on a little light hike/walk on paris mountain in the afternoon. it's nice to have that easily accessible.

mt. mitchell (in the apps) is the highest point east of the mississippi. i don't know what my point is there...

well, i dont have boots, i have tennis shoes, and my ankle was pretty fucked afterwards

lesson learned

i do have a very light pack though

yeah, the woods are nice, but i'm spoiled by early exposure to alpine scenery and i want some wow views when i go hiking. i imagine smokies vistas are a little better than most new york area hikes, though.

alum cave bluffs views are O_O

were those just something like skechers (sp?) you were wearing for 20mi???? U CRAZY

Shasta is well protected from recreational overuse by the distance it lies from any large city and by its sheer size. Also by its bad access roads. This is no bad thing. What it needs better protection from is clear cutting.

The access roads truly are demanding, lots of times praying the car would make it to a trailhead

I've read quite a few "stupid tourist hiker" stories since moving to AZ in 2012, but this one might take the cake:

https://azdailysun.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/life-isnt-worth-losing-for-a-cool-instagram-picture-says-hiker-who-called-coconino-county/article_8de5f435-efe5-5a8d-926f-08450f0d30bd.html

Summer is coming to a close. In my part of the world, this means fewer and fewer opportunities to hike and camp, unless you appreciate short days and bad weather. This year I've been lucky enough to spend more than 25 nights sleeping in a tent. Tomorrow I'll leave for an overnight backpack on Mt Hood that will probably be my last until next summer.

Most memorable of my trips was a solo overnight at 8300 ft, all alone at a high alpine lake where I'd never camped before. It was peaceful, surrounded by ancient whitebark pines and bare granite outcrops. I could see what I think was Saturn, shining brightly in the clear night. Nice. I'd do it again in a flash.

Next most memorable was a possible wolf sighting. It was near the shore, across a large pond/tarn. It was a bit too far away to be conclusive - maybe 80 meters, but it was clearly a very large canid, definitely the wrong size and coloration to be a coyote (cream-colored fur), configured like a wolf with a bushy downswept tail, and no human was visibly accompanying it. Had it barked at me I'd've known it was a wolf-like dog. But it watched me silently as I watched it. Also, I was in the only part of Oregon with known multiple wolfpacks. I'm more than 3/4 sure it was a wolf.

That all sounds very cool but the wolf sounds SUPER cool. Great work!

Strange to say, the experience was very interesting and focused my attention very powerfully, but the fact of the distance and intervening water removed most sense of danger or intimacy from the encounter. What was left was me trying as hard as I could to figure out if what I was looking at was what I thought it might be, and not succeeding in fully convincing myself of its reality. After all, the USA has a million dogs for every wild wolf, and even if 99% of dogs do not look anything like wolves, the odds against were too big to ignore, in spite of my patient sorting of the evidence in favor.

Just coming on here to check when I last bought a pair of walking boots! Bought my (amazing) Lowas Renegades 2 years ago, it seems. Is 2 years about what y'all would expect from a pair of boots? I've covered the best part of 1500 miles in them; both boots have split in the same place (outside, about where a bunion might be, just above the outsole). Just huffing at having to shell out the £200, tbh.

1500 miles is a more than reasonable lifetime for hiking boots. They have to absorb a lot of banging around and abrasion.

I just picked up a pair of NOS Vasque Skywalk boots on eBay for $62 - made in Italy. Still breaking them in but I think they will make the cut

living a more hikey life, as i can ride or rollerski with my fourth broken right clav.

so while my right arm is slinged? slung?--
packable trail hiking pole recommendations? thinking of going for a 14er, but it seems riskier without a safety pole/net.

er, "cannot" obv

lol i tried very gentle safe roadriding through fracture for 4.5 weeks, all i did was displace a prev nondisplaced fracture, it was-- yeah it was dumb, but when you old and on the 4th one, you wanna experiment and hold the little fitness you got. lesson if you wanna do that, get the plate.

(but i already had a plate there once, it was causing problems in joint after a while, and then i had to have it removed and the holes grafted, so i wasn't getting another plate and risk that again).

Now that it is winter, a few thumbnails from this past summer:

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/55/77/MGzCjSfi_t.jpg
https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/6e/1d/PwfXoAmy_t.jpg
https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/8a/d2/FcMNOdFa_t.jpg

Nice. Where is the snow?

Not sure how to interpret your question.

Sorry, I meant where are you in the photos with the snow?

In the Wallowa mountains of NE Oregon. It's a place I've visited almost every year for the past two decades. I've gone there so often that I know a great many of its trees individually (no kidding)!

Thanks. Sounds and looks lovely.

Sad thing is that several wonderful old high elevation trees I loved that had survived upwards of 200 years (I'd estimate) have died lately and I blame global warming. Bare dead branches that I used to find shade under.

Yesterday was a lovely 'bluebird' spring day around here, so I took a 10 mile hike in the woods, climbing 2800 ft in the process. I saw a fair number of wildflowers blooming (considering this was deep forest) and exactly one other hiker in the seven hours I was out. When I came back down to the trailhead and changed my shoes and socks there was a fine grit between my toes; it was pale yellow pollen!

I could have put this in the thread for ilxors in their 60s and beyond, but it really is centered on my life as a hiker and how age is affecting it. I'm not sure who will be interested. Most likely I'm just talking to the wall, but here it goes.

As I've aged through my 50s and 60s I've found that the key to my continuing to do challenging hikes has been achieving a very high level of efficiency in how I use my limited energy. This consists in finding a pace where every step is taken in rhythm and I come as close as I can to equalizing how much physical energy I expend for every step. For example, when the trail steepens, I shorten my stride proportionately to keep the outflow of energy smooth and regular. On a very steep section those steps can get very short, but their rhythm is exactly the same as any other stretch of trail and no one step is harder than any other. NB: it really helps to sing songs in my head - or aloud - as I hike.

I know I'm doing it correctly when I settle into a pace and rhythm that I can maintain undiminished for several hours at a time, only stopping for brief rests of a few minutes to grab a drink of water or make minor adjustments to my clothes or gear. The trick is to keep moving forward constantly but comfortably. Using this methodology has taken me far up and into the mountains for the last two decades.

Now I'm 70 and I just got back from a camping and hiking trip to a place and on trails where I've spent a couple of weeks most summers since 2004. It makes for an interesting experiment. This year in particular it became apparent that my optimal speed on those trails has slowed down measurably over the past three or four years. What I used to do in 3 hours now takes me 4 hours. Almost as important for my future hiking is finding out that after a particularly strenuous hike my recovery time is getting longer. A good sleep between hikes isn't as effective as it used to be. I'll need to plan for more rest days.

Please understand I'm not complaining. I count this as fully expected and normal stuff. I've just been wondering how quickly the new epoch will arrive. I'm still adjusting to the care and feeding of what is now a well-cared for, but unmistakably old body that's getting older by the year. So far, the ground is shifting under me at a speed I can easily live with, but it's come to where stuff I used to take for granted, like the ability to hike a 40 mile loop with major elevation changes is probably past me. Some of my favorite places on earth are slipping out of my range. **sigh**. But I'm not giving up on them quite yet and I'm already on the lookout for some new favorites to replace them.

this story is fucking bonkers (gift link)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/12/13/world/asia/cia-nuclear-device-himalayas-nanda-devi.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8U8.bXyg.heaKnmE9gAIA&smid=url-share

There's a book by Pete Takeda called An Eye at the Top of the World that's about a climbing expedtion he participated in that went looking for "the device" twenty years ago. The book itself is OK, but it has one of the singlemost terrifying descriptions about being caught in a avalance/crevass I've read.

I have that book! Friend gave it to me, he bought a collection from Jim Wickwire (who survived a bivouac on K2 at 27,000 feet), who obviously had an enormous collection of mountaineering books, but was also a collector of rare and old poetry.

As alluded to elsewhere I visited Greenland back in 2022. I was going to go in 2020, but shortly after I booked the tickets COVID happened. I've always wanted to do actual proper man-vs-nature hiking but it's basically absurd in England - there isn't any free countryside and you're only allowed to camp in designated camping spots - and still slightly absurd in Scotland. The Nordic nations have a tradition of wild camping and free hiking, but after doing a bit of research I stumbled on the Arctic Circle Trail, which is a hiking route that leads from Kangerlussuaq Airport in Greenland to the village of Sisimiut, eighty miles to the west.

It stood out because of its simplicity. All you have to do is leave the airport, turn left, walk ten miles, turn right and go uphill a bit, then turn left and carry on for the next seventy miles. Then you have to find a way to get back. In the winter months the trail is covered in snow and the average temperature is -25c, so Kangerlussuaq is one of the few international airports where (a) there's no car park (b) you can die by walking outside.
https://i.ibb.co/QjXFb1dq/DSCF0022.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/zV1NPrx9/IMG-20220518-075300.jpg

In the end I managed twenty miles, and then I rested in a camping hut and walked twenty miles back. My average speed was about one mile an hour on account of the fact that I went in May, when the trail was a mixture of frozen snow and slush. It was less cold than I expected, but incredibly dry.
https://i.ibb.co/qLnLDyrQ/DSCF0064.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/1fmm6wvv/DSCF0107.jpg

I remember that when I got back I found out that Vangelis had died. I keep meaning to go back, but post-COVID the air fare went up by 20%, and it takes a bit of preparation. I bought along a shortwave radio and literally the only station I could get in remote Greenland was some kind of fire-and-brimstone Christian religion radio station, which was disconcerting.

Gorgeous!

My own recent hikes have not been nearly so remote — one great thing about living near the Great Smoky Mountains is that you can get up a mountain by lunchtime and back home for happy hour. Here are photos from two in late November. The first two are from a place called Charlie's Bunion — named after a bunion on the foot of one of the first guys to map it. It's a fairly easy hike, just 4 miles from the parking lot, elevation gain of 1,500 feet or so. Made a little trickier this time by some big patches of ice on the trail that we had to skirt (and I took one tumble that left me with a still-slightly-injured left foot).

https://i.ibb.co/DDS8m2g7/Charlie-s-Bunion.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/tds7Kf7/Charlie-s-Bunion2.jpg

The other hike was to Mt. Sterling, which has one of the best 360-degree views in the park. Especially if you climb the only-somewhat-rickety old 100-foot fire watch tower that was built in 1935 and is theoretically kept in decent repair by the Park Service, even though they haven't used it for fire prevention since the '60s.

https://i.ibb.co/m5K1sKqD/Sterling-view-2.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/21Z2vNdC/Sterling-Tower.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/n5cNGCW/Sterling-tower-below.jpg

Me (right) and my hiking pal in the tower. We've been hiking in the Smokies together since the late '90s.

https://i.ibb.co/pvHrKh79/Sterling-Tower-interior.jpg

It's a bit of a brutal trail to get up there, at least by Smokies standards — 6 miles up, with an elevation gain of about 4,100 feet. So it's just basically up and up and up. It's gorgeous, though, and has several Rhododendron tunnels like this one, which are one of my favorite features of the park.

https://i.ibb.co/r1f3G8m/Sterling-Rhododendrons.jpg

Anyway, I'm glad I can still make these climbs in my mid-50s. I remember one hike I did in my 20s where I was with a group that included a guy who was about 70. He was taking it slow and used walking poles, but he made it up just fine. I made some comment to him about how I hoped I could still be doing it when I was his age, and he said, "Well, just don't stop." Been trying to follow that advice.

"Well, just don't stop."

His advice was spot on. I pay attention to maintaining my baseline conditioning and stopped worrying about how high my ceiling is.

Just remembered that this thread actually started with hikes in the Smokies courtesy of Roxymuzak. Bringing it back to its roots!

everyone is building staircases up mountains now and i hate it

stairs not staircases

I hiked 95 miles recently on the Ouachita National Recreation Trail. Here's 97 minutes about how it went:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwEa_1wNVdw

oof that’s a ways! nice

A good day for me is 22 miles or so. When I think about marathon runners who complete 25 in half a day, man. I'm just walkin' out here.

It's very warm and green right now. Hiking in June is always an interesting choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngzCUaUBRWQ

lol going hiking in the Smokies tomorrow, at their most subtropical. Summer is my absolute least favorite hiking season here, but a friend wants to go. It’ll be fine, just humid and sweaty.

Have fun with the cobwebs.

I hiked a day in TN with like 3k of vert at like crazy hot and humid in July once and my recollection is just sweat and rhododendrons everywhere. Could be totally wrong I had heat stroke tbh

Sweat and rhododendrons everywhere is pretty much right, yup. We're doing right about at 3,000 elevation gain tomorrow too. But it's a trail I've done a whole bunch, it'll be manageable. Just ... hot. Damp. Grimy.

enjoy. i was a youngish bike racer then from CO. my dad was like 73, and he suffered it out. i was just like, “what a sick old bastard.”