This is another double post; days four and five on the WHW. A grand total of three photographs from day four given the absolutely atrocious weather. Cold, wet and muddy combined with uncountable numbers of midges. I’m fairly comfortable with flying insects given my years spent silviculture surveying out in the hinterlands of Northern BC…however […]
I have combined my third and fourth days on the WHW into one entry largely because my third day was utterly horrible from both a aesthetic and physical perspective. Leading the morning trek from Critreoch Forest was another scorching day of +30 degree weather. What was suppose to be a 20KM trek to Inverarnan and […]
If one follows a strict 7-day approach to the West Highland Way, Day two from Drymen to Rowardennan rolls in at a cool 15 miles (24KM). By the first day, I knew I wasn’t going to be following the classic 7 day itinerary and was opting for an 8 day approach. Drymen to Rowardennan became […]
Milngavie is actually pronounced in a manner that is not remotely close to how it is spelt. Welcome to Scotland. English is spoken, but not really. People who live in Milngavie and the surrounding area are intimately familiar with the American pronunciation of their town, that one can actually get across their geographic question without […]
Straight south of Piedra del Fraile is Col. Electrico (1880m). Just a baby. However, it’s a 1000m four hour slog straight up a somewhat maintained trail to the base camp @1500m (with another hundred or so to the viewpoint at Paso del Cuadrado). This last trek in Patagonia is a good example of why it […]
C.B. Poincenot is one of those conveniently located trekking camps that accommodates early morning hikes to strategically located vistas (all without the nuisance of carrying along your gear). Lago Los Tres is about 40 steep minutes from C.B Poincenot and certainly worth the time. It’s also where I left my nice pair of wool gloves. […]
Argentina is crammed full of cool little towns, especially near the mountains. El Chalten is one such location. Cool and rustic with an edge of unfulfilled promises, El Chalten was developed from the ground up (a planner’s dream case-study, by the way) in 1985 as a deterrent toward Chile with a side consideration as a […]
For some reason I never bothered to finish of my final Torres del Paine entry until now. I had the photos and a few lines of text good to go back in May, however I failed to finish off the post. Probably because I was in the middle of a move back to Fort St. […]
Despite having lived four and a half years in one of China’s four ‘ovens’ (Nanjing), I have never jived well with heat. I’m a fan of temperatures that sit below +20 and if I had to choose, I’d take below freezing well before a +30 day. Sweating is incredibly uncomfortable, and high temperatures will drain […]
Three hours off the ferry to Puerto Natales will land one within striking distance of the famous Torres del Paine National Park. While I like to say I was traveling around Patagonia, this was really my first view of this region, having spent the previous two weeks in Tierra del Fuego. Torres del Paine National […]
Day three begins with an ascent toward Laguna Azul from the previous nights camp at the base of the waterfall (this river probably has a name, but I can’t remember it…a side loss from waiting several months to write a blog post). Fire damage continues to be quite extensive during this ascent, making the path […]
Like most (probably all) mountain climates, the weather along and within the circuit is extremely temperamental. Sight lines within in the valleys are short and massive systems can jump in unexpectedly. That said, the weather during our four days was generally fantastic. This is contrast to other online accounts of the trek and of Tierra […]
When I was planning my journey to Argentina I opted out of purchasing the full country Lonely Planet. Full-country LP’s are generally very weak in the trekking & wilderness department as they are keen on one purchasing their trekking guides (they have also moved that direction with urban travelling as well, gently reminding readers that […]
It’s been ages since I hammered something out on this website, yet with a journey to the end of the world under my belt, It seems right that that it be documented in a more permanent fashion that a bunch of photos and lame status updates posted on Facebook. Patagonia has always been high on […]
A few weeks ago I wrote a post regarding the passing of Margo Carter, a long time Australian resident of Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan Province, China. I received some email feedback and have been asked to post the following. I read with great interest the comments on running into Margo Carter, the Australian woman […]
Sometimes my RSS feed tosses a news morsel my way. Today is was a piece regarding the passing of an apparent fixture on the Yunnan backpacking circuit. Via In the Footsteps of Joseph Rock His group were surprised – to say the least – to be passed by a lone western woman traveling at speed […]
Triund is seasonal pasture land located about 1000m above Mcleod Ganj and is where I spent six days just wandering around the surrounding hills, meadows and valleys, eating Maggie and drinking too much instant coffee. Initially, I was planning to trek Indrahar Pass but decided that I would rather spend my last few days in […]
Morning on the final day. Heading back down with the help of gravity. Looking back. Back to Stok. 6121m – a new altitude record for me.
6121m above and behind the picturesque village of Stok is Stok Kangri and the main reason I ventured into this part of the world. I like culture, but I prefer views. On a good day the summit offers vies of Mt. Kailash in the TAR and K2 in Pakistan. Initially, I was going to attempt […]
I’ve placed several more base camp photo groups in the gallery. These ones will take you right up and into the Nepalese Base Camp. I was extremely lucky to have this opportunity as it is not common to have expeditions in camp during this time, nor is it common for trekkers to be allowed into […]
The total gallery count is up to 2153 photos. This number only includes half of my Nepalese photos and none of the shots I took this past winter in Southeast Asia. By the time I get those up the count will most likely be pushing 3000. New additions from my time on the Tibet/Nepal border, […]