Posts by gerrit
There are several famous long distance hiking trails in the USA, connecting the Mexican border to the Canadian border. The most famous ones are the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) at 4,279 km and the Co...
Norway Norgeskart (location) Sweden Kartsök och Ortsnamn NB: does not provide same view as paper maps. Finland Karttapaikka Switzerland https://map.geo.admin.ch/ (location) France Car...
In the region managed by CAI Vigezzo, there are actually many bivaccos (unstaffed shelters) that are open year round. As most of those were not on either the Swiss topographic map, or Openstreetma...
No, this has not been shown in realistic mountain hiking settings. It has only been shown for fast hiking. The answer by Tullochgorum links a 1984 US army study. It is quoted here (emphasis mine...
Answer is work in progress! Still working on the translation. Help is welcome — my Russian is very limited. There are several relevant pages on the park website (all in Russian). At the Инстру...
Looking at Canyon de Chelly backcountry camping visitation by month: Backcountry camping went from usually more than a hundred per month, up to several hundred per month, throughout spring, summ...
A good cotton tent is expensive, but can be very good value as they last a lifetime and are childproof. In The Netherlands, families may camp up to 5–8 weeks per year, car camping on campgrounds i...
Although this has been mentioned in some comments, it needs to be stressed more strongly: Do not rely exclusively on electronics for navigation, in particular not on a smartphone! You must always...
The Scandinavian mountains reach from Stavanger in the south to the North Cape in the north. You can easily explore where mountainous areas are via the interactive topographic maps of Norway and S...
I would like to enjoy autumn in Yugyd Va National Park. In Northern Scandinavia, I have experienced that the peak autumn colours are approximately 25 August to 15 September in the Swedish and Finn...
According to the Garmin website, the Garmin GPSmap 66 includes an SOS beacon: These devices include an LED flashlight and SOS beacon that can be used to signal for help. They are thin on deta...
You need a large tent if you want to have anything safely burning inside. The small, sleeping-only tent as most summer backpackers carry along won't do. Nomads have been having fires in tents for...
No, do not activate a PLB unless there is an emergency. There is already a standard for signalling to a helicopter whether or not you are in need: Source: Parks Canada Mountain Safety If you ar...
Is it safe to follow a equestrian trail and assume I can ford where the horse-trail does? Or should I expect equestrians to ford rivers too deep or swift to ford on foot? I'm thinking of the situ...
Within the mountains (and other wilderness areas) of Västerbotten and Norrbotten in Sweden, there is a lot of cultural heritage, with Sami huts ("kåta") like Måskåsj-gammen or like this one between...
Get a special bag for the sleeping bag. Your special bag should have compression straps. If it's also a dry bag, it should ideally also have a valve. I have bought the compression dry bag PS10 w...
Grand Canyon National Park employ a waiting list for unreserved permits. If you have a week, you have a very good chance of getting a permit even on campgrounds in the corridor. We visited Grand ...
Turn your fence into a cage. If you have a 50×50 m² area, surround it by a 4 metre high fence, and fence the roof as well. That's 4×50×4 m² = 800 m² of fencing for the walls and 50×50 m² = 2500...
This 1998 Draft Wilderness Management Plan proposes to set aside large parts of Grand Canyon National Park as wilderness. However, despite large areas being declared "Wild" in the park backcountry...
I have made camp for one or more nights in a pristine wilderness. It may be desert, tundra, or a forested environment. At a suitable distance from camp, I have dug a nice cathole (toilet-hole) an...
When travelling on extremely remote roads, you need to prepare for the worst. This is even more true if you are travelling in a climate where the weather might kill you within days, such as in ext...
Suppose I get one of those text messages, like the Icelandic authorities send to travellers: ...Wind gusts could reach speeds that are known for blowing cars off the road and even pulling up th...
There are two conflicting accounts of the route of the E1 through Børgefjell. After coming back from Børgefjell, I believe that the route through Børgefjell is probably the toughest part of the E1...
The Navajo National Monument website notes that Betatakin can only be visited on a ranger-guided tour. It states that groups leave daily between May 27 and September 3, and cliff dwellings are clo...
In spring 2018, I intend to visit Bears Ears National Monument. Not any more; President Trump has declared to reduce the size of the monument. The area I intend to visit, around the Valley of the...
