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Banff Hoodoos Trail in Winter. There are many ways to enjoy this popular trail right from Banff townsite in the Canadian Rockies.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
I started on the Bow Falls Trail.
Continued on to Hoodoos Trail.
The route recommended on AllTrails.
I enjoyed it more in winter than summer — though was happy I wore Yaktraks.
Click PLAY or watch my April hike on YouTube.
In Canada, Clara Hughes is a household name.
A legend, she won multiple Olympic medals in both Summer and Winter Games — 6 medals total. The only person ever to have won multiple medals in both.
BUT she met her husband, Peter Guzman, on the AT.
And went on to become a legendary thru-hiker.
https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/2221880
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So, Can You Put a Hydration Bladder In Any Backpack? In most cases it’s quite a simple job to put an hydration bladder into any backpack , to turn your old backpack into a water hydration pack.
The water bladder is used to hold the drink of your choice, it could be water, juice, energy drinks whatever you want. Because the liquid is contained in the bladder, everything else stored in your backpack, clothes etc. will remain perfectly dry.
Most water hydration bladders are made out of some form of plastic or polythene with a sealed screw cap at the top to fill the bladder with your preferred drink and a rubber tube or hose attached to the bottom of the bladder so the fluid can be easily drawn up into your mouth through a bite valve.
Hydration bladders are available in a wide range of sizes from 1 litre up to 5 litre and can be found in a large number of sports and outdoor camping outlets. When buying a new hydration bladder, make sure that you buy a bladder that can hold sufficient fluid for your needs, it’s probably better to go for a larger capacity bladder rather than ones that are too small so that you don’t run out of your drink. But it’s also worth remembering that, the bigger the bladder capacity the heavier it will be to carry if filled to full capacity.
Once you have your new bladder, simply insert the hydration bladder into a suitable sized pocket, either on the inside or the outside of your backpack that can accommodate the new hydration bladder, ensuring the outlet tube is at the bottom and the filler cap at the top, then attach the drinking tube and bite valve to the shoulder strap of your backpack with the clip provided.
It’s extremely important to remember to always keep your hydration bladder and drinking tube and bite valve clean. This will prevent any kind of bacteria growing inside them, that could cause you to become unwell. Bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli very easily. Norovirus, a pathogen that causes particularly nasty cases of food poisoning The most common cause of mold in a hydration reservoir is residual sugar from sugary drinks, if you stick to just plain water, there will be less mold growth.
Mold also thrives in warm conditions, so, always ensure they have been washed and dried out and try not to leave your hydration kit in a warm car or warm room overnight, with drink left inside it. The best thing to do, is empty the bladder as soon as possible after use and thoroughly clean and dry it out.
To clean the bladder, rinse the bladder and tube out after every use, using soapy water or other cleaning products such as baking soda, and lemon juice or Milton cleaning fluid. Remember to store the bladder away with no liquid still inside it, were bacteria can grow and that the inside of the bladder is fully dried out. This can be done easily by turning the bladder inside out and hanging it upside down to dry out. You can also buy drying racks that will also do an excellent job, if you will not be using your hydration pack for a while you could store it inside the freezer, this will prevent any bacteria growth.
There are many cleaning kits and tablets that will assist you in cleaning your hydration kit.
There are a variety of hydration cleaning kits and cleaning tablets available. You can buy Hydration Bladder Cleaning Kits quite inexpensively, that Include a reservoir cleaning brush, drinking tube cleaning brush and drying rack such as the, TAGVO Hydration Bladder Cleaning Kit for Universal Water Reservoir and are well worth investing in.
There are also Hydration Bladder Cleaning Tablets these will ensure your drinking bladder is perfectly safe and clean. The tablets can also be used to sterilize your drinking bottles and again are relatively inexpensive.
Yes, you can quite easily and cheaply retro fit an hydration pack to your backpack, but there are many backpacks available on the market that come complete with hydration kits already installed and ready to go. You can also buy replacement hydration packs if your old one has either perished or started leaking or is even moldy or has mold marks that can’t be removed.
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Arizona Trail Traveller, bikepacker, and hiker Ryan (Kodak) Brown has been posting near daily video updates.
Quite entertaining.
The Arizona Trail is about 800 miles long.
Click PLAY or watch DAY 1 on YouTube.
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Dale Hodges Park, Calgary by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky mountains.
BEST urban hiking — in my opinion — is along the north bank of the Bow River in the NW of the city of nearly 1.3 million.
A new attraction has been added. Dale Hodges Park – stormwater wetlands, wildlife habitat, trails for cycling and walking, and lookout points across the scenic river valley.
Formerly a gravel pit, it won the highest award of honour from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects for its use of environmental landscape design.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I’d never seen a muskrat (photos) in my home town. Until I visited Dale Hodges Park.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Cicerone guidebook author and Himalayan guide Radek Kucharski gives a firsthand insight to the panoramas that can be seen by trekkers in the Everest region.
See all his photos.
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By BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
The #1 new thing for me during the pandemic was studying the art & science and creating videos.
Click PLAY or watch a sample on YouTube.
I’m proud of that one. It gives a good glimpse at hiking Englishman River. And is entertaining enough to keep you going.
Subscribe to my BestHike YouTube channel from that video, if you want to see more.
My BIG project, so far, was our top 10 hikes on Earth.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
There’s only one superstar hiking vlogger, so far – Kraig Adams. #respect
The rest of us are doing our own thing. And that’s OK. Here’s why.
I downloaded this book because it was set in Yellowstone National Park.
The plot is dumb, I thought. But the location kept me going.
The Yellowstone Caldera supervolcano supereruption possibility is one thread of the story.
Joe Pickett’s been hired to investigate one of the most cold-blooded mass killings in Wyoming history.
Attorney Clay McCann admitted to slaughtering four campers in a back-country corner of Yellowstone National Park—a “free-fire” zone with no residents or jurisdiction.
In this remote fifty-square-mile stretch a man can literally get away with murder. Now McCann’s a free man, and Pickett’s about to discover his motive—one buried in Yellowstone’s rugged terrain, and as dangerous as the man who wants to keep it hidden.
