Tune in to this week’s episode of the Out and Back podcast as Mary tells a thrilling tale about her early days as a wilderness ranger in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Hear about her first night spent alone in the wilderness and what happened months later when she discovered that a man had been following her around the backcountry. …
Mary … is the Out and Back podcast producer and a writer and editor at Gaia GPS.
When she is not in the office, Mary works as a guide for Andrew Skurka Adventuresin wild places around the west, like Rocky Mountain National Park, Yosemite, and the Brooks Range in Alaska. …
Our favourite hiking area in the Canadian Rockies is Lake O’Hara.
But it’s extremely difficult to get a reservation.
Our friends at travel2walk did the famed circuit the hard way:
distance: 14.3 miles (23.0 km)
elevation change: 4651 ft. ascent (1418 m) & 3228 ft. descent (984 m)
time: 8:23 hours (7:17 moving)
They hiked in 6.9 miles (11 km) on the Lake O’Hara fire road. Did the Circuit. And were lucky enough to get seats on the 4:30pm bus out (CAD$9.75 fee per person cash).
“no longer resupplied in towns, relying on a 7 day resupply box which was sent to remote post offices. I utilized lesser known trails and continued up the east coast on the avoiding the popular, but closed Appalachian trail. …”
One of the must do day hikes in the Canadian Rockies is Maligne Canyon close to Jasper, Alberta.
… the canyon measures over 50 metres (160 ft) deep. Popular for sightseeing and exploration, the area contains waterfalls, underground stream outlets, birds and plant life. …
Best is to start from the main parking lot close to the tea house and the Hi Maligne Canyon Lodge.
The canyon is deep here.
The canyon was named by a zealous Jesuit missionary, who called the canyon “la traverse maligne”, after his horses were swept away by the swirling waters. There are six bridges built across the canyon to help one explore this magnificent work of nature : the first bridge was built in 1914.
I’d recommend you hike at least to the point of seeing the 5th bridge. From there you could loop back on the cycling / horseback trail.
There are interesting interpretive displays en route. This hike is great for kids.
With each bridge, you get closer and closer to the water.
When the river freezes over in winter, the experience is completely different. If you are one of the brave venturing to Jasper National Park in winter, consider doing a guided ice walk in Maligne Canyon in winter. It is an out of this world experience.
Iðunn Bragadóttir and her 20-year-old daughter, Þóra Dagný Stefánsdóttir, have spent 32 days traversing Iceland. The duo started on the Reykjanes peninsula and hiked diagonally, southwest to northeast, across the country to Langanes Point.
The 786km route is one of the longest possible ways to traverse Iceland. …
If you don’t have time to do the entire 220 mile John Muir Trail, consider this shorter alternative.
40 miles
4 days
… Along this loop you pass by the beautiful Tenaya Lake, hike over Clouds Rest, take in several great views of Half Dome, and hike through Little Yosemite Valley and the Lost Valley.
The route has a peak elevation of 9,900 feet (atop Clouds Rest) and you climb roughly 9,000 vertical feet over the course of the ~40 mile trek.
Highlights include epic waterfalls, expansive views of Yosemite Valley and the surrounding granite peaks and domes, alpine lakes, grassy meadows, …
Yoho Lake was the site of the original Alpine Club of Canada camp in 1906.
Early alpinists climbed Mt Wapta (south) and Michaels Peak (north).
Mt Wapta
Returning from our Twin Falls hike, we resupplied at the vehicles parked at the Takakkaw Falls trailhead.
Then started with great views over to Takakkaw , the second highest Falls in Canada.
One of our group forgot his sunglasses at the lookout.
ET and I asked some hikers going the other direction to see if they could find them. And it worked! We found them on ET’s vehicle 2 days later.
We climbed steadily up to the lake on a route that many switchbacks.
More wildflowers here than on the Twin Falls side.
You catch a glimpse en route of Hidden Lake.
Here’s a first look at Yoho lake.
Yoho lake is deep emerald green, more so than Emerald lake.
You’d have to be CRAZY to swim.
Warren set up a cook tarp to protect from sun and rain.
It’s a peaceful campground.
Next morning we had one deer hang around the tents. I assume he was salt deprived, looking for urine.
We took a day hike to look down on to Emerald lake.
There are some impressive waterfalls en route.
Warren and I decided to extend the walk and circumambulate Emerald lake. (Actually, we had originally planned to return via Burgess Pass trail — but it seemed to be unsigned and closed in 2020.). So we walked around Emerald lake and back the way we came.
The only difficult section was about a half hour of flooded alluvial plain.
Once back in camp we found our group had decided to hike out a day early. Forecast was for big storm.
Rather than camp at the Takakkaw Falls campground, we instead drove to Banff and enjoyed a dry night at the Hidden Ridge resort.
… Muir was not immune to the racism peddled by many in the early conservation movement. He made derogatory comments about Black people and Indigenous peoples that drew on deeply harmful racist stereotypes, though his views evolved later in his life. …
Other early Sierra Club members and leaders — like Joseph LeConte and David Starr Jordan — were vocal advocates for white supremacy and its pseudo-scientific arm, eugenics. …
For all the harms the Sierra Club has caused, and continues to cause, to Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color, I am deeply sorry. I know that apologies are empty unless accompanied by a commitment to change. I am making that commitment, publicly, right now. …
… we are redesigning our leadership structure so that Black, Indigenous, and other leaders of color at the Sierra Club make up the majority of the team making top-level organizational decisions. We will initiate similar changes to elevate the voices and experiences of staff of color across the organization. …
I commend the Sierra Club for taking action to make outdoor adventure more welcoming to everyone.
Of course it’s not entirely fair to measure the racism of John Muir by today’s standards. For his time, Muir was comparatively enlightened. And did far more good than bad for all hikers.
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