Three trails, three bloggers, three adventures

by Chris Owen on

Since yesterday was National Trails Day I thought we might take a look at some of the best trails in North America. Trails.com tallied over 10 million votes for the top trails and has a list that represents the most popular trails and outdoor destinations in North America. That got us a list. From there we went to Flickr for photos and searched the web for bloggers who had been there and done that. Here are three trails, three blogs and three adventures that were included in Trails.com’s top ten and look like our kind of people.

Breakneck Ridge Trail– Beacon, NY

“Our first hike took us from the Breakneck Ridge Trail (conveniently next to the MTA train station of the same name) past Sunset Point, up to the summit of South Beacon Mountain and into Beacon, NY. Including our not-short walk through Beacon, NY, total time was 8 hours” records TomandZoe.com.

Tom and Zoe are friends/computer nerds who live in New York City. In 2009 Tom donated his kidney to a stranger and Zoe “has a stupid heart that don’t work too good. Both of us are going to make it up to the top of Kilimanjaro this summer!”

Flickr photo by kimba

Glacier Gorge– Estes Park, CO


“Glacier Gorge, located in the Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, is one of many beautiful Colorado hiking areas. On the 9.6 mile hike, you will come across alpine lakes, cascading waterfalls and spectacular peak views. Much to the surprise of many, you also get to hike on the actual glacier, a rare event in the continental United States” says Rick Chapo in an article on the My Secret Passions blog.

Rocky Mountain National Park itself is a treasure for hikers and the subject of several blogs. One we check before heading that way, aptly called Rocky Mountain National Park Blog, offers on-the-scene background and weather information as well as trail conditions like in this recent entry “Currently there is 3 to 4 feet of snow above Rainbow Curve and wind with gusts up to 55 mph above Many Parks Curve. There is 2 inches of ice on the road between Many Parks Curve and Rainbow Curve. The snow and wind is supposed to continue through this evening at higher elevations. The sun aids in our efforts to clear Trail Ridge Road and we might not see it again until tomorrow morning sometime!”

Flickr photo by Anneh632

Appalachian Trail: The Pinnacle– Hamburg, PA


In a post about Top Hiking Locations, The Adventure Travels blog tells us “Located in Humberg, Pennsylvania, The Pinnacle trail is also a part of the Appalachian Mountains. The trail gives views of scenic mountains and rivers along the way. Not far from the Pinnacle Trail is the Hamburg Dam for a breathtaking view of mother nature and technology tied into one.

Weather can be mostly rainy and humid, which allows a more advanced hike for those who like the challenge of fighting the elements.”

Mount Whitney– Lone Pine, CA

Are you into hiking, camping, backpacking or other “I gotta have my feet on the ground” outdoor activities, travels and/or passions? Comment with a link to your blog, photos or stories and let the world know about it right here.

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Wanted: Fire truck for 10,000 mile road trip

by Chris Owen on
In July, the Mongol Rally takes off on a nearly 10,000-mile road trek from the UK and Czech Republic, finishing in Mongolia. Far from just a long road trip, Mongol Rally is about the vehicles, the distance and the teams from all over the world that will take part.

Mongol Rally is an unsupported road rally sponsored by The Adventurists a group charged with the notion that there is still grand adventure to be found in the world.

When they say “unsupported” they mean just that. There are no backup pit crews hanging around to help in case of a breakdown. Each team is on their own, no matter what the trek throws in their way. There isn’t even a map to follow; teams just need to end up in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Sometime. Crossing over deserts, mountain ranges and non-existent roads, 250-300 cars will enter the event hoping to navigate their way through 15 countries and 2 continents.

There are a few rules. Vehicles can’t have engines bigger than 1.2 liters, can’t be more than 10 years old and driving “teams” must raise raise a minimum of £1000 for charity, at least £500 of which goes to the official Rally charity. Cars are driven by teams that average between 2-4 people. One team that caught our eye from the United States and Canada is called The Social Media Syndicate.

Dave Bousill and Deb Corbeil of ThePlanetD, Rick Griffin of Midlife Road Trip and Sherry Ott of Ottsworld and Briefcase to Backpack are a team of four Internet travel personalities/fugitives that make up The Social Media Syndicate. Experts in their respective niches of Adventure, Making the Most of Midlife and Taking a Career Break, they have come together for this road trip of a lifetime.

“We’re eager to follow the journey from London to Mongolia and very happy to play a role in assisting in the fund-raising efforts in an environmentally friendly way and what an experience this will be – exploring a road much less traveled” said team member Deb Corbeil.

In addition to allowing participants to experience the road trip of a lifetime, the rally will raise money for the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, a charity that helps homeless and abandoned children of Mongolia.

“We specifically chose a longer rally route through the ‘stans’ in order to get to places that traditionally get little coverage in the travel writing world. The goal of the rally is to not only to make it there and raise money for Mongolian charities along the way, but in general to promote understanding of that part of the world” said team member Sherry Ott.

The Social Media Syndicate is looking for donations to help fund the trek and has an upcoming raffle in the works to make that happen. Money raised will help pay the estimated $4000 fuel bill but they also still need a vehicle to drive. It seems that a loophole in the criteria for acceptable vehicles combined with some good old American/Canadian ingenuity reveals that “Public service vehicles” are an exception to the rule.

“The Rally will give us a break if we can bring something of use into the country. Normally, we would have to pay a penalty for any car or truck over the 1.2 Litre rule, but there is a sneaky way around this while providing a valuable service to the country.

We need to bring in a useful public service vehicle!

Not only will we be bringing something into the country easing our conscience about donating a piece of crap, we will provide valuable comic relief as we figure out a way to navigate a bright orange or red monstrosity through the streets of Europe.”

The Social Media Syndicate has teamed up with Intrepid Travel, specialists in small group tours, to raffle off a ‘trip of a lifetime’ to an exotic location. The fund-raising “Rally Raffle” will be held from June 6 – 12 with the winner being randomly drawn and notified the following week.

Money raised from the Rally Raffle will go towards the Syndicate’s Mongol Rally attempt and the winner can choose from two trips as prizes:

Wild Mongolia – is described as “This 15 day trip in our final destination for the Mongol Rally is a trip to remember. Take in the sights of the country’s capital Ulaanbaatar before heading out for your great adventure. You will be staying in Ger Camps, hiking volcanos and enjoying Mongolian barbecues. Follow the footsteps of Genghis Kahn and take a camel ride into the desert sand dunes of Khogno Khan”

Inca Trail – ” This 8 day trip takes you through Peru. Starting in Lima you will spend the day exploring the historic centre of the city. It is then off to the charming city of Cuzco in the centre of the country. Explore the Sacred Valley and the ancient city of Ollantaytambo before beginning your trek on the famous Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Voted as one of the new 7 World Wonders this is a trip you will never forget.”

We look forward to following along with the Mongol Rally, regardless of the route, vehicle or team. Throw in a fire truck? All the better.

Photos courtesy Social Media Syndicate

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Photo of the Day: Downtown Vancouver

by Chris Owen on

Flickr user James Wheeler brings us this photo of downtown Vancouver which was also featured on www.photo-blog.ca.

This one caught my eye because several contributors to Gadling will be in Vancouver next month for the second annual Travel Blogger’s Exchange, a networking and learning opportunity for new media travel writers. TBEX ’11 is June 11-12, 2011 in Vancouver and hosts Kim Mance and the Galavanting Gals are planning a dynamic and useful lineup of in-depth workshops and sessions.

Do you have an image you would like to share with us? Upload it to the Flickr Gadling group pool. If we like your image we might just pick it to be a future Photo of the Day.

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Happy 100th Birthday, Parks Canada

by Eva Holland on

Parks Canada, the department in charge of Canada’s 42 preserved national parks, turned 100 years old this week. CBC’s Jon Hembrey explains the department’s origins:

Parks Canada can trace its lineage back to 1885, when the country’s first national park – at a tiny 26 square kilometres – was created in Banff, Alta.

The primary aim was to create a tourist destination close to the Canadian Pacific Railway and exploit the economic potential of the area’s hot springs, said Claire Campbell, editor of A Century of Parks Canada, a collection of essays looking at the history of Parks Canada.

In 1911, the federal government created the Dominion Parks Branch, as it was called then, to look after the country’s handful of national parks. It was the first of its kind in the world.

Today, Parks Canada administers parks spread out from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic oceans, covering grasslands and mountain regions and marine environments. They range from remote wilderness preserves to high-volume tourist draws.

Traveling to Canada? Be sure to check out a park near you. Here are some photos from my nearest national park neighbor: Yukon’s Kluane National Park.

[Hat tip to @thebanffcentre]

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Top tips for TBEX and other writers’ conferences: What I’ve learned from 20 years of success stories at Book Passage

by Don George on

When Elaine Petrocelli conceived the idea for the first Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference 20 years ago, she didn’t know what she was getting into. “All I really knew was that I loved great travel writing and photography, and I thought it would be fascinating to bring the best writers and photographers together for a few days to talk with aspiring writers and photographers about what they do and how they do it,” says the co-owner of Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera, California, where the conference is held for four days each August. To help realize her dream, Petrocelli contacted the then travel editor at the San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle – who, as luck would have it, was me — and I contacted legendary travel writer Jan Morris, who agreed to be the first guest of honor, and the Book Passage conference was born.

That was 20 summers ago. We certainly didn’t imagine then that two decades later conference alumni would have published hundreds of articles and photographs in national magazines and newspapers, and dozens of books that directly resulted from contacts made and lessons learned at the conference. We didn’t think that some alumni would be so successful that they would return in future years as members of the conference faculty. And we didn’t dream that we would be celebrating in 2011 with the most ambitious Book Passage Travel, Food and Photography Conference yet.

We’ve learned a lot over the past 20 years and the conference has evolved to embrace those lessons. We’ve added food writing and photography to the menu and focused more and more on writing for the web, blogging and self-publishing. We’ve included in-the-field workshops and one-on-one evaluations, expanded the faculty and fine-tuned the panels and events. And we’ve added karaoke!

Most importantly of all, we’ve learned from the successes of our participants what it takes to get the most out of attending a conference — whether it’s Book Passage or other creative conferences around the country. Thinking ahead to TBEX in June and to the many other summer gatherings now offered, I thought it would be helpful to share the top tips I’ve learned from successful students.

Fittingly enough, as I’ve put these together, I’ve realized that these tips can equally be applied to getting the most out of any journey:1) Know before you go
Do your research before your journey starts. Know everything you can about the territory: the conference schedule (when do activities start and end, when are the break times, when do you eat, when can you rest), the venue (how far is it from your hotel to the event, where is food, caffeine and cabernet available), and the faculty (what are their blogs and their books and their areas of expertise – if at all possible, read their work before you go).

2) Plan your itinerary
Know who you definitely want to meet (authors, photographers, editors, publishers, producers, participants), and what subjects you want to learn about (at TBEX, for example, this could be making money from blogging, working with pr people, maximizing technology, and/or refining your non-fiction narrative style). If you want to be sure to meet author X and learn about subject Y, mark that author X is reading on Friday at 7 pm and subject Y is being discussed at a panel on Saturday at 10 am, and map your schedule accordingly (this is especially handy when someone spontaneously asks if you want to go to dinner on Friday).

3) Be a sponge
When I’m on the road on assignment, I try to absorb everything; I pick up brochures, postcards, menus, facts. I know I’ll end up discarding 90 percent of them, but since I’m not sure at the time which 10 percent I’ll want to use, I vacuum up everything I can. Past participants say the same applies to conferences. You won’t be able to attend that reading, workshop or panel after it’s over, so do everything you can while you can (and yes, this includes karaoke).

4) Embrace serendipity
Once you’ve crafted your carefully planned itinerary, don’t be afraid to detour from it. My best travel stories always come from serendipitous connections – the artist I meet through a chance encounter, the festival I hear about along the way. I love the story of the Book Passage student who by chance sat at a table with an editor from a publishing company, started talking about his travels in Europe and ended lunch with a contract for a book. If you meet someone fascinating or stumble upon a subject you know nothing about that instantly intrigues you, go with the flow. Dozens of students’ stories affirm that the life-turning, career-changing encounters were unplanned and unforeseen. When the universe opens a door, walk through it.

5) Practice the art of vulnerability
It’s a lesson I keep re-learning in my travels: The more open you are to the world, the more the world rewards you. Open yourself to the people and lessons around you. Embrace the risk; trust in the kindness of strangers. As countless students at Book Passage have found, if you really want to talk to Tim Cahill, pluck up your courage and approach him. (You’ll find he’s remarkably friendly.) And at TBEX, Book Passage and other conferences, you take out only as much as you put in. The more you leave there, the more you’ll bring home.

6) Keep the journey alive
The road doesn’t end when the conference ends. That’s just the beginning. Follow up with the contacts you’ve made. Incorporate the lessons you’ve learned. There’s no such thing as overnight success: All success is the result of hard work and respectful persistence. Pursue your passion; follow your dream. There’s no guarantee where your journey will take you, but as I learned long ago on the Karakoram Highway, there’s only one way to get there: step by step.