Lifelist 2: Hiking the Inca Trail

by Erik Olsen on

Time for another edition of our
lifelist feature, in which we scour the Web for resources
to help you build your lifelist and make key lifelist decisions. As you will recall, a lifelist is a detailed (or not
so detailed depending on how anal retentive you are) enumeration of experiences that you hope to some day complete.
Everyone has different tastes and varying visions of the things they want to accomplish in life, but we try to help
that process along by suggesting things you might not otherwise have thought of.

So today’s lifelist recommendation is one that will appeal to both hikers and fans of ancient South American history.
The Inca Trail is a legendary trek that will have you gasping for
air at high altitudes and gaping at magnificent ruins the likes of which exist nowhere else on the planet (and some
believe they were actually built by aliens…I’ll not get into that, though there is a whole industry of these
folks).

The culmination of the Inca Trail trip is your arrival at the
ruiins of Machu Picchu. I could spend many paragraphs
describing the ruins, for they are truly spectacular. Chances are you’ve seen the photos, or seen a documentary or two,
but there is NOTHING quite like wandering among them for yourself. Of course, you don’t have to trek the Inca Trail to
reach the ruins, but you’d have to be old and immobile, very short on time or a complete pussy not to hike the trail to
reach them. And the more days you take to do this, the better.

Finding an Outfitter

As you might imagine, there are scores of outfitters who do Inca Trail trips, most of them out of Cuzco (which is
itself a marvelous city). One of the best is Peru Treks and
Adventure who is known for contributing to the local community. Big-time outfitter
Mountain Sobek also offers a trip there that includes a five day hike to
the ruins. A list of other outfitters can be found
here.

The Hike

As I say, you should spend several days hiking the trail to reach Machu Picchu. You should be in passable shape as
sections of the trail are actually rather difficult. At certain stages along the way you reach altitudes of almost
14,000 feet. One of the most challenging parts of the hike is ambling (and most likely chuffing) over “Dead Woman’s
Pass” at 13,900 feet.

Each night (assuming good weather), you will camp beneath some of the clearest skies you have ever seen…the milky
way is so thick you might have the urge to dip your cup into it. Of course, all along the way, you pass other
lesser-known ruins like Runkuraqay and Sayaqmarka. For a brief overview of some of the sites you will see along the
way, check out this link.

Reaching the Ruins

Now as someone who has done the Inca Trail I have one key suggestion (other than being SURE to go on a multi-day
hike): reach the ruins early. One of the singular experiences of your lifetime will be passing through the Gate of the
Sun on your final morning. The ruins reveal themselves at the top of a rise and will not only take your breath away,
but you are also likely to wet your pants (or so happened to one of my colleagues…although some previously consumed bad
water might have also had something to do with it :-)).

Other Links and Stories

Tim Leffell, who’s Cheapest Destinations site is a must for budget minded travelers, wrote
this superb peice on what you
need to consider when planning for and hiking the Inca Trail. World 66 offers
this excellent, and quite recent overview of
what to expect along the trail. Another travelogue can be found
here.

So that’s that. Add a hike to the Inca Trail to your lifelist if it is not there already. And if you’ve done the
trail, leave some tips and comments for folks who might be thinking about it. 

Stellar Mag: Trailers – El Capitan

by Erik Olsen on

I’ve been a big fan of Stellar Magazine since they launched a few months
ago, and I urge you to check them out every once in a while. They are constantly adding great new features and
Webumentaries to their site.

One area of the site that I just discovered is the
“trailers” section where they post wonderfully shot chunks of
outdoorsy documentaries that you probably won’t see anyplace else.

This link takes you to the
trailer for a documentary that follows world-renowned climber Jacek Czyz, as he makes an ascent via a new route up the
sheer face of El Capitan. The trailer features some excellent videography and interviews with the climber.

Out ‘n’ About Treesort in Oregon

by Adrienne Wilson on

LA Times runs a piece on rare retreats in today’s issue. One of which caught my attention was this
cozy, rustic
little tree retreat in the Siskiyou Mountains in Oregon. Located 265 miles from Portland and only 20 miles from the
California border the tree resort would make for an enchanting wilderness stay on a road trip going in either
direction. I’m a huge fan of treehouses though I’ve never stayed in one for a hotel visit, but something about
them comes off so natural and unpretentious. At Out ‘n’ About Treesort all 11
treesorts are said to be decorated different with rugged flavor and a funky anti-establishment vibe without locks.
Can’t say that I’ve seen the anti-establishment part in too many other hotel brochures and better hope a bear
doesn’t come a creeping into the room without the locks on doors to protect you. Though I doubt one really would.

 

Rooms fill up fast so if staying in magical little wooden outposts have been on your mind, book far in advance
to make sure you get a piece of the action at Out ‘n’ About.  As much as you’ll enjoy the inside make sure you go
outside as they have several activities available like horseback riding, tie-dye T-shirt making classes,
basic ropes courses and a couple of zip lines. Activities outside of the lodgings include cave tours, river rafting,
kayaking, and the Redwood National and State Parks about 50 miles up the road.

 

Waterproof iPod Cases from H2O Audio: Review

by Erik Olsen on

As someone who frequently paddles with his ipod, I’ve long been on the lookout for a good solution to the problem of
keeping my magic little musicbox of beauty dry. Up to now, I’ve put my iPod (a gen4 unit sans photos) in a Ziplock bag,
cinched it up with tape, and prayed that I will not be capsized by a rogue swell. But now I have finally found the
solution. I recently got my hands on the SViP4G (oh please
oh please come up with a better name!) a wonderful new waterproof MP3 player housing from the good folks at
h2O Audio. So far, I cannot say enough about it. I took it out for a
paddle last weekend and even dumped it – with my ipod snugly encased inside – into the Hudson River. I actually held it
a few feet underwater as I was listening to some Pearl Jam.

These MP3 casings are very well-designed. You simply pop open
the casing and plug your ipod into the mini-jack that is affixed to the top. Shut the case and make sure that the
watertight seals have closed neatly around the unit. The case comes with a pair of headphones with special rubber ear
plugs that aren’t the most comfortable in the world, but they do a fine job once you get used to them.  Once the
unit is closed, you have access to all the buttons and functionality of your ipod. Of course, you want to make sure you
get the right H2O unit for your particular ipod. The Mini
case will not work, for example, with the Gen4 because the size and button arrangement is different. But I was very
impressed that even the clickwheel works via a clever spinning wheel that simulates finger contact with the actual ipod
clickwheel.

Of course, what I’d love to do with one of these things is go diving, but the company says that the cases’ protection
is only good to about 10 feet, which is fine for, say, snorkeling. Imagine floating over a reef alive with colorful
fish and hearing the new Foo Fighters album instead of your own labored breathing. Very cool. BTW: the company does
offer a unit called the i300dv (for Deep Version) that they
say is good to 200 feet.

But these casings do more than protect against water. They are rugged enough that you can use them for climbing,
hiking, surfing, mountain bike riding…wherever and how ever you might find yourself being active in the outdoors. I
assume you can’t hurl the thing off a mountain top or into a crevasse, but if it drops a few feet onto a jagged rock,
the case will absorb the fall and your ipod will keep on playing. If I have any quibble with the cases, they can be a
wee bit hard to close, as snapping shut the bottom latch takes some effort.

The cases run about $150, not exactly cheap, but worth the investment if just for the protection for your
iPod.

I give the H2O a big thumbs up for helping me bring my music with me to the outdoors and underwater. On a scale of 1
to 10, I give it a 8.5.

Lifelist Intro – New Feature

by Erik Olsen on

Are there things in life that you’ve always dreamed of doing, that you
told yourself with utter seriousness: I will do that someday? If so, then you have started your life list. It may be
just in your head for now, but the fact is, you’ve started a list of things that will make your life more fulfilling,
more adventuresome. That’s a good first step.

Now we want to help.

In the spirit of the grandfather of life-lists, John
Goddard, we are beginning a feature called Lifelist. Every week or so we’ll choose one great adventure and do some
of the research for you. We’ll help you discover new ideas, find outfitters, stories and everything else we can, to
help you build your own life list. Ever said you were going to climb
Aconcagua, scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef, learn
Arabic, BASE jump some high rocky place? So have we.

We hope too that this will be a collaborative effort, so if you have items on YOUR lifelist that you’d like us to
include, send us tips or post comments. Also, if you’ve ever done any of the things on the lifelist items we feature,
tell us. We’d love to hear about it, and to get some dialogue going.  As we progress, we hope you add these babies
to YOUR lifelist and start knocking them off, one by one.