Adventure Expo: Earth River Expeditions

by Erik Olsen on

Without question one of the great trips I came across here was organized by
Earth River Expeditions (the site is excellent, by the way…spend some
time here). ERE is run by Eric Hertz, who lives here in upstate New York, but whose trips to Chile are legendary.

He and his wife have four camps down around the Futeleufe River where there is rafting, bouldering, hiking,
whatever. Sounds hard-core, but “anyone and everyone can do these trips” he told me. One of the cool things about Hertz
is that a bunch of the property he has bought down in Chile is set off from development of any kind. He’s one of the
pioneers down there, along with guys like Doug Thompkins who are setting off land from industrial development. He’s
also just a really cool guy.

Bullish on Bhutan

by Erik Olsen on

The Times Sunday travel section (sometimes it’s great to live in New York where it comes on
Saturday) runs a piece on the allure of Bhutan
which has recently eclipsed Cambodia as the Asia destination du jour. And why not? I love Cambodia, but man, is can
get hot there. Especially around Angkor in the summertime. Whew. And so instead, hit the high road and go up to
the atmosphere, up where the air is clear, oh let’s go…to Bhutan!

The article hails Bhutan as the place to go “in search of a spiritual journey, a hiking adventure – or just a chance
to experience a place before the rest of the world gets there”. Well, if it’s the cover of the NYT, it’s probably too
late for that, don’t you think?

I’d love to hear opinions about Bhutan. I’ve never been there, but it is easily in my top 5 places to go in the next
few years. What’s it like? Is tourism already ruining the place? Are the people there jaded by Americans yet? Is it as
beautiful as it seems? Come on, people, inquiring minds want to know!

Account: Adventure Racer Killed

by Erik Olsen on

Adventure racing can be dangerous. And fatal. Last fall, during
the Subaru Primal Quest adventure race in Washington State,
Australian Nigel Aylott was killed by a falling rock sent down a steep hill inadvertently by one of his teammates. The
Subaru Primal Quest competitors are co-ed teams of four people racing across a nearly 400-mile course that
required trekking, paddling, mountain biking, glacier skirting, skating, ropes work and navigation. At the time,
there was some press about the
death. Here
is race team member Rebecca Rusch’s first hand account of what happened. And if you’re interested, here is a
tribute video for Aylott.

Madagascar or Bust

by Erik Olsen on

Looming off the coast of Africa like a cast-off sibling, Madagascar is one of
those off the beaten
path destinations that doesn’t get a ton of press. But the island nation is riven with rivers and
wrinkled with mountains, and, for naturalist-types, teeming with odd species that will make any photographer’s
day. For example, it is the world’s only natural habitat for
lemurs and
tenrecs…the former being
those bug-eyed rodent-like demi-primates who always look very paranoid. The latter being…well, I had
to google this…furry,
mouse-like things.

 

And so, conveniently, Outside
Magazine has got a sweet piece on Madagascar that highlights some of the adventures available, including kayaking,
trekking and rock climbing.

Killer New Alaska Map

by Erik Olsen on

OK, odd topic, I know.

But, I’ve always thought that a cool occupation would be cartographer. Making maps of places, figuring out the shape
of the world, really, just seems fascinating. And I would have thought most of the globe was well mapped, but it turns
out that even places in our own backyard can still use some cartographical treatment. Here is a
new map of Alaska from Imus Geographics that is colorful and
visually pleasing, but also immensely detailed. It distinguishes populated places from sites and localities, AND it
shows national parks, roads, railroads, ferry routes, public access airports, wildlife refuges, and other federal and
state recreation lands…whew.