Primal Quest adventure race comes to South Dakota

by Kraig Becker on

This week, Primal Quest Badlands gets underway in South Dakota, where coed teams of four will embark on a ten-day long, non-stop adventure race across 600-miles of challenging backcountry. They will run, trek, mountain bike, and paddle their way across the course, with a little spelunking and climbing thrown into the mix for good measure.

Billed as “the World’s Most Challenging Human Endurance Competition”, the race will also require the competitors to navigate their way, using just a compass and map, through a series of checkpoints that are strategically placed across the course. Teams with excellent navigation skills will save time, and energy, while inexperienced navigators can easily get lost, costing the team precious time.

Unlike many other long distance races, Primal Quest runs non-stop once the starting gun sounds. That means that the teams will be racing for up to ten days, with little sleep or down time. Sleep strategy actually plays an important role, as the athletes will need to decide how long they can go without rest, and how long they can afford to sleep. While the race is underway, most teams will get just two hours of sleep each night, while burning as much as 8000-10,000 calories per day.

Primal Quest Badlands begins on Friday morning, and until that time, the details of the course will remain tightly under wraps. We do know that it will run through the Black Hills, the Buffalo Gap Grasslands, and of course the Badlands themselves. The stunning landscapes will make for an amazing backdrop to the human drama that will play out over the 600-miles of pain and suffering that await the endurance athletes who will challenge themselves in this event.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail in the winter

by Kraig Becker on

We’ve mentioned the Appalachian Trail on more than one occasion here on Gadling. Stretching from Maine to Georgia, the AT is one of the most iconic trails anywhere in the world, and each year thousands of backpackers flock to it to hike some or all of its 2178 mile length. Most go in the summer months, when the weather is more predictable and comfortable. But according to this story from the Times Online, an increasing number of trekkers are taking on the trail in the winter as well.

In the story, the author and a friend take on a section of the trail that passes through Connecticut in the dead of winter. Over the course of three days they hiked in quiet solitude with a blanket of snow in all directions. At first, the weather was comfortable enough, with temperatures in the upper 30’s Fahrenheit, but when night fell, it dropped into the 20’s, and later a cold snap set in, with daytime highs not even breaking out of the teens.

Winter camping can be a challenge in the best of conditions, and proper gear is of the utmost importance. These two intrepid hikers came well equipped, but still struggled on their adventure, mainly because the snow made if difficult to find the trail at times, which can be a bit scary considering the implications of getting lost in the mountains with freezing conditions.

It is difficult to think about hiking the Appalachian Trail in winter when the heat of August is still with us. But for those looking to experience the trail in a very different way, this may be just what they are looking for. The colder months bring a new set of challenges of course, but traffic on the trail is practically non-existent, and the winter setting offers up a different level of beauty.

Taking the "Mad Way" South

by Kraig Becker on

There are many interesting and different ways to travel and see the world. For instance, some love to take a cruise through the Caribbean or a slow train through the Alps. Others prefer to zip through the streets of Bangkok in a tuk tuk, and some enjoy rafting the Grand Canyon. But what is the best way to see the Sahara? Some would argue that it would be from the back of a camel, but they haven’t met the Mad Way South team, four guys who are gearing up to cross the world’s largest desert in buggies pulled by kites.

Beginning next Monday, August 3rd, two Aussies, Geoff Wilson and Garth Freeman, will join forces with two Kiwis, Steve Gurney and Craig Hansen, to begin a journey that will take them over more than 1500 miles of desert as they travel from Northern Morocco, across the Western Sahara, Mauritania, before finally ending in Dakar, Senegal, in what is being called the first trans-Saharan crossing by wind power alone.

Yep, that’s right their little dune buggies will be pulled along by massive kites, which will catch the wind and propel them over the sand. This method of travel is known as “kiting” and it is often used in Polar regions, with explorers being pulled along on their skis. It has been used in deserts before however, and this crew intends to make the technique work all the way across the Sahara.

The team is in the final stages of their preparation now, and are on track to get underway next week. Check back on their blog regularly for updates on their progress and to follow along on the adventure.

Grand Canyon hiking: Tips on how not to have a heart attack

by Jamie Rhein on

If hiking the Bright Angel Trail, or any other trail that leads down into the Grand Canyon is the stuff of your dreams, be warned–it isn’t the easiest thing to do. Sure, going down is fine. That path of switchbacks, often with mule pee at every turn, beckons downward. “This is swell, ” you might say to yourself. “Isn’t the Grand Canyon grand?”

Sure. It’s spectacular. The Grand Canyon is probably one of the most glorious, breathtaking sights I’ve seen in my life, and I’ve seen a lot–not to brag, just saying. But that alluring trip down towards the Colorado River that formed such majesty can be hell on the way back up. It can even give people a heart attack.

That what happened to Frank Poole. He was fit as a fiddle, a real exercise buff, but ended up in an Arizona hospital because of breathing problems. Tests found out that he had had a heart attack.

Frank Poole is not the first to have had physical issues when testing ones mettle against the great outdoors. According to the article I read that talked about Frank Poole’s plight, Grand Canyon’s park and health officials see more people with health issues as the summer tourist traffic picks up. [Kraig gave his words of warning also.] The high temperatures can cause heat stroke and the terrain is stuff muscle pulls are made of. Or, people can have just a crappy time, much different than the feeling they had when they still were at the top, slipping into their day pack and feeling perky

I’ve experienced what hiking in the Grand Canyon can do myself. The first time I hiked there it was in April. I headed downwards while wearing a jacket. By the time I got to the half-way point of Bright Angel Trail, I was sweating from the heat. The temperatures rise substantially due to the shift in the climate. The further down, the more desert like the landscape.

By the time I got back to the top, I became colder and shivery as the temperature dropped again. Luckily, I was prepared and slipped back on my jacket. My hiking companion and I also paced ourselves. Since we knew that we only had enough time to make it to the half-way point to the bottom, we turned around for the strenuous hike back up. We also came prepared with plenty of water and snacks. We also had on hiking boots.

On the other two times I’ve been to the Grand Canyon, as with that time, I saw other people who weren’t so fortunate. They definitely weren’t having the best of times. They were weeping in pain with several more switchbacks to go before reaching the top. As I passed them, I tried not to think about how my own thighs burned. I was thankful that I had on a good pair of shoes that offered support. I was also wearing a hat to help regulate my temperature.

At the Grand Canyon, it’s easy to go too far downwards. My suggestion is to think about how far down you’re willing to go, and how much time you have to do it. It’s roughly twice as long to come back up as it is to go down.

Here are the main points to keep in mind from the Grand Canyon Hike Smart Guidelines.

  • Have a plan
  • Don’t hike alone
  • Know your limits
  • Don’t huff and puff
  • Take food
  • Be kind to yourself (Give yourself a break when you need it)
  • Watch out for mules and other hikers
  • Keep track of your time

And here’s one more from me. Hike to have fun, not to prove a point.

Even if you aren’t able to hike that far downwards, so what? You’re at the Grand Canyon.

The sign in the photo is of the 3 mile rest area on the Bright Angel Trail. I rested there and kept going for a little while.

On the trail of the Kalahari bushmen

by Kraig Becker on

A few days back we posted about 18 unique travel experiences that even the seasoned traveler would find interesting. One of the suggestions on that list was to travel to the Kalahari Desert to stay with bushmen and partake in an initiation hunt with the tribes that still wander the remote regions of southern Africa.

Recently, travel writer Sally Emerson journeyed to Botswana to go in search of the bushmen herself. She wrote about her adventures for the Times Online, as she explored the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari, following in the footsteps of author Laurens Van der Post, who published The Lost World of the Kalahari back in 1956. The book has become one of the seminal works on the bushmen and their culture.

Both Emerson, and Van der Post before her, were searching for the San Bushmen, one of five distinct tribes that are spread out across South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, and Botswana. Today, it is believed that less than 100,000 of the bushmen remain, but those that do, maintain close ties to their culture, and the land on which they live.

Emerson says that the bushmen that she met were able to teach her about the plants and animals of the Kalahari while showing her how to set traps and hunt as well. They displayed a deep understanding of what their surroundings could provide for them, allowing them to survive for extended periods of time in the desert. Many of the tribesmen are now guides, and are eager to share their history and culture with visitors from the rest of the world. Traveling to the Kalahari to spend some time with these guides would indeed makre for a unique and amazing travel experience.