After dreaming about thru-hiking the AT or PCT this morning, I got to wondering if there were other epic trails like this elsewhere in the world. There are a collection of top 10, or 11, lists out there. Here are the best ones that I found, though in the end they each make me want to hike them all then write my own list.
iExplore (massively corporate site) has an interesting list of 10 best hikes, if only because it is one of the few top 10 lists that includes the AT or PCT. There first one on the iExplore list, the three week Annampurna Circuit (see map above), sounds like it deserves that number one spot, touring both through the wilderness of the mightiest mountains in the world, and the villages of the people who live amongst those mountains.
Best Hike’s list starts with the 47 mile long West Coast Trail in Canada. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that it’s a great hike, but can a 47 mile hike really be the best in the world? I guess they are shooting for average quality per footstep, rather than total experience though since #2 on the list is John Muir, which is just part of the PCT.
National Geographic’s best of list turns it up to 11. And they make that number 11 count by challenging you to follow in the footsteps of Earnest Shackleton and hike across South Georgia Island, where the average high in summer is a balmy 8C / 46F. This is my type of list, a little bit crazy, but you know that if you did them, you’d never be quite the same.
Photo from "Where Mountains Live" by Leo Le Bon
No comments:
Post a Comment