Trekking Europe Summary Video
Earlier this year we undertook our latest journey: a Trekking Europe adventure. During our travels we hiked over 500 miles in seven countries. Take a look at our summary video.
Earlier this year we undertook our latest journey: a Trekking Europe adventure. During our travels we hiked over 500 miles in seven countries. Take a look at our summary video.
Beginning back on June 17, we took our first steps on our Trekking Europe adventure, as we left Porto, Portugal, on the Camino Portugues. Now, after completing that trek and two others in France and Germany / Austria, we had just five days left on our latest hike across Switzerland.
The Swiss Alps are comprised of some of the most iconic mountains in the world. After completing the first six days of our Swiss Alpine Pass Route trek, beginning from Liechtenstein, we were ready to hike among some of these giants during our next 10 day section into the heart of the Alps.
The 230-mile Swiss Alpine Pass Route hike, by far the most challenging of our Trekking Europe adventure, crosses numerous alpine passes, alternating between climbing up mountainsides and descending to valleys. Over the first six days of the trek, we crossed three passes. Each one was different, and we quickly learned to take the passes one at a time.
This summer we will be traveling to Europe to seek authentic adventure by trekking in seven countries over a three month period. We are planning four different hikes, totaling over 500 miles, to experience the best of Europe’s history and beauty.
We just returned from our National Park Tour. During our travels we visited 27 National Parks (plus other National Monuments) over 136 days. We covered about 17,000 miles in our 2003 Toyota 4Runner 4WD, visiting 34 states. And we hiked over 400 miles while in the parks, including several overnight backpacking trips. Take a look.
We recently completed an interview, summarizing our favorite parks, challenges we faced, what worked well and our final thoughts from our Trekking the Planet National Parks Roadtrip Adventure. If you …
America’s newest national park is Pinnacles, established in 2013, and located about 80 miles southeast of San Jose, California. During our two days in the park we hiked 17.2 miles, scrambled in two talus caves, and scanned the skies for the endangered California condors that glide over the peaks in the early morning and late afternoon.
The Cascade Mountains run from south British Columbia to Northern California. The highest peak in the Cascades is Mount Rainier. At 14,410 feet, it is the fifth tallest mountain in the lower 48 states and the 17th highest in the entire U.S. We spent time driving through the park and hiking in two popular locations: Sunrise and Paradise.
Theodore Roosevelt in North Dakota is the only one of America’s 59 national parks to be named after a person. While in the park, we spent time in all three units, united by the Little Missouri River flowing through them.
Wind Cave, in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota, was created as America’s eighth national park in 1903 and was the first to protect a cave. During the three days that we visited, we took two tours in the cave, unique in its abundant boxwork formations, which are found virtually nowhere else in the world. We also spent time on a safari of sorts, tracking animals, including herd of bison, along Wind Cave’s backcountry roads.
Seventy five million years ago a shallow sea covered today’s Great Plains area. Sea creatures that died sank to the bottom of the sea and became fossils, as well as a gray-black layer of sedimentary rock. This layer is just one of the bands of rock comprising today’s Badlands National Park area, formed as the sea retreated and the climate dried. We spent three days in the park exploring the badlands rock formations and viewing fossils, while hiking on several trails under the ancient sea.