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Nature Travel / Costa Rica Travel / Hiking / Green Travel / Active Travel / National Parks / Volcanoes / Volcano Travel / → All Tags

Froggies and Fumaroles: Hiking Costa Rica's Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park

Have you got a spare three or four hours? If you were in Costa Rica right now, those could be spent hiking around a volcano and petting frogs. Sure, everyone knows the giant Arenal volcano towards the center of the Central American country, but Costa Rica has six other active volcanoes, one of which is Rincón de la Vieja Volcano, located in the Guanacaste province and within its own National Park.

Rincón de la Vieja is serious business as far as volcanoes go. Heading up to its top rim and caldera is no longer allowed (too risky!) but local, experienced guides can easily lead you on a several-hour hike to spot fumaroles (steam vents), bubbly muddy water cauldrons, cute froggies and waterfalls so clear and cool you'd think it was Norway instead.

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Volunteer Travel / Eco Travel / Colorado Travel / Active Travel / Hiking / Voluntourism / Charity Travel / → All Tags

Help Build the Continental Divide Trail in Colorado Next Year

Volunteers in Colorado are helping to build a completely new hiking trail, called the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), that stretches from Mexico to Canada and across Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Volunteers with the Continental Divide Trail Alliance (CDTA)—based in Golden, Colorado—dig out the trail, clear vegetation and move huge boulders and trees from the established route.

If forging a new trail sounds like a New Year's resolution you'd like to make, CDTA is already lining up volunteers for next season, which runs from April to October. Volunteer trips can last from one day to one week and include trail building, maintaining the existing trail, helping the crew chefs prepare meals, and participating in educational outreach programs. Trip leaders provide all gear, food and water, while volunteers bring their own tents, sleeping bags and day packs.

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Big Sur Travel / Hiking / State Parks / Adventure Travel / → All Tags

Waterfalls, Redwoods and More at California's Pfeiffer Burns State Park

In Big Sur, you practically trip over hiking trails that bring you to gorgeous coastline views. But one place to definitely put on your must-hike list is Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.

Pfeiffer is probably the most well known among the Big Sur parks, since it follows the Big Sur River and is filled with trees—including redwoods, conifers, oaks, sycamores, cottonwoods, maples, alders and willows—and wildlife—including black-tail deer, raccoons, skunks and various birds.

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Movie Set Travel / James Franco / Adventure Travel / 127 Hours / Movie Travel / Hiking / Utah Travel / → All Tags

'127 Hours' Features Gorgeous Scenery and Gory Scenes

Today, 127 Hours, the new movie by Oscar-Winning director Danny Boyle, opens in theaters, but don't expect another Slumdog Millionaire. The movie stars James Franco as hiker Aron Ralston and chronicles the time Ralson spent trapped in an isolated Utah canyon, including the life-saving decision he made to amputate his own arm.

Even though the movie's graphic realism might make the audience queasy, the scenery is sure to inspire some to take a (safer) adventure of their own.

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Adventure Travel / Extreme Travel / Hiking / Nepal Travel / → All Tags

Start Training Now for a 157-Day Hike on the Great Himalaya Trail

Here's your chance to hike the Great Himalaya Trail—and we're not talking like "hike the Appalachian Trail" à la South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. For the first time, a tour operator is bringing groups through the trail on an intensive 157-day hike.

Even experienced hikers will need some help on the Great Himalaya, the longest and highest alpine route in the world. The trail winds between the largest mountains and the most remote communities in the world, connecting Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan.

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Naked Travel / Nude Travel / Active Travel / Hiking / Nature / Germany Travel / → All Tags

German Naturists Pretty Psyched About New Nude Hiking Trail

It seems like we're doing a naked travel or nude hiking post every few weeks now, with today's story courtesy of the 11 mile naturist hiking trail opening up in Germany. The eagerly anticipated path goes from Dankerode to the Wippertal dam along the Harz mountain range in central Germany.

Apparently enthusiasts have been lighting up naturist chat rooms over it for months. The Reuters writeup was very specific on this: "Naturist chat rooms."

So scientists believe we started wearing clothes some time between 100,000 and 500,000 years ago. Do you know why our grunting ancestors decided to cover themselves with animal pelts? Because they realized that dirt is dirty. It must have been a radical insight at the time—"hey, all this sticky stuff doesn't get on my skin if I cover myself, and I even feel warmer"—but nevertheless they were able to apply their chimp-like analytical skills to the problem and crack that nut. Not so much with these hippies.

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Costa Rica Field Trip / Corcovado National Park / Hiking / Camping / → All Tags

How to Hike Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park

All this week, Lost Girl Amanda Pressner will be bringing us reports from her recent trip to Costa Rica with her entire family. Any questions about traveling to Costa Rica or family-oriented activities to do while you're there? Let us know.

While the list of natural wonders in Costa Rica is practically endless, few are more revered by the locals (and industrious tourists) than the Osa Peninsula. Located in the far Southwestern portion of the country, the Osa is the home of Corcovado National Park, a dense swathe of jungle that National Geographic once dubbed “the most biologically intense place on earth.” The place is absolutely teaming with wildlife of all shapes and varieties, and contains a greater variety of birds, insects, trees and mammals per square kilometer than almost anywhere else in the world.

Thanks to Costa Rica’s commitment to protecting its most valuable natural resources, primary rainforests once slashed and burned in Osa to make way for pastureland and farming back in the 70s have almost completely returned as secondary forest—and so have a multitude of species that were headed for extinction.

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Adventure Travel / Hiking / Italy Travel / South Tirol Windsurfing / The Dolomites / → All Tags

Italy's South Tirol is Like an Outdoor Playground for Athletes

Travelers usually head to Italy to carbo-load on lip-smacking cuisine and swish tasty wines, to visit ancient sites like the Pantheon and the Colosseum, or to see amazing art like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. But sporty types in the know venture north to the South Tirol, or Südtirol, a region that identifies more with its German roots than its Italian ones (you’ll hear most people speaking Deutsch and see signs in both Italian and German).

The South Tirol’s mountainous location—with the Alps towering overhead—makes it a prime spot for skiers and snowboarders in the cold months, with Swiss-like chalets dotted all over the area to complete the experience. In the warmer months, mountain climbers and hikers hit the slopes. You’ll also see many Nordic walkers taking to the trails. They are easy to spot; Nordic walkers hike at a brisk pace while carrying what looks like ski poles.

Originally designed as a cardiovascular summer training exercise for cross-country skiers, Nordic walking works your upper body while you hike. The sport, which is popular in Germany and Finland, is appropriate for all fitness levels.

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Appalachian Trail / Hiking / Active Travel / Mark Sanford / Outdoor Travel / → All Tags

The Sanford Affair Reminds America that the Appalachian Trail is Awesome

Of the 9,827 current news stories on Google News that mention the Appalachian Trail, 9,792 of them, or 99.64%, are related to South Carolina governor Mark Sanford. The governor had been missing from his office for several days, and reporters were told by his staff that Sanford was walking on the Appalachian Trail to clear his head for a few days, putting him out of reach of cell phone coverage. This turned out to be untrue. Sanford was actually in Buenos Aires tending to an illicit love affair, but the news serves as a nice reminder that Appalachian Trail season is once again upon us, and if you've never stepped foot on the trail, this might be the year to do it. (I guess it also tells us that some family-values advocates are hypocrites, but I prefer to focus on the Appalachian Trail).

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Movie Set Travel / Waterfalls / Hiking / Active Travel / → All Tags

Finding the Paradise of 'Up' A Little Closer To Home

If you haven’t made it to the local multiplex to see the new Disney-Pixar film Up, you’re missing out. In the movie, our heroes are headed to a fictional Paradise Falls in South America. Pixar filmmakers did head to Angel Falls in Venezuela to get some inspiration, but still, if your new dream is now to see Paradise Falls you might be out of luck.

Unless of course you have some time to head to Thousand Oaks, California, then you might fulfill your new need for exploration. From Los Angeles, you’ll take the 101 up the coast into Ventura County, where you’ll be ready to explore your own version of Paradise Falls. The trail lasts about three miles round-trip and there isn’t much of an elevation gain, so even coach potatoes should be good to go with this one. Just make sure to bring some water along with your milk duds, since the area is pretty dry, and the shade is limited along parts of the path.

You’ll be rewarded with views of a waterfall spilling into a large pool below. It’s not quite as big as the one in the movie, but it should still be worth the time and effort to get there. However, be careful of the local wildlife. Hikers have mentioned that rattlesnakes are big fans of this area near Wildwood Park. Pay attention and you’ll probably be safe.

Related Stories:
·Paradise Falls [LocalHikes]
·Paradise Falls [World-Of-Waterfalls]
·Hiking coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Neither Fanboy]

Mountains / Hiking / Caribbean Travel / Rebranding / → All Tags

Wise Move: Antigua Renames Highest Peak "Mount Obama"

The island of Antigua is getting into the whole rebranding thing by renaming its highest mountain after Barack Obama. As the AP points out, the unfortunately-named Boggy Peak will officially become Mount Obama Monument and National Park on August 4, 2009, a move that officials hope will bring more tourists to the Caribbean island. In addition to the name change, the mountain will get a new network of hiking trails, a museum, and educational facilities.

At 395 meters (1,319 feet), Mount Obama isn't about to supplant Everest as a destination for elite climbers, but for the rest of us, it's a perfect mid-sized mountain with sweeping views of the ocean that can be tackled in a couple of hours. It's also a good reminder that while Caribbean islands are most commonly known for their coastal areas, it's worth the effort to tear yourself away from the beach and check out the interior regions, which often contain rain forests, waterfalls, and under-appreciated mountains like this one. Smart move, Antigua.

[Photo: politicsdaily.com]

Related Stories:
· PM Spencer Sends Message to Barack Obama - Moves to Rename Boggy Peak to Mount Obama [Antigua & Barbuda]
· Antigua's Mount Obama to be National Park [AP via Yahoo! News]
· Mountain Coverage [Jaunted]

National Parks / Camping / Hiking / Great Outdoors / Utah Travel / → All Tags

The New York Times Goes Camping, Nobody Gets Hurt

In southern Utah the forecast this week calls for thunderstorms and possibly snow, but don't tell that to the New York Times travel section: Writer Tony Perrottet reminisces about last year's trip to the unmarked trails of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, little changed since John Wesley Powell and others traversed its canyons for the first time.

The sun-baked expanses peppered with friendly-enough locals are tempting even this close to spring, but the use of the word "outback" though is, for us, a little problematic: As we learned about from the end credits of "Australia," the land Down Under wasn't always so benevolent towards its aboriginal tribes -- but they managed to let them alone to the extent that they can still live on their tribal lands. Explorer Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh had a Ute Indian to guide him through America's outback; Perrottet had park rangers.

Still, the lure of hiking these deserted locales, even in a few months, makes us want to get our hiking boots on posthaste. And in this economy, camping sites on national park land may be gearing up for the best summer ever as budget-conscious Americans dig out the tents and propane grills. Any national parks (American and otherwise) you think we should check out in '09?

Related Stories:
· America’s Outback: Southern Utah [NYTimes]
· Utah coverage [Jaunted]
· Making You Feel Bad About Not Going Outside [Stuff White People Like]

[Photo: vtveen]