Wild 2014 Film, Fox Searchlight
Whether your hiking, cycling, all kayaking, you can still have some fantastic adventures with incredible journeys. Every summer cyclists and hikers set out to travel for thousands of miles, using nothing but their power to cross country’s, continents and oceans. Such experiences offer a strong connection to nature, stress-free travel and provide a higher sense of satisfaction and accomplishment on completion.
11, The Italian Trail
The announcement of Italy’s new hiking trail is the inspiration for the blog post. The path will pass through all of Italy’s 25 National Parks including the one’s on the islands of Sardinia and Sicily. Starting North the projected route will begin near Trieste on the Slovenia border and follows the alps to the French Italian border until heading south through Cinque Terre, Tuscany, and onwards to Italy’s boot.
In total, the trail covers 7,000 miles and won’t be completed until 2033. Unfortunately current, Italy law states that it’s illegal to wild camp, so any long distance hikers may have to pay for campsites, hostels all hotels.
10,Appalachian Trail
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
The Appalachian trail (communally known as the AT) is 2,190 miles long and takes anywhere between 5 to 7 months to complete. The trail starts in Georgia and passes 14 states, before ending in Maine. Every year in March and April over 2,500 hikers start their journey with only 750 finishing the trail in mid-October.
The path consists of constant ascents and descents, even though the tallest peak is only 6,643 feet tall (Clingmans Dome) completion of the trail is equal to hiking Mount Everest 16 times.
Watch
You Tube – Homemade Wanderlust
Read
Bill Bryson, A walk in The Woods: The World’s Funniest Travel Writer Takes a Hike,
David Miller, AWOL on the Appalachian Trail
9,Pacific Crest Trail
Photo courtesy of Flickr
Between March and May, two thousand individuals start hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (communally known as PCT) from the Mexico US border near San Diego to Manning Park Canada. The 2650 mile thru-hike passes through the southern California deserts and mountains before hitting the Sierra Nevada. From Yosemite, National Park the Cascade mountains of Oregon and Washington await, with the amazing Lake Tahoe in-between.
.The long-distance trail takes between 110 to 180 days to complete. It’s said that the PCT is easier than the AT (Appalachian trail) due to fewer attitude changes, although these more of a logistical challenge.
Watch
Film =Wild
YouTube = Homemade Wanderlust, Darwin on the trail
Read
Brian Johnson, Trekking The Pacific Crest Trail
Keith Froskett, The Last Englishmen: A Thru-Hiking Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail
8,Trans Canadian Trail
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
The Canadian trail could be classified as the biggest trail in the world it’s 20,770km long. The path has a massive loop, in the centre of the country, that stretches from Calgary to the Arctic Circle. The part that extends from the pacific coast to Atlantic coast, Vancouver to Halifax is 6521 km long and can be completed by bike within six weeks. Expect to see many Lakes, Mountains, plains and forests along with passing many great Canadian cities Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal, to name a few.
7, Kayaking the Grand Canyon
Rafting down the Grand Canyon may be the shortest journey on the list, but it could be the most breathtaking. They say you haven’t really experienced the Grand Canyon until you have reached the bottom. The six-day trip down the Colorado will allow you to appreciate every curve of one of the seven wonders of the world. You may get wet though; these a high probability your boat may flip into Colorado’s whitewaters during the 87-mile journey.
6, Trans America Cycle
Photo courtesy of Bike Packing
Similar to the Canadian trail the Trans-America trail spans the length of the states from the pacific to Atlantic. Unlike the Canadian route, the path avoids all major cities and passes Yellowstone National Park. Each summer hundreds of cyclists participate in completing the 4223-mile. The average cyclist takes three months and starts from Astoria Oregon all Yorktown Virginia.
Watch
Amazon Prime, Film Documentary, Inspired to Ride
5,England’s Coastal Path
Photo courtesy of Shutter Stock
The 2,795-mile path follows the entire English coast and is set to become one of the world’s longest trails in 2020. It could become one of the best as well with hikers being able to experience English heritage, castle’s, lighthouses, Cliffs, Coves, beaches, numerous wildlife and the wonderful English Weather. The shorter Southwest leg is arguable the most scenic and popular part of the trail. The 630-mile sector takes 52 days and starts in Poole, Dorset and finishes in Minehead, Somerset.
4,The Great Divide Trail
The Great Divide Trail starts in Banff, National Park in the north and crisscrosses with the Continental Divide trail all the way down to the US/Mexico border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. When opened in 1998, the 2,700-mile trail was the world’s longest off-pavement cycling route. Seventy percent of the path uses dirt and gravel roads, which covers a total elevation change of 200,000 feet and can be completed in 53 days.
3,The Great Himalaya Trail
Photo’s courtesy of Flickr
Arguably the toughest hiking trail within this list and one of the newest and least known, The Great Himalaya Trail follows Nepal’s Himalaya range from the western border with Tibet to the eastern border with India. Hikers have the option of choosing two routes a high attitude route and lower attitude route.
Either way, walkers should expect to walk 1,056-miles before completing the course. The upper route goes through many 5,000 meter passes with the highest being 5755. The 150-day journey is split into ten sections and covers subtropical jungles and high alpine ecosystems. World Expeditions offers a guided tour for £20,000
2,Cycling Around the World
This Adventure is very subjective as it doesn’t follow any particular route. A cyclist may choose a straight path across the globe through Russia and North America all take a more adventurers route, like Ben Page all Allister Humphreys
Taking the direct route Mark Beaumont still holds the record of 78 days 14 hours and 40 minutes while Allister Humphrey’s took four years to complete his journey across 60 countries and five continents.
Read
Alastair Humphreys = The Boy who biked the world
1,Ocean Rowing
photo courtesy of Pixabay
Ocean Rowing is classified more of a sport than an adventure but none the less it’s a self-propelled journey that takes weeks all even months to complete. George Harbo was the first person to role across an ocean (New York to France) in 1896. Since then hundreds of rowers have participated in madness across the Atlantic. Ocean rowing is now seen as” the new Everest” with participates taking at least 43 days to travel up to 5000, km. Just like Everest its expensive the cheapest cross ocean rowing boat I found cost £52,000
Bonus - Self Powered Circum navigating the Globe
Combining the cycling, hiking and the Rowing, Colin Angus became the first person to circle navigate the globe using nothing but his own power. Colin travelled across two oceans, three continents and 43,000km
Read
Colin Angus, Beyond The Horizon
