Passing rainforest, snowfields and jagged mountains on the way to the coast, the final leg of Chris Townsend’s Pacific Northwest Trail journey could hardly have been more varied
Overnight wind and rain had decimated the snow cover and in a few short hours the winter hills had been stripped, leaving only a few streaks of snow in the gullies.
A 26-hour storm, a perilous whitewater river crossing and a desperate bushwhack were just some of the challenges Chris Townsend faced on a particularly intense section of his Pacific Northwest Trail journey.
From bushwacking through the brush to some glorious high camps, Chris Townsend has had plenty of variety on his latest leg of the Pacific Northwest Trail
I’ve lost count of how many magazine award events I’ve attended over the years and when I stepped down as TGO editor I thought that was one duty that I would be spared in the future.
High in the Selkirk Mountains I stare down a steep mountainside thick with tangled head-high bushes – known here as brush – in which are hidden boulders, logs, greasy stones, bits of bog and other obstacles.
Choosing the most appropriate gear for a 1,200-mile walk takes some thought, but Chris Townsend has had plenty of experience at preparing for a long distance backpack
This appealed to my silly side...
Check out the MySpace website of Wierdstring, a humorous Cumbria-based string trio, and listen to “Fellwalking Cum-Bri-Ay”.
“It has been said that winter camping doesn’t build character, it reveals it. Sometimes, it may reveal that you’re out of your mind.” Laura and Guy Waterman, Backwoods Ethics
It’s just over a couple of weeks before the TGO Challenge begins, two weeks for me to get my kit sorted out, deliver a couple of boxes of food to strategic points and get myself a bit fitter.
News that the annual Outdoors Show, previously sponsored by the OS, is to be moved to London as part of the International Boat Show, surely sounds the death knell for the event.
I know from my own experience just how notoriously bad hillwalkers and climbers are at signing petitions, even when the subject of that petition directly affects them.
It would be great to meet up with some TGO readers in the next couple of weeks at a couple of talks I’m giving, one in Fort William and one in Stockport.
One of my TGO Challenger mates recently put a post up on the TGO Challenge forum, directing people to a the clever ‘Where’s the path?’ website at: wtp2.appspot.com
Some trails linger in the mind. For years afterwards memories of them surface, bringing delight and sometimes intense reflection. The lessons and rewards of those trails can still be coming through years after the journey along them is over. Indeed, such trails can become benchmarks against which other journeys are measured. One such route is the Pacific Crest Trail.
“Walking off into the blue struck me as being a poor reason to forgo the pleasures of eating” Hamish Brown, Hamish’s Mountain Walk The cold rain lashes down.
My air of depression over the future of Scotland’s wild land has been exacerbated by the news that Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, has strung together a committee to ensure Scotland meets its pledge to reduce carbon gas emissions by 42% by 2020.
Triple Echo Productions, who have put together my forthcoming programme for BBC2 Scotland and Sky Channel 990 called The Skye Trail, have put up a short clip of the show on their website.
After the week from hell – much of it trying to meet deadlines associated with the Beta version of this website, I eventually escaped from the office last weekend and made my way south for the Backpackers Club Christmas Party.
It doesn’t feel as though much time has passed since I announced the birth of our last TGO website but such is the continual development of the internet and the growing expectancy of users that we’ve had to re-design more or less from scratch.
