Hiking Day in White Mountains Range: Pemi Loop

The Pemi Loop
 
What is it: 53km "day" hike with 2800m of up elevation.
How long: 17 hours

This trail is a 53km loop in the White Mountains Range in New Hampshire. We left at 4:45 am in the morning, all enthusiast about the incoming day of hiking. When I thought of doing 53km in a day, I thought of gentle hike with clear paths. But Pemi loop is not exactly made for the gentle hiker. Most of the path much better described as rock climbing than hiking. We were quite lucky as it was supposed to rain for the day and it didn't until we were almost finished (i.e. only 2 hours before we arrived). But it rained the day before and the rocky path was slippery almost everywhere which significanlty slowed us down as we had to pay extra attention to avoid injuries.

We started with tons of food, nuts, gatorade powder, granola bars, and other indispensible items for such a long hike. Well, at least, there was some left at the end, showing that we could have hiked at least 6 hours more, notwithstanding how exhausted we were at the end. I have to congratulate one of our mates that made it till the end even though he was not training for any marathons at that time.

Hiking Trip: Vallee des Merveilles Mountain Range in South of France

Here are my pictures from my hiking trip in Vallee des Merveilles. This "valley" is at 2200m of altitude at the border between France and Italy. This is on the May 8th week end which is a holiday in France. In Nice, the temperature was about 25 Celsius, which is perfect for the beach. However, as you can see, up there was a little chillier.

The "Valley of Marvels" got his name because of protohistoric rock carvings that were uncovered about a century ago. However, I couldn't see any of them because they were under 3 meters of snow.

A view from the Vallee des Merveilles

We parked the car at 1800m and we snowshoeed our way to the valley. The path is tricky because it was buried by an avalanche earlier this year. It took us about 6 hours to get there and we arrived just in time before the curfew at the refuge.

Another view of the Vallee des Merveilles

This was a gorgeous week end, and at the end of it, my face was tanned just like if I had spent 3 days at the beach. Except, the rest of my body didn't had the same sun exposure.

It was a sunny day

Hiking: Yosemite Valley

The Yosemite Valley is an absolutely gorgeous valley east of San Francisco in California. I was there in July 2008 during my vacations. I spent two days in the valley, one day hiking the Yosemite Falls and the next day on the Half-Dome Trail. You don't need to be a hiker to enjoy Yosemite Valley as this valley is blessed by a beautiful landscape and much needed sunshine for those who are used to San Francisco weather

The signature "day" trail of Yosemite Valley is the Half-Dome trail, a 22.4 km hike with 1450m of up elevation. If you aren't camping directly in Yosemite Valley, you'll want to start early and make sure you have enough water as this trail is quite long and there is no water fountain beyond a certain point.

 

The Half Dome trail is named after the "half dome" shape of the peak.

Unfortunately, the last part of the trail is a heavily crowded ladder and depending on how crowded it is, it may take you up to an hour to reach the summit from this point. I therefore chose to go back as I feared to miss the last bus. Well, I am honest about it, I never finished the half-dome trail, but I was that close.

 The last stretch of the Half Dome Trail

The day before, I hiked the Yosemite Fall trail which is also extremely gorgeous. Yosemite Fall trail is shorter than Half-Dome trail and can be done in half a day (for a seasonal athletic hiker). This makes it a perfect hike if you arrive in the valley later in the day if you want to reach the summit before sunset.

Hiking Down Grand Canyon!

I went to Grand Canyon in July 2008 before attending a summer school in Los Angeles.  I planned this trip by reading just as many tips as I could on hiking down Grand Canyon. Anyone you talk to will strongly discourage anyone from hiking down and back in the same day. But, Grand Canyon is one of the most popular park/trail in the United States. Every year, 2 millions visitors go spend some time in the Canyon, either to take pictures or hike all the way down. There are also water station on the Bright Angel trail. In overall, you never feel alone on the trail, which helps in case of emergency.

There is an hotel at the bottom of the Canyon at Phantom Ranch and I called two months in advance to make a reservation. The Phantom Ranch serves dinner, breakfast and pack in lunch but these are quite expensive. So I set out to climb down with enough foods to spend two days in the Canyon. I clearly had overestimated the amount of food necessary and I could have left for 5kgs of foods before leaving. Anyways, if you leave early in the morning you can definitely reach the Phantom Ranch and hike back during the same day if you can avoid hiking during the afternoon. Just don't mention it to the park rangers.

Colorado River at the bottom of Grand Canyon

If you are lucky, it may rain - a blessing during summer given the temperature can go as high as 42 Celsius in July. It was cloudy when I hiked down.