The other day I decided to put together a list of my top 10 outdoor
related websites. The list includes outdoor news, hiking, trails and
blogs that I find useful and/or entertaining. Maybe you’ll discover a
new site from this list for yourself.
Of course, to remain completely unbiased, I left HikingintheSmokys.com out of this analysis - just to be fair…
So, in no particular order, here is my list:
Although I just said that I wouldn’t list these sites in order, I’m going to break that rule right from the start. For me,
Summit Post
is heads and shoulders above all other outdoor websites. Although the
site is completely user generated, you’ll find most posters to be great
story tellers. You’ll find excellent articles, stunning photography and
informative trip reports for hiking, mountaineering and climbing spots
all over the world.
14ers.com
is another excellent website for people looking for detailed
information on hiking and climbing the 53 peaks that rise above 14,000
feet in Colorado. The site is well organized, includes difficulty and
exposure ratings, as well as plenty of route pictures and information on
how to get to each trailhead.
Discovering Lewis and Clark
- this website includes an overwhelming amount of information on the
ultimate American adventurers. In addition to finding articles dealing
with different aspects or events of the expedition, you can find
excerpts from the journals, coupled with commentary offering historical
background. You can also listen to the day by day radio accounts of the
expedition that originally aired on Yellowstone Public Radio during the
bicentennial (2004-2006).
Knowing that
Smoky Scout
finished her Girl Scout Challenge back in April, that is, hiking all
800+ miles of trails in the Great Smoky Mountains – in one year - to
raise money for the Scouts, you would think that she would be ready for a
long rest. That hasn’t been the case. In late spring, as her husband
bicycled the Blue Ridge Parkway, she spent time hiking the many trails
along the way. Just recently she returned from a backpacking trip in the
Grand Tetons and is in the process of documenting that trip on her blog
as well. With excellent articles and photos, her blog has become a
great resource for hikers.
The
National Parks Traveler
is, as you might expect, everything about our national parks. The only
way that you could know more about what’s going on across the entire
national parks system is to work at the Department of Interior offices
in Washington DC.
Anyone who has read this blog for a long time will know that I’m a
cyclist and a pro cycling fan. There’s no better way to keep up with
what’s going on in the cycling world than checking in on
VeloNews. John Wilcockson in particular is an excellent features writer.
I recently discovered
Canoe-camping.org.
This is a great resource for organizing and researching multi-day canoe
trips. Although I’ve never done any multi-day canoeing, I’ve had my eye
on a few trips, including the Green River in Utah, the upper-Missouri
in Montana (Lewis and Clark country!) and the St. Croix in Wisconsin.
The Adventure Blog
is the best source for keeping up with all things adventure. Kraig
Becker, the author, has all the latest news and updates on adventurers,
expeditions and epic races from around the world.
The
Highpointers Guide
is an excellent resource for anyone seeking information about reaching
the highest point in each state. My wife and I have been passively
knocking out state high points during vacations over the last couple of
years. To date we’ve reached the highest point in 13 states, including
Colorado and New Mexico. There are a few we know we’ll never do, namely
Denali in Alaska, but we do hope to settle for about 40 before hanging
up our boots.
Buck Track
is Bruce "Buck" Nelson’s personal website. Bruce is a modern day
explorer. Although it appears he isn’t currently doing anything, it was
fun tracking his blog last year as he hiked the Continental Divide Trail
from Mexico to Canada. Prior to that, he did a solo 1000-mile trek
across the Brooks Range of Alaska. He has a nice short video on his site
documenting that trip (you can also buy the extended DVD).
Source:
The Top 10 Outdoor Websites