Happy Take a Hike Day!

[LL_Moderator_ks]

Tomorrow is National "Take a Hike" Day! Where is your favorite hiking destination? In your hometown or overseas?

[kyshel]

I stopped "hiking" years ago, but my fave walking tour is Prague. Prior to that it was in the back acres I called "Woods' Edge" in Kentucky. Great memories of tamping about and making "camps" and lean-to's and discovering ancient stone wells and 19th century cabin ruins...
ahhhhh--nice recall--thanks Katie!

[bonniejoy03]

Wow...good question. Years ago, we did the "levada" walks in Madeira. Quite lovely and scenic. More recently, I would have to say we did some canyon hiking in Guatemala that was quite challenging (especially when you don't realize your hike is going to be so extreme and you aren't properly prepared.)

[shygirl724]

My favorite was a night hike we took a few years ago out to the edge of the active lava flows on the island of Hawaii. Couple hours each way. Beautiful site to stand near as the lava flowed off the cliff into the sea. We took incredible pictures! Here is a link to a description of the hike and precautions, as well as some night pics from the site. http://www.lotsafunmaps.com/The_Big_...Lava_Flow.html

Shy ~

[ngallag]

Even though our guide got lost and a 5 hour hike turned into almost 10 hours, Torres de Paine national park in Chile is my all-time favorite. The views are out of this world when the weather is clear.

[kapper]

Even though our guide got lost and a 5 hour hike turned into almost 10 hours, Torres de Paine national park in Chile is my all-time favorite. The views are out of this world when the weather is clear.

ngallag, my family and I have visited southern Chile and spent time doing several hikes in Torres del Paine National Park. We also thought the area is one of the most beautiful places on earth. However, we were fortunate enough to be with guides who actually knew where they were taking us. Was this a private guide or one provided by a hotel?

[ngallag]

It was a hotel provided guide. We stayed at Explora, Hotel Salto Chico and overall all the guides were great. I actually think this guide was very good at finding our way out once we got lost. I blame the fact that the path was NOT well marked.

All in all, it gave me a great story. We hiked through a "valley of death" with lots of animal carcasses/bones -- a puma dining room, I guess. We ended up rock climbing in an attempt to get around Lake Sarmiento to where we could cross over, and even were running low on water. Luckily all the lakes in Patagonia have drinkable water! The funny part was that while we were staying at the hotel, one of the groups were super motivated and real explorer/hiker types. At the beginning of the hike we got lost on, all the guides were saying that this group had finished in a record of 3 hours. So during this epic hike, I kept on griping about this group finishing so fast (I knew that I wasn't in the worst shape--I've done a couple of marathons) and how they must have flown over the mountain path. Never realizing that what I thought was just a terrible hiking path wasn't even a path after all.

[omegaet]

It was a hotel provided guide. We stayed at Explora, Hotel Salto Chico and overall all the guides were great. I actually think this guide was very good at finding our way out once we got lost. I blame the fact that the path was NOT well marked.

All in all, it gave me a great story. We hiked through a "valley of death" with lots of animal carcasses/bones -- a puma dining room, I guess. We ended up rock climbing in an attempt to get around Lake Sarmiento to where we could cross over, and even were running low on water. Luckily all the lakes in Patagonia have drinkable water! The funny part was that while we were staying at the hotel, one of the groups were super motivated and real explorer/hiker types. At the beginning of the hike we got lost on, all the guides were saying that this group had finished in a record of 3 hours. So during this epic hike, I kept on griping about this group finishing so fast (I knew that I wasn't in the worst shape--I've done a couple of marathons) and how they must have flown over the mountain path. Never realizing that what I thought was just a terrible hiking path wasn't even a path after all.

ngallag....."lost" while trekking with a guide from Explora, Hotel Salto Chico! I have to think that would put you in a rare category.

We've crawled around a number of trails (with and without guides) in Chile and Argentina and thought the guides at Explora, Hotel Salto Chico were among some of the best. Although some of the markers on the longer trails in Torres del Paines were difficult to find at times (we had a couple of days of variable weather conditions -fog, light rains and gusty winds), we never really felt lost...but we did dispatch a "scout" in more than one direction on a couple of the day treks at times when even with our binoculars, we couldn't spot the next marker. We only did days treks (all were very early morning starts, just to minimize trail congestion) and met and chatted with several serious trekkers doing a 10 - 12 day Torres del Paine Circuit.

Here are some blog comments and photos you might recognize:

http://www.luxurylink.com/community/...-HOW-FAR-SOUTH

[ngallag]

Omegaet, what a wonderful blog post! It brings back great memories--of Nacho, who took us horseback riding through the snow, the beautiful 5 star yet exceedingly laid back and comfortable hotel, the views and the weather--I remember feeling like I was going to blow away a few days, the wind was so strong.

Honestly, I would not have traded the experience for anything, even though we were lost. It was truly a "totally different world" experience. I agree, one day hiking we went from sun to snow and ice and back again. Just the most unique and definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

I will say that my second favorite hiking experience was in Greece. I went up around 300 stairs to Oia, Santorini, avoiding donkeys running down every 5 minutes, as well as hiking about 8 miles through the Samaria Gorge on Crete. There you can totally imagine how awe-inspiring the world was to ancient Greeks, full of foggy mountains and ancient forests, ice cold rivers that lead to the Libyan sea. Amazing!

Kudos to the originator of this thread!

[omegaet]

Omegaet, what a wonderful blog post! It brings back great memories--of Nacho, who took us horseback riding through the snow, the beautiful 5 star yet exceedingly laid back and comfortable hotel, the views and the weather--I remember feeling like I was going to blow away a few days, the wind was so strong.

Honestly, I would not have traded the experience for anything, even though we were lost. It was truly a "totally different world" experience. I agree, one day hiking we went from sun to snow and ice and back again. Just the most unique and definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

I will say that my second favorite hiking experience was in Greece. I went up around 300 stairs to Oia, Santorini, avoiding donkeys running down every 5 minutes, as well as hiking about 8 miles through the Samaria Gorge on Crete. There you can totally imagine how awe-inspiring the world was to ancient Greeks, full of foggy mountains and ancient forests, ice cold rivers that lead to the Libyan sea. Amazing!

Kudos to the originator of this thread!

ngallag...glad you enjoyed the read and yes, we often recall what a fabulous Nacho proved to be during our stay at Explora.

We were fortunate to have him accompany us on three different treks and never had more that two other couples in the group. The size, like interests and similar physical skills enabled us to press the limits of the experiences.

We also enjoy riding and were impressed with the horses from Explora's stables....how can anyone not be awestruck when exploring the high trails on horseback in Torres del Paine?

We also enjoyed the treks and the horseback rides during our visit to The Atacama Desert in northern chile. We stayed at Tierra Atacama which provided a first class experience, with a professional house staff and very experienced guides:

http://www.tierraatacama.com/altipla...0b30.html?id=2

In many ways, we now appreciate our guides and their knowledge even more, when considering the challenges presented by the Altiplano. One of our longer treks involved leaving the lodge in early morning darkness and heading up toward the Bolivian border to enjoy a sunrise and day long excursion. What an experience in contrasts (terrains, temperatures, vegetations, vistas)....we especially appreciate our guide's experience and abilities to find shade and shelter for us during the hottest part of the day. Terra Atacama is not offered by Luxury Link, but one of our community members, bonniejoy03 is headed for Awasi http://www.luxurylink.com/luxury-hot...asi?clid=10817 in San Pedro de Atacama in early 2011.

If you haven't been in that area, it might be a trip worth considering.