Glenn and Michele are in the middle of a six-month travel adventure (starting in South America) and I was able to fly down and join them in northern Chile at the end of September to get to see some of the Atacama Desert region. We were able to make arrangements through BikeHike for nine days of guided activities and exploration surrounding the little oasis/tourist town of San Pedro de Atacama, including hiking, biking, horseback riding and several days of trekking.
This is the world’s driest desert (in the sense of how little rain ever falls) and it may also be the world’s oldest desert, the region having been hyper-arid for many millions of years. While it may almost never receive any rain, water does reach the basin from surrounding mountain sources though it all eventually evaporates, leaving behind salt and mineral deposits. There’s still plenty of wildlife and the area is known for its varied and gorgeous geological formations, resting up against the immense Andes mountains.
Pink flamingos in the Salar de Atacama
Some of the highlights of the trip:
Horseback riding and later hiking and sand surfing in “Death Valley”, a beautiful area of red rock and sand dunes which apparently picked up a name mistook from the French priest who tried to name it Valley of Mars (“marte” not “muerte”, in French).
Hiking up the Gatchi Gorge to bathe in the hot springs and source of the river Puritama.
Trekking from the town of San Pedro de Atacama (7900 ft) up to the high wetlands of Machaca (13,000 ft) over three days and 42 miles, climbing up from desert terrain through river canyon lands to mountain villages and terraces.
Biking and walking out among the salt flats and lagoons in the Atacama.
Hiking up the little mountain of Zoquete (16,000 ft) above the high altitude El Tatio Geysers
Enjoying the magnificent night sky of stars from such a high and dry landscape. The Atacama area is known as a prime astronomical viewing area for its clear, dry skies and high altitude and there are numerous observatories in the surrounding mountains.
If you’re interested in booking a similar tour, ours was actually put together by BikeHike, whom we’ve done trips with in the past, but they don’t actually offer this region any more. However, even though our itinerary was customized for us to add a variety of activities, very similar itineraries (including the multi-day trekking and the overnight in the indigenous village of Rio Grande) are actually widely available from numerous tour operators over the web: Chimu Adventures, KE Adventure Travel, Cascada Travel, Amazon Adventures and others. Despite this, we didn’t really encounter a lot of other tourists – and none at all during the trekking portion. I believe we were there at the very start of the tourist season though.
Thanks again to Yasu and the rest of the crew for a wonderful little adventure!
A video montage of our exploration of the Atacama Desert region.
Michele has also posted a couple of times about the trip in her blog:
Well, “almost summer” anyway: Iceland (and most of the North Atlantic) experienced the coldest summer in decades this year – this after one of the warmest and wettest summers ever last year. So while we remained bundled up from the cold, wind and rain, Darlene and I had a fantastic time. It’s a very beautiful place and full of so many places to see and experience that even with 19 days in Iceland we were still forced to skip so much. Iceland is definitely a wonderful and easy place to visit. The hardest part is having to pick what not to see (and trying to pronounce or even just copy down the Icelandic place names). I tried to book lodging to give us multiple days to stay and explore in each area and we consciously left off whole large areas of the country but even so it wasn’t enough: we still felt like we didn’t have enough time in any given area. Gotta go back! And yes, I’d like to see it in winter too.
This is an incredibly colorful (and popular) mountain area to explore in the highlands. Many will set out to do the two-to-four day Landmannalaugar backpacking route to Þórsmörk (I’d like to someday) but we just enjoyed a day of hiking some of the nearby trails through this colorful terrain, followed by dipping in the natural hot springs there. This was also our first taste of the many rough, gravel roads (including river crossings) that are needed to access many parts of the country.
Skógafoss and the Fimmvörðuháls Trail
This is a gorgeous waterfall to begin with, particularly how it falls on to a flat plain, and even though Iceland is covered with incredible waterfalls, the trail that starts here covers the most fantastic series of waterfalls I’ve ever encountered. It’s not just the sheer number (as in dozens) of falls that you see along the trail, but the incredible heights, splendor, variety and ferocity of the various falls that tumble down this beautiful gorge that lead up to where the two glacial ice caps (Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull) meet at Fimmvörðuháls Pass. Many people will hike this trail up and over the pass to Þórsmörk (or all the way to or from Landmannalaugar) but if nothing else, you’ve got to at least spend a day hiking as far as the bridge crossing (as we did). While there’s an overnight hut at the top of the pass, they say you can do the one-way hike to Þórsmörk in 10 hours or so but I don’t see how it can be done so quickly if you try to take in all the incredible views along the way.
Askja (Vatnajökull National Park)
This was to be our deepest adventure into the highlands of Iceland. Askja is a large volcanic caldera (and crater lake) in the remote central highlands and part of the vast Vatnajökull National Park of volcanic formations, glaciers, lava fields, and the largest ice cap in Europe. (Notably, this was the area that the Apollo space program used to train their astronauts in geology.) This excursion was potentially going to be trouble for our little Subaru Outback due to some potentially deep river crossings. As it turned out, the cold weather played in our favor and the river in question was not running too strong (and the weather clear), so we were good to go on our own rather than needing to sign up with a tour operator and their monster trucks/busses. We camped out at the base of Herðubreið but, once again, there was much more to see here than we had allotted time for and I would love to come back and explore more of the area.
Lake Mývatn
This lake region is filled with tons of different geologic formations: geothermal areas, volcanic cones, lava formations, caves and lava tubes, etc. The name Mývatn means (“the lake of midges”) and oh boy, we can attest that there are a bajillion of them along the water. I know we short-changed this popular area, having only a day left to hit up the some of the many sites before having to head on to Akureyri. We did get to see the fissure and water-filled cave Grjótagjá, the tephra crater Hverfell, the lava formations of Dimmuborgir and walk around Höfði to see some of the lava pillars in the lake (and the aforementioned bajillion black flies). Lots more to see, like the Lofthellir cave and its ice sculptures but it would be a half-day tour just for that.
Herring Era Museum (Siglufjörður)
This sounds ridiculous, but the Herring Era Museum in Siglufjörður (on the northern coast) is a really wonderful experience. We almost blew it off. I mean, come on, “Herring Era Museum”? But it’s really well done. You get to explore several buildings from the “glory days” of Iceland’s herring fisheries from the early 20th century, including the living and working quarters. Every room is furnished and filled with personal belongings as well as tools and equipment as it would have been at the time – and not behind glass: most of it is just laying out open and unprotected. It’s deservedly won several museum awards. It really feels like walking into the past. You can pull out a suitcase from under a bunk bed and find it filled with clothing and mementos. It’s quite the experience! There’s another building housing a couple of fishing boats “docked” to a pier that’s staged and lighted and feels more like you’re on a movie set than in a museum. And of course, you can climb aboard and explore below deck or on the bridge.
Snæfellsnes Peninsula
The centerpiece is the Snæfellsnes Peninsula is the glacier-capped, volcanic mountain of Snæfellsjökull and the peninsula is surrounded in fjords, more cool geologic features, and rugged mountains and coastline. The hike between Arnarstapi to Hellnar was wonderful in particular (with a fantastic cafe at the turnaround in Hellnar…. oh, that skyr cake!!) We also checked out the Vatnshellir lava tube, the Sönghellir “song cave”, the impressive and intriguing cleft in the cliff Rauðfeldsgjá and made a driving tour of the northern coastal towns on the peninsula. We spied on a seal colony in twilight, tested our strength with the old fisherman’s lifting stones and tried hiking up to the glacier itself but the road was still closed due to snow and the visibility too poor to go very far without a trail to follow. After three nights at a guesthouse on the peninsula, there was still much we were unable to get to see or explore.
Langjökull and “Into the Glacier”
This is a new experience, opened in June of 2015, where they’ve dug out a series of lighted passages and chambers into the Langjökull glacier. After being driven up and over the glacier by massive, converted missile carriers, you get to walk down into the man-made tunnel, into the glacier, inside the ice and even see fissures and ice formations from within the glacier. Very cool! When we were there, it had just rained heavily the night before and so water was still dripping and seeping through everywhere in the glacier.
Glymur Hike/Waterfall
This short little gem-of-a-hike is definitely worth a half-day to enjoy. I’m very happy our host at Hotel Á recommended this to us on our final day as we would have missed it otherwise. It was a great way to cap our trip. Note that there’s a choice of paths to follow up once you reach the river Botnsá. I definitely recommend crossing the river and taking the eastern trail (or righthand side of the river). I think it provides more revealing and thrilling views of the gorge, falls and the valley back to the fjord and car park.
And More to Experience…
A couple of other little surprises to mention are Petra’s amazing stone collection in Stöðvarfjörður in the eastern fjords (and she was quite an interesting character) and the entertaining Settlement Centre presentation in Borgarnes of the Saga of Egil.
I was floored by how frequently and unexpectedly fantastic the meals were throughout the country, even in the smallest villages and most remote guesthouses. Iceland clearly has a disproportionate share of fantastic cooks and chefs scattered around their country to treat their mostly European tourists. It’s like being treated to French cuisine in terms of the care and skill… but also in terms of cost: it’s very easy to go US$60-$100 or more for two people. There is of course cheaper fare in a smattering of fast food, roadside cafeterias but it’s mostly not very appealing. If trying to keep to a smaller budget, I definitely recommend buying groceries and cooking meals yourself.
I wish we could also have gone to the Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft in Strandagaldur or toured the western fjords or gone backpacking in the Hornstrandir, etc. Like I said, much to see and experience in Iceland!
Darlene and I just spent twelve days in Kauai, my favorite of the Hawaiian Islands. There’s just so much to do and explore there – you can never have enough time! Twelve days was still not enough for everything we wanted to do. I last visited Kauai about eleven years ago on an REI Adventures trip. And, as I found with the extra days after my REI trip last time, I highly recommend Andrew Doughty’s The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook to making the most of your time in Kauai.
We stayed four nights in the southwest, in Waimea, and did a bunch of hiking in Waimea Canyon and Koke’e State Park. Our first full day was along the Awa’awapuhi Trail – out and back only as the Cliff Trail is currently closed due to cliffside collapses. Another day was the Pihea Trail through the Alaka’i Swamp to the wonderful Kilohana lookout and another day for the Cliff Trail to the top of the Waipo’o Falls. Every trail was more than the usual adventure (and slow-going) due to all the clay, mud and severe trail erosion, particularly along the Pihea Trail. Finally, we also explored a little bit in the south near Po’ipu along the beaches and cliffs.
We found ourselves getting a late start on seemingly every day-long excursion so that we were always the last ones out of a given location, which was pretty cool for feeling like we had the place to ourselves and getting pictures without anyone else present.
Our next four nights were at a rented condo in Princeville, overlooking the ocean and we were thrilled to be able to watch the lengthy parade of humpback whales blow and breach right from our lanai. The super dark night skies here were also fantastic for star watching. From here, we visited the Kilauea Lighthouse and Wildlife Refuge, hiked the Kalalau Trail through the start of the Na Pali Coast to Hanakapi’ai Falls, checked out a couple of the wet and dry sea caves (including swimming into the “blue room”), watched the winter storms pound the coast around Hanalei Bay and at the “Queen’s Bath” and kayaked one evening up the Hanalei River. (And unexpectedly met Josh, my guide from my previous Kauai trip eleven years ago, who now owns a kayak rental/tour outfit of his own in Hanalei: Napali Kayak Tours.)
Our last four nights were spent at a hotel on the east side in Wailua. From here, we rented kayaks and paddled up the Wailua River and then hiked the remainder to “Secret Falls”. (This is a very popular and well-known kayak/hike outing. They’re anything but secret!) We also visited Wailua Falls and hiked our way down one of the very unofficial trails to swim in the large pool of the falls. Another long day was spent trying to hike into the center of the island and the crater of Waialeale. Once again there’s no real dedicated trail: it’s more about repeatedly finding and following and re-finding hunters’ trails to make your way as far as you can. And of course we encountered plenty of mud along the way! We got further than I managed the last time I was here, despite having to hike the road a couple of miles due to fallen trees blocking our rented vehicle.
We made a few attempts over the trip to get in some snorkeling from various beaches but were repeatedly thwarted by high surf conditions due to the winter storms and/or too-shallow sheltered waters in low tides. We finally squeezed in a little snorkeling at Lydgate Park by ignoring the protected but shallow fish-feeding/snorkeling pool and swimming out what seemed like nearly a half-mile on a relatively calm evening. (We had to go that far out to just get like a dozen feet of depth and find some fish.) On some future trip I still want to set aside a few days to go out on a boat for scuba diving. We ended our trip like my first one with a spectacular helicopter tour around the island.
I originally got to visit the Galapagos Islands five years ago but Darlene has long wanted to go herself. Of course the Galapagos Islands are well known for their abundant and unique wildlife, their fascinating and beautiful geology, as well as for the inspiration and development of Darwin’s theory of biological evolution. So, no, I really didn’t mind going back for a second visit!
We were in the Galapagos for twelve days (December 5th through the 16th) and we stayed overnight on the islands of Santa Cruz, Isabela and San Cristobal with day trips out to Santa Fe, Bartolomé, Leon Dormido as well as a few smaller outcroppings. (Here’s a great map.) This was a land-based trip (as was my previous trip), but this time I booked the trip through BikeHike.com and extended it with time on our own for four days (and to include San Cristobal).
Our days were filled with hiking, biking, kayaking, snorkeling, and boating as well as with sea lions, iguanas, penguins, giant tortoises, sharks, sea turtles, rays, cormorants, pelicans, frigate birds, crabs and fish! And great food! The whole trip was fantastic! (Thanks again to our guide, Jorgen, and to everyone else who contributed to making this such a fun experience!)
Here’s a little video I put together covering the whole of the trip:
(5:37 minutes, 115 MB download)
And here are my pictures and other video clips from the trip (including some of Darlene’s), separated into four galleries:
Darlene and I recently enjoyed a twelve day trip to Croatia, booked through REI Adventures. (June 27th to July 9th)
Our trip started in Zagreb and we worked our way south through Dalmatia and down to Dubrovnik, with a side excursion through Bosnia-Herzegovina. As an active, multi-sport trip, we enjoyed lots of hiking, biking, river and sea kayaking, as well as just seeing and exploring various sites along the way.
Here’s a video montage I put together covering much of our trip:
I’ve organized the pictures into four different galleries:
I just returned from a fun and challenging little adventure (arranged through BikeHike.com) where a group of eight of us made our way across Costa Rica from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean entirely under our own human power… and a fair amount of gravity assist!
We started in Quepos, on the western coast, and we proceeded to bike, hike, raft and kayak our way entirely across the country until we reached the eastern coast and the Caribbean. We mostly camped at sites along the way and a support vehicle carried our gear but we otherwise made our way from one coast to the other. Along the way, we encountered (or sometimes befriended) caiman, monkeys, sloths, toucans, turkey vultures, frogs, bats, snakes and some biting fish, as well as numerous insects including various spiders, ants, butterflies and a particularly aggrieved, giant grasshopper.
Click on through for my gallery of photos and videos from the trip:
After our week in Scotland, we were off to see a bit of Norway! (September 19th-30th, 2013) Our first day was just an air travel day from Edinburgh through Heathrow and on to Oslo, with some extra time lost having to return to the airport to pick up our delayed baggage. But the next day we would travel from Oslo to Bergen on one of the “Norway in a Nutshell” tours with Jane, Janie, Darlene’s sister Shel and her extended family before picking up a rental car to explore more of Norway on our own.
I’ve organized these pictures and videos into five separate galleries:
These are pictures from a week-long trip touring central Scotland (September 12th-18th, 2013) with Darlene and her friends, Jane and Janie, before continuing on to Norway. I’ve organized the Scotland portion of the trip into three separate galleries:
These are photos and videos from a twelve-day trip to northern Vietnam and northwest Cambodia from April 23rd to May 5th, 2013 with Darlene, organized and booked through BikeHike Adventures.
Our trip began with some sightseeing in Hanoi including a traditional water puppet show, experiencing the packed city streets and the crazy driving habits. We also visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, The Enthology Museum and One Pillar Pagoda before catching the night train to Lao Cai.
We arrived in Lo Cai on the night train from Hanoi and drove an hour to our hotel in Sapa. The Sa Pa district is populated with eight ethnic tribal minorities: including the Black Hmong and Red Dzao. Our first day was spent on trail bikes and our second day on foot following roads and paths through and around terraced rice fields and small villages. We also visited the Ta Phin cave. Our second night was at the lovely and secluded Topas Eco Lodge, overlooking the Sapa Valley.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware or prepared for what to expect in the Sa Pa region and how much these mountain villages have become a tourist trap/destination. Everyday large numbers of tourists follow the roads connecting these villages and everyday a similarly large number of village women come out to meet them and follow them for most of the day in the hopes of selling some of their homemade craft (clothing, blankets, etc). I appreciate their effort to supplement their income and make the most of the tourist trade, but it does get sorely tiring to spend each day being constantly plied with requests to “be their friend” and “buy from them”. Days 6-8: Islands of Halong Bay
After returning from Lao Cai via the night train, we had breakfast in Hanoi before setting off for the coast and Halong (Ha Long) Bay. We stopped along the way at one of several large government sponsored craft stores and factories (employing war victims). We boarded a luxury Indochina junk (a traditional Vietnamese boat) to cruise amongst the thousands of towering limestone islands in Halong Bay.
Our first stop was at a very crowded beach and overlook but later we were able to enjoy some more peaceful kayaking, swimming and exploring. The trip also included an evening paddle around a floating fishing village. Unfortunately our three day cruise was cut short after the first night due to an impending storm and we had to return to the mainland, but we were at least lucky to be able to get a hotel reservation. We spent our extra time on the third day visiting some more sights on the return trip to Hanoi and to catch our flight to Cambodia.
We arrived in Siem Reap the night before and started our adventure in Cambodia the next morning by heading out to Beng Mealea. Along the way, we stopped to visit an active temple-monastery and meet a Buddhist monk. Beng Mealea was easily one of my favorite temples because it has been left in much the state it was found, partial ruins overgrown with tree roots and being taken over by the jungle.
After this, we headed much further out to visit various sites of Jayavaram’s 10th century capital of Koh Ker. We got to camp out overnight next to the step pyramid of Prasat Thom and continued our sightseeing of Koh Ker the next morning before returning to modern Siem Reap for a respite from the sun in the hotel river pool. That afternoon we went to the dark pink stoned temple of Banteay Srei. In the evening, we enjoyed dinner and a traditional folk dance show back in Siem Reap.
Our last full day in Cambodia began with a predawn start to get to the entrance of Angkor Wat by sunrise – with the rest of the huge tourist crowd – and this isn’t even high season! After the spectacular sunrise, our guide knowingly guided us around Angkor Wat to see the other temples of Angkor while the rest of the crowds lined up to overrun Angkor Wat. It was a wonderful plan: we got to enjoy the other splendid temples, particularly Ta Prohm, in relative solitude. We also visited the walled city of Angkor Thom and the splendid temple of Bayon where each of its 54 towers are capped with four massive stone face sculptures. After another midday break from the sun, we finally returned in the late afternoon to slip in and tour Angkor Wat before its closing.
At sunset, we visited a street market on the outskirts of Siem Reap where our guide demonstrated the enjoyment of some insect delicacies! (Yuck!) On the following morning of our departure, we visited a workshop and saw a large variety of crafts, including the sculpting of stone works used in restoration projects.
Just back from two weeks in Ireland with my brother Glenn and my sister-in-law Michele. The first week was spent mostly in the southwest on a very fun, small group tour with Wolfhound Adventure Tours. The second week we rented a car to explore more of the west and a bit to the north.
This is a collection of photos and video clips from a ten-day mountain biking trip in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco (northern Africa), booked through BikeHike Adventures.
A gallery of pictures from Bonnie and Darren’s awesome secret jungle wedding adventure extravaganza… on an isolated beach… in an undisclosed location… near San Francisco, Mexico (aka San Pancho, Mexico). Code name… DonkeyFlu. The entire event was kept underwraps by a brilliantly orchestrated worldwide media frenzy concerning an influenza strain tagged H1N1 2009. The ring burro was unharmed.
This is a collection of images from a ten-day cycling trip from Prague to Budapest organized through REI Adventures, August 3rd – 12th, 2008. We journeyed through the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary. Click on through for the full galleries, including some short video clips:
