Hiking Turned Upside-down _ Another Orienteering Odyssey

Fall, of course, is the perfect hiking season. And, if you want to take it up a notch, it's also the perfect season to try the wonderful sport called orienteering.

Orienteering is essentially what you always wanted to do as a kid: run through the woods with reckless abandon. OK, not reckless abandon, but it is quite a blast negotiating trees, trails, swamps and creeks with a map as you work your way to the finish.

The local orienteering club in the D.C. area is top-notch _ the Quantico Orienteering Club. They put on a full slate of meets with courses ranging from easy to expert.
The photos above are from a meet at Prince William Forest Park earlier this month. I took a group of Boy Scouts, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. My college-age son and I tried a moderate-to-difficult course, and he beat me for the first time. He finished in 14th place; I was 17th. (Oh, the humiliation!)

Here's the QOC website. Check 'em out: http://qocweb.org

Orienteering is also popular in Europe. In fact, if you sign up for our 12-day hiking trip to Switzerland, you can give it a try during one of your free days.

Learn more about our hiking adventure to the Alps _ July 12-22, 2011 _ by visiting our website at http://myhikingvacations.com

Happy Hiking _ and Orienteering,
Joseph

Signal Knob

There's nothin' better than fall hiking in Virginia. (Well, OK, I'm also partial to summer hiking in Switzerland, but we'll save that for next summer.) Our group of 13 _ plus a wonderful dog named Tara _ tackled this hike on Saturday. We had a nice lunch with a view overlooking the Shenandoah Valley. Ah, what a way to spend a day.

Interested in hiking the Alps with us next summer? Check out our website.

Happy Hiking,
Joseph
http://myhikingvacations.com

Facebook Sale!

As we prepare for next summer's hiking trip to Switzerland, some of you have asked: "Why don't you do something special for your Facebook fans?"

You mean, like, a sale or something?

Oh, sure, why not? We therefore present our first My Hiking Vacations Facebook Sale. If you're a fan of our Facebook page, you get a 10% discount if you sign up for our vacation in the Alps next summer. That's a savings of $200 or more! This is good for September only, so you have 30 full days to mull over this great deal!

Or, as they on TV: "Limited time offer!" "Void where prohibited!" (I don't think it's prohibited anywhere, but just in case ...)

If you're not already a fan, become one by visiting our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/MyHikingVacations/147404999999?ref=ts

See you in the Alps!
Joseph
http://myhikingvacations.com

A Lodge in Switzerland

I've just booked the place we'll be staying next summer during the first leg of our hiking trip to Switzerland. It called the Gemmi Lodge, a wonderful spot next to the Kander River and right up against the Alps in Kandersteg.

Check out the photo on the home page of its website (http://www.gemmi-lodge.com). It looks more like a grand hotel than a hostel, but that's the norm for Switzerland. Swiss hostels are among the best in the world, cleaner and friendlier than many regular hotels I've seen in the U.S.

I stopped by the Gemmi Lodge last year and was excited to see that a new High Ropes Park had opened across the street. It has zip lines, rope bridges and all sorts of high-in-the-air thrills. (See the photo above, or visit http://www.kandersteg.ch/english/sport/seilpark.htm.) Looks like an exciting way for some of you more adventurous folks to spend some free time during the trip!

Learn more about our trip _ and sign up now. Visit us at http://myhikingvacations.com. As many trips as I've led over the years, it's always a thrill to make that first booking ...

Happy hiking,
Joseph

Switzerland in 2006, 2009

Some of you who are interested in going on our hiking trip to Switzerland have asked about the trips I led with the Boy Scouts in 2006 and 2009 _ and whether there are pictures from those trips on the Internet.

Of course, there are! Thanks to Scoutmaster Doug Donnell of Troop 1018, there are plenty. Take a look at these links. They provide you with a great sense of the spectacular scenery in the Kandersteg area.

http://troop1018.org/Past_Activities/Events2009/0907_Kandersteg/0907_Kandersteg-Index.htm

http://troop1018.org/Past_Activities/Events2006/07_Kandersteg/0607_Kandersteg.htm

Naturally, our itinerary won't be the same as the one for the Scouts, but we will be doing some of the same hikes. If this whets your appetite, go to http://myhikingvacations.com
and sign up for your trek to the Alps with us in July 2011.

Happy Hiking,
Joseph

Boy Scouts, hiking and Switzerland

OK, so you may have heard that this is the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. They did the celebration up big, with a parade down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., and then welcomed tens of thousands of scouts to their Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia.

But what you may not know is that the scouting movement is older than that. Scouting was founded in 1907 in England by Lord Robert Baden-Powell, and he was wise enough to choose Switzerland as the site for his ideal permanent Scout camp _ a place where Scouts from around the world would be welcomed for all kinds of fellowship and adventure.

The Kandersteg International Scout Centre is located in the beautiful village of Kandersteg, Switzerland, which just happens to be one of our destinations in the hiking trip I'm leading next summer. The hiking is magnificent in that area, and the scenery is spectacular.

We're now in full swing in the planning for our return to the Alps on 12-22, 2011. We're sure you'd love to join us for the vacation of a lifetime! Visit our website
http://myhikingvacations.com for details.

Happy Hiking (and Happy Birthday to the Scouts!)
Joseph
http://myhikingvacations.com

Can You Canoe?

Hard as it is to believe, not all great vacations revolve around hiking. I've just returned from 9 days canoeing in the remote, endless and unspoiled lakes, ponds and streams of southern Ontario (Quetico Provincial Park) and southern Minnesota (the Boundary Waters).

It was a fabulous trip. We camped on islands, watched bald eagles soar, heard the loons give a concert and saw centuries-old pictographs left by native North Americans. Quite a bit of preparation goes into a trip like this (and the mosquitos are everywhere!), but I highly recommend it to all you outdoors adventurers.

If you'd like to know more _ or, as always, if you're looking for the perfect hiking trip _ check out my website http://myhikingvacations.com. We're now planning our summer hiking trip to Switzerland, set for July 2011.

Happy hiking (and canoeing),
Joseph

Hiking in Vancouver, Vegas and Switzerland

I'm back from the Winter Olympics. Can't beat Vancouver as an outdoors place to go. I spent a day hiking in the mountains, where I walked along a small part of the Baden Powell and Trans-Canada trails. I was hoping to do the infamous "Grouse Grind" _ it's supposed to be nature's version of stair-master _ but it is off-limits in winter.
(That said, it didn't feel like winter in Vancouver. We joked that it was the Spring Olympics.) Definitely a hiking tour to British Columbia will go on the calendar in future years.

For many more photos of my Vancouver experience, check out our My Hiking Vacations page on Facebook.

Coming up, I have a hiking trip to Nevada. Lots of great places to explore, not far from Las Vegas. This will be my first visit to the state, and I have a friend there who is itching to show me all the beautiful spots.

Of course, the big trip on the horizon is our hiking tour of Switzerland, July 13-23. Still plenty of spaces available, so check out our Website http://myhikingvacations.com and sign up now. We're going to have a great time exploring the Alps.

Happy hiking,
Joseph

I'm Ready to Host the Winter Olympics. In Virginia.

It makes no sense. I'm supposed to leave in two days for the Winter Olympics, being held in a Canadian city (Vancouver) that's short on snow.

Yet here in Virginia? You bet. Two feet on the ground and more on the way. If I had known about this, I would have scheduled a glacier hiking workshop!

I haven't seen this much ice since I actually went glacier hiking in Switzerland last summer. If you'd like to see those glaciers for yourself (the ones in the Alps, not the ones in my front yard), then join us for our hiking trip this summer.

Happy Hiking (Or snowshoeing. Or cross-country skiing. Whatever.)
Joseph
http://myhikingvacations.com

A Swiss gem of a town, and it carries a "toon"

Now that we're well into 2010, it's time to start making those definitive plans for your summer vacation, so I thought I'd entice you with some photos from one of the most charming places you'll ever see. It's a city called Thun, whose first novelty for us English-speakers is its pronunciation: "toon". It's one of the places we'll visit when we take our hiking tour of the Swiss Alps this July, a spot to soak up some Swiss city atmosphere in between our treks in the mountains.

My last visit to Thun was in July 2009, and it happened to be the weekend the city hosted the international barrel organ festival. I'll have to admit, I wasn't sure what to expect from a barrel organ festival, but it was wonderfully surreal: hundreds of barrel organs lining the streets, playing "tunes" (pun intended) on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We ate at an outdoor cafe, toured the Thun Castle (built in 1195!!!) while others in our group rode on the largest ferris wheel in Switzerland. We didn't have time to book a boat ride out onto the gorgeous lake _ definitely something to consider for next time. I can't overstate what a great day it was.

So, there, are you sold yet? I make this pitch because if you wait too long to book your spot on our July 13-23 trip to Switzerland, it might be too late. We're only taking 14 people, and there's still room for you now. (Plus, it gives you a head start for planning some of the logistics, such as making sure you have an up-to-date passport.)

So visit our Web site http://myhikingvacations.com and give us a shout. I'm eager to see Thun again, and I'm eager to let you enjoy the place for yourself!

Happy Hiking,
Joseph

Orienteering _ A Crazier Way to Hike (or Run) Through the Woods

One of my favorite sports has a mouthful of a name and will never be in the Olympics. It's a way to turn exploration of the outdoors into a fun game for all ages. Call it competitive hiking, if you will. I prefer to think of it as a chance to relive my childhood ways in Bertie County when I would run with abandon through the woods, not caring if I got lost because it was always a fun adventure trying to find my way back home.

I'm referring to orienteering, a sport that's known worldwide and a must-try (at least once) for any fan of the outdoors. You use a map and compass to navigate your way to various checkpoints in the woods, seeing how fast you can get from start to finish without getting hopelessly off course.

If you've never been to a real orienteering meet, it's a blast. Most groups these days use an electronic keypunch attached to your finger to keep track of your time, so when you get home you can look on the Internet and see how you did. (That's pretty cool!) Courses at most meets range from easy to super-difficult, so 7-year-olds can have as much fan as elite athletes. Of course, most people aren't there to try to win _ they're just there to have a good time and see how well they do. Orienteering is popular among Boy Scouts because it's a requirement to advance to the rank of First Class; there's also an Orienteering Merit Badge.

I mention orienteering because that's what I'm doing tomorrow afternoon. I'm headed to the southern part of Fairfax County to take part in a meet sponsored by the Quantico Orienteering Club. I'm lucky to live in an area where the sport is popular, and the QOC is a great club. (They have meets throughout the year. Check out their Web site: qoc.nova.org)

Orienteering is also popular in Europe. The area in Switzerland where I'll be leading a hiking tour this July has several courses. (Go to http://myhikingvacations.com to learn more about the trip.)

So, if you've done your share of camping and hiking and biking and want to try something different outdoors, give orienteering a try. Worried about getting lost? Bring a partner. And a whistle!

I'm sure you'll have fun.

Happy Hiking (and Orienteering)
Joseph

A "4-blister" Hike

I guess it's possible to get into a hiking rut from doing the same trails with the same people in the same seasons every year. While I've never had that feeling personally _ and I have way too much fun when I'm hiking to think I ever will _ it's good to be proactive by seeking out new groups and new hikes.

For 2010, I'm doing some hikes with a local DC-area group called Wandering Soles. They took part in the New Year's Day hike along the C&O Canal, and this Saturday they will be doing a hike in Catoctin Park and Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland.

Wandering Soles has a "blister" rating for all of their hikes. "Easy" is less than 2 blisters, "moderate" is 2 to 3.5 blisters, and "difficult" is greater than 3.5 blisters. According to the scale, one blister equals about 5 miles or about 2,500 feet in elevation gain. That's a good way to gauge what you're getting into.

The hike this Saturday is a 4-blister hike _ hitting several of the high points in the parks at a moderate-to-fast pace over 9.5 miles with more than 5,000 feet of elevation gain. The tricky part could be the ice _ we still have remnants of recent snowfalls in these parts _ but the guide tells me she's already plotted an alternative route around dicier parts of the trail, if necessary.

Several people have asked me if the hiking trip to Switzerland I'm offering this summer will feel more like winter hiking in the U.S. because of the elevation of the Alps. Actually, summer in Switzerland is more like fall in the mid-Atlantic U.S., with warm days and cool nights and some rain thrown in. I have seen a snowfall on one July hike near a glacier, but for the most part you're wearing shorts and soaking up sunshine.

You can learn more about the trip by taking a peak at our "Your Questions Answered" page on our Web site: http://myhikingvacations.com/faq.php. Or just go to the main page and start from there. http://myhikingvacations.com.

Regardless of where you decide to hike this year, I hope you do try some new places and meet some new people. That's half the fun!

Happy Hiking,
Joseph

Ear Plugs _ A Requirement for a Hiking Tour?

Today I took part in the 36th annual New Year's Day hike along the C&O Canal in Washington, D.C., an 10-mile leisurely trek sponsored by the Sierra Club and supported by other hiking groups in the area. The weather was good _ compared to the wintry days we've had recently _ and I got to meet a lot of interesting people with interesting hiking stories. A great way to start 2010!

During the hike, the topic turned to problems that one might encounter while taking part in a hiking vacation. I was keenly interested _ mainly because I'll be leading an 11-day hiking tour of Switzerland in July. (Go to http://myhikingvacations.com/ for more information.)

One of the hikers mentioned ear plugs as an essential packing item. She said she's encountered roommates on hiking trips who snored without end _ making it difficult to sleep and sapping the energy needed to go on a hike the next day. I also pointed out that some people need ear plugs to cope with the change in air pressure while flying in an airplane.

It made me think: Should ear plugs be an essential item? Or an optional item? On the packing list page of my Web site (http://myhikingvacations.com/packing.php), I list ear plugs under "Optional Stuff" _ along with items such as binoculars, camera and pocket knife.

Based on my conversation with my fellow hiker, I have changed the entry. I still have ear plugs listed as optional, but I've added a line suggesting why they would be useful.

It just goes to show that, no matter know many hikes you've led, there's always something new to learn. Snoring has never bothered me, and it's never come up in hiking trips I've led with the Boy Scouts and other groups in the past. So, word to the wise: Think about ear plugs if you're a light sleeper or plane-pressure sensitive.

Again, Happy New Year to All,
Joseph