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