Backpacks and blisters - the walking thread

[Shades & Shadows]

Currently on a walking holiday in the High Weald area. Did a 12 mile walk today and came across this amazing tree...

[Paul S]

Day two from Dawlish to Sidmouth in glorious conditions. I arrived at Starcross 2 hours early for the first ferry to Exmouth so I took the train instead. Exmouth to Budleigh Salterton was easy but to Sidmouth was tough. Sixteen miles to Lyme Regis tomorrow, six of them through the Great Bindon landslip.

Starcross looking over the Exe estuary.

[Paul S]

The first of three days on the South West Coast Path and I walked from Torquay to Dawlish. The first ten miles took 5 hours and was pretty tough going but the last five along the seawall were fantastic. Dawlish seafront.

[S. aureus]

I'm sure that I'm projecting, but it looks dry to me

Though it is late August

I don't think that it ever doesn't look dry at this time of year, it must be quite unusual for there to have not been at least 2 months without any rain whatsoever by now. That being said, it has been extra dry in general, as witnessed by the issues the Western US has been having.

[S. aureus]

[ursus arctos]

I'm sure that I'm projecting, but it looks dry to me

Though it is late August

[S. aureus]

The have some nifty new trail markers. I like the grading of the trails (here "Easy")

[S. aureus]

[S. aureus]

Takes you to the park entrance, all in all about a mile.

[S. aureus]

Down this path to the creek

[S. aureus]

...and along this quiet street (a cul de sac, median home price per zillow looks to be of the order of $6M).

[S. aureus]

Then go a couple of hundred meters along this path...

[S. aureus]

First you climb up the hill on this track - here looking back down to 280, which you can see through a gap in the trees on the left.

[S. aureus]

Some photos of the afore-mentioned trail from I280 into Huddart Park - the cars in the background are hurrying along the interstate.

[S. aureus]

That may be in part because the main entrance is several miles from the interstate. Not a lot of people seem to know that you can park just off 280 and walk over the ridge into Huddart along Crystal Springs Trail, a small part of which is along a very quiet (and wealthy) cul de sac and the rest trail or fire road. It's about a mile to walk, and quite pleasant.

[ursus arctos]

The Peninsula can be full of surprises.

Huddart is maybe half a mile from a major interstate highway, but one would never know that.

[S. aureus]

It looks like a good path SA. Is it always so little-used?

Hiking in my local range has been almost a weekly thing these summer holidays. I went with a friend yesterday, and he lives on the other side of the range from me, so there were at least some changes in perspective. We started with Magura ; as Ad Hoc suggested, this must be a Hungarian word for 'hillock', though people here don't know its meaning, or that it has a meaning. Whatever, it's a tiring 750m climb up, but there's a welcome sight near the top - a cottage that provides refreshments and a warm welcome. From there, we went on to two much-loved peaks, Suchy and Maly Krivan. Other than a bit of rock scrambling between these two, over Biele Skalky (white rocks), this is much gentler walking. Then a 3 hour descent. I'm resting today, with the occasional hobble round the flat. Have to go out to watch football later though.

It's not unusual for me to see nobody else on it. Phleger Estate has 4 mile trail that is, in theory, only accessible by going through Huddart Park first, either at the top or the bottom of the hill (in theory because there are a couple of side trails in from Skyline and you can probably go straight in if you own the fancy estate that neighbours it at the bottom). Even on times where I do meet other people it's rarely more than 1 or 2, though I don't go on weekends where it may well be much busier. I think there's about a 1,500 feet elevation change from Skyline to the creek at the bottom of the park, and there's another 1.6 mile branch trail within the park.

[jameswba]

Ah, thanks for that. When you mentioned it before, I just automatically assumed it would be Hungarian, since we have that common influence and Magura is a common name here too. We really have lots of mountains with the name - every other range seems to have its Magura. I'll ask one of our Slovak teachers if she could explain how it came to be commonly-used in Slovakia.

[ad hoc]

Suchy and Biele Skalky (White Rocks) from just below Maly Krivan

They're all great but this one's my favourite

[ad hoc]

It looks like a good path SA. Is it always so little-used?

Hiking in my local range has been almost a weekly thing these summer holidays. I went with a friend yesterday, and he lives on the other side of the range from me, so there were at least some changes in perspective. We started with Magura ; as Ad Hoc suggested, this must be a Hungarian word for 'hillock', though people here don't know its meaning, or that it has a meaning. Whatever, it's a tiring 750m climb up, but there's a welcome sight near the top - a cottage that provides refreshments and a warm welcome. From there, we went on to two much-loved peaks, Suchy and Maly Krivan. Other than a bit of rock scrambling between these two, over Biele Skalky (white rocks), this is much gentler walking. Then a 3 hour descent. I'm resting today, with the occasional hobble round the flat. Have to go out to watch football later though.

Magura is the Romanian word for hillock. Which doesn't really explain why there would be one in Slovakia (in Hungarian it would be dombocska)

[jameswba]

Eastern part of Mala Fatra from Maly Krivan

[jameswba]

Suchy and Biele Skalky (White Rocks) from just below Maly Krivan

[jameswba]

Maly Krivan seen through the trees.

[jameswba]

Cottage just below Magura

[jameswba]

It looks like a good path SA. Is it always so little-used?

Hiking in my local range has been almost a weekly thing these summer holidays. I went with a friend yesterday, and he lives on the other side of the range from me, so there were at least some changes in perspective. We started with Magura ; as Ad Hoc suggested, this must be a Hungarian word for 'hillock', though people here don't know its meaning, or that it has a meaning. Whatever, it's a tiring 750m climb up, but there's a welcome sight near the top - a cottage that provides refreshments and a warm welcome. From there, we went on to two much-loved peaks, Suchy and Maly Krivan. Other than a bit of rock scrambling between these two, over Biele Skalky (white rocks), this is much gentler walking. Then a 3 hour descent. I'm resting today, with the occasional hobble round the flat. Have to go out to watch football later though.