Trip Reports

I've now spent the good part of a month on detailed planning of my 2010 Challenge Route, and I've made some fairly major changes since I posted it last on January 7. I've added a nearly full rest day in Kingussie and …

The last two days of my TGO Challenge walk appear pretty straightforward. I follow the River Esk to Edzell and from there begin to follow smaller roads to Brechin and Montrose and the eastern shore of Scotland where my hike ends. Technically, …

Days 10-11: Braemar to Tarfside The next few days will put my navigation skills to the test. I'll be passing over very wild, open country to get to Lochnagar, a cluster of magnificent Munros, south of the Royal Balmoral Castle and Estate. …

Days 8 & 9: TGO Challenge Route Plan (2010) If the weather is good, Days 8 and 9 will be an incredibly scenic walk. My path on these days runs along Glen Feshie on the southwestern boundary of the magnificent Cairngorm Mountains …

When Naturegirl and I started hiking up to Mt Hancock (4,430 ft, above) and South Hancock (4,319 ft) on Saturday I felt like my face was going to freeze off. The trail head parking lot for this hike is very exposed to …

I needed to summit a mountain on Sunday and I wasn’t going to let physical exhaustion stand in my way. Starting a new job with a steep learning curve has been emotionally challenging. I wanted to reaffirm that I can still accomplish …

I did a lot of hiking last year up and down the Appalachian Trail in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine in addition to climbing a lot of the White Mountain 4,000 footers. I didn’t hike nearly as much as my friend …

Days 5-7: TGO Challenge Route Plan 2010 During the first 4 days of my route plan, I kept my daily mileage low to acclimate to the local environment and build in a hedge against bad weather which is common in Western Scotland. …

    Days 3 & 4: TGO Challenge Route Plan (2010) On days 3 and 4 of my hike, I’m going to be walking cross-country to Fort Augustus which is located at the southern end of Loch Ness. I’ll spend the night …

  Day 2 : TGO Challenge Route Plan (2010) After breaking camp somewhere between Alltbeithe Youth Hostel and Carnach Mor, I continue along the northern side of River Affric passing Allt Coire Ghaidheil (NH108208) and several ruins on the other side of …

  Introduction As I’ve mentioned before, the TGO Challenge is a 14 day coast-to-cost walk across Scotland running from May 14th – May 29th, 2010. I’ve been accepted into this year’s event from a field of international applicants. I’m in the final …

If you want to hike in Scotland, you need to learn some basic Gaelic words so you can read a map. The maps of Scotland published by the UK’s Ordnance Survey are full of Gaelic place names like Lairg Ghru, Beinn Bhreas, …

Here is a working draft of my 2010 TGO Challenge Route across Scotland. I realize that this probably just looks like a bunch of Gaelic place names right now, but I’ll be expanding the detail considerably over the next few weeks, with …

Photos Courtesy of Martin Rye Walter Underwood left a great comment last week on my book review of the NOLs Wilderness Guide, where he was critical about the book’s lack of time control plan (TCP) examples. A TCP or Route Plan, as …