Anyone else into trekking, scrambling etc?

I can't drive (well, UK stylee anyway.) :(

So I'm kinda dependent on 1) places that are accessable by rail (which are actually quite a lot more than you'd expect, we did some great walks on railcard discounts) or 2) going to visit people with cars. (I've been on some lovely walks in woods around Northampton/Rugby area - I never knew the midlands could be so beautiful! Or maybe that was those fresh mushrooms Carruthers kept rooting out.)

And man, never trust those lying weasly stoat bastards. You'd ask to get to Devon and end up in the Peak District if you followed their directions.

Ed's back in town next week, I'll try and round him up to do a spot of megalith hunting and psychogeographical rambling.

How about rambling around abandoned sites. Pretty sure urban exploration is a sport...

http://www.abandonedireland.com/

Used to do quite a bit of that, with my mate and with my ex - who was well into the whole Subterranea Britannica scene and all. I mean, there's a lot of really interesting walks to be done in London and I do enjoy doing those. We did like, the River Fleet walk and tracing the routes of electrical substations (and some day I will do the whole Circle Line walk, even though there no longer is a Circle Line.)

Abandonned sites are great fun, but you really need to be with people. It's not exactly safe doing it on your own.

It's just that walking in actual NATURE with, like, no humans and no buildings around is a very different feeling from walking around a city - even a great city like London. It's like the difference between a shopping mall and a cathedral.

When the weather picks up I'll go to Epping Forest which at least gives the feeling you're in an old growth (even if it's just Medieval) wood and not a potted plant like Hampstead Heath. That's always pretty great! And on the Tube.

Love going to Malham in north Yorkshire. Big climb up the waterfall here

Walk takes hours but its lovely round there, we go twice a year usually.

Heard about Malham, and stayed in North Yorkshire, in Richmond, a few years back, but was a couch potato in those baaaaad days...

  On 1/21/2010 at 5:17 PM, Grizz said:

Love going to Malham in north Yorkshire. Big climb up the waterfall here

 

fucking yes, i climbed that beast once on a field trip. forgot what the place was called.

i'd strongly recommend the Isle of Arran, walking around the edge and across the middle is goddamn amazing.

Wow those are great pics, Conor!

man bloody brilliant pics up in this bitch, and yes hiking and walking around in a nice environment is as peaceful as it gets sometimes. I usually find myself becoming most creative when out in nature

  On 1/22/2010 at 1:58 PM, ezkerraldean said:

i'd strongly recommend the Isle of Arran, walking around the edge and across the middle is goddamn amazing.

i've posted these pics of mine before but since you mention arran...

Wow, those megalith pics are frankly amazing, Keltoi.

thanks. you'd be hard pushed to take a shit photo there, it's BEAUTIFUL!

It looks pretty incomplete. Did they get bored before roofing it? Think I'd be onto those builders if I had hired them...

Went on a hike up in the Santa Monica mountains here in coastal California and it was awesome. Not quite the lush green views you guys have over there across the pond... more desertscapes over here. Oversteps would have made a nice soundtrack.

The little pod-like things on the plant produce white blooms

Like this

Saw a few rock-climbers out there

Ended up at a small creek where ladybugs are in abundance

Stopped to rest, have some snacks and enjoy a nice Boards of Canada moment... (looking up)

wonderful scenery, especially that last one

yeah looks very nice out there. i went backpacking in the adirondacks for a few days earlier this year (before black flies) and i camp in other various local places. recently got some kayaks too, those are a ton of fun, can't wait to take them out for a multi-day trip.

Yeah the black flies were pretty bad in some spots. Out for blood!

You should post some pics of your trip!

i hiked a good chunk of the appalachian trail when i was 17. it was great. lots of weird people out on the trail, but nice-weird, not rape-weird. thankfully.

holding on to invisible support structure.

on the way home

the water you see is a part of lake george, everything looks so small in the pics....

  On 6/15/2010 at 8:33 PM, Superstix said:

 

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looking down. hi guys :)

 

 

fav+

  On 6/15/2010 at 9:29 PM, theSun said:

 

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holding on to invisible support structure.

on the way home

 

 

the water you see is a part of lake george, everything looks so small in the pics....

Wow, those are great pics! Cool dog. What is the cabin?

Yeah, I can't ever seem to capture on camera the immensity of some places. Or the saturation of rainbows either. Just have to be there, I guess.

  On 6/15/2010 at 9:41 PM, Superstix said:

  On 6/15/2010 at 9:29 PM, theSun said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

holding on to invisible support structure.

on the way home

 

 

the water you see is a part of lake george, everything looks so small in the pics....

 

Wow, those are great pics! Cool dog. What is the cabin?

 

Yeah, I can't ever seem to capture on camera the immensity of some places. Or the saturation of rainbows either. Just have to be there, I guess.

it's a leanto. most places there (that i go to anyway) are primitive camp sites (basically a marker that says you can legally camp there and maybe a fire pit if you're lucky), but leantos are also scattered around certain trails/ponds/mountains. if we had found this on the first day it would be our camp, but we set up our tent about a half mile down that trail and didn't want to break camp and lug our 50-80 lb packs all the way up.

anyone who happens to be in the NE US and might be interested in camping ADKs i'd love to set up a trip.

Lake George! I recognise that view!

I spent a lot of time hiking around that lake during my teenage years. Some absolutely stunning country round there, upstate NY has some of the most beautiful scenery on earth.

yes it really is. it's about 5-6 hours away from me, making it just a tad too inconvenient for an overnight. if you know where you're going though, it's totally worth it!

whenever i come back from trips out there i get really claustrophobic, anxious and distant when thrown back into my dying urban city of buffalo

It's always a tragedy when something lovely like walking around falls victim to enthusiasts who insist on coming up with all kinds of terminology and products surrounding the activity.

i'm assuming that's directed at the OP but i just describe my tent-camping-in-the-woods as backpacking. trekking seems like a long trip, scrambling seems like trying not to fall off a mountain.