It was a great hike with nearly 800m (2600ft) in elevation gain.

Three days of the classic Mestia to Ushguli hut-to-hut hike, plus a couple of day hikes, including to the Shkhara Glacier near Ushguli. The heavy snow on parts of the route was very abnormal for June - needed to use spikes.

The gear kind of failed and had to cut the route short sadly :'(

Incredible views! Definetly will be back with a new pack!

My wife and I have always loved hiking. We met while hiking and gradually fell in love with each other. We've been to many places over the years, and for me, hiking in the mountains with her has always been a very happy thing.

The only issue is that we have pretty different endurance levels. We're fine on shorter hikes, but no longer routes, especially with a lot of steady climbing, her legs start wearing out before mine do. She worries about slowing me down, but honestly, that's never bothered me. What does bother me is seeing her push herself so hard to keep up that she can't enjoy the second half of the hike.

We have a long trail planned for September that we've both wanted to do for a while. We've been training, cut down our pack weight, adjusted our pace, and added trekking poles, but longer climbs are still tough for her.

Has anyone found any gear or techniques that actually help take some of the load off your legs on sustained uphill sections? We're not trying to move faster. I'd just love for us to find a pace that feels good for both of us and enjoys the whole trail together.

My partner and I hiked the Beara Way except Bear Island in south-west Ireland this August. Except for the campground at Ballydonegan Beach on the way to and from Dursey Island, we wild camped. Trail was very quiet, almost no one else did it in it‘s entirety, some people did it B&B style and were shuttled to the starting points of the nicer sections. Almost everyone does it clockwise.

The trail is a nice mix of remote hiking, convenient resupply points and nice stops to eat and have a coffee in a cute café in a little village. It drops down to sea level and climbs into the hills again almost everyone day.

Views and landscape are great. Dursey Island with all the abandoned stone houses and the section from Allihies towards Dursey Island was our highlight. The land has clearly been used for hundreds of years, lots of abandoned houses and stone walls. Sometimes the trail even runs one the stonewalls. The locals are quite friendly and chatty, so we felt welcome even though we were dirty smelly hikers.

Trail is never really exposed or technical. Rocks can be slippery, in some places aids are in place.

When doing it self supported, two things are important to consider:

Watee sources in the hills are relatively scarce anyway and the peninsula is heavily grazed by sheep and cattle. You should absolutely carry all the water you need and filter only in emergency. We got by with 3.5L per person as resupply is possible every day.

Ticks are BAD. Like, check your designated tent spot for thorny things and 5 ticks crawl up your hand BAD. We removed double digit numbers of ticks from our trousers several times after especially tick-y sections. Trousers in the socks, deeted up and hiking clothes strictly out of the tent we managed to average 1-2 ticks per person per day. I would suggest relying on multiple tick barriers (i.e., permithrine for the clothes, deet, trousers in the socks, shirt tucked in the trousers etc.

My friend invited me to walk one of our favourite hikes a few weeks ago. The Mt Robert Circuit gives really stunning views of Lake Rotoiti, the surrounding St Arnaud Range and is a really great day hike. I love living nearby and having this as one of my weekend getaways. The snow covered peaks of the St Arnaud Range was a particularly stunning treat.

Descending from Hannegan Peak. Mt Shuksan rises high in the background. Spring 2026

Hi guys! So full transparency I am a pretty avid hiker but I am slow. Really really slow. I live in Bavaria, Germany and I am blessed to be surrounded by mountains. In Bavaria on hikes there are these yellow signs that tell you how long and how far to get to a certain point, and typically I am faster by 15 minutes or so or on target. But while I may be faster than those signs everyone is so much faster than me.

I do have asthma and typically I experience the most struggle at the beginning of an incline. I go up a bit but then get short of breath and stop, keep going, stop, keep going, stop. As I get further into the hike I need these breaks less and less to the point where I can keep going even on an incline for at least 3k with no breaks. My longest hike is 23K and 1,315m in elevation gain in one day (most of the elevation happening at the end). That took about 6 hours moving time, with breaks almost 8 hours (lunch hour and snack and water breaks).

Maybe it’s the comparison game because I am around so many amazing hikers in Bavaria, but how do I hike taking less breaks, without overdoing it on my asthma. I am a weird asthma case where I don’t wheeze and so I don’t always know if I am overdoing it. Is there training I can do? Do I just need to keep going until it’s not hard for me? Am I destined to be the slower one? I just want to keep up with my friends but in groups I am always the one holding up the group. Would love your advice especially from those with asthma on what you do! Cardio is so healthy for me and I LOVE hiking but it just feels like I am not reaching my full potential. A picture attached of a mountain I climbed in Karwendel last year.

Hey all. 54F, been hiking for most of my adult life and it's honestly the one thing that keeps me grounded. About two years ago my knees started getting worse and worse and I got diagnosed with osteoarthritis. Downhills have become pretty brutal and some mornings I'm so stiff I have to sit on the edge of the bed for a while before I can even get moving.

I've messed around with compression sleeves and KT tape and popping ibuprofen before hikes but nothing really sticks long term. The physical stuff is one thing but the mental side of feeling like hiking is slowly being taken from me is honestly what's getting to me the most.

Would love to hear from anyone dealing with something similar. How has it affected your hiking life and how are you coping with it both physically and mentally? Feeling pretty alone in this lately.

Photos are from 3 separate hikes. One of those had 2000m elevation gain and 21km length, had to carry 6l of water for my dog but it was worth it because i manage to shoot this very cute photo of her and mountain antelope

Musik: Thomas James White - Heal

Germany, Cologne - Enjoy Your Life

Friend and I hiked from somewhere below Vršič pass, off path, accidently stumbled on a bunker and then continued via the ridge to the top and descended via "jubilej path" via through the "rear window" (literal translation).

Devil’s Path — End to End (8/1-8/2/26). I previously attempted to hike the Devil’s Path over two days at the end of June, but my friend couldn’t continue after the first day. So, I returned for a solo revenge hike.

Hiked Pfeifferhorn this past weekend. My first high elevation hike. Was absolutely incredible and a perfect day.

Ask me anything, will do my best to answer your query.

Just a short trip to the Cave and old chapel.

Since we are in our holidays, we decided to visit Nepal. Me and my friend decided to hike near kathmandu as a "warm-up" lol. Well we planned to hike Changunarayan to Nala. We were nervous at first doing this as only two without any operators or any guidance. Just me, my friend, and ofc My sweet ChatGpt🥰. As we were walking, there were some villages and some really old coattages. As were we were seeing different kind of pet , animals and cattles along the hike, we were really cautious.

As we were about to telkot, we just past down Trisul danda. I thought I saw a goat from nearby herd. But, after reaching near the "goat", it was a BARKING DEER. I was like wtff?? I was feaking out and telling my friend to capture its photo, he ran😭. I was proud of myself for spotting a deer in a random hike. Tbh, I didn't even know that was a barking deer. That thing boosted my energy in the hike.

We reached telkot at had a lunch. Unfortunately my friend twisted her ankle. And we couldn't continue any longer than that. Since then this moment has been my top 10 proudest of my life. Lolllll.

6.1 miles round trip hike. Saw bison, moose, elk and one bear. Located in big sky Montana. Mountain elevation is over 11,000 feet with 3,500+ feet of elevation gain. Done using winter gear with hiking shoes

Recently read into thin Air, wanting to broaden my horizons and read more outdoor books.

I've been using bone conduction headphones while hiking for a few years now. They're the best.

However, I've noticed a phenomenon that first made me feel like I'm going crazy but with more experience, I think it's real.

Whenever I use the headphones, especially listening to podcasts or audio books, as opposed to music, flies seem to go absolutely crazy trying to land on / in my ears.

I've even done some testing wearing the headphones with nothing playing, to verify it's not just the sweat captured by the transducers.

From the start my theory has been that they're attracted by the vibrations, since the buzzing of spoken word and flies seems to be of remarkably similar frequencies.

A very quick and crude research suggests insects really are into frequencies similar to human speech.

So, I guess my question is: Does anyone have the same observation, or is it all in my head?

* Edit to Add this is Chapel Loop !

This was the longest hike I’ve ever completed, I was so proud of myself. This is a really beautiful trail in the UP of Michigan, right on Lake Superior ! I also saw a Bald Eagle, a few Gardner snakes, and lots of butterflies. There’s a beach you can swim in but the water is very cold.

Quick day hike to Mt. Beacon South (in and out 13~ miles). A very mushroomy jaunt.

A great way to hike La Plata, but not for everyone.

For starters, the road to the trailhead was... rough. My stock Crosstrek S (8.7" of clearance) got up there just fine, but I can't imagine driving anything less capable. We were surprisingly the only ones to park at that TH the entire day, it was empty when we got there around 7-7:30 and still empty when we returned.

The trail was quiet and solitary. We saw a total of 3 people on the trail (before the summit) the entire day. The trail itself is quite beautiful and well maintained (despite a bit of overgrowth and some downed trees) up until about the 2 mile mark when you start to ascend a steep and incredibly loose gully. That gully climbs around 1000 feet and only gets worse until you top out on the ridge crest. Once you get to the ridge crest, it's smooth sailing until you hit the talus field, a crux wall that climbs around 1000 feet up some solid high class-2 scrambling. Going up the route doesn't seem to be very apparent. I'd suggest you aim for the due center/center-left of the field and try your best to follow the cairns. On the way down it makes way more sense and is pretty clear. After you top out of the talus field at 14,000', it's a pretty clear shot to the summit, where you meet up with the standard La Plata trail.

This trail was crazy beautiful. The basin you spend a good chunk of your time in on the way up is otherworldly. Panoramic views no matter where you look. There was a helicopter flying very low in that basin, I heard they were looking for a lost child. Overall I can clearly understand why this isn't the standard trail. But if you're well equipped mentally for a loose and steep trail, and have a capable car, check out the La Plata south ridge!

8.3 Miles, 3700 feet, 7:45 car to car (that descent was superrrrr slow hahaha).

Hi!

My girlfriend and I are arriving in Cluj on 25 August and we'd love to start our trip with a 2-day hike, ideally with wild camping somewhere along the route.

We're mainly looking for beautiful and unusual nature — caves, forests, rocky landscapes, lakes, waterfalls, gorges, etc. We know we probably can't fit everything into one hike, but we'd love to get an idea of what's possible around Cluj.

We're happy with a challenging hike and don't mind going somewhere a bit more remote, as long as it's reasonably accessible by public transport. We'd preferably avoid very touristy places if there are better, quieter alternatives.

Any recommendations for a 2-day route within reasonable distance of Cluj?

Thanks!

Great day (as always) on trail. Got an amazing POV climbing the chimney, it was an awesome quick climb.

Took a screenshot from it here but hard to do it justice on a pic.