Tag Archives: accommodation types

Yosemite High Sierra Camps Trip Report

Yosemite Camp CabinsYOSEMITE HIGH SIERRA CAMPS — AUGUST 2016

By Rachael Swift

I recently completed a 6 day, 5 night ranger-guided group hut-to-hut hike to four of the Yosemite High Sierra Camps.  I was accompanied by my husband Bill and our 23 year old son Tom. We started at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge and from there hiked to Sunrise, Merced Lake, Vogelsang, and then back to Tuolumne Meadows Lodge. We did not go to the camps at May Lake or Glen Aulin which I am now really looking forward to seeing at some future time.

Reservations are by lottery through the National Parks Service concessionaire website.

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Tent-to-tent as hut-to-hut in the N. Cascades National Park

Tent-to-tent

Photos in this post are courtesy of Stehekin Outfitters

Stehekin Outfitters has a unique business model: tent-to-tent hiking in a U.S. National Park.  This unique form of “hut-to-hut” seems like a great way to support hikers who want to go out for several days and don’t have the gear or experience to do full-on backpacking.

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Outdoor Society argues for more huts in USA

Mathias Eichler, outdoors advocate and editor of the Outdoor Society blog, grew up in the foothills of the Alps.  He can’t understand why there are not more huts in USA, his beloved adopted land.  He is a great fan of our National Parks and advocate for recreational use of public land. {Featured image courtesy Mathias Eichler}

In two posts (click on titles in excerpts below) he discusses his ideas.  In an editorial “Whats next for America’s Public Lands?” he presents a case for more huts on public lands.  A separate piece “Eight Huts we need in the Mountains of the American West” presents brief profiles, accompanied by great pictures, of some huts he admires.

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Profile: Founder of a pioneering network of Atlas Mountain guest-houses

Jamal Ait Lachegar, Berber Travel Adventures

A recent five-day walk in Morocco opened my eyes to a vital modern incarnation of ancient mountain hospitality: local families providing shelter to strangers. This is the story of Jamal Ait Lachegar, who is quietly realizing the dream of home-stays for walkers as a form of cultural exchange and preservation. And the story of a man whose work is building towards a larger dream: perhaps a future “Berber Trail”, possibly operated as part of the nascent International Appalachian Trail.

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Trip Report: Lower Atlas Mountains through Berber Villages

Submitted by Laurel Bradley, December 2015; Photo above is of our guide Jamal and the author.

Taking advantage of cheap international flights from my 2015-16 homebase of Dublin, Ireland, my husband and I travelled to Morocco for the 2015 Christmas season. Avid hikers, we sought access to mountains near Marrakech, our debarkation point. We found the perfect opportunity to walk 4-6 hours daily through agricultural valleys and rocky or forested mountains, and to experience the particular pleasures of Berber culture with a five day, four night journey organized by Berber Travel Adventures, a small company based in Amazmiz (55 km from Marrakech). Jamal, the sole proprietor and trained mountain guide, led the way. We were also accompanied by Mohammad, an able and cheerful muleteer, and by Maria, the patient beast of burden.  They put together a great trip for us!

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