Backpacker Magazine – January 2013

Limit Pusher: Three More Epics

Test yourself on these wild routes.

by: Andrew Matranga

Tags:
• Destinations
|
• Alaska
|
• New York
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• Mexico
|

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Wrangell-St. Elias NP, AK
Southern Traverse
Cross nine passes, six icefields, two major glaciers, and two-dozen streams on a 13-day, 95-mile expedition in the country’s largest national park. The biggest challenge? Finding secure footing on steep sidehills, navigating thick vegetation, and negotiating unstable talus. backpacker.com/southerntraverse

Catskills, NY
Devils Path
Tag six peaks on this 25-miler in the northern Catskills, accumulating 18,000 feet of gain and loss. Start at first light and pack headlamps and four quarts of water (it’s a 16-plus-hour day). Wear sturdy boots (not trail runners): Your feet will take a satanic pounding on the East’s toughest dayhike. backpacker.com/devilspath

Copper Canyon NP, Mexico
Rim to Rim Loop
Trek 38 miles from the villages of Divisadero to Pamachi through a canyon deeper than our Grand, notching 20,000 feet in elevation change. But it’s not all rise and fall: Soak in hot springs, climb through hanging valleys, and stroll bamboo forests amid chorusing parrots. backpacker.com/coppercanyon

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