And Then There Were 43

Colvin & Blake.  14.8 miles.  4,310' elevation gain.  8 hours 54 minutes hours car-to-car.

colvin

blake

great range

autumn awesome

Marshall.  14 miles.  2,575' elevation gain.  EXACTLY 8 hours car-to-car.

mmmmarshall

marshall panorama

prettiest trail in the ADK

And now.

Allen.
Nippletop.
Sawteeth.

Which would you do last?

2010 By the Numbers

Once a geek, always a geek.  I might be smooth with my public words, but not in matters of the heart.

The year 2010 was all about heart, and I'm having a hard time answering the question, "Sooo, how was your trip."  I don't know.  Extraordinary?  What the hell does that mean?

No, it's better to take the objective approach.  I'll communicate in numbers, paint the picture with data. This was the monumental 'round the world trip of 2010...  in numbers.

Basics

• Days outside the USA:  313
• Countries and territories: 13 (USA, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, Israel, West Bank, Ukraine) on 3 continents (Australia, Asia, Europe)

where i've been in 2010

Places

• UNESCO World Heritage Sites: 13 (Tongariro National Park, Sydney Opera House, Borobudur, Angkor, Kathmandu Valley, Lumbini, Chitwan National Park, Sagarmatha National Park, Historic Areas of Istanbul, Göreme National Park, Baha'i Gardens, Masada, White City of Tel Aviv)
• Highest elevation: 5,550 m (18,500 ft), Kala Pattar, Nepal
• Lowest elevation: -411 m (-1,350 ft), Dead Sea, Israel 
• Favorite country:  First place:  Turkey, because of its culture, food, natural beauty, diversity, friendliness of the people, and ease of getting off the beaten path.  Runners-up:  New Zealand, because of its natural beauty, and Thailand, because I want to explore the north of the country.

in the back of the ute

Catching ZZZ's

• Hostels and guesthouses:  somewhere around 22, plus 28 teahouses while trekking in Nepal
• Couchsurf hosts:  9 (every country except Singapore, Cambodia, Nepal, and Israel (see below))
• Family and friends:  3 (all in Israel)
• Airports:  4 (Auckland, Singapore, Istanbul, Tel Aviv)
• Oddball places I've spent the night:  in a tent in New Zealand for several months, in a van in New Zealand for one month, under a mosquito net in the back of a Ute in Australia, on a yacht in Australia, at a monestary in Nepal, in a concrete cell in Thailand

shoot me now

Transport

• Flights taken: 17 (many flights from one city to another had multiple segments)
• Miles flown: 28,695 (damn)
• Long-distance bus rides: 17 (Yogya to Bromo, Bromo to Denpasar, KL to Cameron Highlands, Cameron Highlands to Taman Negara, Taman Negara to KL, Butterworth to Hat Yai, Siem Reap to Bangkok, KTM to Jiri, KTM to Besisahar, Pokhara to KTM, KTM to Chitwan, Chitwan to Lumbini, Lumbini to Pokhara, Pokhara to KTM, Diyarbakir to Urfa, Urfa to Goreme, Goreme to Istanbul)
• Long-distance train rides: 4 (Jakarta to Yogya, KL to Butterworth, Surat Thani to Bangkok, Bangkok to Aranyaprathet)
• Ferry rides: 2 (Java to Bali, Istanbul)
• Motor vehicle rentals: 3 (Bali, Australia, Israel)
• Which country has the worst buses?  Nepal

itty bitty writing muse kitty

Languages

• Languages spoken: 11 (English, Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai, Cambodian, Nepali, Turkish, Kurdish, Hebrew, Arabic, Ukrainian) 
• Alphabets seen: 7 (Latin, Thai, Cambodian, Devanagari/Nepali, Hebrew, Arabic, Cyrillic)
• Alphabets read: 3 (Latin, Devanagari/Nepali, Cyrillic)
• Easiest language to learn:  Indonesian
• Hardest language to learn:  Nepali

Remembering

• Photos on the hard drive:  10,885 (mine), 6,117 (Davo)
• Blog posts:  126 (though some were written before departure)
• Personal journal entries:  313 (one for every day of the trip), plus 9 special entries, in 3 volumes (2 digital, 1 hand-written)
• Favorite memory:  too many to list!!!

sunset at angelus hut, nelson lakes, new zealand

The Great Outdoors

• Total trail (hiking) days: 83 (New Zealand 30, Indonesia 1, Malaysia 4, Nepal 46, Turkey 2)
• Rock climbing: twice (Wharepapa, New Zealand and Koh Tao, Thailand)
• National Parks: 18 (Tongariro, Taranaki, Nelson Lakes, Westland, Aoraki, Mt. Aspiring, Fiordland, Litchfield, Bromo Tengger Semeru, Taman Negara, Chitwan, Langtang, Sagarmatha, Annapurna, Göreme National Park, Caesarea, Ein Gedi, Masada)
• Most magnificent natural place:  Kala Pattar, Nepal and Nelson Lakes, New Zealand

the view from kala pattar, nepal

Road Trip... Trivia!

The epic New Zealand road trip of 2010 has come to an end.  On Tuesday morning, I arrived back in Tuateawa, where I will be working and living for the next month.

The road trip was an awesome experience.  I could probably write a novel about it, but isn't a list of trivia more entertaining?  Yeah, that's what I thought.

Life in the Van Trivia

• Road trip length:  36 days/ 35 nights
• Distance driven:  5,447 km/ 3,404 miles
• Nights in random people's houses:  2
• Nights the cold kept me awake:  1 (thank you, upstate ny)
• Total restaurant meals eaten:  3
• Cheese consumed by both of us:  5 kg/ 11 lbs (eww)
• Juice drank by Dave:  15 L/ 4 gallons
• Diet cola drank by Nicole:  not telling you
• What I think of oatmeal for breakfast:  like eating plaster
• Longest consecutive days w/o seeing the inside of a shower or bathtub:  14
• National Parks visited:  7 (Tongariro, Egmont, Westland, Mt. Aspiring, Fiordland, Mt. Cook, Nelson Lakes)
• HEY COW points:  a lot
• Favorite North Island city:  New Plymouth
• Favorite South Island city:  Dunedin
• Favorite moment:  hiking into Angelus Lake basin at sunset
• Creepiest moment:  sharing a very small backcountry hut with an insane hunter packing a large rifle

Tramping (Hiking) Trivia

• Distance hiked:  290.5 km/ 181.6 mi
• Days hiked:  24 out of 36 (66.6%)
• Trail hours:  113.5 (nearly three 40-hour work weeks)
• Average trail speed:  1.6 mph
• Approximate elevation gain:  8370 m/ 27,600 ft (almost an Everest)
• Highest elevation:  2590 m/ 8547 feet (summit of Ruapehu)
• Lowest elevation:  sea level (Tasman Sea)
• Longest day:  10 hrs (camp to summit of Ngauruhoe to camp to Whakapapa Village)
• Greatest consecutive days on the trail:  9 (Mt. Aspiring Nat'l Park to Routeburn/Caples Tracks to Kepler Track)
• Longest without resupply:  5 (Routeburn/Caples Tracks)
• Nights in backcountry huts:  11
• Nights in a tent:  1
• Named mountains summited:  5  (Ngauruhoe, Ruapehu, Taranaki, Luxmore, Roberts)
• Alpine crossings:  8
• Unbridged streams crossed:  38 (yes I counted)
• Places where my boots are held together with glue:  11
• Wipe-outs (defined as ass on ground):  9
• Foot mishaps:  2 (1 strange something between the toes; 1 ball of foot strain)
• Ibuprophen taken:  too many...  waaaaaaay too many
• Useless DoC warnings:  3 (1 bridge out, but the stream was easy to cross; 1 hill slide that was easy to bypass; 1 very muddy section, which was actually dry)
• Times I got rained on:  3 (not bad!)
• Things I daydreamed about most while hiking:  a hot shower, obscene quantities of bacon (yeah, I know) and eggs, Mumford & Sons songs
• Kea seen:  5
• Sea lions seen:  3
• Penguins seen:  17 (7 yellow-eyed penguins; 10 blue penguins)

The end...  or maybe to be continued.  :-)