The Most Dangerous Trails in the World!!!

#396 - A while ago I published an episode about some of the most dangerous trails in the US, so I thought it would be fun to introduce some of the most dangerous trails in the world. Of course, these aren't all of them and I do plan on doing another episode, featuring but trails in the US and all over that I wasn't able to include. Each trail is over 3 miles long or part of a longer trail and none are mountaineering trails where you would have use climbing skills. Even if you never plan on running, hiking or backpacking any of these trails, it's still fun to think about them, I think so anyway. So, start daydreaming! 

Transcript

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We runners love the outdoors. Many of us also love history. If you love both, then check out Hidden West, a YouTube channel all about the people, places, and events that make the American West an incredible place. Welcome to Martha Runs the World, a podcast with a new take on running, fitness, and all things health-oriented. I'm Martha Hughes, your host, and each week I present a new topic that is of interest to all runners. Hi, and welcome to episode 396 of Martha Runs the World. Thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it each and every week. Have you ever daydreamed or seriously thought of running or hiking a long route or even a shorter trail over a not so easy course on the other side of the globe? There are a few I've thought about doing, maybe in the future or maybe never, just daydreaming it about it. This week is a continuation of the Dangerous Trail series I started a while ago. In the first episode, I covered the most dangerous trails in the US, or some of them anyway, there's too many to put in all in one episode. But this week I cover the rest of the world. Some of them, as I said. There's too many to do in one or two episodes. These are all iconic, incredible hikes and amazing places. If you've done any of them, you rock and tell me about them. You can email me at my email address, MarthaRunsTorld at gmail.com. And just a few caveats before I start. Each trail has to be at least three miles long. There are shock trails, as I call them, sort of like an unsafe amusement park ride. The Chinese love these. There are many of them in China. They love dangerous, really dangerous routes, but many are quite shorts, maybe a hundred yards long or a hundred feet long, and where they just want people to just get freaked out. That's not really a trail as far as I'm concerned, so I did not include any of those. I'm also not including routes to tops of mountains if you have to do any climbing at all. Scrambling over some rocks, that's fine, but if you have to have mountain climbing skills, that's not really a trail that you can run or hike on. Climbing is a distinct skill and it's not part of this podcast. Now, some of these may be impossible to get to or may be difficult to get to other parts of the globe, but I think it's fun to think about. Some of these are going to be very expensive, so not really possible for you, but hey, like I said, it's something to think about. I know I probably will never be able to afford hardly any of these, but you know, like I said, daydreaming. Many of these trails are multi-day trails, so they're better suited for backpacking or fast packing. But many runners like to do both trail running and backpacking, so that's why I'm including them. I have not attempted any of these trails personally, but I have what been watching a bunch of videos on them about hikers or people who did do these and their thoughts and experiences. Now I'm not able to cover all of them in one episode, so I'll be doing another episode with all those that I couldn't cover, and I'll include some in the US that I didn't have time for in the first episode. So there'll be a third one to wrap up everything. Alright, so let's get started. First one is the Italian and Austrian Via Ferradas in the Dolomite Mountains. The Dolomites are a section of mountains that are like part of the Alps or just south of the Alps, it's all in that section of mountains. Via Ferrata means iron path in Italian. They were first designed to help soldiers move through the mountain passes during World War I. Over time, adventure seekers, hikers, and the like discovered them and made them their own. There isn't one particular trail, but a series of trails found in both the Italian and Austrian Alps. You can choose what degree of risk you wish to take, from a challenging trail, yet not too challenging trail or hike, all the way up to climbing up metal rung ladders on the side of steep cliffs, followed by a ladder crawl over a very steep ravine. That one freaks me out to the max. But you can do that if you want. You can take one that's challenging but not very scary, up all the way to the really, really super scary ones. For me, I don't like heights, so I'm not gonna be climbing up any metal rungs, I'm not gonna be climbing up a ladder over a cliff. No, thank you. No, but that's if you want to do that, that's very cool. During the climbing portions, climbers wear helmets and and climbing harnesses and use lanyards with carabiners for safety. So they uh they are safe. There are they are hooked in, they're not gonna go crashing down into the uh into the cliff thousand feet below or two thousand feet below, whatever it is. It's really up to you how far and how long you want to be out there. You can spend one afternoon, a couple hours, or you can be out there for a couple days. There are alpine huts where you can stay and you make your reservations ahead of time and you sleep in there, and then they have breakfast for you, and then you go from hut to hut, and you can have lunch and in another one or whatever. It's it's a real nice series of uh places to stay and eat that they have available for you. So you don't have to take all your gear with you. You don't have to take your your tent and your sleeping bag with you and everything. You don't have to take a full backpack with you. It's kind of nice. Uh the dolomites look spectacular and amazingly beautiful. And if you want the challenge of a lifetime, the Via Fradas cannot be beat. The Inca Trail and the Wainapichu Trail. The Inca Trail in Peru is not considered dangerous, although it is 27 miles one way. It usually takes two or three days depending on how well you adjust to the altitude. There are places to stay for you, there are huts along the way that you can stay overnight. The top of the Inca Trail is at 7,920 feet, so as it is suggested to try to get some altitude adjustment in Cusco before you attempt this trail. But the Waina Pichu trail is done after that. If you want, you can add on that, and that does make this a dangerous trail. And I've watched videos of this, and this is kind of scary. It's a Waina Pichu means young peak, and it will take a lot more skill, a lot more fitness. It's a mountaintop hike, and it you don't need mountaineering skills. Uh it's two and a half miles long round trip, so it's not far, but it's stairs straight up. And they're called the stairs of death. They're steep, narrow stone steps carved into a mountain. There are handrails or cables on one side, on the other side is a sheer drop. It's very narrow. They're very steep and very narrow. And even on the flat parts, it's steep and narrow, and the ledges look over this 2,000 foot at least drop or more. The views are incredible, but it's very scary. And if there's any moisture at all, those steps are extremely slippery. It is uh it's an incredible trail if you can do it. Uh my feet get tingly just thinking about it because I don't like heights, but if you like, if you that doesn't bother you, it's a really cool thing. If you can do it, I would add the Wainapichu Trail onto your trip because you'll never get these views anywhere else, ever in your life. It's pretty amazing. The West Coast Trail in British Columbia. The West Coast Trail is a very, very rugged trail. It's 47 miles. It is a backpacking trail. You're not going to be running on this at all, you're going to be backpacking. It's on the southwestern side of Vancouver Island of British Columbia. The trail is only open from May 1st until September 30th because the dates after that, the weather can be really nasty. Okay, the weather can be nasty within those dates as well. You never know what it's going to be like in that part of the world. There are a lot of dangers on this trail. Some of the dangers on this trail are not shared by any other trails. Reservations are mandatory. Note some hikers have never returned from this trail. This is really dangerous, one of the more dangerous trails on this list. Usually take six to eight days to finish the route. This is an area of deep bogs, rainforests, and lots of soggy landscapes. There are planks to walk on, wooden planks on some of the areas. There are lots of wooden ladders to climb out and swing bridges to cross. There are tons of these ladders. Some of them are in better shape than others, and you're going to go up and down on these ladders with a full backpack. The environment is hard on equipment. Wood rots quickly in the rainforest. They try to take care of things, but it's also very difficult to take care of everything. Wet wood is very slippery. You are going to be walking. Like I said, you're not going to be running. This trail goes deep, way deep into the forest where there's no cell reception and no roads at all. There are no roads in here at all. So you're going to be there by yourselves, and you never want to do this by yourself. You always want to do this with someone else. This is not a trail to do on your own. I do lots of things on my own. If I ever decided to do this one, I would never do it by myself. So you never want to be hurt and by yourself on this trail because no one is going to find you, or it might take weeks for someone else to be on that same area as you. Flash floods do happen after rainstorms. There are places and also there are places along the coast on the trail. It's beautiful, but you have to have a tide scheduled. I would print it because you don't want to get stuck not being able to use your phone and not knowing when the high tide is. Because if you want to camp on the on the beach, because there are places where you're going to have to camp, you don't want to be stuck with uh cold Pacific waves washing up over you. Then there's another danger on this trail that the others don't have. Vancouver Island is home to more mountain lions than any any other place in the world. We are not the apex predator there. There are also black bears and wolves. So yeah. So I would suggest getting a bear canister. I don't know if they if they uh if that's mandatory, like it is in the um in Yosemite and a lot of the trails out in the Sierra Nevadas, but it's probably a good thing to have. And you want to make noise while you're on the trail so that that the uh creatures know that you're not a deer. Make lots of noise when you're out there talk loudly. If you want, use your uh trekking poles, because you're gonna want trekking poles to use trekking poles to pound on the ground, whatever you want, just to make sure that that they know that you're there and that you're you're not afraid of them. I would suggest that. But it's it's incredibly beautiful country. The rainforest is just it's so green and it it's lush, and there are very few places like the Pacific Northwest rainforest. It it really is it really would be a hike of a lifetime. Okay, the next one, I apologize if I do not pronounce it correctly. The Einoch Ega Ridge in Scotland. Ainoch Ega Ridge in Scotland is known as the most difficult trail in the UK. There's some that run close, but this is apparently the hardest one. It has the narrowest and toughest horizontal ridge in the British mainland and features scrambling just shy of climbing. Remember, none of these trails are mountain climbing, and it has exposure and two summits, exposure to the weather, which can be bad there a lot of the time. It's 6.4 miles long and usually takes six to eight hours due to the difficulty. The ascent is 3,000 feet straight up to the first peak. Ambodach. The ridge is filled with sharp rock surfaces and narrow walkways. This is a point-to-point, and hikers usually go east to west, starting at Ambo Dach, finishing near Glencoe Village. Descending down the path near Klegach gully is very steep with loose rocks. There is an alternative way that goes that takes longer but is infinitely safer. Now there are things to remember about this ridge. Once you start, there's no place to safely drop out. You're up there for good. So once you start, you gotta finish it. Sure footedness and not being afraid of heights is mandatory. Don't attempt in bad weather as the rocks can be very slippery, and there's bad weather up there a lot. Ice can make the ridge deadly, so if there's ice, forget about it, as they say in New York. And that ridge is very, very narrow. It's usually foggy and windy at the top, so you gotta be careful. That ridge is really something else in the fog. But on those rare occasions when it's clear, the views are incredible. Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful. So if you can get a beautiful day and you can handle it and you want the challenge, there you go. That's a great place to try it. My goodness, these names are gonna kill me, and I do apologize. I don't speak any of these languages. There's another one I'm probably going to to slaughter, and I have a funny story about this. The Pico de Arrero to Pico Ruivo Ridge in Madeira. And I watched this video about this one, and this Australian guy, this Australian mate, attempted to um to pronounce that, and every time he did, it just slaughtered that name very, very much, very badly. So I don't think I did as bad a job as he did. Now Madeira sits off the coast of Morocco, uh, but it's part of Portugal. I know the island is much more familiar for Europeans, but us Americans might not know that much about it. It's a beautiful island. I didn't know that much about the geology of the island, uh the mountains. It's very mountainous, and the mountains are very rocky and and craggy and spiked and and lots of sharp points. I didn't know hardly anything about the mountains on this island. So it's really kind of interesting to check this out. And it's a beautiful island. The trail itself is 6.8 miles long, and all these miles are are either up or down. You're not not a whole lot of flat. Lots and lots of stairs on narrow trails overlooking very steep drops. So you're gonna go up or downstairs. And there are some tunnels to walk through, and these can get dark, so I would suggest taking a um a headlamp with you. It gets very warm on the island, so suggested to go early, so start very early. And the weather is usually better early in the morning, apparently, as clouds can move in later in the day. And what's the point of doing this trail if there are clouds and you can't see anything? The whole point of this trail is to see these magnificent views. So go early in the morning. Um, they say take a cab that you can get your cab in the city below and go up there early in the morning. Get it's cooler, you'll get the views, and and be prepared to take a ton of stairs. Like I said, the drop-offs are really, really the trail is very is very narrow, the drop-offs are very steep, and the temperature changes can make the trail a lot more dangerous because it's cool in the morning, but it gets extremely warm. And a lot of people aren't prepared for that, they aren't prepared for the uh temperature changes, they don't bring enough water with them, and this was what makes this trail dangerous. I mean, there's over 3,000 feet ascending, and it ascends very quickly with a ton of stairs. So be prepared for a lot of stairs. And the gorgeous views, of course. All right, now the next one I was I couldn't decide which one to choose, so I put both of them down. Uh there's two hikes in Norway that are really that are considered dangerous or difficult hikes, and so I included both of them. And the first one is the shortest, it's Schirag, the hike to Schirag, and that is um where this rock is stuck in the middle of these two cliffs. Um Schirag it overlooks the fjords, and many people love to hike this. It takes about two and a half hours to hike there. That is not far, but it's kind of a difficult hike. It's about six to seven miles long, so it does take a little bit of time. It's over a lot of granite. It's pretty much it's a few miles straight up and mostly on granite. It's not that difficult. The difficult part is, and I would never do this because I don't like heights. Um, the difficult part is standing on this rock. Okay? And getting to the rock, once you get there, there's a long line. There's this path that you go on and you stand on a line there, and then you can wait to then you kind of like you don't jump, but you can get onto the rock, but there's no hand holds or anything like that. You just have to rely on your balance to be on there. And you're on this cliff, you're like 2,000 feet above, and if you fall, you fall. Nothing. There's nothing that's gonna save you. So if you want to do this, you can do it. And you there are pictures of people doing it. I am not gonna ever do that. I don't like that. It's like, no, no, I'm not ever doing that. Ever, ever, ever. And see, my my toes are tinkling again. It's like, no, no, I'm never doing that ever in my life. But if you want to do that, you can do that. Now, Norwegians don't believe in any railings or warnings of any kind, and I'll talk to you about that a little bit later. But um they have a different philosophy than Americans do. They also probably don't have as many lawyers as we do in the US. And good for them. Don't get that many lawyers. Keep it keep it a small amount. All right, troll tunga means troll's tongue, and it looks like a troll's tongue. And this is another one, this is a longer one, it's a little bit tougher getting there. Norway is known for trolls. Years ago, Norwegians would tell their children if they didn't behave, the trolls would come in and take them away to the mountains, and it scared children. It was a really uh frightening way to scare children to behave. Now, trolls are part of the tourist trade and they're made into cute little dolls for the tourists to buy and take home. So they're no longer the thing that um that scared kids. And now, Trolltunga, the best way to do this hike is to reserve a spot ahead of time because it's a very popular hike and you're not gonna get in unless you have a reservation. And there are shuttle buses that take you from the town of Oda to different starts. And you can do this, it's it can be either a one-day or a multiple-day hike. There's a lot of elevation gain, and you're gonna go past different environs on your way. And Norway it has open camping anywhere you want. It's it's a land where you can camp anywhere you want, as long as you're far enough, I think it's a hundred feet or a hundred yards away from houses, and as long as you practice no leave no trace, you can camp. It's it they have that kind of philosophy, and the people are respectful enough that they can keep it that way. You can't do that in the US. People aren't respectful, but they have they are in Norway. They have a really different philosophy about the outdoors. Um, and so you can camp if you want to make it uh if you want to camp overnight and then uh just go go to Trolltunga and come back to your camping spot. You can do that. And there are different distances. There, there's uh 12.2 miles, 16.74 miles, or 23.56 miles. So you see, you can make it into a multi-day thing. And you can get off the the shuttle bus wherever you want, and that will turn it into a long, longer hike for you, a shorter one. And um, there's plenty of elevation gain, like I said, and you'll go past these beautiful uh green meadows that can be swampy if it's been rainy and wet, and then you walk over granite rocks that can be slippery if it's damp, and um it's a beautiful area. You'll go past these just these gorgeous, gorgeous mountains, and the scenery just cannot be beat. And now the line to troll troll tunga can be long, so be patient because everybody wants a picture of themselves on the troll's tongue. So you go out there, and it's like I would not go out there very far because I don't like heights, but um, people like to go out there and get the get their picture taken. Um, again, they there's no ro railings or warnings because Norwegians like have the philosophy that they want nature. To experience they they like they have the philosophy that nature should be experienced as it is, not with a bunch of signs, not with a bunch of railings or fences, not with a bunch of warnings saying danger, stay away, you know, you know it can be it can be deadly if you go over this. They they don't like doing that. They want it to be experienced as it is. Like like I said, they don't have that many lawyers apparently. Or maybe they don't allow people to to um to sue. That could be it too. Every country does things differently. And if they don't allow people to sue for the for people's own stupidity, then that's a good thing. Good for them. Got three more here for you. Drakensburg, Grand Traverse in South Africa and Lysotho. The Drakensburg is an extremely long distance trail of 137 to 155 miles. This is one of the toughest ones. It will take six to ten days to complete. This trail should not be underestimated. Many who start do not finish. Hikers usually start south to north. The start at the south is at the at the Sentinel Peak chain ladders. So the first thing you do is go up chain ladders. Woo! I hate those ladders. One of the most difficult things about this trail is that there are no markers, not even a set route. Hikers follow sheep trails crisscrossing the area. So you really need to know something about orienteering to do this route. But it's a good way to practice it, right? Lost in this area. To complete the trail, hikers need to summit six peaks, but can choose the route that they take to each mountain. The altitude and rocket terrain is much more than those on the trail imagine it is. The countryside is incredibly beautiful, but is also brutal. There are animals on the trail. You'll find an antelope, birds, lizards, baboons, but no larger animals. There are snakes, so be careful of those. It is suggested to have a printed terra map, even if you downloaded one in your phone for offline use. Things happen with our phone, and if you don't know where you are in the course, you'll have a very difficult time finding your way. It's also a good idea to get familiar with a compass. It's the best friend you can have. It's always a good idea to have a printed map, even if you're just on a regular backpacking route. Printed maps are always a nice thing to have as a backup because our phones don't always work. We know that, right? All right. The Cascade Saddle Trail in New Zealand is a 15.5 mile trail in the South Island of New Zealand north of Queenstown. It's in Mount Aspiring National Park. The trail goes nearly straight up. It's incredibly steep, it's still a trail. It would be very difficult to do the entirety of this trail all in one day, but if you have the strength, you can attempt it. There's a nonstop 4,590 foot climb from the valley to above the bush line, and that trail gets steeper as it goes up. There are spots where it's nearly more of a rock scramble, yet doesn't turn into mountain climbing. It rides that line. The views are magnificent. I watched this video of this couple doing it and it was extremely beautiful. The drop off to the valley below looks wild, and it's very steep. The dark glacier is just across the valley and you get great views of that. Now there are huts along the way to stay in if you don't want to do the entire out and back in one day. Carrying a full pack on this trail will wear you out. It's uh it's a very satisfying trail, and doing it up in one day and back the next day would actually really be the smart idea. The last one I have is the Egverst Base Camp Trek in Nepal. And we all know this is a very strenuous hike and it takes many days to do. It's roughly 80 miles, and those 80 miles are not done quickly. It's so that each Voyager can climatize to the altitude. That's what makes it rough. It takes many days to do that. And you can do this hike as part of a group with a guide and Sherpas carrying your gear, or you can do it on your own carrying your own backpacks. It really depends on what you want to do. People do say to that getting a guide with Sherpas is the way to do it, but that costs more money, so it really is up to you. Oxygen levels drop significantly as you ascend. This can cause you altitude sickness. You'll be staying in Kathmandu beforehand, so try to stay there a few days. Don't worry if you've forgotten something, you can buy it there. You can rent gear in Kathmandu as well. You can get anything you need in Kathmandu that you've forgotten at home. Negotiate the prices. Um you'll be flying to Luca from Kathmandu, and then from Luca you will be hiking up to the base camp. Um the dangers on this route are not the same as others. This route is used by many Nepalese, including those with yaks. This causes a lot of dust. It's easy to get what they call the kumbu cough. You can minimize this by wearing a buff and covering your mouth when the yak trains go through. The water on the trek needs to be treated, all of it. So bring a water filter or buy purification tablets in Kathmandu. And be careful of the food that you eat, stick to vegetarian local type meals, and of course, make sure you get electrolytes in your system, bring protein packs from home as well as the electrolytes. Bring a first aid kit with you, along with Advil and cold medicine, antibiotic ointment, all that stuff, bring with you from home. And I know there are um there are a lot of other things to do. Watch a video, watch many videos about people who have done it. That has always been one of my dreams. If I ever had the money, I would do the Everspace Camp trek. I don't know if I'm gonna do it now, but that is like my dream trek. If I won the lottery today, that's what I would do. But I don't play the lottery, so I'm never gonna win it. Anyway, there are so many more trails to cover, and I'm gonna do uh a third part. So I'll be covering more stuff. All right, so if I missed yours, I might cover it another time. But if there's something that I missed, tell me what what it is, and I will cover it in the next one. Alright, so that is it for today. Thank you so much for joining me. I truly appreciate it each and every week. I hope you have great runs, and I will talk to you next week. And other than that, note let's have what you listen and go for a run.