5 ms·

Going for a seven-year walk

85 points by akandiah 14y ago

Tharkun 14y ago
Maybe we should all make such a pilgrimage during our lifetimes. It's bound to be an amazing eye-opener.
- jonsen 14y ago
  Or a seven-year tour through a library (before they are all gone).
eCa 14y ago
Hopefully he'll be more lucky with the russian visa than Karl Bushby [1], who's been hiking in the other direction. Unfortunately most information on his site has been removed. [1] http://www.odysseyxxi.com/ http://www.odysseyxxi.com/
Joe_Knapp 14y ago
Based on Karl's progress, I would say 20 years is more likely. If I was a betting man, I would bet that neither will finish.
wololo 14y ago
His route takes him through hundreds of miles of Arctic tundra. As someone who has spent time in the far north: Walking on tundra is like walking on a head of cabbage that is sitting on a four-inch sponge that is floating in four inches of water. The cabbage heads are all about eight inches apart. When you step on them, they are going to twist in some unknown direction and slide your foot onto the sponge, or into the four inches of water. The really bad tundra, known as bottom, is about eight inches deep and is sitting on top of sucking mud. --http://whiterick.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/dalton-highway-caribou-hunt-tundra-torture/ http://whiterick.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/dalton-highway-car... Stepping on a tussock is like stepping on a toothbrush, Toolik scientists like to say. You try to avoid it. So tundra walking is like treading on the jostling shoulders of a million people --http://discovermagazine.com/1996/jun/runningontundra787 http://discovermagazine.com/1996/jun/runningontundra787 Tundra comes in three exciting flavors: bog tundra, high alpine tundra, and original tundra. They say walking on tundra is like walking on bowling balls covered in something squishy --http://mattylite.blogspot.com/2010/07/alaska-fact-or-fiction.html http://mattylite.blogspot.com/2010/07/alaska-fact-or-fiction... hiking on tundra forces you into a gait that is not like walking on pavement (straight up and down)... tundra is more liking walking on a waterbed... you are using lots of the accessory muscles just to keep upright --http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/72728-Boot-recommendations-for-September-Caribou-in-Kotz http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/72728-Boo... "Walking on tundra is like, is like,--tell him what it's like, Magee." "It's like walking over slippery footballs half-sunk in slime," said the Irishman promptly. --http://www.freefictionbooks.org/books/b/23082-the-boy-with-the-u-s-survey-by-rolt-wheeler?start=110 http://www.freefictionbooks.org/books/b/23082-the-boy-with-t... For those of you who haven't walked across the tundra it is a giant sponge. When you walk your foot sinks and you have to lift it really high to get the next step, as some put it..walking on tundra is like walking on a giant stair stepper. --http://nicholiepoki03.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-to-remember.html http://nicholiepoki03.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-to-remember.... walking on the tundra can be a miserable experience. extremely uneven (kinda like walking on basketballs), wet, and full of holes. make sure you have good waterproof footwear with good ankle support rolling an ankle is very easy on this stuff. --http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/115323-Trekking-Poles-on-the-Tundra http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/115323-Tr...
- tobiasu 14y ago
  I was going to disagree with you, because there are obviously walkable roads in Siberia. However, the route as shown on the map goes straight through absolute no man's land. There is no road along the eastern coast. A sensible route would be Yakutsk - Magadan, then take a boat or plane to the US. I would love to read the story of someone who walked from Siberia to Alaska via the shortest sea crossing possible. But above Magadan, there are no more roads. And the Kolyma highway to Magadan is considered a major adventure already, with only a small window where the rivers are low enough to be crossed by motorcycle (and therefore, man). I'm not saying this can't be done, but it looks like a serious arctic expedition to me. Which I kind of doubt he will do. This is probably going to end like usual. Helpful Russian truck drivers take him with them for as far as they can go, then (Mommy!!) a helicopter shows up...
  - wpapper 14y ago
    I had the privilege of seeing Salopek announce the project at the Knight Civic Media conference, and based on his presentation I can tell you that he is not taking this lightly. This isn't a project that he decided to do on a whim without evaluating the risks. This is a very well-planned, calculated project that desires to not only be fascinating, but also to make a statement on journalism itself. He won't compromise the integrity of it. Of course, there will be people aiding him along the way out of necessity (translators, guides, etc), but I guarantee you there won't be a helicopter or truck involved.
    - tobiasu 14y ago
      Out of curiosity, I skipped through his talk. He says he will leave Vladivostok on a research vessel and cross the North Pacific that way. If that is not the proverbial "truck", I don't know what is. I don't blame him, but National Geographic/BBC should really know better than publish such misleading maps.
krutulis 14y ago
"There is an actual neurological basis to what I am talking about...You can make a pretty good evolutionary argument that this was how we were designed to absorb information at about 5km an hour (3mph)" For me walking is more conducive to careful thinking than any other activity, and taking a walk has frequently proven to be the best way to work on my hardest problems, deepest mysteries, and most stressful situations. Do others walk to think? Having worked with several startups over the past 16 years, I'll make the observation that I've been in a tiny minority on this count, and I find myself wondering what kind of situational & cultural biases in the startup world work against walking as a way of thinking. Keyboards, cars, commutes, an obsession with faster-is-better, craving novelty, fear of "missing the window." What else?
- IsaacL 14y ago
  I saw that same quote, and thought about my walk a few years back, across the breadth of the UK (Wales to London). I do feel like I have a better intuitive grasp of the size of it now -- much better than you get from driving or taking the train.
  - krutulis 14y ago
    Serious walking definitely changes one's perspective. I don't feel comfortable in a place until I've learned to get around on foot.
- saljam 14y ago
  That's true for me as well. When I was a student, revising (and memorising bits that needed to be memorised) was almost always a form of holding a book and walking in circles. Or around the house. I now spend as much time walking around the office as I do cranking code or writing on my desk. Over the years, I started recognising other habitual pacers in the department. We joke about forming a society and lobbying for a pacing room.
  - krutulis 14y ago
    Sign me up -- though the hardest problems require the space out in the Big Blue Room. Perhaps the new research on how sitting can undermine our health will restore some clout to moving about.
danso 14y ago
It's fun reading about other trips across the world, even if they weren't all done on foot. Journalist Nellie Bly held the world record for fastest time in 1890, traveling the world unchaperoned in 72 days http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly
- celias 14y ago
  Thomas Stevens rode a penny-farthing bicycle west-to-east around the world in 1884-86, followed by Frank Lenz's east-to-west attempt on a two-wheeled bicycle in the early 1890's - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stevens_(cyclist) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stevens_(cyclist) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lenz_(cyclist) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lenz_(cyclist)
SageRaven 14y ago
I've always dreamed of taking a year or more to walk the back-roads of the US and visit all 48 contiguous states on foot. The technical challenge of plotting a route to traverse each state exactly once is appealing in its own right.
- japhyr 14y ago
  I rode a bicycle 14,000 miles around the perimeter of North America in my twenties. It was one of the defining experiences in my life. Everyone was pushing me towards graduate school, but I chose that trip instead. It was the right decision.
  - kibwen 14y ago
    This sounds fascinating. How did you prepare? What did you do for food and shelter?
    - japhyr 14y ago
      That's a funny question. The preparation started when I turned 16, and kept bicycling even after I got a driver's license. I moved to NYC, and started bicycle commuting 5 miles each way from Manhattan to the Bronx. I became very comfortable in traffic. I teach, so one summer I decided to ride cross-country. I did that two summers in a row; WA-ME one year, and CA-GA the next year. I had thought of doing the Alaska-Tierra del Fuego trip, but a friend wanted to do another cross country ride. I did that ride, WA to ME again via northern Canada, and then continued on to FL, CA, and AK. Most of the preparation for each trip was just a bit of extra riding in the months building up. These months-long trips are actually easier to get ready for physically than week-long trips, because you can take the first few weeks easy and use the first part of your trip as training. I slept outside in a tent. There are places to hide a tent and a bicycle everywhere, and if you're stuck you can almost always find someone willing to let you pitch a tent in their yard for the night. Although that gets interesting sometimes...
      - kibwen 14y ago
jcampbell1 14y ago
Who is this guy? This trip is going to be more challenging than ascending Mt Everest. Unless this guy is an extreme adventure hiker, this is going to end badly or he is going to quit. I hope for his sake he gives up early. If this were a trip planned by someone like Andrew Skurka, then I'd believe it, but this is a journalist with a crazy plan.
bfe 14y ago
As cool as this is, the original humans probably did most of this route by boat along the coast. They had to have done the hop to Australia by boat circa 45,000 years ago; they probably crossed the Red Sea by boat; and why else would the diaspora have been so fast along thousands of miles of coast relative to expansion inland?
kareemm 14y ago
There's something appealing (romantic, even) about a project with such a long time horizon when the focus today seems to be on speeding up.

85 points by akandiah 14y ago

Tharkun 14y ago

Maybe we should all make such a pilgrimage during our lifetimes. It's bound to be an amazing eye-opener.

jonsen 14y ago
Or a seven-year tour through a library (before they are all gone).

eCa 14y ago

Hopefully he'll be more lucky with the russian visa than Karl Bushby [1], who's been hiking in the other direction. Unfortunately most information on his site has been removed. [1] http://www.odysseyxxi.com/ http://www.odysseyxxi.com/

Joe_Knapp 14y ago

Based on Karl's progress, I would say 20 years is more likely. If I was a betting man, I would bet that neither will finish.

wololo 14y ago

His route takes him through hundreds of miles of Arctic tundra. As someone who has spent time in the far north: Walking on tundra is like walking on a head of cabbage that is sitting on a four-inch sponge that is floating in four inches of water. The cabbage heads are all about eight inches apart. When you step on them, they are going to twist in some unknown direction and slide your foot onto the sponge, or into the four inches of water. The really bad tundra, known as bottom, is about eight inches deep and is sitting on top of sucking mud. --http://whiterick.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/dalton-highway-caribou-hunt-tundra-torture/ http://whiterick.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/dalton-highway-car... Stepping on a tussock is like stepping on a toothbrush, Toolik scientists like to say. You try to avoid it. So tundra walking is like treading on the jostling shoulders of a million people --http://discovermagazine.com/1996/jun/runningontundra787 http://discovermagazine.com/1996/jun/runningontundra787 Tundra comes in three exciting flavors: bog tundra, high alpine tundra, and original tundra. They say walking on tundra is like walking on bowling balls covered in something squishy --http://mattylite.blogspot.com/2010/07/alaska-fact-or-fiction.html http://mattylite.blogspot.com/2010/07/alaska-fact-or-fiction... hiking on tundra forces you into a gait that is not like walking on pavement (straight up and down)... tundra is more liking walking on a waterbed... you are using lots of the accessory muscles just to keep upright --http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/72728-Boot-recommendations-for-September-Caribou-in-Kotz http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/72728-Boo... "Walking on tundra is like, is like,--tell him what it's like, Magee." "It's like walking over slippery footballs half-sunk in slime," said the Irishman promptly. --http://www.freefictionbooks.org/books/b/23082-the-boy-with-the-u-s-survey-by-rolt-wheeler?start=110 http://www.freefictionbooks.org/books/b/23082-the-boy-with-t... For those of you who haven't walked across the tundra it is a giant sponge. When you walk your foot sinks and you have to lift it really high to get the next step, as some put it..walking on tundra is like walking on a giant stair stepper. --http://nicholiepoki03.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-to-remember.html http://nicholiepoki03.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-to-remember.... walking on the tundra can be a miserable experience. extremely uneven (kinda like walking on basketballs), wet, and full of holes. make sure you have good waterproof footwear with good ankle support rolling an ankle is very easy on this stuff. --http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/115323-Trekking-Poles-on-the-Tundra http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/115323-Tr...

tobiasu 14y ago
I was going to disagree with you, because there are obviously walkable roads in Siberia. However, the route as shown on the map goes straight through absolute no man's land. There is no road along the eastern coast. A sensible route would be Yakutsk - Magadan, then take a boat or plane to the US. I would love to read the story of someone who walked from Siberia to Alaska via the shortest sea crossing possible. But above Magadan, there are no more roads. And the Kolyma highway to Magadan is considered a major adventure already, with only a small window where the rivers are low enough to be crossed by motorcycle (and therefore, man). I'm not saying this can't be done, but it looks like a serious arctic expedition to me. Which I kind of doubt he will do. This is probably going to end like usual. Helpful Russian truck drivers take him with them for as far as they can go, then (Mommy!!) a helicopter shows up...
- wpapper 14y ago
  I had the privilege of seeing Salopek announce the project at the Knight Civic Media conference, and based on his presentation I can tell you that he is not taking this lightly. This isn't a project that he decided to do on a whim without evaluating the risks. This is a very well-planned, calculated project that desires to not only be fascinating, but also to make a statement on journalism itself. He won't compromise the integrity of it. Of course, there will be people aiding him along the way out of necessity (translators, guides, etc), but I guarantee you there won't be a helicopter or truck involved.
  - tobiasu 14y ago
    Out of curiosity, I skipped through his talk. He says he will leave Vladivostok on a research vessel and cross the North Pacific that way. If that is not the proverbial "truck", I don't know what is. I don't blame him, but National Geographic/BBC should really know better than publish such misleading maps.

krutulis 14y ago

"There is an actual neurological basis to what I am talking about...You can make a pretty good evolutionary argument that this was how we were designed to absorb information at about 5km an hour (3mph)" For me walking is more conducive to careful thinking than any other activity, and taking a walk has frequently proven to be the best way to work on my hardest problems, deepest mysteries, and most stressful situations. Do others walk to think? Having worked with several startups over the past 16 years, I'll make the observation that I've been in a tiny minority on this count, and I find myself wondering what kind of situational & cultural biases in the startup world work against walking as a way of thinking. Keyboards, cars, commutes, an obsession with faster-is-better, craving novelty, fear of "missing the window." What else?

IsaacL 14y ago
I saw that same quote, and thought about my walk a few years back, across the breadth of the UK (Wales to London). I do feel like I have a better intuitive grasp of the size of it now -- much better than you get from driving or taking the train.
- krutulis 14y ago
  Serious walking definitely changes one's perspective. I don't feel comfortable in a place until I've learned to get around on foot.
saljam 14y ago
That's true for me as well. When I was a student, revising (and memorising bits that needed to be memorised) was almost always a form of holding a book and walking in circles. Or around the house. I now spend as much time walking around the office as I do cranking code or writing on my desk. Over the years, I started recognising other habitual pacers in the department. We joke about forming a society and lobbying for a pacing room.
- krutulis 14y ago
  Sign me up -- though the hardest problems require the space out in the Big Blue Room. Perhaps the new research on how sitting can undermine our health will restore some clout to moving about.

danso 14y ago

It's fun reading about other trips across the world, even if they weren't all done on foot. Journalist Nellie Bly held the world record for fastest time in 1890, traveling the world unchaperoned in 72 days http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly

celias 14y ago
Thomas Stevens rode a penny-farthing bicycle west-to-east around the world in 1884-86, followed by Frank Lenz's east-to-west attempt on a two-wheeled bicycle in the early 1890's - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stevens_(cyclist) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stevens_(cyclist) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lenz_(cyclist) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lenz_(cyclist)

SageRaven 14y ago

I've always dreamed of taking a year or more to walk the back-roads of the US and visit all 48 contiguous states on foot. The technical challenge of plotting a route to traverse each state exactly once is appealing in its own right.

japhyr 14y ago
I rode a bicycle 14,000 miles around the perimeter of North America in my twenties. It was one of the defining experiences in my life. Everyone was pushing me towards graduate school, but I chose that trip instead. It was the right decision.
- kibwen 14y ago
  This sounds fascinating. How did you prepare? What did you do for food and shelter?
  - japhyr 14y ago
    That's a funny question. The preparation started when I turned 16, and kept bicycling even after I got a driver's license. I moved to NYC, and started bicycle commuting 5 miles each way from Manhattan to the Bronx. I became very comfortable in traffic. I teach, so one summer I decided to ride cross-country. I did that two summers in a row; WA-ME one year, and CA-GA the next year. I had thought of doing the Alaska-Tierra del Fuego trip, but a friend wanted to do another cross country ride. I did that ride, WA to ME again via northern Canada, and then continued on to FL, CA, and AK. Most of the preparation for each trip was just a bit of extra riding in the months building up. These months-long trips are actually easier to get ready for physically than week-long trips, because you can take the first few weeks easy and use the first part of your trip as training. I slept outside in a tent. There are places to hide a tent and a bicycle everywhere, and if you're stuck you can almost always find someone willing to let you pitch a tent in their yard for the night. Although that gets interesting sometimes...
    - kibwen 14y ago

jcampbell1 14y ago

Who is this guy? This trip is going to be more challenging than ascending Mt Everest. Unless this guy is an extreme adventure hiker, this is going to end badly or he is going to quit. I hope for his sake he gives up early. If this were a trip planned by someone like Andrew Skurka, then I'd believe it, but this is a journalist with a crazy plan.

bfe 14y ago

As cool as this is, the original humans probably did most of this route by boat along the coast. They had to have done the hop to Australia by boat circa 45,000 years ago; they probably crossed the Red Sea by boat; and why else would the diaspora have been so fast along thousands of miles of coast relative to expansion inland?

kareemm 14y ago

There's something appealing (romantic, even) about a project with such a long time horizon when the focus today seems to be on speeding up.