You name it and Calgary鈥檚 Richard Campbell has probably hiked it.
鈥淔or my entire life I鈥檝e been that guy who is always out on hikes and planning the next great hiking vacation,鈥� said Campbell, adding that he鈥檚 partaken on a hike in almost every continent.
However, with each adventure Campbell said he always finds himself spending hours scrolling through stacks of websites in search of the perfect hike for his next destination.
鈥淵ou end up on all these websites, but none of them actually gave me the information that I wanted鈥擨 always end up relying on guide books,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淚 started thinking there needs to be some kind of reliable online guide where you can easily find the top hikes in an area.鈥�
With that idea percolating in his mind he decided to create www.10Hikes.com. The website officially launched in July and currently features 10 regions across North America. Each area has a list of its 10 best hikes. Making the top 10 regions is Jasper National Park.
鈥淣ot only is Jasper beautiful, but we found that it鈥檚 a great place for intermediate hikers and family day trips,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in the Rockies there are a lot of really extreme hikes, but a lot of Jasper鈥檚 hikes hit that nice in between level.鈥�
Making the cut for Jasper鈥檚 top hikes include Opal Hills, Whistlers Mountain, Athabasca Falls and Verdant Pass.
Whittling down each area鈥檚 best treks isn鈥檛 as easy as it sounds. For each region featured on the site, Campbell said he and a small crew put in many hours of research and exploration.
鈥淭here are a lot of aspects we look at, but one of the big ones is actually going out and talking to people in the regions鈥攔angers, info centres, locals鈥攚e try to get them all in,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important for us to get that local perspective.鈥�
Usually the team winds up with 15-20 suggestions and go from there, conquering each recommendation. After that they begin weeding out the good from the great.
Once selected, each hike featured on the site includes a brief description, directions and a difficulty rating from one to five.
鈥淲e hike all of our hikes in teams and then afterwards we discuss the positives, negatives and where it would fit with our difficulty rating,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of judgement that goes into it because we want our difficulty ratings to be similar across the board.
鈥淚f you end up enjoying a hike with a level three difficulty then you鈥檒l be comfortable with all our level three hikes.鈥�
Hikes rated at level one usually take about an hour to complete and have low elevation. On the other end of the spectrum, level five hikes are usually over 1,000 metres of elevation gain and take several hours.
Other regions featured on 10Hikes include Banff, Canmore, Lake Louise and California鈥檚 Yosemite National Park.
Despite still being in its early stages, Campbell said he already has plans to expand the website to include regions in Europe, Peru and Iran.
鈥淭he reaction we鈥檝e had is completely off the charts,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淚 guess I鈥檓 not the only one who has been looking for a quick guide to some of the best hikes.鈥�
Kayla Byrne
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