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About the
website
John Osaki's Blog
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February 4, 2009 Hello from sunny Oregon! Last Sunday, we took advantage of the benevolent
winter weather and hiked to the summit of Munra Point in the Columbia River
Gorge, Oregon. We were again reminded of the rejuvenating aspect of being in the
mountains. After a day on the trail, the mind is full of Nature's images
(soaring peaks, rocky ridges, fragrant forests, tumbling waters), the body is
energized, and the spirit is refueled. |
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New Website The Mountain Hiking Holidays website is online at www.MountainHikingHolidays.com. Come and peruse the 2009 line-up of hiking trips, and share the news with a friend. Cultural heritage trips are still at www.walkingsoftly.com. Featured Trips NEW! Our Hiking the Pyrenees trip is back by demand! Join us on the border of France and Spain in July 2009. John or Amy Osaki (or both) will be leading this trip. NEW! Dolomites Budget Hiker. This cost-conscious trip makes use of simple family-run inns (rooms with private bath) and makes greater use of public transportation than the Best Hikes in the Dolomites trip. "Pay-as-you-go" meals permit further economizing. Enjoy the same fantastic hiking as the "Best Hikes" trip with two hiking guides and two hiking options on each day. Japan Heritage Walking Trip: Please note the new dates for this trip (October 27- November 5). Two to five miles of walking every day over rolling terrain through "World Heritage" caliber cultural landscapes. NEW! Hiking the National Parks on Kyushu, Japan. The final itinerary and pricing for this inaugural hiking trip to Japan's southern island are now posted. Join Japanese mountain guide Tom Takano as he shows you the mountain splendors of his native Kyushu! Serious hikers have the option of summiting six mountain peaks during the trip. We're looking forward to returning to the stunning landscapes of Patagonia--a mountain hiker's nirvana--in February of 2010. We're currently working on specific dates and prices. Please visit the Patagonia trip page where you can let us know if you'd like to be kept informed as the details for this "dream trip" come together! NEW! Check out our new Private Trips page for information about arranging your own adventure for your group of family, friends, or business colleagues. Let us put our fourteen years of trip planning experience to work for you! NEW! More Destinations. Over the years we've developed trips to a variety of hiking destinations. While we can't offer trips to each of these wonderful destinations every year, we'd be interesting in knowing if any of the trips we've offered in the past pique your interest. Please visit the "More Destinations" page and use the form you'll find there to let us know! Travel Discounts |
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Trip Leaders We wouldn't be able to develop, organize and lead our trips without the help of our team of trip leaders. Next month Mike Heilman travels to New Zealand with a Mountain Hiking Holidays group to hike the trails of New Zealand's national parks on both the North and South Islands. Mike is a veteran trip leader from our Maritime Alps and Patagonia trips and has helped to scout the develop our trips in Ireland and Madeira. He has spent a career working on wilderness and recreation programs in the great outdoors. Asen Marinov and Krassimir Ivanov return to the mountains of northern Greece in June to lead our second trip to the Pindos Mountains and Mount Olympus. Both Asen and Krassi are licensed mountain guides and have led our Bulgaria hiking trips for many years. In addition, Asen has a masters degree in the classics, speaks fluent Greek, and is a classical guitarist. Krassi has worked with Outward Bound in the U.S. and is a principal with bikearea.org, a non-governmental organization promoting mountain biking and sustainable tourism development in Bulgaria. Some of you have asked which trips John and Amy Osaki will be leading this year. One or both of them are currently planning to travel with the Pyrenees, Canadian Rockies, Glacier, Hokkaido, China, Kyushu, Nicaragua, Boston, Japan Heritage, and San Francisco trips. |
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Virtual Mountains New Zealand Trip Blog. Beginning on February 22, 2009, you'll be able to follow the course of our Hiking New Zealand trip on our "Mountain Hiking Holidays, Live!" blog. Mtnseeker Channel on YouTube: Eleven video clips by John Osaki are being broadcast on YouTube. Escape to the mountains with video and images recorded in Japan, Argentina, Guadeloupe (French Caribbean), the Azores, USA (Washington state), and Bulgaria. You can subscribe to the Mtnseeker Channel at YouTube if you want to know whenever new videos are posted. At the Mountain Hiking Holidays website, you can watch two short slide shows: "In Celebration of Mountains" and a northern Greece hiking slide show. More slide shows are in the works, so stay tuned! Happy hiking and warmest regards, Amy & John Osaki and the Mountain Hiking Holidays team |
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© Mountain
Hiking Holidays, Inc. |
The snow-capped Lewis Range in Glacier National
Park, Montana, USA.
