Please, please, please vote! The Detour Effect is the Ultimate Explorer!! She deserves this more than anyone I know.

Besides horseback riding, my favorite part of touring Kyrgyzstan was learning from cultural demonstrations! The eagle hunter said eagles are like dogs, loyal and in need of lots of cuddles. Folk musicians taught me about new instruments like the sybyzgy.

What country do you think is the worst for line cutting? It’s happened a lot in Kyrgyzstan. Was just waiting in line to check my baggage at the airport for TWO HOURS because Turkish Airlines can’t do anything in a timely manner, and ruthless grannies kept trying to cut everyone

#1 Support a blogger by voting for them in a contest! Whenever someone asks for support in voting I always make sure to do it daily......like you can do for the adventure loving The Detour Effect to help her win 10K!!! ultexplorer.org/2024/claire-ra…

Indulge an interest in archaeology or Viking history by taking a ferry across Sweden's Lake Mälaren to arrive at Birka, a UNESCO site of 4500+ burial mounds: thedetoureffect.com/blog/day-trip-…

When preparing for a thru-hike abroad I always panic when I can't find 1) really dense protein bars w/significant calories like we have in the US, 2) tortillas and PB. Tortillas are perfect backpacking food - flat, packable, don't go bad quickly. What do you use outside the US?

Some favorites from the National Museum in Denmark - Stone Age amber bear, clothes and hair from a Bronze Age bog body (Egtved Girl), horned helmets from 900 BC found in bog, grave finds buried with a Viking sorceress including magical amulets and a staff

Today Aug 22 @ 7pm PDT we find out if I made the next round of the Ultimate Explorer competition, but I am hiking in Greenland without cell service so I won’t know (scheduled tweet). Did I make it to Top 20? If so, you can keep voting for me to be Top 10! ultexplorer.org/2024/claire-ra…

Back from completing the Arctic Circle Trail and looks like I made the next round, woohoo thanks guys!!! Keep voting!!! Lots of posts about Greenland soon, currently resting my tired freezing body

Arctic Circle Trail complete! ✅ 8 days solo from Kangerlussuaq (Kellyville) to Sisimiut, no resupply. First half was glorious, second half a descent into madness lol. Freezing wind and rain and boggy feet and hypothermic river crossings. Saw tons of reindeer and an arctic fox!

Landscapes of the Arctic Circle Trail 🇬🇱 One of the guys who created the trail in the 70s, a geologist and surveyor, now works at a local souvenir shop in Sisimiut. Really interesting talking to him. Imagine navigating this terrain before any route or waymarking

Claire has advanced to the top 15!! Please keep voting every day. Next up…top 10! She deserves this more than anyone I know. Let’s do this!

I have never felt less sociable than when I have literally JUST finished hiking 100+ miles, I’m walking in the hostel door dripping from days in pouring rain, and yet this is when the extroverts most love to attack, they cannot even allow you to sit down or stop shivering first.

I’ve been on some boats! After the Arctic Circle Trail, it’s obligatory to take the overnight ferry (last photo) up to Ilulissat to see the UNESCO Icefjord. Once there I took a boat tour to a settlement, went whale watching, iceberg sailing, met sled dogs, hiked along the fjord

If you want to follow one hiker around the world then this is the one account that will give you the best insight to far away places with realistic, to the point and honest opinions about the hikes and the places. #hiking #travel

My AirBnB in Ilulissat had views of icebergs from the porch and the start of the Yellow hiking trail was just out the door, but more importantly it was next to a sled dog camp and this pup ran up to me for snuggles every day 😭