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The trail itself is not the only danger. Three potential man-eating beasts—bears, wolves, and cougars—lurk in the thick woods along the path. Yet adventurers come from all over the world to hike the 48-mile route, which was built decades ago as a seaside trail to aid troubled ships that came in from the fickle Pacific waters offshore. Terrain on the WCT is notoriously harsh. Backpackers camp halfway through. Esrock hiked and ascended for hours to complete the route and reach a temple at the peak. It is just two hours north of Manhattan, but the route is wild; hikers will find rocky and near-vertical sections, waterfalls, and slippery slabs of rock on knee-crushing downhills.

But you’re more likely to twist an ankle than encounter a wolf. For various tragic reasons, four hikers died in separate incidents on the Kokoda Track during the 2009 trekking season. wholesale instant electric water heater tap A trek uphill to see steam vents and rivers of lava on Guatemala’s Pacaya Volcano is a popular tourist hike, since it’s near Guatemala City. Today, hikers spend up to a week attempting to traverse the trail, which is inside the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Fit hikers complete the Kalalau Trail in a long day. But after a shower of volcanic rock killed a reporter this spring, Pacaya National Park closed the trail. Weather swings between hot days and frigid nights. Risking your life to go for a hike may seem extreme. Indeed, a mauling this year and one in 2008—both nonfatal—have prompted local officials to consider shutting down the trail. Traversing Kauai’s paradisiacal Na Pali Coast, this dramatic and remote wilderness path is a winding, 11-mile feat complete with waterfalls, lush jungle, slippery descents, and hairpin switchbacks abutting 300-foot drops directly into the ocean surf below. It climbs ladders bolted into stone. Visitors were soon bypassing the usual route, according to an Associated Press article, and heading up the volcano through a private farm in a nearby village. A spiraling fall, hundreds of feet to a canyon floor, would be the result of any misstep.

A man-eating trifecta of bears, wolves, and cougars call the woods around this trail home. The trail runs for 60 extremely remote miles overland through Papua New Guinea’s Owen Stanley Mountain Range, climbing to more than 7,000 feet. He hiked and climbed on the edge for hours. Steep slopes, bridges, and wooden ladders up cliffs create an injury-prone path where a twisted ankle can leave you out of luck for days. And did we mention the bears? Be sure and hang your food supply in a tree at night to avoid black bear harassment. Eventually, it becomes a dicey balancing act where hikers traverse a vertical face on wooden planks fastened to a sheer cliff wall. Along the rugged route, animals haunt many hikers’ fears. Malaria and other tropical diseases are constant threats on what is among the world’s most dangerous long-distance backpacking routes. Alaska Fish and Game says it “has long been a place where bears come down from the mountains and congregate for salmon heading upstream to spawn. His left hand clutching rock, a foot searching for purchase on an icy plank below, writer and TV host Robin Esrock looked down from his precipitous position on China’s Mount Huashan. Despite the dangers, the trail is safely traversed by thousands of hikers each year. A journey on the trail—which was the site of a World War II battle between Japanese and Australian forces—takes 4 to 10 days for most groups