The Year's Best Exploratory Trips

Philippines
After flying halfway around the world and then four-wheeling into Luzon's remote Sierra Madre mountains, you'll spend the next eight days rafting the headwaters of the Class IV-plus Cagayan River. Maps are scarce and inexact for the Cagayan, the longest river in the Philippines at 155 miles, but you can count on old-growth rainforest, tributary waterfalls, and day-hiking to the famed 2,000-year-old rice terraces of the Ifugao people. The largest island in the 7,100-island archipelago, Luzon is also home to the rare Philippine (aka, monkey-eating) eagle. Dates: December 23, 2000–January 5, 2001. Price: $2,295–$2,495. Call Mukuni Wilderness Whitewater Expeditions at 800-235-3085 or visit www.mukuni.com.

Argentina
World-class mountaineering at low altitude is the secret of Argentina's Las Glaciares National Park, and this trip explores the Patagonian Ice Cap—an 8,400-square-mile area at only 5,085 feet. You'll hike and climb with no fear of altitude sickness for 50 miles over 16 days as you ascend the Marconi glacier, traverse part of the ice cap, summit 9,385-foot Cerro Gorra Blanca, and descend back to the town of El Chalten via the Río Túnel glacier. As in wide-open Antarctica, wind and snowstorms can be severe, but the temperatures are higher (anywhere from 0 to 50) and the days long during the austral summer. Dates: February 3–18, 2001. Price: $2,895–$3,095. Call Southwind Adventures at 800-377-9463 or visit www.southwindadventures.com.

Sweden / Norway
Protected by islands most of the way, the 150-mile-long coastline from Göteborg, Sweden, to Oslo, Norway, is ideal for sea kayaking. The wind, currents, and tides will determine your course through the countless glacier-smoothed granite skerries, with seal and pelagic-bird rookeries along the route. You'll visit tiny fishing villages, trawl for mackerel, and raid coastal raspberry bushes during the north's long, drawn-out days of summer. Dates: June 26–July 5, 2001. Price: $1,900. Call Crossing Latitudes International Expeditions at 800-572-8747 or visit www.crossinglatitudes.com.

Tajikistan / Kyrgyzstan
Peak Lenin, long forbidden to non–Soviet bloc climbers, is a hulking massif dominating the Pamir mountains of central Asia. Climbing Lenin might be technically straightforward, but at 23,542 feet, it demands experience at altitude and is a perfect warm-up for climbing one of the fourteen 8,000-meter peaks. With three camps between 12,540 and 20,664 feet, excellent conditioning is a must. In ideal weather, intermediate mountaineers should have a good chance to summit. Dates: June 23–July 19, 2001. Price: $5,400. Call Mountain Madness at 800-328-5925 or visit www.mountainmadness.com.

Ecuador / Peru
The much-disputed and oft-closed border between Ecuador and Peru recently reopened, making this first descent possible. The trip goes from Ecuador's Upano River to the Namangoza, then on to the Santiago into Peru and ending on the Río Marañón. A maximum of 12 people will navigate the Class IV whitewater in rafts, with the volume of the water and the ferocity of the rapids increasing at each confluence. The border disputes have kept the rivers development-free and very remote, preserving habitat for the puma and woolly tapir. The trip starts in Quito and ends in Lima. Dates: January 2001. Price: $4,200. Call ROW at 800-451-6034 or visit www.rowinc.com.  —P.D.A.