Puzzles, Mysteries, and Reviews

If you're interested in taking a day hike or two in North Cascades National Park, a new guidebook is on its way to bookstores. Though it spans much of northwestern Washington state and is not specific to the national park, Day Hiking: North Cascades offers a few opportunities in the park.

Though most Americans hardly ever glimpse them, wild horses are synonymous with the American West. From John Wayne Westerns to The Electric Horseman, the iconic horse gallops across our memories, wild and free. But how did they arrive in the West? And how have we coexisted with horses?

California’s northern coast holds many secrets. The foggy landscape is full of imposing mountains, windswept beaches, and valleys that rival the hollows of the Smokies in terms of narrow inaccessibility. Bigfoot is rumored to live in the area, and somewhere the world’s tallest living being, a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) named "Hyperion," stands witness to the passage of more than two thousand years.

Stephen R. Brown published his World War II Memorial photo book a full three years ago this month, but it somehow never ended up on the Traveler’s Fireside Read list. It’s high time to fix that, so let’s just dispense with the “better late than never” weasel-speak and get on with it.

Quite a bit has been written on the geologic underpinnings of Yellowstone National Park, particularly the aspect of the park sitting atop a gigantic volcano. The latest window into this world, from Greg Breining, is a good read for the lay volcanologist with an interest in the park.