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11/18/2009 - 10:46pmForest Service Open to Allowing Mountain Bikes on Continental Divide Trail, But What About Park Service?RodF, My experience has been similar. I frequently run in to stock and hikers and bikers while hiking and biking on trails and I don't recall ever having any conflicts. And amen to your conclusion: "Let's allow USFS and NPS land managers some flexibility. One nation wide policy does not ...
11/18/2009 - 10:12amForest Service Open to Allowing Mountain Bikes on Continental Divide Trail, But What About Park Service?"Mountain biking accelerates erosion, creates V-shaped ruts, kills small animals and plants on and next to the trail, drives wildlife and other trail users out of the area, and (worst of all) teaches kids that the rough treatment of nature is okay (it's NOT!). What's good about THAT?" Wow! More ...
11/16/2009 - 3:01pmCheck Out The Traveler's Sponsors!Yeah, what Owen said. Keep up the good work.
11/07/2009 - 11:53amNational Park Service Director Jarvis Reminds Employees To Be Ethical in All They Dotahoma you, and T.S. Eliot, nailed it!
11/07/2009 - 9:46amNational Park Service Director Jarvis Reminds Employees To Be Ethical in All They DoWhy do I find this more creepy than comforting?
10/15/2009 - 6:33pmForest Service Drawing Line On Mountain Bikers in Potential Wilderness, National Park Service AgreesI got your point Zeb. There is room for a variety of activities and we should support agency leaders who manage outdoor recreational use accordingly. Kurt your anecdote is right on. Some areas draw more people and thus agencies need to aggressively manage the use in those places, but there ...
10/14/2009 - 6:26pmForest Service Drawing Line On Mountain Bikers in Potential Wilderness, National Park Service AgreesI slowed down and realized that Betty wrote, "Once wilderness is gone, it is gone forever..." Sounds poetic but it isn't true. Many locations inside current and proposed wilderness areas were mined and logged and grazed and inhabited by humans in the past and yet, they are now beautiful peaceful ...
10/14/2009 - 9:15amForest Service Drawing Line On Mountain Bikers in Potential Wilderness, National Park Service AgreesI am a hiker first and foremost, but like K Dostal, I am disappointed by the irrational rhetoric of mountain biking haters. Still, I have no problem with bikes being kept out of designated "Wilderness with a Capital W" areas as long as the NPS and the USFS recognize mountain ...
10/02/2009 - 12:49pmGloryland Brings Yosemite National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson Full CircleIf the excerpts are any indication, Johnson writes as powerfully as he speaks. I looking forward to reading Gloryland.
09/03/2009 - 9:28pmAt New River Gorge National River, an Iconic Bridge Attracts Suicide JumpersMy sympathies to those of you who lost someone at New River Gorge. There was a time when I also viewed those who committed suicide as selfish. I know much better now. Many times the person who commits suicide is acutely ill (psychologically) at the time. And Brian Logan has ...
08/11/2009 - 5:41pmClimate Change and National Parks: A Survival Guide For a Warming WorldKeep traveling Kurt, but all I can find is a brief mention in the following NCPA (EdoAdapt) listed source: (The Appalachian Trail MEGA-Transect, page 12, Caroline Dufour and Elizabeth Crisfield, editors. Appalachian Trail Conservancy, 2008, www.appalachiantrail.org/MEG) This source mentions, briefly, that birds use the AT corridor as a migration corridor, ...
08/11/2009 - 8:28amClimate Change and National Parks: A Survival Guide For a Warming World"■ Thanks to the efforts of the National Park Service, there is an unbroken, 2,175-mile corridor of protection, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Stretching from Georgia, north through Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah national parks, to Maine, the trail and its network of parks stands ready to serve as a ...
08/07/2009 - 2:03pmInterior Department Releases Study That Tracks Decline Of Glaciers in Alaska and Washington StateYesterday I hiked through a record breaking August snowstorm in the High Sierra. I pushing my chips toward the Beamis and Whitten corner. The glaciers will return, perhaps with a vengeance, and we may rue the day.
07/08/2009 - 12:22pmStorms Batter Cape Cod National Seashore Beaches And Destroy Most Piping Plover and Least Tern NestsAlthough this breaks my heart, because the plovers are so darn cute, this story is an example of how Homo Sapiens is not always the bad guy. The Cape Cod piping plover population has bounced back several times. Nature willing, they will again.
07/08/2009 - 12:16pmYosemite National Park Returns To Square One on Yosemite Valley PlanI agree with Sierra Mark. This is more time and money wasted on "planning to plan." If only park managers had stuck to repairing what was damaged from the 1997 flood, they wouldn't be in this mess. y p w: $5 for a shower? Yikes. But after five days it ...
07/08/2009 - 12:06pmStaying Safe and How Not to Become A SAR Statistic in the National Park System Those 2005 SAR costs seem very reasonable to me. The dollars are worth it. It is the lives lost or bodies injured in the process of rescuing someone that are not.
06/27/2009 - 2:39pmSurvey Says National Park Service Is Far from the Best Government Agency to Work ForI agree with Tahoma. Beamis should write us another chapter of [i]Park Circus[/i]! Because the NPS has a chronic disease and laughter is the best medicine. Owen, be grateful for your memories. I'm not sure so much has changed. For example, Harry Yount resigned under pressure and frustration after only ...
04/19/2009 - 4:49pmRescue of Injured Woman from Isolated Canyon at Death Valley National ParkWe hope visitors will do their part to minimize their risks...but, in order for them to do that, the rangers must do a vigilant, aggressive, and dynamic job at providing the public the information and advice they need to prevent accidents. Ideally, rangers are the experts on how to travel ...
04/18/2009 - 4:09pmRescue of Injured Woman from Isolated Canyon at Death Valley National ParkIn 1999, Yosemite park rangers, pilots, firefighters, and volunteers conducted 164 search and rescue missions, recovered twelve bodies, and saved forty-seven lives. The total cost (in personnel and aircraft hours) of providing this service to over nearly 4 million American taxpayers who had a chance of being injured while visiting ...
12/23/2008 - 3:52pmWhat Were the Top Stories Across the National Park System in 2008?I'm with Ted and Beamis. This webzine deserves some props!
12/02/2008 - 12:07pmClimbing is Capped at Mount McKinley and Climbers are Left to Wonder What’s NextBeamis, I doubt the NPS spends an "exorbitant" amount of money on SAR at Denali. (Compared to pork barrel spending and the millions spent on planning, research, etc, NPS SAR expenses are mere pennies.) They do, perhaps, risk an exorbitant amount of rescuer's lives on Denali. I suspect that the ...
12/01/2008 - 12:09pmNational Park Service Chastized For Poor Cultural Resource OversightTo Anonymous Nov 27, I like your point. I was recently backpacking in the San Rafael Wilderness (USFS) and was pleased and surprised to see they have allowed picnic tables to remain in some backcountry campsites. I while back when I read that the Sierra Club was suing Olympic NP ...
12/01/2008 - 11:58amHikers, Bikers and National ParksThanks Marylander and Scott for such reasonable and well worded responses to this story. I was dismayed at the American Hiking Society's reactionary stance on this issue, and frankly, as much as I love trails, I may not continue my membership due to the AHS's unwarranted and dogmatic position regarding ...
11/18/2008 - 9:49amBackpacker's Most Dangerous Hikes: The National Parks are Well-RepresentedIf you are using casualty rates as your barometer for what makes a trail the most dangerous, then Zion's Angel's Landing and the Death Valley dune fields wouldn't make the cut. From a historical perspective, the Chilkoot Trail, aka "the meanest 33 miles in history," has killed hundreds of people. ...
12/14/2007 - 9:30amSecret Service View Teddy Mather As Protestor, Not Presidential MaterialMy apologies Lone Hiker, I misread, the intern got in. Still, being "off put" by a comment doesn't make it law suit worthy. The bear got bluff charged. He'll get over it.
12/13/2007 - 11:20amSecret Service View Teddy Mather As Protestor, Not Presidential MaterialTeddy Mather should be grateful to the Secret Service. Now he's actually interesting. At least for 15 minutes. This is a funny story. I love it. But some of you are taking this WAY too seriously. Lone Hiker, what the agent said to the bear isn't intimidation. It's honesty. Besides, ...
12/11/2007 - 10:39amBirds Songs From Around The WorldOooooh! I SO want this book for Christmas! Thanks for telling us about it. Here's a link on the Au Train Bird Song Trail http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/hiawatha/recreation/hiking/au_train_song_bird_trail/
12/07/2007 - 7:14pmBig Cypress National Preserve: Is More ORV Access In Bear Island Unit Wise?Frank, I think the editors have picked a particularly provocative photograph in this instance, as they, understandibly, have a tendency to do. (just as we writers are guilty of making the same choices with words) I agree with you. This impairment thing is a conundrum. And God love you for ...
12/07/2007 - 10:21amBig Cypress National Preserve: Is More ORV Access In Bear Island Unit Wise?I reviewed the map of the Bear Island ORV Unit. It appears to be (approx) a 5 mile by 6 mile area just north of and alongside Interstate 75. Street legal 4x4s are also allowed on these "trails" which tells me these trails may be more like roads. According to ...
12/07/2007 - 9:39amPark History: Everglades National ParkFrank, I'm with you on this "alter" vs "destroy" point. And I'm sure you are right that this ecosystem has seen many dramatic fluctuations in water levels in the last 4,000 to 2 million years. Correct me, but aren't mangroves opportunists that have adapted to endure in just this scenario? ...
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