January 2009 Archives
The League of American Bicyclists just published a detailed list — along with very interesting and elucidating commentary — of which U.S. politicians seem to have it in for bicycles and cyclists, . “On NPR’s morning news program ‘The Take Away,’ Senator Eric Cantor said, ‘To give you just an example, $3 million went to the District of Columbia. You know what they did with that money? They’re going to go build bike paths, and they’re going to increase the number of bike racks in neighborhoods like Georgetown. I don’t think that that’s a stimulative move.’”
In Rhode Island’s Providence Journal, Fred Thurber explores the importance of the southwest wind to human culture, from noting that some Native Americans intentionally pointed their graves southwest, to describing the role the southwest wind played in the establishing the America’s Cup in Newport, Rhode Island. “Just as Man is an evolutionary afterthought, the breathable air on our planet was an afterthought when the planet was constructed, a minor embellishment by its builders. Unless you are a Sherpa or Peruvian Indian, Earth’s air is only habitable up to about 19,000 feet. If the Earth were the size of an apple, the thickness of its breathable air would be thinner than the apple’s skin.”
Andrew Engelson offers his list of favorite no-snow hikes to Kathryn True for the Seattle Times. His choices: Coal Creek Falls, Whidbey Island, Dungeness Spit, Lime Kiln Trail, and Ozette Triangle.
On GearJunkie.com, Steven Regenold tests the upcoming wool version of the Buff, a fabric tube that has become a favorite accoutrement of fly fishers, hikers and outdoors enthusiasts in general. “The product is about 6 inches longer than the Original Buff, making it extra cozy when bunched up on your head or neck. The fabric is not silky smooth. Indeed, the wool had a noticeable texture when I first pulled the piece on. But on an eight-mile run on a 10-degree night — my Wool Buff’s maiden voyage — I never noticed an itch.”
In The New York Times, Steve Regenold describes how, as telecommuting becomes the norm rather than the exception, places like Crested Butte, Colorado have attracted those ready for immediate escape. “Working from a vacation home — be it a beachside condo or a mansion in the mountains — has become increasingly common as broadband Internet, expanding cellphone coverage, and overnight courier delivery service have added flexibility to many corporate careers.”
Jamie Shortt looks at his progression from a “standard-issue” backpacker to “lightweight” to “ultralightweight” and ends up with some highly specific lists of gear. “The daily temperatures dropped to below freezing as we prepared to camp. We set up our poncho tarps, heated our freeze-dried dinners, and warmed ourselves by a small fire before going to bed shortly after 8:00 p.m. to fend off the cold. Scott was in my Marmot Hydrogen (30 F bag) and me in my GoLite Ultra 20 Quilt. My new gear included a MLD Ultralight Bivy and an Integral Designs Silponcho.” On BackpackerLight.com.
“When we get to Discovery Point and I take off my sunglasses, the water is such a brilliant blue it almost hurts to look at it. The caldera is draped in white, and green pines covered in snow rise out of the sides of what was once an active volcano. Wizard Island looks quiet and regal. We’re on the top of it all, and there isn’t another soul in sight.” Jennifer Margulis writes for The Oregonian about the best trails for one-day skiing around Oregon’s Crater Lake.
“A solution for remaining active and upright this time of year? The Kahtoola MicroSpikes (about 14 ounces, $59). The product’s stainless steel chains and 3/8-inch spikes provide instant traction while the stretchy elastimer rand that secures the hardware in place makes these ‘studded tires for the feet’ easy to use.” Andy Dappen reviews Kahtoola’s MicroSpieks for WenatcheeOutdoors.org.
“Like the European programs, the Vermont innkeepers give you dinner, breakfast and a hearty bag lunch to take on your journey each day. But Vermont’s inn-to-inn hiking differs from the European model in that you don’t hike literally from the door of one inn to the next. Instead, the trailheads are typically a few miles from the inn. ” Ilana Debare describes the opportunities for self-guided immersion in the Vermont backcountry, made easier by the network of inns along Vermont’s Long Trail. In the Houston Chronicle. More info on the Long Trail can be found at the Web site of the Green Mountain Club.
On Canada.com, Gary May travels to a rainforest lodge on Golfo Dulce on Costa Rica’s south west coast and finds himself literally living among the animals on the border of Piedras Blancas National Park. “No longer are the distinctive, ghostly roars of the howler monkeys coming from deep in the rainforest, they are right outside our cabin. We lie in bed, beneath our bug net, grateful we’d decided to pull the louvred doors closed the night before, after awakening that day to small animal droppings strewn across our floor.”
“There are several appreciable small touches, including a pop-top lid on a metal hinge, a large pour spout, and a rubber bottom to make it set smoothly on a hard surface. Other design decisions are less pragmatic: The bottle includes a ‘mantra insert’ area where you can pop a rubber guard and place a piece of paper face down with a picture or saying.” On GearJunkie.com, Steven Regenold reviews the $29 KOR ONE “hydration vessel,” which he describes as cleverly designed but better suited for off-trail use.
Morgan Keys questions the intelligence of those who merged the idea of a daypack with a folding downhill bike. But I gotta wonder whether it wouldn’t be an awful lot of fun to ride this thing down a couple of my favorite Montana trails after a long hike up. “Wheelie-popping monks aside, there seem to be a few major drawbacks: No pedals means the Bergmonch can only function as a downhill bike; even brief inclines on variable trails will force you to get off and push. The tiny amount of storage space makes long tours out of the question, and since it lacks a seat, standing or kneeling while rattling down the mountain won’t really save your knees or back.” On Backpacker.com.
“With camping gear and an overnight permit in hand, we chose the long route, a 22-mile round-trip hike that would take us past Hanakapi’ai to one of the island’s most secluded beaches, Kalalau Beach. To get there, we followed the Kalalau Trail through dense tropical forests where the trees had leaves the size of refrigerators and often drooped over the trail.” In the Boston Globe, Kari Bodnarchuk describes both the relaxing and the high-tension elements of exploring what travel writers have long considered one of the most beautiful islands on earth.
Outside magazine reviews the $600 Leica C-Lux 3, calling it a great lightweight camera for Leica snobs and others who just want a camera that fits a ton of features into something the size of an iPhone. “The quick-and-dirty reasons I’d buy it: 10 megapixels, a fast f2.8 - 5.9 lens that lives up to Leica’s standards for extreme clarity, and an east-to-operate exposure compensation setting that helps you quickly adjust for backlighting and light/dark backgrounds.”
Oregonians are rightly proud of a brand new trail that will extend from north end of the Blue Mountains near Walla Walla, Washington to Strawberry Mountain Wilderness near John Day, Oregon. The trail is set to open in 2010. “The trail is designed to be hiked or ridden horseback in segments. Routes still must be finalized with the U.S. Forest Service and services must be organized, but if all goes according to plan, hikers will be able to traverse 10 to 12 miles a day and then ride a shuttle from a trailhead to the nearest town and back.”
Dennis Foster and his wife take Bright Angel Trail into the Grand Canyon, hiking a route that gets a high volume of traffic during the summer but is almost empty in winter. “Perhaps the most difficult part of hiking the canyon in the winter is getting good footing on snow-packed trails below the rim, especially if mules have compacted the snow into hard, slippery ice. For this hike, I picked up a pair of Yaktrax for Cara Lynn and Kathoola micro-spikes for me. Both worked as advertised and we had no problems keeping our footing along these steep and slippery trails.” In the Arizona Daily Sun.
“Spilling out of Crater Lake in the Cascade Range of southern Oregon, the Rogue snakes for 250 miles through the Siskiyous, frothing down canyons of evergreens and leafy ferns, to the Pacific Ocean at Lobster Creek, near Gold Beach. Eighty-four miles have been set aside as a federally protected Wild and Scenic River, and the Rogue River Trail traverses almost half this stretch.” John Flinn takes a 40-mile, lodge-to-lodge hike through the canyon of the Rogue River in southwest Oregon, where antique fishing lodges make a pleasant end to each day. In the San Francisco Chronicle.
“A solution for remaining active and upright? The Kahtoola MicroSpikes (about 14 ounces). The product’s stainless steel chains and 3/8-inch spikes provide instant traction while the stretchy elastimer rand that secures the hardware in place makes these ‘studded tires for the feet’ easy to use. I found MicroSpikes to be one of the cleverest, most useful, best-designed products I’ve tested.” Andy Dappen of WenatcheeOutdoors.org reviews the Kahtoola MicroSpikes.
Backpacking Light staffers demonstrate efficient methods for brewing tea and coffee using simple utensils, pot cozys, refillable bags and the tried and true cowboy coffee technique.
Perhaps fewer than 100 people have hiked the triple crown of National Scenic Trails in U.S. — the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail. John and Dawn Cicanese have done it and have learned an important lesson along the way: the less gear, the better, even in real life. “Thru-hiking, as it is called, is a simple existence. Hike, eat, sleep. Repeat. The simple life on the trail leads to a simple life at home. ‘Each time we got off a trail, we’d get home and get rid of stuff,’ Dawn says. ‘Too much stuff.’” In Florida’s Herald-Tribune.
Ben Passons lists some of the classic books for runners and about running, including Amby Burfoot’s Runner’s World Complete Book of Running, Duel in the Sun: The Story of Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America’s Greatest Marathon by John Brant, and The Extra Mile by Pam Reed, the most dominant female ultra-marathoner of all time. “It’s just a good read about a woman trying to balance family, career, and a passion for running.” On GoSanAngelo.com.
In addition to providing a lesson on how tent floor thicknesses are measured, this Outside online reader response offers a great idea on how to avoid the weight question altogether for ultra-light tent floors: “Myself, I wouldn’t agonize too much over it. What really helps is to get a roll of 4mm clear plastic at the hardware store. Cut yourself a piece that is slight smaller than the footprint of the tent, and then pitch the tent atop that. That saves a ton of wear as you grind the tent into the dirt while sleeping. And there is a very small weigh penalty.”
Rob Gauntlett, who with climbing partner James Hooper was the youngest ever to climb Mount Everest, died yesterday in the French Alps, possible as the result of an ice fall. “A young British adventurer whose exploits included climbing Mount Everest at age 19 died Saturday in the French Alps, his family said. A rescue team found the bodies of Rob Gauntlett, 21, and another British climber high on Mont Blanc de Tacul near Chamonix, The Sunday Times reported. Gauntlett’s mother, Nicola Gauntlett, told the newspaper the two friends were ice-climbing.” Full story by UPI.
As a starting point for finding generic outdoor adventure Web sites, the latest issue of Outside includes a list of the “100 Best Adventure Web Sites.” Other than being misdirected in a couple of categories (the fly fishing list is questionable, some categories point to paid-access sites when the services are available for free elsewhere, and some recommended sites are just awful), it is a reasonable attempt at putting all this in one place. Ah, the age of list-mania.
In The Washington Post, Kristin Harrison writes about how the sport of canyoneering — most popular in Europe — has taken hold in places like Utah’s Zion National Park, where she recently hiked a variety of trails and tasted the idea of dropping from a cliff into cold canyon water. “‘In a near-sitting position, I crept slowly down the rock face, passing painterly strokes of black-and-white mineral deposits. After a brief tangle with a meddlesome tree growing sideways out of the flank, I landed with a plop in the waist-deep water. Then I floated on my back, using my backpack like a life jacket, and frog-kicked through the icy water to shore. Back on land, I started to laugh: I was acting as if I were on summer vacation, even though winter was in the air.’”
The New England Journal of Medicine’s January 8 issue includes results of study of blood oxygen levels among Everest climbers, and appears to have astonished critical care specialists who have seen similar levels only in patients close to death.
“Four team members unzipped their down suits and drew samples from the femoral artery in the groin, and the blood was quickly brought down and analyzed in a science laboratory set up in the team’s camp at 6,400 meters (21,100 feet), the study said.” From the AFP.
“Much like a shot of tequila – an entertaining idea but one that leaves you feeling bitter and regretful – the prospect of a muscle-toning bike ride through the rolling English countryside all too often descends into a grit-caked, coccyx-maiming journey along a traffic-choked B road. But relocate the experience into a gym, and those demoralising exterior hazards are replaced by that even deadlier fitness adversary: boredom.” In the U.K. Telegraph, Nick McGrath writes about the new Xdream “virtual” training bike, which provides an ersatz mountain-biking experience for the indoors biker. It’s great failure: it doesn’t challenge the rider’s balance.
“This year’s trip was our most ambitious yet. Besides the 8-mile-per-day average and 4,500-foot descent/ascent at either end, a snowstorm had piled 20 inches of snow at the rim, requiring warmer (read: heavier) clothes and crampons.” Backpacker editor Jonathan Dorn reports on his family’s recent visit to a cold but glorious Grand Canyon hike of the Escalante.
We’ve seen a couple of different mashups that use the Google API to measure distance traveled by foot or wheel, but so far the Gmaps Pedometer is the most useful and user-friendly. As the Gmaps Pedometer site says, “This is a little hack that uses Google’s superb mapping application to help record distances traveled during a running or walking workout. Why? As a runner training for a marathon for the first time, I found myself wishing I had an easy way to know the exact distance a certain course is. Looking at Google Maps, and knowing there was a vibrant community of geeks hacking it, I knew there had to be a way.”
The tool has a couple of very cool features: in addition to automatically following road curves and corners, it marks every one mile distance, allows you to save your route to a unique URL, and even calculates your calories burned based on personal weight.
Steve Regenold just reviewed the $40 A.T. Grip Hobnail Kit, which allows runners to screw spikes into their running shoes for extra traction. “The hobnails are made to work on shoes with fairly thick soles and tread lugs. They could screw straight through the sole if you’re not watching. This potential scenario made my favorite trail runners, a thin-sole Inov-8 model, not candidate for the spike add-ons. But with the Ultranords, which are a mid-weight, waterproof trail shoe, the hobnail kit did not disappoint.” From Outside Online.
“As a former president of the Adirondack Mountain Club, he helped transform the organization from a modest recreational group into a statewide conservation advocacy force with more than 30,000 members. ‘Almy was really a renaissance man in many respects in the world of conservation,’ reflected Neil Woodworth, ADK’s executive director. ‘He was one of the most effective citizen advocates I’ve ever met.’” Justin Mason on DailyGazette.com.
“At $115, I was somewhat underwhelmed. The tool is made well, but its machining feels less precise than the Leatherman Skeleton and other models I own. When squeezing the pliers, as one example, the SOG’s implement cover flexed and clicked. The mechanisms on the side to unlock the blades are too small and somewhat sharp, making them uncomfortable and tedious.” On TheGearJunkie.com, Stephen Regenold reviews the new $115 SOG PowerAssist Multi-tool.
You won’t get around hunting as the hub of Steven Rinella’s new book about the saga of the American buffalo, but the author of The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine spins a pretty compelling tale according to reviewer Kristina Riggle. “‘My culture, Euro-American culture, did so many horrible things to the animal and treated it with such disrespect and such wanton greed. That has to be on your mind that there’s this history of abuse and neglect and greed in our relationship with the animals.’ Rinella’s book is receiving critical praise, including a starred review in Publishers Weekly, and it also was an ‘IndieNext’ recommended pick by the independent booksellers group IndieBound.” In the Grand Rapids Press.
American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon
Guy Tal delivers an extensive hands-on review of the new Canon G10, a small but rugged new camera that might be an ideal hiking companion. “And then came the ultimate, and quite unintentional test. When pulling the G10 from my jacket pocket I didn’t hold onto the strap hard enough and it went flying. Obviously it hit the hardest piece of rock around, and at the worst angle. The corner of the camera got a nasty dent, the battery popped out and the faceplate slightly separated. After putting it back together and pushing the plate back in, I made a few test shots. It continued to work perfectly.”
“The woods seemed to be the safest place for hiking, so we chose a six-mile trail that starts at Monashka Bay, at a beach still white with the ash of the 1912 Katmai eruption. The Termination Point trail is green year-round. It winds through hills blanketed in spongy moss and thins where it travels along the edge of steep cliffs. We were protected from the wind, but we walked under roaring treetops rubbing against each other in the storm.” Sara Loewen writes about hiking in mid-winter near Kodiak, Alaska, in the Anchorage Daily News.
“Spanish cyclists have long come to Mallorca for the variety. There is everything from long, flat coastal roads to the snakelike climbs up the Balearic island’s highest mountain range, the Tramuntana, which forms the backbone of the northern coast. Look up and there they are: calm, green and, at their highest point, almost a mile above you.” In the London Times, Kate Spcier tackles the island of Mallorca.
Utah offers wide stretches of landscape where the possibility of coming across fossils is always a footstep away. Hugo Martin of The Los Angeles Times takes a four-day road trip that includes hiking the badlands near Moab. “As I hiked to a flat stretch of sandstone near Moab, Utah, I saw what I came for: Dinosaur tracks. I ran my fingers along the curve of the claw and pressed my palm inside the hubcap-size impression. It was a strange feeling to occupy the same spot as an SUV-sized lizard.”
Snowshoe magazine interviews Dave Dunham, whose long career in running led him to get involved in snowshoe racing in its earliest years. “Snowshoe running/racing definitely enhances other types of running. It is a great workout with none of the pounding associated with road running. I come out of the SS season very fit. It is also a great mental toughness builder. There is nothing quite like running 15+ minutes per mile and being on the verge of collapse to get you ready for mountain racing.”
Australian Alps Walking Track Map | Wikipedia
Reluctant to stick the cell phone in your backpack for that next 8-mile hike? Ring tones of wild animal calls from The Center for Biological Diversity might make the idea more palatable. The organization -- which is certainly better known for its ecological activism -- makes the tones available for free on their Web site. Just be careful which you choose. "Grace Matthews, a 19-year-old biology student at the University of Birmingham in England, took a skiing holiday last week in the French Alps. At one point, she skied away from her companions and into a snowy, dusky forest area. Alone, moving at a good clip on the steep slopes, she was startled by the howl of a wolf. 'I very nearly crashed,' Ms. Matthews said in an interview." Felicity Barringer in The New York Times.
On the border between Slovakia and Poland, the High Tatras mountain range offers hikers a great alternative to the higher-priced Alps. Art Patnaude writes about a four-day hike on the Slovakian side in The Wall Street Journal. "The mountains are in Slovakia's 740-square-kilometer Tatras National
Park, known for its jagged, snow-capped peaks and unspoiled mountain
lakes, as well as for being a less-well-known, less-expensive
alternative to the Alps. We had come for four days of hiking in the
park, which is dotted with mountain chalets, or chaty, along the
trails, where we would stay."
Where Is It? | Wikipedia