A replacement for one of the most well-traveled and iconic bridges in the Adirondack High Peaks was completed and opened to hikers June 17th as crews continue to repair backcountry trail damage from Tropical Storm Irene in August. The bridge across Marcy Dam in a popular hiking region near Lake Placid has been a favorite photo spot for generations of hikers who would...
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Another of the myriad of hikes along Forest Road 475 in Pisgah National Forest, this two-parter is near the Fish Hatchery and Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education. First we took a short trip up Forest Road 475B to Slick Rock Falls, then hiked to the base of Looking Glass Rock. The climbers love this area and we encountered some when we reached the base. The main hike was...
Learn MoreDelaware is known by several nicknames — the First State, the Diamond State, the Blue Hen state, a tax-free shopping state — but a frustrated U.S. senator imagines an additional sign at the border. “Welcome to Delaware — the only state without a national park,” jokes U.S. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware. Carper, a Democrat, has been pressing Congress for about a...
Learn MoreOn a dry day in May 2002, Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull boarded a Blackhawk helicopter in Show Low with her forest and wildfire advisers and Wally Covington, director of the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University. As the chopper flew over the White Mountains, along the Mogollon Rim and on toward Flagstaff, Covington plotted out, with the help of a...
Learn MoreDespite gloomy weather, more than 40 hikers showed up to celebrate the opening of the new Cheney Mountain trail in Moriah, NY. Hikers in brightly colored rain slickers lined up at a registration table set up under a canvas canopy at the trailhead. Those who showed up the first day got a Cheney Mountain patch. The 1,161-foot-high mountain is shaped like a loaf of bread,...
Learn MoreThere’s just something about a tree house, isn’t there? There’s a 20-foot-tall tree house and observation platform that towers over the hiking trail at the new Game, Fish & Parks Outdoor Campus West campus on the edge of Rapid City, SD. The tree house, constructed of huge logs and strung with sturdy netting, is an impressive structure that rewards its climbers...
Learn MoreA billionaire hedge-fund manager pledged to protect 90,000 acres of his Colorado ranch from further development as part of a much larger planned conservation area. The Obama administration said it would be the “largest single conservation easement” ever provided to the federal government. The easement, which would include tax benefits for New York-based Louis...
Learn MoreHawai‘i Volcanoes National Park has reopened the section of Crater Rim Drive near the Devastation Trail parking lot to Keanakāko‘i Crater, and a portion of Crater Rim Trail that leads from Chain of Craters Road to the south side of Keanakāko‘i, to hikers. Approximately 0.8 miles of Crater Rim Drive is now open to hikers, and visitors can enjoy an easy roundtrip walk...
Learn MoreAs firefighters battle blazes in New Mexico and Colorado that have forced evacuations and destroyed hundreds of structures, the U.S. Forest Service chief is renewing his call to restore forests to a more natural state, where fire was a part of the landscape. Experts say a combination of decades of vigorous fire suppression and the waning of the timber industry over...
Learn MoreDespite being explored for more than a century, Carlsbad Caverns National Park still hides more passages. A team exploring the park’s Lechuguilla Cave, the deepest cave in the continental United States, climbed over 410 feet into a high dome in early May. Upon reaching the top, the lead climber discovered a maze of previously unknown passages, pits and large rooms....
Learn MoreMountain bogs are some of the rarest and most imperiled natural habitat in the country. They are generally small and scattered across the landscape often isolated from other wetlands. This isolation can create unique habitats, which in turn create unique flora and fauna. Bogs are home to several federally endangered and/or threatened species including bog turtles,...
Learn MoreThe U.S. Forest Service is warning visitors to the Shining Rock Wilderness area of the Pisgah Ranger District, Pisgah National Forest, to be on the look-out for black bears. While black bear attacks on people are rare, such attacks have resulted in human fatalities. The warning comes after several bear encounters were reported recently in Shining Rock Wilderness, located...
Learn MoreHiking is a great way to nurture a youngster’s love for nature, said Michael Lanza, Northwest editor of Backpacker Magazine and author of “Before They’re Gone: A Family’s Year-Long Quest to Explore American’s Most Endangered National Parks” (Beacon Press). And when it comes to getting started, no matter how young they are, just go for...
Learn MoreRelaxing in the warm mid-day sun, with not a breath of wind, one thinks about the early pioneers who drove dog teams over this pass more than 100 years ago. This was part of the Iditarod Trail to Nome and in elevation, the highest point they would reach on the 1,150-mile trip. After a steep ascent from Girdwood, when they reached this point they probably breathed a sigh...
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Hikers who want to travel smarter on trails in the southern mountains now have one more good reason to stash their phones in their daypacks. A mobile app called Great Hikes of the Southern Appalachians now lets adventurers carry all the maps, directions, and other hiking info they need with them on their iPhone. The new app is the brainchild of Jim Parham, guidebook...
Learn MoreAll over the Alps, in national parks like Austria’s Hohe Tauern, and outside parks, in almost any other mountain range, there are high mountain huts. They range from rough and rustic, in the “refuge” category, to elaborately atmospheric and refined. Many just serve meals, but others feature full-blown overnight accommodations that can range from a basic bunk in a...
Learn MoreClark and Logan counties in Ohio will take part in a statewide commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 in June 18 ceremonies at the Heritage Center of Clark County and Logan County Courthouse. But while the 11:30 a.m. events that day will include pageantry, uniforms and the nation’s then 15-star flag, the biggest area celebration will be a five-day,...
Learn MoreThere is a satisfying immediacy about the prospect of establishing an encampment for the night — clearing the site, erecting the tent, chopping wood, building a fire and cooking over the live flame — that in turn suggests a meaningful connection to landscape, place and the rugged life of backwoods adventurers. In essence camping is an act of faith and survival, a way to...
Learn MoreAmerican travelers romanticize Montana for its wildness, its sky-scraping mountains and its glistening ribbons of trout-packed streams. But for Montanans, the dream destination is the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, a tranquil pocket of Montana backcountry commonly referred to as the Bob. A 1.5-million-acre preserve with no roads and only a handful of permanent...
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In a remote arm of Canyonlands National Park, deep inside a warren of rock and sand, is one of the greatest and most mysterious collections of ancient art in North America. Towering, enigmatic pictographs, some more than 6,000 years old, stare down from stone walls, their meaning unknown yet their allure universal. This is Horseshoe Canyon, one of the loneliest places...
Learn MoreOver the last few years, Google’s specially-designed cars, trikes, trolleys and snowmobiles have brought interactive Street View technology to the cities and jungles of the world – but why stop there? The search giant recently unveiled the Street View Trekker, a hi-tech backpack-contained system that will bring Street View to those places that can only be reached...
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. My regular hiking companions have designated me the lead hiker, so I suppose that makes me the slowest Meanderthal. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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