On June 6th, 1765, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon placed an oak post at the point on their survey where the West or Mason-Dixon Line (northern boundary of Maryland) intersected with the North Line that formed the boundary between Maryland and the three lower counties of Pennsylvania (later to become Delaware). The survey divided the lands of the Calverts (Maryland) and...
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The White House used the FY2016 budget request to outline plans to keep parks relevant to an increasingly urban and diverse nation and to invite all Americans to help support their parks. The requests include $20 million annually to transport over a million urban youth to national parks and public lands, with dedicated youth coordinators to welcome them and their...
Learn MoreMarine scientists have long known that plastic pollution in the ocean is a huge problem. The most visible sign of it is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an accumulation of waste (actually spanning several distinct patches) floating in the ocean. It’s at least twice the size of Texas and can be seen from space. This pollution has an incalculably lethal effect on...
Learn MoreA recent report by the U.S. Forest Service shows that for over 19 million people in the South – roughly the population of Florida – clean water begins in the region’s national forests. The report provides information at a level not previously available on the amount of surface drinking water national forest lands provide to communities in the South. The Forest Service...
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High atop Lookout Mountain, just south of the Tennessee-Georgia line, Rock Creek cuts a valley into the mountaintop. As it prepares to drop off the mountain, the creek flows through Lula Lake (actually more like a pond) and over the impressive Lula Falls. In the wild and woolly days more than a half century ago, Lula Lake was basically a no man’s land where all sorts of...
Learn MoreNext time you go hiking through the forest keep an eye out for some pretty strangely-shaped trees. These trees are quite unique in that they bend in very unnatural angles. Sure, some trees are just weirdly-shaped, but there’s something special about these bent trees. Native Americans would bend trees in order to create trail markers that formed an early routing...
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When you think of hiking, you may envision traversing up and over rolling Appalachian or Rocky Mountains, braving the cold, sleet and snow. But while Florida may be popular for its amusement parks and beaches, there is a side of it off the beaten path that many have yet to discover: the more than 5,000 miles of diverse hiking trails throughout the state. February marks...
Learn MoreApple CEO Tim Cook announced during a White House summit on cybersecurity that Apple Pay is partnering with the federal government for some financial transactions. While reaffirming that Apple does not track Apple Pay data, Cook said the service will be available for many government-related transactions starting in September. This includes paying for admission into...
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Apollo Trifan hiked more than 275 miles last year, but this year it might be hard to top that, as he’s currently learning to walk. Apollo is 20 months old and hiked all those miles last year with his parents as part of Hike It Baby, a group where moms and dads hit the trails with their newborns. The international group was started in Portland, OR in 2013, and a...
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When Mary Melton went hiking through the Verdugo Mountains one weekend in January of last year, she was struck by the lack of signs to guide hikers through the trails. The editor-in-chief of Los Angeles magazine was actually scouting the area with her friends and son, who was 9 years old at the time, for the publication’s April hiking issue. Information available online...
Learn MoreGrueling pretty much sums up the Seven Summit Challenge. Avid hiker Kim Matelski, recently completed the challenge. “It involves hiking the (Phoenix) Valley’s seven urban summits, which is a total of more than 26 miles of trails and a climb of about 6,000 feet. Matelski completed the journey in just 11 hours. “We were prepared,” Matelski said....
Learn MoreThe Genetically Modified (GM) farming system has made exposure to Roundup herbicide a daily fact of our existence, and according to the latest US Geological Survey study its probably in the air you are breathing. It reveals that Roundup herbicide (aka glyphosate) and its still-toxic degradation byproduct AMPA were found in over 75% of the air and rain samples tested from...
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Surrounded on three sides by Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee’s Martha Sundquist State Forest is the only one in the state forest system with a dedicated hiking trail. The Tennessee Gulf Trail (named for a former owner of the property, Lambs Gulf Company) follows Brown Gap Creek from the northwestern to the southeastern corners of this 2,000 acre cove hardwood...
Learn MoreThis spring, work crews will suit up and go to the rescue of eastern and Carolina Hemlock trees infested by the woolly adelgid, a tiny invasive insect striking down these majestic trees. Late last year, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation received a grant from the Hemlock Restoration Initiative to collaborate with the National Park Service to help save these disappearing...
Learn MoreWhich national park will claim your attention this Presidents Day weekend? All 405 national parks will provide free admission to everyone February 14-16, 2015 to honor our nation’s leaders and their accomplishments. Visit one of the scores of national parks with a direct connection to a president, including birthplaces, homes, monuments, memorials, and historic...
Learn MoreIn 2010 Wyoming became the first state to require oil and gas companies to disclose chemicals used in fracking operations. Home to the petroleum-rich Powder River Basin, proponents saw the rule as a model for other drilling-dependent states to follow. The message they hoped the regulation would convey: We can be energy-friendly and environmentally friendly too. But the...
Learn MoreLegions of hikers and state “highpointers” have had the vision for years that if you build an overlook on Sassafras Mountain, the curious will come. Now, it looks like the idea for an accessible observation platform straddling the North Carolina-South Carolina border is on its way, thanks to a $350,000 gift to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. The...
Learn MoreA late winter day in Oklahoma often is a great time to go hiking. There are no bugs or snakes to contend with and if a person dresses properly and plans for the weather, there are plenty of days when the temperature is very comfortable for a hike. There are a number of trails near Oklahoma City that can provide an enjoyable outdoor experience. Four of the best are the...
Learn MoreCongress, which in December passed legislation that created a number of new national park units, is now being asked to expand by 75,000 acres the Mojave National Preserve as well as Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks, while also being called upon to create two new national monuments. U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are working to build upon a...
Learn MoreA community close to the proposed Maine North Woods National Park has drafted a letter that outlines the requirements it would like to see met before it could support such a park. The letter drafted by the Town Manager of Millinocket to U.S. Sen. Angus King, Maine’s former governor, touches on a number of issues, from air quality and the eventual size of such a...
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In order to enhance the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) experience for thru-hikers and better manage this natural resource, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), in cooperation with its partners, has launched a new voluntary registration system for those attempting to hike the trail in one year. This registration system, available at the Conservancy website, exists to ease...
Learn MoreThe Swiss are the inventors and exemplars of “hiking with options.” If you are eager to cut the day short after too many hours in an Alpine rain, you can board the cog railway back to town sooner than you’d planned. If your knees are sore after too many switchbacks up the side of a mountain, just take the gondola down. Not only are the Alps crisscrossed with well-marked...
Learn MoreAs morning light painted the far-reaching buttes of the Grand Canyon gold, Renae Yellowhorse stood at the edge of the canyon’s rim, looked out toward where the rivers met below her, and smiled. “It is my church, it is where I say my prayers. It is where I give my offerings. It’s where I commune with the holy ones, the gods that walk along the...
Learn MoreSkiers and snowboarders often overlook that most of the thrills and spills they have at a Colorado resort take place with publicly owned lands underfoot. So as tens of thousands of spectators converge on the White River National Forest for the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships at Vail and Beaver Creek, the U.S. Forest Service thinks it’s a great time to raise the...
Learn MoreThe U.S Forest Service wants to hit the reset button on its planning process for Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests in North Carolina. The agency is planning a new series of public meetings, tentatively scheduled for April, regarding its ongoing forest plan revision, which will guide management of the two forests for at least a decade, said Kristin Bail, supervisor of...
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Curtis Penix, a 46-year-old Michigan native with Kentucky roots, plans to hike the 200-mile trek marked by Daniel Boone almost 250 years ago. Penix will start his 16-day journey on March 10, 2015 at Long Island on the Holston River in Kingsport, TN — the site from which Daniel Boone and his party left in March 1775. Following ancient Indian and buffalo trails, Boone and...
Learn MoreIn 2014 there was an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico that allowed for the release of water into the Colorado River Delta. Known as a pulse flow, it lasted from late March to mid-May last year. Scientists have now returned to the path of the historic pulse flow, a release of water designed to rejuvenate the delta that has been totally dry for decades. By all...
Learn MorePresident Obama’s budget request for fiscal year 2016 — the centennial year of the National Park Service — includes $3 billion for the bureau’s critical conservation, preservation, and recreation mission. The budget boosts the National Park Service’s essential programs and operational needs by $432.9 million. The president’s budget highlights the importance of investing...
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. 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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