In an effort to undermine international negotiations aimed at combating climate change, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is telling other countries not to trust President Obama’s promise to significantly reduce the United States’ carbon emissions. In a statement released March 31st, McConnell warned other countries to “proceed with caution” before pledging any carbon emissions reductions to the United Nations, saying the U.S. would likely not be able to meet its own climate goals. The statement came shortly after Obama announced...
read moreIf you’re looking at something but don’t have anything to compare it to, it’s hard to know what’s really going on. Maybe you meet someone for the first time and think they look a little sick, so you think they’re not doing too well. But if you had met them a year ago when they were terminally ill, you’d think that today’s health was a huge improvement. Everything’s relative. It’s all about your frame of reference. That’s the idea behind repeat photography. Some things change fairly slowly,...
read moreThe hike to Crypt Lake along the Crypt Lake Trail is without question one of the most popular day hikes in Waterton Lakes National Park. You start with a boat ride across Upper Waterton Lake, then hike by four gorgeous waterfalls, climb a steel ladder, crawl through a narrow tunnel for nearly 100 feet, and walk directly above a harrowing cliff as you hold on to a steel cable. The trailhead to Crypt Lake is actually located at what is known as Crypt Landing, and by far the easiest way to get to Crypt Landing is take a boat named “Miss...
read moreThis started 60,000 years ago… Aboriginal people across Western Australia have long used trails to connect to iconic landscapes, food sources, social gatherings and deeply spiritual places. Their mode of transport by foot and watercraft; they connected to country and were in touch with nature. Today Western Australians and visitors are able to enjoy “trails” for similar reasons – to engage with nature, socialize, connect to amazing landscapes, develop resilience, enhance health outcomes and have a spiritual grounding. With the...
read moreA Reuters analysis finds that flooding is increasing along much of the nation’s coastline, forcing many communities into costly, controversial struggles with a relentless foe. WALLOPS ISLAND, Virginia – Missions flown from the NASA base here have documented some of the most dramatic evidence of a warming planet over the past 20 years: the melting of polar ice, a force contributing to a global rise in ocean levels. The Wallops Flight Facility’s relationship with rising seas doesn’t end there. Its billion-dollar space launch complex occupies a...
read moreFor the first time in a century, endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep are back on their ancestral range and headed toward recovery, wildlife officials said. During an ongoing relocation effort, hundreds of bighorn have been captured with nets dropped from helicopters then moved to Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. “We’ve got the sheep where we want them on a broad geographic basis, which is a huge milestone,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Tom Stephenson said. “We’ve still got to get...
read moreWith Women’s History Month upon us, the Department of the Interior interviewed Betty Reid Soskin, who at 93 is the oldest active ranger in the National Park Service. Great-granddaughter of a slave and a file clerk in a Jim Crow union hall during World War II, Reid-Soskin began her career with NPS at the age of 85 at Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park and was a driving force behind the park years prior. Between speaking engagements, conducting her bus tours, and giving presentations at the park’s visitors’ center, she...
read moreAfter nearly 100 years, the National Park Service holds some of the most beautiful and historic places in the country, though there’s also an $11 billion backlog of unfunded maintenance and a visitor base that’s aging and mostly white. With its centennial approaching in 2016, the park service will launch a major campaign this week in New York City to raise support and introduce a new, more diverse generation of millennials and children to “America’s best idea,” the national parks. First lady Michelle Obama and...
read moreFor those who live in the Oakland flatlands, there’s little respite from the constant grind of city life. Many residents, especially those who rely on public transit, lack the resources to escape urbanity and enjoy Northern California’s wilderness — or so they think. What many people don’t realize is that Dimond Park, located only about two and a half miles away from Fruitvale BART station, is the nexus of over 500 miles of hiking trails that span the entire East Bay. A developed recreational area with playgrounds and picnic tables, this park...
read moreFor most people, hiking means hitting a local trail on a weekend afternoon to enjoy a couple hours of scenic cardio, fresh air and perhaps solitude. But others crave a more all-consuming experience: a physically and mentally demanding – yet immensely rewarding – long-distance hike that takes them hundreds or thousands of miles through untamed wilderness and arduous terrain. The best-known long-distance trails in the U.S. are the Appalachian Trail, which runs 2,180 miles from Georgia’s Springer Mountain to Mount Katahdin in Maine, and the...
read moreDawn’s golden light caught the tops of the snowcapped Himalayas and gradually crept downward as the rising sun lit up a sweeping arc of soaring peaks, at once forbidding and starkly beautiful. The stunning vista from the top of Poon Hill — at 10,475 feet, the highest point of this family’s six-day trek in Nepal — was among many highlights of a “Lord of the Rings”-like adventure through lush forests, terraced fields and traditional villages nestled above plunging valleys. Sometimes the going was tough — such as hiking two hours up steep, stone...
read moreBridge repairs will require a roughly nine-mile-long stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina to close for about two months beginning April 1, 2015. Parkway officials say the closure is necessary to to make critical repairs to Deep Gap Bridge at US 421. A detour will be signed in the area from Milepost 269.8, at Phillips Gap north of the bridge to Milepost 276.4 at the US 421 ramp. Access to Jeffress Park Picnic Area will remain open from the north end of the detour. The closure is expected to remain in place until early June. Due...
read moreSince President Ulysses S. Grant signed the first national park, Yellowstone, into law in 1872, the national parks have provided American citizens and visitors from all over the world unique experiences with nature. The arches of Yellowstone National Park at the park entrance displays the Theodore Roosevelt quote, “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Despite Roosevelt’s rhetoric, the national parks’ missions have lacked focus towards African Americans for decades. The first African-American park...
read moreThere is no better vantage point of historic Newburgh and the northern entrance to the Hudson River’s highlands than Snake Hill – maintained through a partnership of Scenic Hudson and the Orange County Land Trust. Ascending the only route up Snake Hill – a closed asphalt road – a rosary of erratic rocks line its right shoulder, the largest being a yacht-sized boulder and its accompanying dinghy-size rock tending it. Easy to get to and easy to ascend, the entrance is at 398 Union Ave. (Route 69) in New Windsor. It is less than a mile walk and...
read moreAfter the longest winter in the history of mankind, Spring is finally here. And that means it’s time to get out the hiking boots, fill up the water bottles and hit the trails. It may seem impossible to see all of the incredible hikes, treks and trails available in Virginia’s great outdoors, but there’s no time like the present to start trying and no better place to start than these 16 awe-inspiring spots. Whether it’s a weekend on the trails, a day out with friends and family or just experiencing Virginia’s majestic beauty on your own, it’s...
read moreThe U.S. Forest Service plans to conduct a prescribed burn during the week of March 29, 2015 on 450 acres of the Appalachian Ranger District, Pisgah National Forest. The prescribed burn will take place off of Max Patch Road in Madison County approximately 25 miles northwest of Asheville. The prescribed burn will reduce the amount of dead grasses and woody debris on the forest floor reducing the frequency and impacts of wildfire thereby reducing risks to nearby communities. The burn will also improve habitat for fire-adapted botanical species...
read moreA recording-breaking adventurer from North Wales has claimed the title of National Adventurer of the Year following his epic journey across landlocked Mongolia. Ash Dykes, 24, who is nicknamed the ‘lonely snow leopard’, last year impressively spent 78 days alone, crossing 1,500 miles of the unforgiving Gobi Desert and the vast Mongolian steppe. The prestigious awards are a celebration of the most impressive international adventure, and Ash beat 39 other competitors to take the title of Wales’ top adventurer. Fittingly the...
read moreWhich side of the Columbia River Gorge do you like best for hiking? Flip a coin, hem and haw, pick one and change your mind . . . they are both great. Typically the Washington side better in spring, because it faces south and gets more sun. That gives it more openings in the forest and more room for dense concentrations of wildflowers to grow, though you could say that about Tom McCall Preserve and Sevenmile Hill in Oregon, too. So lace up your boots for primo spring hiking with great views, more sun and less noise than across the river,...
read moreThe Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and Conservation Trust for North Carolina are bringing youth crews to the Highlands District for trail and campground rehab. Imagine working with newfound friends to rehabilitate and build trails by day and bond over a common goal under the stars at night. Sounds pretty great, right? That’s what a crew of teenagers and young adults will do this summer in the Highlands District of the Blue Ridge Parkway thanks to funding from their Community of Stewards. The BRP Foundation is partnering with the...
read moreCan a forest that exists only in the spaces between roads and patches cleared for human settlement and agricultural development truly be called a forest? Not so much, say researchers studying the growing, global problem of forest fragmentation. The new study found that fragmented habitats lose an average of half of their plant and animal species within twenty years, and that some continue to lose species for thirty years or more. In all of the cases examined, the worst losses occurred in the smallest habitat patches and closest to a habitat...
read moreLike road-trippers with balding tires, Americans are loving their national parks into disrepair. The National Park Service released a list of maintenance projects that have been postponed and put off for years. The backlog of 2014 projects nationwide totals $11.49 billion — up nearly $200 million since 2013. Dave Nimkin, southwest senior regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, says this is the worst possible time to defer routine upkeep at the national parks. The parks’ centennial is next year. “As we...
read moreIt’s been nearly 20 years since Burt Kornegay first started looking into land along Hickory Knoll Road in Macon County, NC, but dirt is finally moving on the Bartram Trail Society’s vision of routing a piece of the long-distance trail away from the road and over the Pinnacle and George Gray Mountain instead. “This had been years in the making,” said Kornegay, who was in the midst of his 12 years as president of the Bartram Trail Society when he bought the land. “This was going on even before these tracts of land came up.” One of the tracts in...
read moreIf you love to hike in the Smokies, chances are you’ve seen many wild animals. But, there’s one animal that park officials are calling an unwelcome guest. Bill Stiver knows how to read the land like most people know how to read a book. On Wednesday, he was following the tracks of wild hogs. Wild hogs can get up to 300 pounds and while Stiver says he doesn’t consider them dangerous to park-goers, he says they are a threat to the park itself. “Most people don’t even know that the wild hogs are here,” says...
read moreThe Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile walking trail extending from Boston Common through the heart of downtown and across the Charles River to the monument atop Bunker Hill in Charlestown. Marked by a red-brick line weaving through the streets, the famous trail leads past 16 colonial, Revolutionary and federal sites. Together these tell the story of the important people, places and events in Boston’s history in and around the period of the American Revolution and the struggles to secure freedom and liberty in the form of a new nation. The starting...
read moreMountain pine, spruce, piñon ips, and other kinds of bark beetles have chomped 46 million of the country’s 850 million acres of forested land, from the Yukon down the spine of the Rocky Mountains all the way to Mexico. Yellowstone’s grizzly bears have run out of pinecones to eat because of the beetles. Skiers and backpackers have watched their brushy green playgrounds fade as trees fall down, sometimes at a rate of 100,000 trunks a day. Real estate agents have seen home prices plummet from “viewshed contamination” in...
read moreIt’s one of those places you probably pass by all the time and don’t even realize it’s there. There are no road signs marking it. It’s a cheerful trail hidden and tucked away from sight. They call it a vibrant faith adventure, and that it is. Happy words of encouragement surround you along Cleo’s Nature Trail. It’s a whimsical spot on the Snake River, hidden away in Melba, Idaho on Highway 45. “Most people are pretty amazed. We get several visitors that say they’ve lived in this area their...
read morePISGAH FOREST, N.C., Mar. 20, 2015 – The U.S. Forest Service is temporarily closing the Graveyard Fields Area at milepost 418 on the Blue Ridge Parkway to overnight camping. This closure, issued in consultation with the N.C. Wildlife Commission, has been implemented due to human safety concerns after a bear entered a tent and removed a hiker’s backpack. No injuries were reported. The U.S. Forest Service will monitor the area over the next few weeks to determine when to reopen the area to overnight camping. The area remains open...
read moreThe National Park Service currently receives $240 million through the Federal Lands Transportation Program within the federal surface transportation law. The NPS has estimated that it needs more than four times that amount per year through 2024 to restore its transportation systems into good condition and to meet growing visitor access needs. It is estimated to take $244 million to repair the Washington, D.C. Memorial Bridge alone. What is wrong with this picture? With over 9,000 miles of roads and 1,400 bridges, the transportation system in...
read moreDenizens of the wide-open stretches of western South Dakota and Nebraska and others parts of the High Plains should not be surprised if one of these days they see a Toyota Tacoma with Colorado plates parked on the side of a gravel road. It’ll stick out, not unlike a fanny pack at a rodeo. But a closer inspection will show that while the driver may be an interloper, he is not an environmentalist, an animal activist, or an anti-pipeline agitator. Nope. It’s just Steve Myers, one of those people for whom the seemingly endless vistas of the...
read moreAlong the trail to Junipero Serra Peak in the Ventana Wilderness of South Monterey County, there is some stuff to see. Like goldfields flowering, hummingbird sage blooming and sharp cacti appropriately called Spanish sword cutting a sharp profile against the increasingly steep grade. And the massive pine needles, bird tracks and rock formations that enjoy supernatural scale. Way up top, after hours of climbing, the view zooms from San Antonio Valley to the Pacific Ocean beyond Big Sur and even reaches Santa Cruz to the north. The sweeping...
read moreIn 2014, America’s national parks attracted a record-setting 292.8 million visits, but the typical visitor to the country’s biggest parks is edging closer to retirement age. the average age of visitors to Denali is 57 years. In Yellowstone it is 54. But in the past decade, the number of visitors under the age of 15 has fallen by half. It’s not just the visitors who are getting grayer. According to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), half of the employees in park service leadership positions are scheduled to...
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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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