“Sputnik” had just emerged from the most remote stretch of the Appalachian Trail – 100 miles of Maine “wilderness” with no stores, towns or even paved roads – when he paused to consider a different ending to the life-changing trek he was about to complete. Behind him lay 2,170 miles worth of footsteps stretching from Georgia to this spot on Abol Bridge offering two images of Mount Katahdin: one rising out of the forests, and the other reflected in the water of the West Branch of the Penobscot River. Ahead of “Sputnik” – Jesse Metzger’s trail...
read moreAmerica’s national parks have never been so popular: Last year saw the highest-ever level of daily visits and campers to Yellowstone, Joshua Tree, and the 57 other nature reserves. Yet the number of park rangers available to help travelers find the perfect trail, answer questions about area flora and fauna, and enforce rules to protect the environment (and other laws) is falling fast. The amount of full-time and seasonal law enforcement rangers employed at the parks has gone down in recent years. The number of full-time rangers dropped 14...
read moreThe Washington Post reports that Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has already organized a boycott of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, even before it’s released. Never mind the fact that Kentucky state officials expect to meet the plan’s requirements to cut pollution from power plants “with relatively little effort.” In fact, the newspaper’s analysis reveals that most states won’t have trouble meeting the plan’s targets. So, if Sen. McConnell and others are not really standing up for their home states, what’s actually...
read moreRio Grande Trail commissioners held their first meeting July 29,2015 to discuss creating a 500-mile recreational route through New Mexico. The task before them won’t be easy or quick. There’s a dizzying array of decisions and tasks to undertake before the trail will become a reality. It’s so early in the process, the commission has only a bare-bones digital page, housed within the website of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. The group agreed it will need money, a robust website, maps of existing trails, routes for...
read moreNEBO, N.C., August 1, 2015 – The Wolf Creek wildfire is burning on the Pisgah National Forest in the Heartbreak Ridge and Jarrett Creek area of McDowell County northwest of Old Fort, NC. The wildfire, reported the evening of July 31st, is moving slowly and is estimated at twenty-five acres and is twenty percent contained. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and N.C. Forest Service (NCFS) are managing the fire jointly with resources from both agencies and support from McDowell County Emergency Management Services. 35 firefighters, a dozer,...
read moreThink the Blue Ridge Parkway is beautiful? Well, like many of us, it takes a lot of grooming to look that way. For the third summer, a group of North Carolina teenagers from ages 16-18 years old have been working hard to improve, restore, and preserve the natural and recreational resources of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Boone and Blowing Rock. The North Carolina Youth Conservation Corps is in the field for seven weeks (they started June 20 and will finish Aug. 8) through a partnership among the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, the Conservation...
read moreThese are sights you do not forget, no need for a smartphone or GoPro. The Grand Canyon constantly surprises and delights. And it is at the North Rim, the less-visited but no less sublime national park outpost, where you can experience the Grand Canyon in its purest form – unless, of course, you have the temerity and back-country skills to camp out for days on the canyon floor. Its remoteness is its appeal. Though the touristic hordes that gather each day at Mather Point on the South Rim can actually see the North Rim in the distance – it is,...
read morePANTHERTOWN, N.C., July 31, 2015- Nantahala District Ranger, Mike Wilkins, advises everyone that Forest Service road 4673 which accesses the Panthertown hiking trail system from the east side in the Cold Mountain area will be closed beginning Monday morning August 3, 2015 on week days until August 14, 2015 to construct a 9-12 car parking area. The project is a cooperative effort between the Friends of Panthertown and the US Forest Service made possible by a grant provided by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources,...
read moreThe National Parks Conservation Association issued a report that found some of the country’s most popular national parks are plagued by polluted air and hazy skies — and are decades behind schedule getting rid of them. The report flunked Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Joshua Tree and Yosemite in California — giving each park an F for routinely having unhealthful levels of ozone during the summer season, when millions of vacationers descend. The air quality at Sequoia and Kings Canyon was rated worst in the nation. The advocacy group, using federal...
read moreFollowing a number of deaths in recent years and dozens of rescues, residents of Paradise Valley, Arizona are concerned with hiker safety on the Echo Canyon Trail because of a lack of signage marking the trail and warning of its difficulty. One of those residents, Ryan Wooddy, can’t help but notice when rental cars are parked at the Echo Canyon trailhead near his Paradise Valley home — which he says is often. Driving through the lot on a recent day, he makes a mental tally of the out-of-state license plates: California (check). Nevada...
read moreWouldn’t it be great if your kids begged to go on a hike instead of playing video games or going to the mall? There are ways to encourage their love for the outdoors and as they develop more of a comfort level in nature, you may find them coming up with new plans to head out a trail. If you’re looking for a place to start, Jennifer Pharr Davis has some practical tips. She’s an avid hiker and has completed the Appalachian Trail three times. On her last trek in 2011, she clocked what was then the fastest thru-hike on the AT, finishing in 46...
read moreJust in time for peak tourist season, Montana’s Glacier National Park is on fire. As of July 28, some 3,200 acres of the park were engulfed by wildfire, which began a week ago and caused park officials to shut down three separate campsites throughout the park as well as close off the St. Mary Visitor Center. As of the 29th, the wildfire was 56 percent contained, and portions of the park that were previously closed have been reopened to the public — but firefighters are still working to contain the remaining portion of the fire. The Glacier...
read moreClimate change is set to hit the Southeast United States hard. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Risky Business Project, a nonprofit that focuses on the economic impacts of climate change. The report, which focused on 12 states found that the increased heat and humidity that these states are expected to experience as the climate changes will put the region’s recent manufacturing boom at risk. “While the Southeast is generally accustomed to heat and humidity, the scale of increased heat — along with other impacts such as sea level...
read moreGreat Smoky Mountains National Park says more than 4.3 million people visited between January and June, an 8 percent increase from the first half of 2014. The park is the most visited of the national parks. More than 1 million people visited in May, the most for May since the National Park Service began tracking monthly visitation in 1979. Visitation increased 26 percent at the Oconaluftee entrance near Cherokee, North Carolina. More than 100,000 people camped in one of the park’s nine campgrounds, an increase of 14 percent from last...
read moreThirteen giant companies joined the Obama administration’s Act on Climate initiative, announcing at least $140 billion in new low-carbon investment and more than 1,600 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy, the White House said. The pledge from Coca-Cola, Walmart, Apple, Google, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and other big-name companies comes in advance of the United Nations climate talks in Paris at the end of the year, and is meant to demonstrate industry support for strong carbon reduction goals. “We recognize that delaying action on...
read moreThe most popular trekking trail in Nepal escaped damage during April’s devastating earthquake and is safe for hikers to return, an assessment team said. Kit Miyamoto of the California-based engineering firm Miyamoto International assessed the 125 miles of trekking trails around Mount Annapurna, and said that the only hazards were found at three spots and appeared to predate the quake. Only about 3 percent of the accommodations on the trail were damaged by the April 25 earthquake. That quake, coupled with another in May, killed nearly...
read moreThis summer has brought extreme temperatures to many U.S. states. Human hikers know that it’s important to carry enough water, wear loose-fitting clothes and wear a wide-brimmed hat when venturing out in temperatures that have been getting up to 100 degrees. But what about their canine companions? They don’t have the same options to shield them against the heat; all they can do is to follow wherever they are led. Sometimes this can have deadly consequences. The symptoms of an overheated dog include: Skin that is hot to the touch, heavy...
read moreOn the 26th of March 2015, the United States’ senate voted to pass SA 838, a budget amendment that constitutes the first step in allowing the transfer of certain types of federal land into the stewardship of individual states and paving the way for the sale of these lands to private concerns. The amendment, proposed by Alaskan senator Lisa Murkowski, garnered 51 “yeas” against 49 “nays”. This occurred despite the fact that the amendment enjoys very little support by the constituents represented by such a vote. For what reasons would the US...
read moreRecord-setting speed hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis, of Asheville, has been elected to the board of directors of The Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The board is responsible for communicating the mission of the ATC, and enhancing the public standing of the ATC by ensuring legal and ethical integrity and practicing fiscal responsibility. Davis is an avid hiker and Appalachian Trail enthusiast, having thru-hiked the entirety of the 2,190-mile Trail three times. On one of those hikes, in 2011, she set the fastest known time on the AT – 46 days, 11...
read moreThe Idaho Centennial Trail is more of an idea than a completed trail. Running from the desert bordering Nevada clear to the cool mountain forests of north Idaho, the trail covers between 900 and 1,200 miles of the state. “I would guess 10 people have thru-hiked it,” said Clay Jacobson. “In history.” Jacobson’s goal this summer is to join the ranks of those ambitious hikers. On June 30, 2015, he and his girlfriend, as well as two other friends, started out on the border of Idaho and Nevada—ready to begin their...
read moreIt is fairly well understood by now that releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere imposes an economic cost, in the form of climate change impacts. In most cases, however, those responsible for carbon emissions are not required to pay that cost. Instead, it’s borne mainly by the world’s poor and low-lying countries, and of course by future generations, as many of the worst impacts of climate change will emerge years after the emissions that drive them. People sometimes refer to the unpaid cost of...
read moreTaking a stroll in the park may soothe the mind and, in the process, change the workings of our brains in ways that improve mental health, according to a new study of the physical effects on the brain of visiting nature. Most of us today live in cities and spend far less time outside in green, natural spaces than people did several generations ago. City dwellers also have a higher risk for anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses than people living outside urban centers, studies show. These developments seem to be linked to some extent,...
read moreIn what may prove to be a turning point for political action on climate change, a breathtaking new study casts extreme doubt about the near-term stability of global sea levels. The study—written by James Hansen, NASA’s former lead climate scientist, and 16 co-authors, many of whom are considered among the top in their fields—concludes that glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica will melt 10 times faster than previous consensus estimates, resulting in sea level rise of at least 10 feet in as little as 50 years. The study, which has not yet been...
read moreSenate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) announced a bipartisan agreement to permanently authorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The law’s current 25-year authorization expires on September 30, 2015. “This is a huge step forward at a critical time because the program’s current authorization will expire in less than 70 days,” said Alan Rowsome, Senior Director of Government Relations for Lands at The Wilderness Society and Co-Chair of the Land and Water...
read moreCalifornia is fortunate to be home to nine national parks, more than any other state. With such a plethora of natural and national treasures, it may not come as a surprise that two of the state’s most spectacular parks, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, are often overlooked. While typically referred to together, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are actually two distinct but contiguous parks located in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Kings Canyon lies to the north and Sequoia to the south. Other than iconic giant sequoia trees that...
read moreSeveral items are essential for exploring the magical Southern Alps mountains that run across New Zealand’s South Island: insect repellent, rain gear and ear plugs. The repellent is to ward off sandflies, those annoying black bugs that are the itchy scourge of hikers in Fiordland National Park. The park, which is bigger than Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks combined, is one of the wettest places on earth. It gets an average 280 inches of rainfall a year, compared to Seattle, Washington’s 38. And while there’s plenty...
read moreAccuWeather Global Weather Center – July 21, 2015 – AccuWeather, Inc., the global leader in weather information and digital media, today introduced AccUcast™, an exciting interactive crowdsourcing feature available in the AccuWeather universal iOS app where users can now share their local weather updates. AccUcast is the only crowdsourcing tool with live crowdsourced weather maps that provide current weather conditions submitted by users in a global animation display. AccuWeather designed and developed AccUcast to help people worldwide make...
read more“There are two easy ways to die in the desert: thirst or drowning. This place is stained with such ironies, a tension set between the need to find water and the need to get away from it. The floods that come with the least warning arrive at the hottest time of the year, when the last thing on a person’s mind is too much water.” The Red Rock Country of Southern Utah is high desert at 5,000 feet, and is sometimes called Color Country or Canyon Country. It’s known for its wide open views, hoo doos, arches, red rocks and sand, mesas,...
read more300 million pounds of glyphosate are used in the U.S. each year, but its impacts are largely unknown. For more than a decade, milkweed, that tall green plant with purple or orange flowers, has been rapidly declining in Midwestern states. Little research has been done on the abundance of milkweed in Western states, though many scientists suspect it may be struggling as well. That’s because Western monarch butterflies, which depend on milkweed for food and habitat, have declined by nearly 90 percent in the past two decades. Both of these...
read moreA stock-take of the 10 parks established to preserve the England’s natural riches shows how they have become vital sanctuaries for a wonderful array of threatened and rare plants and animals. While the national parks cover only 10 per cent of England, they contain a high proportion of habitats such as heath, fen and ancient woodland that have been lost over the centuries. The range and variety of landscapes and natural features found in England’s National Parks helps explain why they are so special. In Northumberland, for instance, we find...
read moreMountains cover 70 percent of the Korean peninsula, and in South Korea, an estimated 1 in 3 Koreans goes hiking more than once a month. Over the past few decades, hiking has become way more than a weekend activity. It’s part of the Korean national identity. Across the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, second- and even third-generation children of Korean immigrants are keeping alive and well a tradition that connects them to their ancestral homeland. LA’s Griffith Park comprises 4,000 acres where dusty trails weave up and down...
read more
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. 
Copyright © 2011-2023 Internet Brothers. All Rights Reserved. ISSN 2324-6057
Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by Wordpress | Logo by Design Aspirations
