“In the desert, there’s no room for mistakes.” – David Wherry, to himself during his desert hike After refilling my water, I decided to leave my pack behind for the last couple of miles. After getting a photo of the Escalante trailhead sign, I would go back to the stream, grab my pack, and hike a couple miles to make camp at a place I scouted out earlier. I grabbed my...
Learn MoreThe “shrink it and pink it” approach is rarely the answer to designing products for women. Smart companies know having a true female point-of-view makes all the difference in creating effective products for the female market. A group of five female industrial design students discovered that first-hand this semester as they and their classmates came up with new ideas for...
Learn MoreDinosaur tracks millions of years old can be tough to discern from ripples in sandstone, so it seems only natural to ask how to tell the real thing from fickle currents in the rock floor of Horseshoe Canyon in Canyonlands National Park. “If there’s a ring of rocks around it (it’s a track),” Ranger Nicole Loiseau joked as we headed towards the...
Learn MoreNational parks are ideal destinations for those who appreciate the splendor of a glittering nighttime sky – away from street lights, billboards and neon signs. The National Park Service in 2006 adopted a policy to “preserve, to the greatest extent possible, the natural lightscapes of parks, which are natural resources and values that exist in the absence of...
Learn MoreDespite warnings by the heads of the Interior Department and the National Park Service of dangerous impacts of automatic budget cuts set to go into effect Friday, officials on the ground at Utah’s five national parks say visitors may not see many changes. “We’re hoping we can absorb all the cuts by the things we’ve already done,” says Zion National Park...
Learn MoreUtah Gov. Gary Herbert released his recreation plan to coincide with the Outdoor Retailers show. And while the big news was Herbert wants to create an office of outdoor recreation, there are some more specific proposals of interest to hikers and trail users. Among the proposals for the director of Utah outdoor recreation: The proposal calls for exploring options to fund...
Learn MoreSue Mitchell descended into the colorful embrace of Bryce Canyon National Park on a bittersweet mission, one that pulled heavily at her heart and yet also filled her with joy. Here, among the whimsically eroded hoodoos tinted orange, red and buff and green Ponderosa pines piercing the sky, she would spread her mother’s ashes in one of the most breathtaking and peaceful...
Learn MoreA 30-acre private parcel in Zion National Park has been protected from potential development and will be added to the park. An anonymous donor, working with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and The Trust for Public Land, donated $825,000 so the land could be purchased and given to the park. The land was an inholding, meaning it was a privately owned...
Learn MoreThis has been a terrific hiking season for the author so far, but it’s different from previous years. This year she has a little hiking buddy: her soon-to-be kid! She calls her Dragon. Dragon and the author have covered a lot of ground in the past 34 weeks. They closed out winter at the Millcreek yurt, back when she was just a little tadpole making her sick. They...
Learn MoreOn any given day during the height of the summer visitor season, thousands of people wade and play in the Virgin River at the Narrows in Utah’s most popular national park. Hardy adventurers, too, seek the “other worldly” experience by making the complete 16-mile trek through the Narrows, wading through the rushing water and picking their way over...
Learn MoreAfter having two encounters of moose family in four days, the author realized that his animal whispering-skills are non- existent and he should learn what these animals tendencies are. While having fun in Utah, he wanted to inform himself how to prevent attacks, how to handle encounters, and finally how to handle getting attacked. This is what he found about the common...
Learn MoreSouthern Utah is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts; it provides access to a myriad of activities, and contains some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. However, when enjoying these natural wonders, adventurers need to be careful and prepared for the unexpected, as one group’s experience attests. On Aug. 25, a group of hikers set out on the trail known as “Fat Man’s...
Learn MoreIn Utah there’s a statewide push to link hundreds of miles of trails for use by pedestrians, equestrians, biking enthusiasts and off-road vehicle riders. In particular, many of the trails along the Wasatch Front are already seamless and don’t stop at the geographical borders of individual counties. In Davis County alone, there are more than 100 miles of...
Learn MoreThe parking lot at Zion National Park’s Middle Fork of Taylor Creek Trailhead is being reduced to help fight overcrowding. The trail, which is in the Kolob Canyons section of the park, is part of the park’s designated wilderness. Park Superintendent Jock Whitworth said he is sympathetic to trail users. “We know this will inconvenience some visitors, but...
Learn MoreOne of Utah County’s most popular hiking trails is closing for a month at the height of the hiking season. Timpooneke trailhead leads to Scout Falls and eventually up to the top of Mount Timpanogos. Thousands of hikers would typically use the trail between August 5 and September 5, when the trail will be closed this year, said Kathy Jo Pollock of the National...
Learn MoreAn autistic man lived on a few frogs he caught and roots as he wandered for weeks in the remote Escalante Desert of southern Utah until being rescued, emaciated but alive. William Martin LaFever, 28, of Colorado Springs, Colo., told rescuers that in addition to the bits of food he scavenged, he drank water from the Escalante River while attempting to walk from Boulder,...
Learn MoreSummer is prime time to encounter rattlesnakes, when you’re hiking or even working in the yard. Most people who have hiked in the mountains were probably closer to a rattlesnake than they knew, thanks to the snake’s camouflage. Jason Jones, a wildlife biologist with the Division of Wildlife Resources, said an encounter with the slithering, venomous reptiles can be...
Learn MoreOn Saturday, June 30, 2012, Anne Weiler-Brown will take participants on the Timber Creek Overlook Trail in Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park. Anne, an acclaimed mixed media abstract expressionist, begins each art piece with hours of field work…painting in plein air (French expression for painting outdoors). According to the artist, “Abstract painting must be rooted in...
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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 MoreSharon Brussel, the supervisory program assistant in the division of interpretation at Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, said sprained ankles are one of the most common injuries hikers suffer while hiking in Utah. According to Brussel, hikers often suffer ankle and knee injuries while climbing because they don’t pay attention to what is under their feet. Hikers need...
Learn MoreEnvironmental groups and Native American tribes gathered at the site of a proposed nuclear power plant to protest its location and plans to divert water from the Green River in Utah. Blue Castle Holdings is proposing to take 53,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Green River for use in the cooling process at the proposed plant, which would be located near the city...
Learn MoreOutdoor Afro’s A. Breeze Harper writes about her experiences hiking in Utah as a new mom and appeals for more black people to get outside and into our beautiful National Parks. Peek a Boo Trail hike in Bryce Canyon National Park is 7 miles. Doesn’t seem like a lot. But add a 20lb baby strapped to your back while carrying 50oz of water in each hand, while going all...
Learn MoreTwo men were arrested after allegedly rigging booby traps near a trail in South Fork Canyon. Benjamin Rutkowski, 19, of Orem, UT and Kai Christensen, 21, of Provo, UT were booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor. Sgt. Spencer Cannon of the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said a forest service officer was...
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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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