Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced that the Greenbrier area will be temporarily closed at the Greenbrier Ranger Station to all motorists and pedestrians through April 23, 2021. Previously the closure was in place at the picnic area. The closure area has been expanded due to pedestrian use beyond the picnic area into the construction zone which poses an unacceptable safety risk to visitors and workers.

Ramsey Cascades Trail, Porters Creek Trail, Grapeyard Ridge Trail, Backcountry Campsite 31, Backcountry Campsite 32, and all manways along the Greenbrier Road will also be closed to visitor use for the duration of the construction closure. Old Settlers and Brushy Mountain Trails will continue to be open, but hikers cannot access these trails from the Greenbrier area during the closure and should plan their routes carefully.

For more information about this work, please visit the park website at https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/news/greenbrier-road-sections-temporarily-closed-for-bridge-replacement.htm. For more information about temporary road closures across the park, please visit the park website at http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm.

  A federal judge rejected a coal mine expansion in southern Utah, finding that the Trump administration illegally failed to account for the climate costs of authorizing more mining at the doorstep of Bryce Canyon National Park.

First proposed in 2011, the Alton coal lease would have opened the door for strip mining on 2,114 acres in southern Utah, allowing the Alton Coal Company to extract more than 30 million tons of coal from the Coal Hollow mine. The mining was ultimately approved in 2018 by the Trump administration. Shortly after, WildEarth Guardians, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), and Grand Canyon Trust filed suit.

The lawsuit challenged the approval on the ground that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management had failed to fully disclose and analyze the mine’s impact on climate change and mercury pollution as required by federal law.

In the ruling, the court held the Bureau of Land Management violated the law in touting the supposed economic benefits of the mine without including a discussion of the economic costs associated with climate change in the same discussion.

The court also agreed with plaintiffs that the Bureau of Land Management had not adequately addressed the cumulative climate impact of the mine when considered together with other fossil fuel projects that contribute to climate change, including pollution from transporting and burning the coal at the nearly Intermountain Power coal plant in southern Utah.

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This week this website turns 10 years old. A lot has happened during that time, with the world, with hiking, and with Meanderthals. I’m still here because of you… the more than 1,350,000 of you who have visited and supported me over the years.

There are more than 300 trail reports from 15 states included in the content, with an additional 70 of the newly featured Photo Essays. Over the years I have conducted Interviews with hiking aficionados and authors, reviewed hiking gear, books, and films, and kept you abreast of the latest News about hiking and the outdoors, and conservation and the environment.

We all are 10 years older now. I don’t have quite the stamina as I did back then, so the big hikes are a thing of the past, but I have come to love and appreciate Nature a little more fully because of it. I have made many great friends along the way, and shared my stories with you.

Now begins the second decade for Meanderthals Hiking. With your continued encouragement I will try to bring you more stories about the places that I love and cherish, and tell you about how to get there yourself. Thank you so much for guiding me along the way.

Accidents happen. No matter how well prepared you are for a hike, you could become sick or injured due to many circumstances. And in the wilderness, even the smallest hurt — such as a blister — can really put a damper on your experience.

While it takes special training and experience to treat many medical issues, anyone can learn a few first aid skills to take care of minor, common issues that occur during hikes. Here are five items to pack in your personal first aid kit for hiking, along with the skills required to use them.

• Blister treatment
• Bandages and abrasions
• Carefully labeled pills
• Emergency nourishment
• Splint for a twisted ankle

Get more details about each here…

The Catawba Falls trail in the Grandfather District of Pisgah National Forest near Old Fort, NC will be temporarily closed next week, from March 29 through April 2, 2021. The trail closure is necessary to ensure public safety while engineering work is being performed along sections of the trail.

Contractors will be performing geotechnical investigations, drilling holes within the trail and areas of recent landslides using heavy equipment. These geotechnical investigations are used to determine the stability of the underlying rock in order to design retaining structures to stabilize the trail. Heavy equipment will be blocking the trail to the point where it will be impassible.

This work is one of the initial steps as the Grandfather Ranger District works to improve public access from lower Catawba Falls to Upper Catawba Falls. Engineers are working to design structures that will allow the public to safely travel along the steep slopes to the upper falls. This work is supported by funding from the Great American Outdoors Act, the NC State Recreation Trails Program, and McDowell County. It is part of the larger Old Fort Trails Project that will bring a wide range of trail improvements and additions this area of Pisgah National Forest.

For more information about the closure, contact the Grandfather Ranger District at 828-652-2144.

State lawmakers in Hawaii are considering legislation that would make some hikers pay for their own rescue when they get lost or endangered because of their own recklessness.

Senate Bill 700 would allow local governments to recoup the cost of search and rescue operations, which can run upward of $10,000. A second bill, SB 363, also working its way through the state Senate, would go further and impose fines for illegally hiking on closed trails and private property.

The legislation, which mimics similar rules in multiple other states including California, would penalize hikers who disregard warning signs, trespass or take other risks in their quest for off-the-beaten-path adventure.

Hawaii, which greets more than 10 million tourists yearly and where tourism makes up nearly one quarter of the economy, would be sending a strong message to visitors. At a time when the coronavirus pandemic has caused a significant drop in tourism-related revenue, the cash-strapped Hawaiian government hopes the bills will reimburse taxpayers for costly rescues and discourage irresponsible behavior that puts both tourists, and their would-be rescuers, at risk.

If either bill passes, hikers who ignore “no trespassing” signs at the head of famous, but off-limits, trails like Red Sand Beach, which sits on private land along Maui’s breathtaking Hana Highway, may soon be risking more than their lives.

Cite…

An 87-acre former sod farm on the French Broad River in Mills River could be the site of a new floodplain restoration, similar to the nearby Mouth of Mud Creek restoration. The property was recently protected with the support of savvy private investors who are using their money for conservation.

In December 2020, Conserving Carolina purchased the King’s Bridge property, named for the bridge on Highway 191 over the river. The land now presents an opportunity for wetland restoration or possibly a public access boat ramp on the river.

“This property lends itself well to both things,” said David Lee, natural resources manager for Conserving Carolina.

A restoration on the site would expand the ecological comeback begun at the Mouth of Mud Creek, just 2.1 miles upstream. Last summer, Conserving Carolina completed this 103-acre restoration, which provides important habitat for the muskellunge—or muskie, our largest native fish—and many other kinds of wildlife. It was a story about this project in the Asheville newspaper that sparked interest in King’s Bridge for some private lenders, who ultimately made the land acquisition possible.

On the horizon for the Kings Bridge property is a potential transfer to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, which will ultimately decide the best path for the property. There is no design plan in place yet, but Lee says there is potential for one muskie slough, or a possible wetland restoration. The land corridor is along the official state paddle trail on the French Broad, which means any cleanup will be beneficial for paddlers.

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced that a paving project will begin this week on Newfound Gap Road along an 8-mile section of the roadway from Chimneys Picnic Area to Newfound Gap. The project should be completed by November 30, 2021, though work schedules are subject to revision as needed for inclement weather.

Visitors traveling on Newfound Gap Road should expect weekday, single-lane closures and traffic delays through June 15 and again from August 16 through September 30. Lane closures are permitted from 7:00 a.m. on Mondays through 12:00 p.m. on Fridays. The lane closures will be managed with flagging operations and a pilot car to lead traffic through work zones. In addition, some parking areas and pull-offs will be closed intermittently. To better accommodate visitors during periods of high visitation, no daytime lane closures will be allowed on weekends, holidays, the week before and after the Easter holiday, summer season, or the month of October.

The Federal Highway Administration awarded the $8.5 million paving contract to Bryant’s Land Development Industries Inc of Burnsville NC. Roadwork will include the application of a pavement preservation treatment along a 6-mile section of the roadway and a full pavement rehabilitation for the remainder.

For more information about road conditions, please visit the park website at www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm or follow SmokiesRoadsNPS on Twitter.

By Carrie Thompson for the NY Times

On the first day of 2020, my anxiety roared as I approached the summit of Mount Pierce in northern New Hampshire. At about 4,300 feet elevation, the wind was picking up, the visibility dropping to near zero. I was about to turn around in defeat when I heard faint voices ahead of me: two women, zipping up their coats as I approached.

“Are you heading for the summit?” I asked. “Could I tag along?”

We left the shelter of the tree line, leaning forward slightly as gusts of wind whirled blinding snow around us across the open mountaintop. When we reached the peak, they waited patiently as I held out a battered green hat, took a picture of it and threw a tiny bit of ashes into the snow. It wasn’t until we descended back to the safety of the trees that they asked about the hat.

“It was my son’s. I lost him to suicide in July.”

There was a long silence. Then the older woman told me she lost her sister too. I remember thinking my son had brought us together. We connected over our shared stories, and they understood — something so rare for me those days.

My son, Ben, 23 when he died, was always most at home when he was outside. As I struggle with his unimaginable loss, I’ve found peace in the rush of rivers and streams, the open majesty of the New Hampshire mountaintops where he spent his childhood.

The year after his death, I hiked 48 of the state’s tallest mountains in his memory. Hiking has been a way to hide from the trauma of loss, the judgment and stigma of suicide and the reaction to my family’s openness about it. Every step, trail and summit — whether socked in or wide open — has been a way to heal.

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The COVID pandemic has shown us that disruptions to the way we move around, complete daily activities and interact with each other can shatter our wellbeing. This doesn’t apply only to humans. Wildlife across the globe find themselves in this situation every day, irrespective of a global pandemic.

Human disturbances, on average, restricted an animal’s movements by 37%. That’s like needing to travel several extra miles to get to work each day. The ability to travel is essential to animal survival because it allows animals to find mates, food and shelter, escape predators and competitors, and avoid disturbances and threats.

Because animal movement is linked to many important ecological processes — such as pollination, seed dispersal and soil turnover — disruptions to movement can cascade through ecosystems.

This study involved analyzing published data on changes in animal movement in response to different types of disturbance or habitat modification by humans. This included agriculture, logging, grazing, recreation, hunting, and pollution, among others.

Changes in movement are very common, with two-thirds of the 719 cases comprising an increase or decrease in movement of 20% or more. More than one-third of cases changed by 50% or more.

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