Wonderland Trail hiking permits suspended at Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier National Park officials are no longer taking reservations for hiking the Wonderland Trail for this summer because of an “overwhelming and unprecedented demand.” This year, the park received about 2,600 reservation requests as of March 31, the majority are for hiking the Wonderland Trail. That’s far more than can be reserved at backcountry camps along the...

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African-American Hiking Group Turns to Nature For Beauty and Community

Rue Mapp kept finding herself the only African-American on organized hikes. Tired of being “the only one,” she started Outdoor Afro and found out she wasn’t. “I realized that when you identify all the only ones, and people did identify themselves as such, we were actually quite numerous,” she says. Now there are Outdoor Afro chapters across the country. Volunteers like...

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Well-kept secret may soon be a hiking hot spot

A little-known trail in northwest Nebraska has burst into the national spotlight. The Bison Trail, a three-mile hike between the Hudson-Meng Education and Research Center and Toadstool National Geologic Park, has been named one of the top 10 trails for a memorable spring hike by USA Today. It’s listed among such well-known spots as the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park...

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Being Found: How to Increase your Survivability by Understanding How Search and Rescue Personnel Work

When was the last time you were hiking and looked up only to realize that your real and perceived locations no longer matched? It’s a common and unsettling experience to say the least. In these moments, humans tend to use a combination of observational, logical and investigative techniques to reorient themselves and get back on track. However, any combination of factors...

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Hiking, not climbing, Smith Rock in Central Oregon

Yes, the less vertically inclined, too, can find a suitable adventure at Smith Rock. Although Smith Rock State Park is mostly known as a mecca for rock climbers, the hiking opportunities within the park should not be ignored. And often, the park’s trails can put a hiker in a spot to watch climbers scale some of the most difficult routes in the West. It is a...

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World’s most dangerous walkway reopens after 15 years

One of the world’s most dangerous hiking trails is open for business after being closed for 15 years. The El Caminito del Rey trail, also known as King’s Little Pathway, is a 5-mile-long path in Spain that takes four to five hours to complete. The trek was as beautiful as it was dangerous until officials closed it in 2000 after too many travelers began...

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Hiking in Maine: Producing a wonderful guide for discovery

The Maine coast ranges more than 230 miles from Kittery to Lubec as the crow flies, but an incredible 3,500 miles when every nook and cranny, and some 3,000 islands are accounted for on the undulating margin along the Gulf of Maine between New Hampshire and Canada. The topography of the coast is as varied as could be, a natural museum of sandy beaches and rocky...

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The Science Of Why You Should Spend Your Money On Experiences, Not Things

Most people are in the pursuit of happiness. There are economists who think happiness is the best indicator of the health of a society. We know that money can make you happier, though after your basic needs are met, it doesn’t make you that much happier. But one of the biggest questions is how to allocate our money, which is (for most of us) a limited resource....

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Find hiking, camping nirvana in new Oregon parks guide

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department launched its 2015 Oregon State Parks Guide, a free, full-color, magazine-style brochure featuring detailed information about more than 200 of the state’s most popular campgrounds, day-use areas, trails, bike ways and heritage sites. The guide has been updated for 2015, with revised or expanded listings for each property,...

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Trail angels keep Idaho Foothills trails in prime shape

A tan ribbon of dirt snaking across the landscape serves many functions. It gets us from point A to point B, whether on foot, bike, motorcycle or horseback, and often in an interesting way. How often do you find yourself walking a straight line in the Foothills? Not often. Part of that is the topography doesn’t allow it, but it’s also more interesting for a trail to...

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Crypt Lake Trail: Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada

The 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...

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20 Years of Modern Recreational Trails in Western Australia

This 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...

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A Passionate Volunteer Offers Free Hiking Tours Through Oakland’s Redwoods

For 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...

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How to Prepare Physically (and Mentally) for a Long-Distance Hike

For 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...

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Trekking Nepal a family adventure

Dawn’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...

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Short Stretch Of Blue Ridge Parkway In North Carolina To Close For Bridge Repairs

Bridge 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...

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Hiking Snake Hill and the historic sites of Newburgh along the Hudson

There 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...

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16 Hiking Spots In Virginia That Will Leave You In Awe

After 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...

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British explorer is dubbed ‘the Lonely Snow Leopard’ after becoming first person to walk across Mongolia solo

A 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...

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Five best hikes on Washington side of Columbia River Gorge

Which 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...

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Work starts on first Bartram Trail addition since the 1990s

It’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...

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There’s a bit of urban renewal on the Freedom Trail

The 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,...

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Cleo’s Nature Trail a “vibrant faith adventure”

It’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...

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Forest Service Closing Graveyard Fields to Overnight Camping due to Recent Bear Encounter

PISGAH 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...

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Man pursues 1,700-mile trail, with section through SD

Denizens 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...

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Trekking to the top of Junipero Serra Peak in California’s Ventana Wilderness

Along 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...

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When Simon Beck stomps through fields of fresh snow, art happens

In his first trip to North America, the British snow artist was invited by Banff Lake Louise Tourism to create a series of large-scale designs in snow. Beck has been making snowflakes, leaves and geometric designs with his snowshoes for the past decade, mostly in the Alps. He stomped out a huge snowflake at Peyto Lake in the Canadian Rockies that took more than six hours...

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Extreme Weather Makes Mount Washington a Hiking Challenge

Gary Gustafson leans on his ice ax to catch his breath. His legs and lungs, straining from nearly five hours of climbing and 4,000 feet of elevation gain, plead for rest before he spies the top of an antenna on the summit. Soon, the crampons of his mountaineering boots are once again digging into the icy terrain as he and a partner make the final push to the granite...

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