The most beloved — and at times the most crowded — national forest in the country is getting a little more breathing room. Pisgah National Forest, which covers more than a half-million acres of heavily forested mountains, mile-high peaks, waterfalls, streams and rivers along the eastern edge of the mountains of Western North Carolina, just added another 517 acres of important conservation land thanks to federal money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The property is near Mulberry Creek in Caldwell County. The Trust for Public Land...
read moreIt’s the sun peeking through the trees, the slight breeze on a cool day and the crackling of the leaves beneath your feet that bring people closer to the world around them. “You feel surfaces people have never experienced,” said Kevin McDermott who’s been barefoot hiking for seven years. “It’s like living in a different world.” The bareness of barefoot hiking brought this group together for many different reasons. “I just love the feeling, it adds another dimension to hiking,” said McDermott. “I just started because my knees started to hurt...
read moreDuke Energy Progress announced plans May 19, 2015 to shutter and eventually demolish its 51-year-old, coal-fired plant at Lake Julian, opting instead to rely on natural gas to meet a growing demand for electricity. If granted state approval, the natural gas facility could be online by 2020 and would be built on Duke property near the existing plant. That facility currently is able to produce 376 megawatts of power. The new plant could generate 650 megawatts. Solar arrays also would be added to the site and would sit over land now home to coal...
read moreThe Great Smoky Mountain National Park closed the Mt. LeConte backcountry shelter and the popular Cliff Tops area due to aggressive bear activity in the area. Trails leading to the summit of Mt. LeConte are still open, but the park is encouraging hikers to walk in tight groups of three or more and carry bear spray. The park has extra staff stationed to monitor the situation as well. According to a release, one of the park’s wildlife technicians ran into an aggressive bear near the trail to Cliff Tops. The ranger, who is trained to deal...
read moreThere are few more spectacular and humbling experiences than being at one with nature, miles from civilization, with nothing but the flora and fauna that surrounds you as company. It’s this oneness with nature that draws hikers onto trails for remote, days-long hikes. Nature lovers will challenge themselves against the elements; surviving on the bounties of Mother Nature and their own wits. This kind of outdoor adventure can go awry very quickly, however, if your knowledge of the native plants and animals in a given area falls short. A basic...
read moreLater this month, crews will begin carving a 2.6-mile tree-shaded hiking path out of the wilderness along the Peace River near Fort Meade. And when the Peace River Trail is finished about four months from now, city leaders in Fort Meade are hoping it will become a magnet for visitors to their community. “I think people are going to come here and walk the trail, and see something about Fort Meade they’ve never seen,” City Manager Fred Hilliard said. “A lot of people sort of drive through Fort Meade and forget it, but...
read moreDivers in helmets have begun walking the ocean floor off Fort Lauderdale to clear an environmental catastrophe that’s rested among the coral reefs for more than 40 years. An estimated 700,000 tires were dropped into the ocean off Hugh Taylor Birch State Park in the early 1970s in a failed attempt to create an artificial reef. At the time, before anyone had figured out how to recycle tires or burn them for electricity, tire dumps were appearing all over the United States. The Osborne Tire Reef was intended to be an environmentally friendly way...
read moreOil tycoon Harold Hamm told a University of Oklahoma dean last year that he wanted certain scientists there dismissed who were studying links between oil and gas activity and the state’s nearly 400-fold increase in earthquakes, according to the dean’s e-mail recounting the conversation. Hamm, the billionaire founder and chief executive officer of Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources, is a major donor to the university, which is the home of the Oklahoma Geological Survey. He has vigorously disputed the notion that he tried to...
read moreAn estimated 500 climate activists took to kayaks, canoes, paddleboards, and even a solar-powered party barge to tell Shell to get the hell out of Seattle. Rallying cry: #sHellNo! The oil giant brought a huge drilling rig, the Polar Pioneer, to the city’s port over objections from the mayor, city council, and a whole lot of pissed-off Seattleites. Shell plans to use the port as a staging ground for oil drilling operations in the Arctic over the next two years. The kayaktivists made their objections clear — and made for a colorful spectacle...
read moreHiking is an especially beloved pastime in Switzerland, a nation veined with wanderwegen or footpaths that wind through the surreal landscapes. No matter where you travel in Switzerland, you’re sure to find a pleasant wanderweg marked every few meters by triangular yellow signs — they’re affixed to tree trunks, signposts, even privately owned barns. After we had followed the yellow signs for two hours, the Mark Twain Trail eased into switchbacks. We spent a comfortable hour or so marching a path framed by beech and spruce trees, encountering...
read moreJeff Brewer, of Raleigh, is a hiker’s hero and a driving force behind North Carolina’s flagship trail. Brewer fell in love with hiking in 1996 when he took a hiking class with author Allen DeHart at Louisburg College. “Well, it’s good to get away from the hustle and bustle of traffic and take the cell phones and put them away,” Brewer said. Brewer is responsible for coordinating hundreds of volunteers in completing the Falls Lake leg of North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail. “A lot of people believe...
read moreDuring the week of April 28, 2015, highly skilled sawyers from across the Blue Ridge Parkway met in Blowing Rock, NC and conducted intensive vista restoration work at Milepost 300 near Grandfather Mountain. With decades of growth in some areas, large trees now obstruct some scenic views and potentially impact the visitor experience. “Research consistently finds that ‘scenic views’ is the number-one parkway attraction,” says Richard Wells, FRIENDS treasurer. “The overlooks that were once clear and afforded...
read moreImagine visiting Yellowstone this summer. You wake up before dawn to take a picture of the sunrise over the mists emanating from Yellowstone hot springs. A thunderhead towers above the rising sun, and the picture turns out beautifully. You submit the photo to a contest sponsored by the National Weather Service. Under a statute signed into law by the Wyoming governor this spring, you have just committed a crime and could face up to one year in prison. Wyoming doesn’t, of course, care about pictures of geysers or photo competitions. But photos...
read moreBack Country Horsemen (BCH) of America says it values wild lands and the right to enjoy them by horseback. Protecting the wilderness from unnecessary damage is imperative to keeping it pristine. But that creates unique challenges that can prevent proper maintenance of trails, bridges, shelters, and other amenities that allow us to recreate there. The U.S. Forest Service’s wilderness regulations prohibit the use of motorized or wheeled equipment, which can cause extensive damage even when operated with care. The only way to access these remote...
read moreDuke Energy, the nation’s largest electrical utility, pleaded guilty in federal court May 14, 2015 to nine criminal violations of the Clean Water Act for polluting four major rivers for several years with toxic coal ash from five power plants in North Carolina. The $50.5-billion company was fined $102 million and placed on five years of probation for environmental crimes. All company compliance related to coal ash in five states will be overseen by a court-appointed monitor and reported to federal parole officers. U.S. District Judge Malcolm...
read moreThe U.S. Forest Service began paving the way for a sprawling urban development near the southern edge of the Grand Canyon that would include more than 2,100 housing units and 3 million square feet of retail space along with hotels, a spa and conference center. The superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park has called the project one of the greatest threats to Grand Canyon in the 96-year-history of the park. The proposal, by the Stilo Development Group, would transform the 580-resident community of Tusayan, Ariz.—which sits near the southern...
read moreSen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, says he disagrees with the Pentagon’s assessment that climate change is a national security concern. The Pentagon released a report in October 2014 that assessed the national security implications of climate change. “Politics or ideology must not get in the way of sound planning,” wrote former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in the forward to the report. “Our armed forces must prepare for a future with a wide spectrum...
read moreTo many outdoor enthusiasts the mountains and forests are waking with life again and trails beckon. With the days of summer in plain sight, recalling the cold and snow of winter would be a cruel exercise. But hitting the trail often means entering a place where the effects of winter can be seen well into spring. Alex DeLucia manages the Trails Volunteer and Leave No Trace programs for the Appalachian Mountain Club, where he has worked since 2001. The A.M.C. was founded in 1876 and maintains 1,800 miles of trails in the Northeast and...
read moreEnjoy this time lapse of Western North Carolina from local videographer Smith Woosley.
read moreThe Dixie National Forest will participate in Kanab’s Amazing EarthFest by hosting geology, history and fire presentations. Events will be held at the Red Canyon Visitor Center on May 15, 2015, beginning at 1 p.m. and continuing throughout the afternoon. Geology and history presentations will focus on the colorful red canyon region of the Dixie National Forest. Wildland fire personnel, accompanied by Smokey Bear, will be available for a presentation and discussion on the role of fire in the landscape. Forest employees and volunteers...
read moreJune 6, 2015 is American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day®, the country’s largest celebration of trails. National Trails Day events will take place in every state across the country and will include hikes, biking and horseback rides, paddling trips, birdwatching, geocaching, gear demonstrations, stewardship projects and more. If you are interested in leading or organizing an event, check out the host guides and prep materials on the National Trails Day website. Registration for National Trails Day 2015 is now open. American Hiking...
read moreThe Attachment Shovel is a necessity for camping and other outdoor adventures. It can charge your phone, chop wood, help start a fire, and even dig a hole. The shovel measures 40 inches in length and weighs a little over 3 pounds. The shovel portion is made from Hi-Carbon Steel. This thing can take a beating. The Shovel can cut wood, saw branches, dig holes, move rocks, the possibilities are endless. The shovel’s handles are made from a strong aircraft aluminum, with machined grips for easy use. The shovel has a removable blade and...
read moreIn its first six months of existence, the world’s first solar road is performing even better than developers thought. The road, which opened in the Netherlands in November of last year, has produced more than 3,000 kilowatt-hours of energy — enough to power a single household for one year. “If we translate this to an annual yield, we expect more than the 70kwh per square meter per year,” Sten de Wit, a spokesman for the project — dubbed SolaRoad — said. “We predicted [this] as an upper limit in the laboratory stage. We can therefore conclude...
read moreJoin Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy (CMLC) on Saturday, May 16th, for a guided hike through the scenic Johnson Branch conservation easement in Transylvania County. This hike has been one of CMLC’s most popular hikes from previous years, featuring a picturesque 68-acre property conserved by the Jones family through CMLC in 2009. Hikers will enjoy a moderate hike that includes several waterfalls, beautiful rich cove forest, a plethora of spring wildflowers, and a scenic view high above the French Broad River valley. The hike will be...
read moreGlacier National Park, which spans more than a million acres of pristine Montana wilderness, is home to a variety of predators, from cougars to wolves to grizzly bears. Most of the time they pose no danger to hikers, for whom the adage, “They’re more afraid of you than you are of them,” holds more or less true. For more than half a century after the park was founded — on this day, May 11, in 1910 — the park’s native grizzly bear population left its human visitors alone. That changed in 1967, when two young women, both 19, were mauled to death...
read moreThe National Park Trust and Buddy Bison, their lovable woolly mascot, invite you to join the nationwide day of play by discovering and exploring your local, state, and national parks and public lands on Kids to Parks Day. Children, families, teachers, cities, towns, and parks are gearing up for this year’s Kids to Parks Day (KTP), a nation-wide day of outdoor play organized by National Park Trust (NPT) in cooperation with a host of local and national collaborators. This year’s KTP Day will be held on Saturday, May 16, 2015. NPT is encouraging...
read moreFramed by pitch-black canyon walls rising monumentally on either side of the rushing, rain-swollen Havasu Creek, the night sky bursts with snow-white stars and Milky Way swirls. It is the last night of a grueling three-day Havasupai Trail round trip to the waterfalls in northern Arizona’s Havasu Canyon, an offshoot of the Grand Canyon. The hike offers bliss by way of blisters, far from the crowds. Even though the mesa-top Hualapai trailhead is less than 30 miles as the eagle flies from tourist-thronged Grand Canyon Village inside the national...
read moreOn April 30, 2015 the glitzy electric car company Tesla Motors, run by billionaire Elon Musk, ceased to be just a car company. As was widely expected, Tesla announced that it is offering a home battery product, which people can use to store energy from their solar panels or to backstop their homes against blackouts, and also larger scale versions that could perform similar roles for companies or even parts of the grid. For homeowners, the Tesla Powerwall will have a power capacity of either 10 kilowatt hours or 7 kilowatt hours, at a cost of...
read moreOfficials in North Bend, Washington, hope a new shuttle service will ease traffic congestion at some of the area’s most popular hiking trails, including Mount Si. The city has teamed up with the state Department of Natural Resources, the Washington Trails Association and the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to offer the shuttle, which will run every half-hour on summer weekends from the park-and-ride in downtown North Bend. Stops include the Little Si, Mount Si and Teneriffe trailheads. Supporters say they hope to expand the service as...
read moreOn the morning of July 11, 1983, Maine State Police Detective Sgt. Ralph E. Pinkham got a call from a woman in Texas worried about her sister Jessie Albertine Hoover. She hadn’t heard from her since May 16, when Hoover called from a Bangor motel. At the time, her sister said, the 54-year-old had only about $15 to $20, but intended to wire for money when she passed through towns along the Appalachian Trail, which she had come to Maine to thru-hike. At Baxter State Park, Pinkham learned Hoover had talked with rangers about her hike plans and...
read moreAs the West girds itself for what looks likely to be a fierce wildfire season, a bipartisan group of Western senators is pushing a bill to rethink the way the federal government pays to fight catastrophic fires. The idea is that the largest wildfires would be treated like natural disasters. As with big hurricanes or earthquakes, funding for them wouldn’t have to come from an agency’s regular budget. For seven of the last 12 years, wildfires have been so costly that the Forest Service ran through its fire budget in late summer, long before the...
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
