The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club (RATC), and the United States Forest Service announced the opening of an approximately 1-mile relocated section of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) near Pearisburg, Virginia. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday, March 18, 2016 at the A.T. trailhead near historic Pearis Cemetery along VA Route 100 in Pearisburg. The new route will significantly improve the hiking experience for Trail users. It eliminates two road crossings, is no longer in close proximity to private...
read moreOn a cold January morning, a posse led by a former Army company commander named Matt Shea rolled into the Harney County Courthouse and wanted to speak to the sheriff. But this wasn’t a group of militants, or outlaws. They were state lawmakers from four western states, including Oregon. Most of them were members of a group called the Coalition of Western States, or COWS. They were hoping to talk directly with Sheriff David Ward and convince him to support the armed militants at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Instead, COWS members would...
read moreDon’t let the name Hellhole Canyon scare you off. In early March the 6-mile hike in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is alive with striking desert blooms, a lush palm oasis and hidden waterfalls. Sure, the start of the route into the sun-beaten canyon is hot. Flowering indigo, beavertail cactus and desert dandelions buzz with insects along the seemingly misnamed trail. Camera-toting hikers, including the California Native Plant Society’s Bay Area members, wander among towering ocotillo, yellow brittlebush and red chuparosa. Some hikers...
read moreIn the Yukon, Carcross/Tagish First Nation youth are building world class singletrack trails and ski touring, redefining their people’s mountain culture and leading their elders toward a new future. The preamble and aftermath of the Gold Rush, and manic rush of the Alaska Highway some 45 years later, changed all of this. Endless streams of people and riches flowed through these valleys, first in a stampede that posed a brief and annoying interruption to daily life, and then as a lingering houseguest who brought with them a highway, guns...
read moreWhen Drew Peterson tells people he works as a U.S. Forest Service wilderness ranger, they may assume his job is defined by solitude. But that is not always the case: On a busy summer day, a wilderness ranger may stop to talk with as many as 300 people, such as on a recent day patrolling the popular Green Lakes Trail off the Cascade Lakes Highway. “It can take up to six hours to hike up the trail,” Peterson said. The trail runs about 4½ miles from trailhead to Green Lakes. Describing what a wilderness ranger is and what exactly he does quickly...
read morePatagonia: land of refugees and romantics, restless souls and wilderness crusaders. What it is about this place that compels people to gamble all that they know for the chance to explore its volatile nature? Rare are the places in the world that are as evocative as Patagonia, where the raw solitude of wilderness mingles with a certain sense of potential, where refugees from oppression, wilderness crusaders and restless souls seem to congregate in a vast cathedral of fjords, glaciers, mountains and grasslands. The scale is such that you could...
read moreDeep in the southwestern desert, Heather Anderson’s signal is skittish and broken. She’s been in the backcountry for nearly three weeks, checking off summits on the Sierra Club’s list of premier desert peaks—the final miles of the 4,000 she’s hiked in the past year. By the time her backcountry call made it to the cell in my mother’s kitchen, we’d been forced to break phone dates due to poor reception and unabashed confusion regarding what time zones she was straddling—a mixup that says more about...
read moreArmen Kazaryan says adamantly, “I don’t need to see the route, I feel it by my feet,” as he swiftly navigates the lush terrain of Southern Armenia for an afternoon hike. Armen is probably the only blind hiking tour guide in the world, or at the very least, the only one in Armenia. It was in Kapan, capital of the Syunik region, surrounded by some of Armenia’s most breathtaking landscapes that made Armen realize perhaps he had gained more than he had lost. His senses rejoiced in the healing powers of nature and he reconnected with the people...
read moreShell Oil released its 2015 annual review last week, and the most surprising thing in it may be how concerned the company is with climate change. It’s hardly what you’d expect from Big Oil, and yet the words “climate change” occur 15 times in the 228 page report. While this may seem minor, it’s a lot more than climate change is discussed by most other oil monsters (Looking at you, Exxon). Shell, unlike many oil giants, actively acknowledges and even embraces climate action — at least, on paper. “It was encouraging to see governments reach a...
read moreGlobal temperatures leapt in February, lifting warming from pre-industrial levels to beyond 1.5 degrees, and stoking concerns about a “climate emergency”. Unusual warmth in waters off northern Australia also prompted an alert by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority about the risk of widespread coral bleaching. According to NASA analysis, average temperatures last month were 1.35 degrees above the norm for the 1951-1980 period. They smashed the previous biggest departure from the average – set only in the previous month...
read moreA stretch of starkly beautiful wildlands in Southeast Utah is at risk due to energy development, looting and vandalism, but a movement led by Native American tribes could lead to its permanent protection as a national monument. Nestled immediately to the south and east of Canyonlands National Park, the region known as “Bears Ears”—named for two sandstone-fringed buttes jutting about 2,000 feet up from the mesa—covers nearly 2 million acres of stunning desert dotted with yucca, sagebrush and red-tinged sandstone carved into dramatic mesas,...
read moreFields Pond Audubon Center is a 192-acre sanctuary in rural Holden, a short drive southeast of Bangor in Penobscot County. The center is owned by Maine Audubon, one of the eight such properties. The Meadow Path leads to a summer boat launch on Fields Pond, the 85-acre central feature of the preserve. The Marsh Trail investigates the wetlands north of the modern visitor center, which houses a nature store, a reading room, interactive exhibits and a taxidermy collection. The Ravine Trail leads gently uphill into a dark grove of hemlocks, while...
read moreClay Jacobson of Boise, Idaho has hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. So he sees no reason that Idaho can’t make its 900-mile trail from the Nevada border to the Canada border into another thru-hiking destination. But he learned firsthand last summer that the remote Idaho Centennial Trail — named the state trail as part of a centennial celebration in 1990 — is far behind its famous counterparts. “It’s more of an idea than a trail,” Jacobson said, “but I came away convinced that it’s very possible. … The missing...
read moreWashington, D.C. has been hit with “Justin Fever” as Prime Minister Trudeau is in town to meet with President Obama — and attend the first U.S.-Canadian state dinner in nearly two decades. But the real impact of his visit might be felt less by the capital’s celebrity-starved journalists and more by the polar bears. Under a new plan for the Arctic — the “shared Arctic leadership model” — the United States and Canada have pledged to work with indigenous groups to make science-based decisions. The plan seeks to protect the fragile Arctic...
read moreA utility company that will legally dispose of coal ash water in two Virginia waterways agreed to treat waste going into the James River to a more stringent standard than the state required, though legal appeals to the controversial plan remain. The settlement agreement between Dominion Virginia Power and the James River Association comes a day after the company reached a similar deal with Prince William County regarding Quantico Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River located within its borders. Quantico Creek and James River will start...
read moreHeavy winter rains continue to wreak havoc on trails and roads in the Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park. The latest victim is the Bogachiel Rain Forest Trail, where 350 feet of trail about one mile from the trailhead has been damaged or destroyed by the shifting Bogachiel River, the U.S. Forest Service said. “With the help of partners, we expect to have the trail rerouted soon. We know it is important access as day-use for hikers and fishermen as well as those journeying into and out of the park,” said District Ranger Dean...
read moreThe pre-season lottery for Yosemite’s Half Dome hiking permits runs through the end of March, 2016. Those who submit applications this month will be in the pool when Yosemite National Park issues 225 day-hike permits for each day of the hiking season. Lottery winners will be notified by email in mid-April. Preseason applicants can request permits for up to six people and up to seven dates, ranked by preference. After the preseason round of permits is assigned, about 50 additional permits per day will be available by lottery. Hikers can...
read moreSitting by the edge of a stream in the hills above Montecito, CA, students take a moment to catch their breath and have a drink after a steep hike up to a waterfall. “Should we do our quiet time?” asks instructor Randy Moharram. “I think we should. Everyone get comfortable, we’re going for a minute and a half of silence.” The only sounds remaining while the class goes silent are the gentle babbling of the San Ysidro Creek and a chirpy conversation between two birds. For City College students in search of an adventure, a fun way to exercise or...
read moreThe U.S. Forest Service plans to conduct a 3,100-acre prescribed burn in the Grandfather Ranger District, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina, starting on Tuesday, March 8, 2016 through Thursday March 10, 2016. The agency will conduct the three-day burn at Roses Mountain, north of Morganton, N.C. and south of Table Rock. The objectives of the burn are fuel reduction and habitat restoration. The Forest Service is conducting the burn as part of the Grandfather Restoration Project, an 8-year project designed to restore 40,000 acres of the...
read moreVolunteers removed more than 20 tons of garbage from the Apalachicola National Forest recently. But forest officials say the problem of illegal dumping, of sometimes hazardous materials, continues to grow. Along Highway 319 in Leon and Wakulla counties, near Tallahassee, Florida, volunteers, National Forest staff and others fanned out into the sometimes thick underbrush. Instead of pine needles and leaves, they encountered household garbage, refrigerators and other appliances, TVs, building supplies, tires and large chunks of asphalt. “You...
read moreIt was nearly 25 years ago that a small group of hiking enthusiasts huddled for the first time. Their passion: enjoying and preserving Victor’s natural beauty. Their goal: to create a system of multi-use trails that would preserve open space and provide an educational and recreational experience for everyone in the town of Victor, New York. Mission accomplished. Although founding members of Victor Hiking Trail Inc. would say it’s a mission begun. In September 1991 there was one town park with a few miles of trails that were maintained by the...
read moreThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on March 4, 2016 began removing federal Endangered Species Act protections for Yellowstone-area grizzly bears, marking a conservation milestone that’s been four decades in the making. The federal agency listed the Yellowstone grizzly as threatened on July 28, 1975, when there were perhaps as few as 136 grizzlies left in the ecosystem. Removing federal protection and turning management over to the states comes as the population stands at an official estimate of 717. “The recovery of the Yellowstone grizzly...
read moreSwitzerland is a mountainous Central European country, home to numerous lakes, villages and the high peaks of the Alps. The country is also a destination for its ski resorts and hiking trails. Self guided walking tours in Switzerland are a wonderful and relaxed way to explore the Swiss alpine countryside. Crisp mountain air, rich colorful meadows and dramatic snow capped peaks prevail as you explore this wonderful country on foot. Switzerland is a walkers paradise with many waymarked paths and great trails to follow. The Swiss Alps, or...
read moreGreat Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Piedmont Zone fire staff plan to conduct a series of controlled burns in Cades Cove on Monday, March 7 through Friday, March 11, 2016. Weather depending, these prescribed fire treatments will take place in four field units totaling 502 acres between Sparks Lane and the Cable Mill Visitor Center area. The goal of the controlled burn treatments in Cades Cove is to use fire to maintain open meadows, improve critical habitat for wildlife, reduce shrub and tree intrusion and exotic plant...
read moreThe U.S. Forest Service rejected a proposal to widen roads and build infrastructure through the Kaibab National Forest that would have paved the way for a sprawling urban development near the southern entrance of Grand Canyon National Park. Stilo Development Group, an Italian corporation, sought to construct more than 2,100 housing units and 3 million square feet of commercial space including hotels, a spa and a conference center in the tiny town of Tusayan, a plan that would have threatened water resources and put wildlife in harm’s way....
read moreThis month, a drilling platform will rise in the Gulf of Mexico, but it won’t be aiming for oil. Scientists will try to sink a diamond-tipped bit into the heart of Chicxulub crater—the buried remnant of the asteroid impact 66 million years ago that killed off the dinosaurs, along with most other life on the planet. They hope that the retrieved rock cores will contain clues to how life came back in the wake of the cataclysm, and whether the crater itself could have been a home for novel microbial life. And by drilling into a circular ridge...
read moreOther than the danger of overextending yourself, hiking New Zealand’s abundance of trails is almost never disappointing. In fact, if you come all this way and don’t take advantage of them, you’ve truly missed out. And the Kiwis work hard to make hiking attractive. The maintenance on the trails is impressive: crushed-rock trail beds; comfortable clearance even in the most dense areas of the beech- and fern-dominated rain forests; boardwalks that meander over wetlands; and well-built, if sometimes unnerving, suspension bridges that span the...
read moreLast spring, the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club created a McAfee Knob Task Force to focus on resource protection and management challenges around the region’s most beloved and iconic A.T. landmark, McAfee Knob. Rapidly increasing visitation has led to an increase in avoidable environmental impacts, such as litter, graffiti, trail erosion and problematic bear behavior. Eighteen McAfee Knob Volunteer Ridgerunners help mitigate these problems with outreach and maintenance. Volunteer Ridgerunners engage hikers in friendly conversations to...
read moreIn a partnership between the National Park Service (NPS) and Google, Shenandoah National Park will be featured in the Google Cultural Institute, a digital platform which makes hundreds of historically and culturally significant objects in the National Park Service’s museum collection available online. The Google Cultural Institute uses technologies similar to Google’s Street View –providing 360-degree views on Google Maps of locations around the world – to photograph and virtually map important artifacts, photos, records and works of...
read moreOver the past three decades a 1.65-mile section of the Foothills Parkway known as the “Missing Link” has come to epitomize the setbacks and delays that have beset the project as a whole. When completed, the Foothills Parkway will stretch 72 miles between Cosby, Tenn., to the east, and U.S. Highway 129 to the west. Congress authorized the project in 1944, but so far, only three segments totaling 22.5 miles are open to the public. Of the seven congressionally mandated scenic highways, the Foothills Parkway is the only one that...
read moreCelebrate Women’s History Month by reading about Lilla Leach, Oregon botanical pioneer: The date was June 14, 1930. Botanist Lilla Irvin Leach and her husband John, a Portland pharmacist, were descending a ridge in the Siskiyou Mountains of Curry County, Oregon. With them were two pack burros, Pansy and Violet. The four had camped the night before at a small glacial lake on a bench near the summit of Pearsoll Peak, about 11 miles west of Selma at the boundary of what is now the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. It was a hot day and the trail was a...
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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. 
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