besthike.com - the blog

Most of the more interesting blogs than this have already commented on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study by Oliver Pergams from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

… Since the late 1980s, the percentage of Americans taking part in such activities has declined at slightly more than 1 percent a year. […]

Once a month or so I head for the library to catch up on magazines.
Of course I had seen many references on-line to the Sept. 2007 Backpacker Global Warming Issue.
I like Backpacker — but am suspicious of any magazine with a GREEN issue. Are they simply pumping sales with the G word?
In this case, […]

The Get Outdoors blog keeps telling me hiking is in decline. (Numbers down at Yosemite, for example.)
If so, perhaps we need to do more to get kids on to trails as they are doing in New Zealand:

Hut and campsite fees for children and young people aged under 18 will be free from July next year […]

What makes a hike a “best ever”?
Kimberly explains why her Great Wall of China day was her best hike ever:

Because it was the sunniest day.
Because the challenge was to reach the Great Wall at the ridge of the mountain, and we made it.
Because the view was spectacular.
Because it was HARD. My quads were quivering three […]

I’ve only done it twice — both times to Mt. Assiniboine — and can confirm riding the bird is … GREAT.
Sure I’m polluting the atmosphere. And distracting the teeny tiny hikers below, sweating the 8hr uphill slog with a full pack. (It takes me 8min.)
But on arrival it’s like you landed in Heaven. Fresh. Excited. […]

We’ve pooh-poohed the “doom and gloom” mongers in the past.
And we’ve even been part of the problem, criticizing drastic increases in National Park fees.
But perhaps this IS serious.
If the population does not want to visit National Parks, the Parks themselves will suffer most.

… attendance at Yosemite has dropped 17%, Death Valley at 28%, […]