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57,000 New Jobs in US National Parks?

As reported in Treehugger:

57,000 New Jobs Could Be Created in US National Parks

With the economy foundering at the moment, it’s not surprising that many people are proposing projects to the incoming Obama administration that will create new jobs and benefit the economy as a whole. A new report from the National Parks Conservation Association does its part for promoting reinvestment in the US National Parks system as another worthy area for green investment.

The report says that they are $2.5 billion worth of job-creating projects in the National Parks, and furthermore that for every dollar invested there it could bring back four dollars in value to the public. …

… read more

Certainly spending money on infrastructure is a good strategy for economic recovery over the coming years.

I’d be thrilled if building up the National Parks infrastructure is part of that. In the USA and around the world.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado
Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

larger version – flickr – SC Fiasco

Next … we need to convince State governments to invest in State Parks. Florida, for example.

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eBook for The Overland Track

The best walk in Australia — our #10 best trek in the World — is Tasmania’s Overland Track.

John & Monica Chapman self-publish the best guidebook for the OT. (Chapman’s guidebooks are the best in the world, in fact.)

But personally I prefer the just released Overland Track eBook (PDF format) by Frank & Sue Wall.
.


What hiking gear you will need?
What food to take?
How to organise your meals?
How to get the start of the walk and home again?
What are the best transport options?
What first aid kit you need?
Can you walk the Overland Track solo?
How hard is the Overland Track?
What is the best way to get to Cradle Mountain?

Why is an eBook better than a hard copy guidebook?

  • easy for the authors to update
  • links to web pages and email addresses
  • downloads instantly
  • I can carry it on my iTouch

    • And DIRT CHEAP at A$7 for 18,000+ words and heaps of photographs

    Check out a couple of sample graphics:

    overland-track

    Beautiful.

    hiking-clothing

    Brilliant.

    This is exactly the kind of information I need when planning a major hike.

    Thanks to Frank in Oz for putting this together based on his past 10 OT tramps.

    Download a free sample of the eBook from this page: Hiking the Overland Track – the downloadable book

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    Ian Adamson attending our Adventure Race


    Ian’s agreed to add our new event — Adventure Week 2009 — to his busy calendar.

    Ian is the most successful adventure racer of all time with six world championship wins, 15 world championship podium finishes and 14 international adventure race championship titles. He is a three time and current world record holder for endurance kayaking (262 miles in 24 hours.) Ian has competed internationally in adventure racing, canoeing, kayaking, orienteering and sailing.

    Ian has been a professional adventure athlete since 1997 and currently races as co-captain of Team Nike.

    IanAdamson.com

    ian_k2lg

    I’m planning on kicking his butt in at least one of the races.

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    legend of Kayak Bill

    Rocco forwarded us an amazing feature story in Sea Kayaker magazine:

    … We asked the clerk at the Echo Bay general store about the kayaker, “Oh, that’s Kayak Bill. He has a camp at Eden Island, and a bunch of other camps around. He does a few odd jobs sometimes, but mostly he lives off the land. He started off from Vancouver about ten years ago to paddle to Alaska, but after wintering at Eden Island, he said he didn’t need to go any farther.” …

    Kayak Bill – A Requiem

    It’s well worth the read. Thanks to the author Keith Webb.

    kayak
    original – flickr

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    Israeli hikers lost, again

    Israeli hikers are the most adventurous of all, in my experience.

    That’s why I’ve so often joined up with them on treks around the world.

    Unfortunately, they often get themselves in trouble. Like these two who decided to leave their group and strike out on their own for an easier itinerary:

    hikers

    Happy ending: Romi Givon (21) and Tal Bar (21), the two Israeli hikers who went missing for two days in the Villarrica National Park in Chile were found safe and sound on Tuesday afternoon, according to Tami Bar, Tal’s mother.

    …

    Ran Givon, Romi’s father, along with an Israeli rescue team, was scheduled to fly to Chile in the evening to assist in the search.

    The 138,600 acre Villarrica volcano is dominated by the Villarrica volcano, which towers at an altitude of 9,338 feet and in considered most active volcano in South America. The weather in the area is notoriously fickle, and is characterized by heavy rain, fog and low temperatures. …

    YnetNews

    The story of Omri Kidron did not end happily.

    When I hiked the Huayhuash Circuit in Peru, two Israelis were shot resisting bandits. At least one died of his wounds.

    Please, please be careful out there.

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    redirecting from the OLD blog

    I want to steer people from the OLD blog:

    https://besthike.com/blog/

    … to this, the NEW blog:

    https://besthike.wordpress.com/

    I tried a WordPress plugin called Redirection.

    It’s working for the home page. But I really need to redirect the individual pages, as well. Leave a comment if you have any advice for me.

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    everyone loves a hotspring

    Especially in the winter.

    These incredible pictures are of Japanese macaques relaxing in a hot spring in Yamanouchi, central Japan.

    Nicknamed the snow monkey, the cheeky-looking animals live a much chillier existence than their tropical cousins and they appear to like nothing better than keeping warm in steaming-hot pools such as this one. …

    snow-monkeys-jpn1

    more photos on the Daily Mail

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    guided hiking tours in China

    China Volkssport Associon (that’s the correct spelling) contacted us regarding their guided walking tours.

    hiking-china

    Their website is translated into 6 languages, imperfectly. Many of the links do not work.

    The tours all seem to be about 2 weeks long. Offered throughout China year round.

    I would only sign on if I had personal recommendations from people I trusted who were happy with the service. In general, the tourist industry in China is not well managed. It may be decades before the quality of service matches standards elsewhere in the world.

    hiking-china2

    China Volkssport Associon