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vote for YellowstonePark.com

I read a lot of bad news regarding US National Parks on The National Parks Traveler blog and, to a lesser extent, on the Park Remark blog.

Increasing user fees, inefficient management, corrupt political manoeuvring. It can be depressing.

Here’s some good news regarding a Yellowstone National Park tourism site:

A grungy layout meant to give a park feel does the job well, and bits and pieces also use flash to add effect and features. What surprised me was the the site is also up a Webby Award – not something many national parks find themselves looking to score.

Devlounge

Excellent!

A way to promote National Parks with the internet.

At first I thought this was the official Park site. Foolish me. Of course this is a private venture supported by advertising and sponsors.

The official government Yellowstone website is surprisingly good as well — but I immediately clicked into one of these:

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Plan Your Visit

(Here’s the correct page: Plan Your Visit.)

Lets compare their two hiking pages:

» YellowstonePark.com: Top Things #5
» government site: Hiking in the Park

The government site comes out ahead.

Regardless, I will vote for YellowstonePark.com in the Webby Awards for Best Tourism Site. I like what they are trying to do. With podcasts, RSS feeds and video, it is a richer experience.

Independent National Parks websites have a greater chance, long term, of giving me the information I need to organizing for hiking. Government monopoly bureaucracies are far too inefficient to compete with the private sector in anything.

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YellowstonePark.com

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7-yr-old climbs 214 Lake District peaks

kerryregansm2.jpgCongratulations Kerry.

The feat has taken her four years, walking a total of 710 miles and climbing 230,000ft.

Kerry followed in the footsteps of her big sister Ellen, who became the youngest person to climb them all last year when she was nine. The title then went to two boys who were a few months younger.

Now Kerry’s parents David and Clare are proud she has grabbed it back for the family by scaling the last fell — 3,210ft Scafell Pike.

Chuffed Kerry, of Caldbeck, Cumbria, said: “I’m really pleased to have beaten my sister.

“My favourite was Rannerdale because we had a game of hide and seek with the crags up there.

“I take jelly teddies and chocolate bars to help when I get tired.”

A Welsh View: 7 Year Old Girl Climbs 214 Hills

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best hikes in Florida

If you travel to Canada, the BEST thing to do is get into the outdoors.

But when I travel to Florida, hiking is the LAST thing on my mind. (I’m on my way to Cirque du Soleil in Orlando.)

That’s a shame. There’s great hiking in Florida.

Guidebook author Sandy Friend recommends some of her personal favourites:

Florida Trail, Big Cypress National Preserve. Wading a watery wilderness festooned with tropical plants. Close to Miami.

Florida Trail, Ocala National Forest: Prairies and pines in the world’s largest sand pine scrub forest. Very popular.

Florida Trail, Suwannee River: 60mi clambering in and out of floodplain channels on high bluffs with giant trees.

Florida Trail, Eglin Air Force Base: Diverse habitats and coastal scenery.

Torreya Hiking Trail: Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Trail: Rugged ravines, bluffs, and ridgelines.

Garden of Eden Trail: Difficult day hike. Serious topography.

Citrus Hiking Trail: Great karst formations on a 43-mile loop. You can walk pack-on into one cave and explore many others.

Myakka Hiking Trail: Backpacking through broad open prairies in Central Florida

Florida Trail, Lake Okeechobee: More than 100mi around one of the nation’s largest lakes; great views the whole time.

This post is just an appetizer. If you really want to research hiking in Florida, get one of Sandy’s guidebooks:

50 Hikes in South Florida: Walks, Hikes, and Backpacking Trips in the Southern Florida Peninsula, First Edition

50 Hikes in Central Florida: Hikes, Walks, and Backpacks in the Heart of the Peninsula

50 Hikes in North Florida: Walks, Hikes, and Backpacking Trips in the Northern Florida Peninsula

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Lake Okeechobee – FTA / Bob Coveney

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hiking Hollywood – the M*A*S*H trail

OK, it’s not one of the world’s great hikes.

But if you loved M*A*S*H as much as I did, …

It’s not so often that one can combine Hollywood sightseeing with a hike in the mountains. And yet, if you happen to be in Los Angeles (naturally) there is a wonderfully challenging and beautiful hike that takes you deep into the Santa Monica Mountains and into the heart of Korea.

Well, actually, the hike takes you to the location where the classic M*A*S*H television series was filmed. Remember all those tents, jeeps, and helicopters dropping off wounded American GIs? Yep, Santa Monica, California. Not Korea.

The movie location is located in Malibu Creek State Park. The 4.5 mile hike follows Malibu Creek past Rock Pool (where Planet of the Apes was filmed), Century Lake and eventually onward to the M*A*S*H site itself where fans of the series can reminisce over a stripped-down jeep and ambulance. Not much else remains from the show.

Hiking Hollywood: The M*A*S*H Trail – Gadling

M*A*S*H - Season One (Collector\'s Edition)

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GO blog unimpressed with Google Earth

When announced April 12th, the Trimble Outdoors layer with GPS-based interactive hiking information was much ballyhooed.

The Get Outdoors blog tells it like it is (I think):

I’m gonna file this one under Google Hype! since I can tell you first hand using Google Earth for any serious outdoor planning is useless.

It doesn’t come close to a topo for route planning …

Other than a rough overview of terrain and approaches I’m still giving Google Earth a big thumbs down for usefulness…

If you want to use some kind of computer planning tool you’re better off with Topo! or another CD-Rom based product. I couldn’t even find the trails when I booted up Google Earth. If it takes more than a minute …

Get Outdoors – Google Earth Adds Hiking/Biking Trails Layers: Yawn! – Getoutdoors.com Outdoor Blog

We all know the future of hiking is 24/7 worldwide internet connectivity, real-time blogging with geo-tagged photos.

That time is not here yet.

Modern Hiker gave the new layers feature a try:

That said, it looks like it could be pretty cool, eventually. I don’t know about your home area, but right now the map’s Los Angeles hiking trail map looks pretty dang barren.

Google Earth Hiking Trails

Leave a COMMENT if you have had more success with it.

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larger image – Google

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Trekking Visions – best treks

Klaus & Sebastian are kindred spirits. Just weeks ago, they launched a terrific new site called Trekking Visions listing the world’s best hikes:

We are a team of two trekking lovers and we have a mission – to present you the best treks of the planet. Naturally it is an ongoing and never ending task but naturally this is part of the fun.

As of now this site is still in a very early stage with lots of data and information still missing. It’s quite an effort to collect all this and it will probably take the rest of 2007 to complete the site. So if you find the site to be a little premature you’re absolutely right – just give us a little time. Till then feel free to enjoy what we’ve prepared so far.

trekkingvisions – Home

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Check their photo galleries.

They plan to add a blog with RSS feed and I will be first to subscribe. For now I’ve linked to Trekking Visions under WEBSITES in the right hand navigation.

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Way of St. James pilgrimage, Spain

Researching the famous walk in Spain, I started (as usual) with Wikipedia:

The Way of St. James or St. James’ Way, often known by its Spanish name, el Camino de Santiago, is the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where the remains of the apostle, Saint James the Great, are said to be buried.

Way of St. James – Wikipedia

The standard route — the Camino Francés (French Way) — is 800km route from Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees. But there are many variations starting as far away as France, Germany, and further afield.

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(larger version – Regenisis.org.au)

I got interested in this walk, more religious pilgrimage than “best hike”, after reading an excerpt from a new book by Ward called All the Good Pilgrims : Tales of the Camino de Santiago.

Robert Ward has always enjoyed travelling, especially on foot. When he discovered the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago in Spain, he felt compelled to walk and experience this historic road. From his first journey along the Camino de Santiago, Ward fell in love with the pace, landscape, history, art, and romance of this old pilgrimage path.

Above all, however, Ward fell in love with the people of the Camino—both the welcoming Spaniards and the pilgrims who come from all over the world to find out what it means to travel five hundred miles, one step at a time.

In All the Good Pilgrims, Ward returns to Spain to walk the Camino for the fifth time. He thinks he knows what he’s getting into but, as his many Camino journeys have taught him, the Camino never runs out of surprises. Each day brings new lessons, friendships, questions, memories, gifts and challenges, reminding Ward that it isn’t the pilgrim who walks the Camino—it’s the Camino that walks the pilgrim.

An engaging travel narrative, All the Good Pilgrims is a personal and insightful tour of the Camino de Santiago, as Ward takes readers on a secular pilgrimage in which he reflects on his past journeys and contemplates the mysterious and enduring allure of this ancient and historic road.

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Amazon.ca

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build an emergency kayak

Warren Long saw the 4lb Alpacka raft (US$800+) but wants instead to try building a kayak on a wilderness trip.

(He watches Survivorman on TV.)

Warren’s looking at the Grip Clip Kayak! ($25)

You can build a kayak of green willow shoots, a blue tarp in just four hours!

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You’d strap the paddle to your ultralight pack. Or carve one from a fallen tree.

Four-Hour Kayak Boat Instruction Kit

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hiking Mount St. Helens, Washington

One of the best hikes in the world is scrambling Mount St. Helens Monitor Ridge (information page).

But when a hiking buddy Rocco told me he was travelling to Portland, Oregon for a wedding, I insisted he and his partner hike Mount St. Helens.

“It’s only 53mi (85km) NE of Portland. You can’t miss this opportunity!”

Luckily, Rocco’s partner is a keen hiker, as well.

They won’t climb the famous peak, instead dayhiking the devastated volcanic landscape. It’s fascinating.

Check this trip report by Jack Olsen, for a glimpse:

Much to my disappointment, we witnessed no eruptions today. Nonetheless, it was a great nine-mile hike on what is likely the youngest, naturally-formed terrain we’ve ever traversed.

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<blockquote

Today’s challenge was to mantle a seven foot pole with a four inch diameter and then just for sake of a picture, perform the yoga pose known as Vrksasana or Tree-Pose. Please excuse the sloppiness of my pose; I was wearing jeans and have gone at least a year without practice.

yoga1.jpg

Mount St. Helens « Read What I’ve Got to Say

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Alpacka lightweight raft

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Raft 11cropped, originally uploaded by adamnoman.

I think I need this for pioneering a new route on Vancouver Island.

The Alpacka packraft rolls up to about the size of a 3-person tent and weighs only 4 pounds. Add the Alpacka deck for 11-ounces more and you can motor through rapids in the inflatable bathtub.

It’s a pretty cool little boat, but it’ll set you back almost $800. It’s a lot of money, but apparently it’s more than just a pool toy—the little boat is popular for long backpacking trips and gaining access to unclimbed ranges.

Backcountry.com: The Goat » Blog Archive » Lightweight Inflatable Kayak Looks Suspiciously Like Tire Inner Tube

Thanks Rocky!

Alpacka rafts