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It’s a sad state of affairs when you can’t even escape into nature for some respite from the bad economic news. . Last week, officials in New York began contacting people who had reservations to camp in state parks to tell them that the parks would be closed, according to the New York Times.. The...

Benoît Mandelbrot, a mathematician with a rogue streak who found beauty in the roughness of nature, died last Thursday at 85.. By all accounts, Mandelbrot was an iconoclast, willing to follow his own curiosity when the field of mathematics was headed in a different direction. Instead of joining the herd in pursuit of more accepted...

The new GENUS is the first smartphone to offer dual terrestrial/satellite calling ability.. AT&T has teamed up with satellite phone service provider TerreStar to produce a smartphone that offers both terrestrial cellular capability and satellite connectivity for remote wilderness travel.. Called the GENUS, the phone costs $799, and will be available in retail stores later...

With the economy in the hole, seems people are seeking solace in nature. About 10 million more Americans and foreign tourists visited U.S. national parks last year than in 2008, according to statistics release last month by the Department of the Interior. That’s around a four percent increase and ranked 2009 as the five busiest...

False-colored photograph taken in the 1930s of hikers on snow field returning from Grinnell Glacier, in Glacier National Park. Photo: National Park Service Historic Photograph Collection . Tomorrow marks 100 years to the day since Glacier National Park in Montana officially joined the US National Parks system.. On May 11, 1910, President William H. Taft...

A 3G wireless Internet hub was installed at the Mount Everest basecamp in Nepal to help trekkers and climbers communicate on and around the world’s highest mountain. . The facilities were installed by Ncell a private Napali telecom company and will provide residents of the area and visitors with the conveniences of the web, including...

Confession: I fantasize about catching a train to some remote place and disembarking into the wilderness. Like they did back in the day.. Who’s they? Back in what day? I don’t know. Stop asking questions – you’re ruining my fantasy.. Part of the attraction is the connection to an idealized time past, when all an...

Map of the National Trail System in 2008. The system grew by 31 trails this year. Click on the map to enlarge.. Thirty one new trails in 15 states were added this week to the National Trails System, a federally managed network of trails, according to an announcement by federal officials.. The 716 miles of...

Dragon carving from a temple in Yunan, China. . The dentist grinned at me. He was missing teeth. Several teeth.. He stood in front of a small, sturdy building in a dusty town in southwestern China, sharpening some kind of pointed tool on stone wheel. Like his stone-block office, he was short and sturdy,...

Two lucky skiers taking in the none-too-shabby scenery of Whistler Blackcomb. Photos by Gordon Metz.. Arriving in Whistler, I felt a “wow” coming on.. It’s very apparent upon approach that you are going to have a good time. I entered Whistler Village through a large, brick yard that is generally being crisscrossed by boots, whatever...

It’s a little difficult to describe America’s Great Outdoors, the Obama administration initiative to revisit America’s conservation policies, mostly because it’s such a huge topic.. In launching the initiative this spring, Obama invoked President Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1908 held the first White House conference on conservation.  So broadly speaking it’s about conservation and everything related to...

As of Sunday, March 21, Andrew Skurka, a 28-year-old long distance hiker and runner was 180 miles into a bold attempt to ski, hike and raft a unprecedented 4,700-mile loop through Yukon and Alaskan wilderness.. Nine days into his trek, which started in Kotzebue, Alaska, Skurak reported skiing quickly along a snowy trail. The...

Venturing into the backcountry, be it a nearby weekend in a state park or a trek across the Himalayas, requires a special kind of competence. The wilderness is, by definition, wild, lacking the basics conveniences of civilization we take for granted — food, shelter, doctors, road signs.. The key to surviving and thriving is understanding...

Benafsha, a young Afghan woman, tops out on the new Skateistan rock climbing wall in Kabul, Afghanistan.. Not all news from Afghanistan is bad.. The capital of the war-torn country, Kabul, just got its first indoor climbing wall, installed at a facility run by Skateistan, a non-profit that runs skateboarding and educational programs for Afghan children.....

Fewer children participated in outdoor sports and activities in 2009 than in 2008, but a steady drop in youth participation in recent years appears to be bottoming out.. Among children ages 6 to 12 years, 62 percent participated in some form of outdoor recreation in 2009, a decline of 2 percent from 2008, found the...

Gert Boyle sporting the Born to Nag tattoo featured in Columbia Sportswear’s 1980s ad campaign.. Gert Boyle, the 86-year-old matron of Columbia Sportswear isn’t just tough – she’s crafty. When a would-be kidnapper forced his way into her home in West Lynn, Oregon, on November 10, Boyle set off a silent alarm under the pretense...

New U.S. park policy would put limits on setting new fixed climbing anchors. . New regulations proposed by the National Park Service seek to limit the placement of fixed climbing anchors and the replacement of aging anchors in wilderness, including iconic climbing areas such as Yosemite, Zion, Black Canyon, and Rocky Mountain national park.. The...