August 31, 2007

California: Yellowstone’s counterpart

Filed under: Outdoors — Mike @ 3:45 am

Link

YOSEMITE VILLAGE, Calif. — Even in this bucolic wonderland, where sheer granite walls frame one of the most stunning views on Earth, justice must be served.

After all, tourists run stop signs. Park employees get rowdy. Some people even get busted for “BUI” — bicycling under the influence of alcohol

California: Exposing public lands to city kids in hopes of creating a bond

Filed under: Outdoors — Mike @ 3:44 am

Link

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Jorge Castaneda kneels on a rocky ledge with a map of the Sierra Nevada spread before him.

“There aren’t street names,” the 18-year-old says only half-jokingly to the guides about to take him on his first backpacking trip. “How are we supposed to read these maps?”

Utah: Fee increase planned for Flaming Gorge

Filed under: Outdoors — Mike @ 3:41 am

Link

Washington: Not a place to lose your nerve - or your grip

Filed under: Outdoors — Mike @ 3:39 am

Link

It’s almost 4,000 feet of elevation gain over 6.7 miles by trail — it feels like 10 — and you must cross a steep section of a glacier and several snowfields before climbing three wooden ladders and rope up the final cliff. Your heart races a bit on that glacier, because a slip likely would be fatal. And you climb those ladders with a death grip.

Montana: Rock Creek west of Lake Como closed due to fire

Filed under: Outdoors — Mike @ 3:38 am

Link

The Bell Lake Fire, which started on the Nez Perce National Forest, has burned over the divide onto the Bitterroot National Forest in the upper reaches of the Rock Creek drainage, and is currently 300 acres in size. Fire weather warnings are in place for Thursday and Friday for strong and gusty winds that can cause quick fire growth in the area

Wyoming: Jackson may lose National Forest headquarters

Filed under: Outdoors — Mike @ 3:37 am

Rural sprawl has priced the USFS out of Jackson. Everyone wants to move to “paradise”. Trouble is, when everyone else does, it’s no longer the place it was.

Link

The proposal would relocate 45 full-time Bridger-Teton National Forest employees to Alpine, about 35 miles southwest of Jackson, according to a memo dated Aug. 24 from the Intermountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service. The memo noted the high cost of housing in Jackson Hole, where the median home sale price is more than $1.1 million.