Hiker Blog

"I kept thinking about the kids and I had my digital camera so I kept looking at pictures of the family."

EDMONTON - An Edson sheep hunter trapped in a mountain canyon for three days was so desperate to get warm that he set his shirt on fire to generate heat. via Edmonton Journal

"They didn't have the sweat equity, that feeling from hiking up a strenuous stretch of trail. I had walked 1,830 miles to get where I stood."

Hiking the Appalachian Trail helped Jeff Alt find his place in the world. Looking back on the adventure has given him the opportunity to pass on some life lessons from the trail.

'I'm trying to inspire people to do something they've always wanted to do,' said Alt, 40, who took six months off in 1998 to walk 2,160 miles (an estimated 5 million footsteps) in 147 days. 'To think through their own lives.'

He said the experience was life-changing, and helped him in all aspects of his life, from marriage, family and work, to dealing with the fast pace of modern life -- using humor to get through difficult times, staying focused, motivated, and solving problems. Read more

"We call them treehuggers, but we don't want to offend anybody"

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. - Shops in Saranac Lake, an Adirondack village with a tourist-friendly downtown, sell twig chairs, hiking boots, handcrafted jewelry and decorative spoons with moose painted on them. via CBC News

We hiked rim to rim in late August when it's brutally hot -- but only because our preferred dates in September were sold out and that's what our schedules dictated. via Washington Post

Cook County News-Herald Last Updated: Friday, September 28th, 2007 09:53:43 AM Jay Andersen Editor Cook County is networked with hiking trails, and there are bike lanes on the streets of Grand Marais and along ... via Cook County News-Herald

"You have to know where they are headed, and get there before they do; you can never tag an elk by chasing them!"

I'll never forget my first elk hunt, although I've certainly tried to over the years. via Times-News

First, it's either the Lake District or the Lakes, not Lakes District. Secondary, a typical condition in December is really short days , wet or overcast, but some hazy sunshine is possible. via Lonely Planet

Filed under: Activism, Arts and Culture, Hiking, History, Learning

With Native American Day coming up on Friday, September 28 (yes, that's tomorrow) and National Public Lands Day on Saturday, here are three places you could go to honor both public lands and and the United States's Native American history. I'm mentioning these three because: I've been to all of them; they are national parks, thus public lands; and although there is similarity between them, they are quite distinct. Although, these are the three I've chosen, these are not the only places where the Anasazi lived in the U.S. Anasazi means Ancient Ones, by the way.

(The photo, posted by slongtoo on Flickr is from Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico)

Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, is quite the drive off a major highway. The last few miles, are not paved. This means getting there is not a quick, "Let's go see Chaco Canyon," but an outing that requires a bit of time. Once you get there, you're rewarded to experiencing five major dwelling sites of what were possibly Hopi ancestors. Enough of the structures remain that as you walk through them you can get a sense of what life was like here hundreds of years ago. This is my husband's favorite place in New Mexico. He swears he can feel its spiritual energy. Through October there are Chaco Night Sky programs where you can dabble in astronomy. The view of the sky, of course, is spectacular when you are out in the middle of nowhere.

Although I think Chaco is amazing, Bandelier National Monument northwest of Santa Fe is my favorite place in New Mexico. Perhaps this is because it's the first place in the U.S. where I saw how Native Americans once lived. When you grow up in Kentucky, New York and Pennsylvania, and trips meant summers at your grandparents, most of what you learn is from history books. (I headed west of the Mississippi after the Peace Corps.) To see the actual place is history up close and personal. Here, on the side cliffs, people carved huge living spaces in the soft rock earth. You can still see the darkened ceilings from the cooking fires. In a couple of spots there are pictographs and petroglyphs that add to the idea that people did indeed live here. My favorite section is where you climb down a long pole ladder into a kiva where the men used to gather and worship. It's a small adventure. The area around Bandelier is forested and gorgeous. Like Chaco, there is a very well done museum that includes movies, displays with actual artifacts and extensive descriptions.

Of the three, Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez, Colorado is the most commercialized and the most visited of the three. Bandelier is a sweet, cozy, type place in comparison. Going to Mesa Verde reminds me a bit of the experience of going to the Grand Canyon. The scenery is splendid, but RVs on the road sure take up a lot of space. One of the reasons that Mesa Verde has so many visitors each year is because of its stature. Compared to Bandelier's few cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde is king. It has 600. The entire park has 4,000 archaeological sites. This is where ancestors of today's Pueblo Indians lived from 600 A.D. to 1300 A.D. If you do go, take one of the tours. You can only get to the Balcony House (only open into the beginning of October), the Cliff Palace (open until the beginning of November) or the Spruce House (open from November to March) this way. The Long House closes after Labor Day.

Filed under: Activism, Arts and Culture, Hiking, History, Learning

With Native American Day coming up on Friday, September 28 (yes, that's tomorrow) and National Public Lands Day on Saturday, here are three places you could go to honor both public lands and and the United States's Native American history. I'm mentioning these three because: I've been to all of them; they are national parks, thus public lands; and although there is similarity between them, they are quite distinct. Although, these are the three I've chosen, these are not the only places where the Anasazi lived in the U.S. Anasazi means Ancient Ones, by the way.

(The photo, posted by slongtoo on Flickr is from Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico)

Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, is quite the drive off a major highway. The last few miles, are not paved. This means getting there is not a quick, "Let's go see Chaco Canyon," but an outing that requires a bit of time. Once you get there, you're rewarded to experiencing five major dwelling sites of what were possibly Hopi ancestors. Enough of the structures remain that as you walk through them you can get a sense of what life was like here hundreds of years ago. This is my husband's favorite place in New Mexico. He swears he can feel its spiritual energy. Through October there are Chaco Night Sky programs where you can dabble in astronomy. The view of the sky, of course, is spectacular when you are out in the middle of nowhere.

Although I think Chaco is amazing, Bandelier National Monument northwest of Santa Fe is my favorite place in New Mexico. Perhaps this is because it's the first place in the U.S. where I saw how Native Americans once lived. When you grow up in Kentucky, New York and Pennsylvania, and trips meant summers at your grandparents, most of what you learn is from history books. (I headed west of the Mississippi after the Peace Corps.) To see the actual place is history up close and personal. Here, on the side cliffs, people carved huge living spaces in the soft rock earth. You can still see the darkened ceilings from the cooking fires. In a couple of spots there are pictographs and petroglyphs that add to the idea that people did indeed live here. My favorite section is where you climb down a long pole ladder into a kiva where the men used to gather and worship. It's a small adventure. The area around Bandelier is forested and gorgeous. Like Chaco, there is a very well done museum that includes movies, displays with actual artifacts and extensive descriptions.

Of the three, Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez, Colorado is the most commercialized and the most visited of the three. Bandelier is a sweet, cozy, type place in comparison. Going to Mesa Verde reminds me a bit of the experience of going to the Grand Canyon. The scenery is splendid, but RVs on the road sure take up a lot of space. One of the reasons that Mesa Verde has so many visitors each year is because of its stature. Compared to Bandelier's few cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde is king. It has 600. The entire park has 4,000 archaeological sites. This is where ancestors of today's Pueblo Indians lived from 600 A.D. to 1300 A.D. If you do go, take one of the tours. You can only get to the Balcony House (only open into the beginning of October), the Cliff Palace (open until the beginning of November) or the Spruce House (open from November to March) this way. The Long House closes after Labor Day.

Filed under: Activism, Arts and Culture, Hiking, History, Learning

With Native American Day coming up on Friday, September 28 (yes, that's tomorrow) and National Public Lands Day on Saturday, here are three places you could go to honor both public lands and and the United States's Native American history. I'm mentioning these three because: I've been to all of them; they are national parks, thus public lands; and although there is similarity between them, they are quite distinct. Although, these are the three I've chosen, these are not the only places where the Anasazi lived in the U.S. Anasazi means Ancient Ones, by the way.

(The photo, posted by slongtoo on Flickr is from Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico)

Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, is quite the drive off a major highway. The last few miles, are not paved. This means getting there is not a quick, "Let's go see Chaco Canyon," but an outing that requires a bit of time. Once you get there, you're rewarded to experiencing five major dwelling sites of what were possibly Hopi ancestors. Enough of the structures remain that as you walk through them you can get a sense of what life was like here hundreds of years ago. This is my husband's favorite place in New Mexico. He swears he can feel its spiritual energy. Through October there are Chaco Night Sky programs where you can dabble in astronomy. The view of the sky, of course, is spectacular when you are out in the middle of nowhere.

Although I think Chaco is amazing, Bandelier National Monument northwest of Santa Fe is my favorite place in New Mexico. Perhaps this is because it's the first place in the U.S. where I saw how Native Americans once lived. When you grow up in Kentucky, New York and Pennsylvania, and trips meant summers at your grandparents, most of what you learn is from history books. (I headed west of the Mississippi after the Peace Corps.) To see the actual place is history up close and personal. Here, on the side cliffs, people carved huge living spaces in the soft rock earth. You can still see the darkened ceilings from the cooking fires. In a couple of spots there are pictographs and petroglyphs that add to the idea that people did indeed live here. My favorite section is where you climb down a long pole ladder into a kiva where the men used to gather and worship. It's a small adventure. The area around Bandelier is forested and gorgeous. Like Chaco, there is a very well done museum that includes movies, displays with actual artifacts and extensive descriptions.

Of the three, Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez, Colorado is the most commercialized and the most visited of the three. Bandelier is a sweet, cozy, type place in comparison. Going to Mesa Verde reminds me a bit of the experience of going to the Grand Canyon. The scenery is splendid, but RVs on the road sure take up a lot of space. One of the reasons that Mesa Verde has so many visitors each year is because of its stature. Compared to Bandelier's few cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde is king. It has 600. The entire park has 4,000 archaeological sites. This is where ancestors of today's Pueblo Indians lived from 600 A.D. to 1300 A.D. If you do go, take one of the tours. You can only get to the Balcony House (only open into the beginning of October), the Cliff Palace (open until the beginning of November) or the Spruce House (open from November to March) this way. The Long House closes after Labor Day.