Mountain Watch

by Kelly Amabile on

The Appalachian
Mountain Club has enlisted the help of hikers to track ecological patterns on Mt. Washington in New
Hampshire. The Mountain Watch program is a
great way for hikers to learn more about the environment of the trails they use, and the data they gather is
instrumental to the AMC’s research.

As this CNN
article explains,
the collaboration is a perfect way for hikers to become more engaged with the environment that
surrounds them. As “field scientists” for the AMC, the
hikers monitor plant or
air quality trends and, at the same
time, become better educated about the environmental concerns that exist in the areas they frequent for
outdoor enjoyment.

Selling It All and Hitting to Road: Elliott Hester

by Erik Olsen on

It’s a fantasy many travelers and cube slaves share. You make the decision and bring up Ebay or Craigslist on your
computer screen, then you begin listing nearly every item you own. That big work desk, $40. The big screen TV $250.
Dinner jacket $35…OK, $10…forget it, just take it. The dough comes rolling in, and what is not sold maybe gets brought
to the Salvation Army for both charity and a tax write off. Then it’s time to leave. You fill your pack, buy a one way
ticket to wherever, and, man, you’re golden. But then, poof, the dream bubble pops and there you are, still anchored to
your desk.

But such was not the case with Elliott Hester. Nope, in the fall of 2002
he set off on an 18-month, around-the-world adventure but rather than book that flight back home to pick up where he
left off, he continued on, traveling, traveling, traveling. He’s been on the road ever since.

Hester, the author of a forthcoming book called “Adventures of a Continental Drifter: An Around-the-World Excursion
into Weirdness, Danger, Lust, and the Perils of Street Food”, talks about the life of a “continental drifter” in
this article/interview in the SF
Chronicle. He talks about living on the road for over three years and, interestingly, reveals the contents of his
backpack:  “a few articles of clothing, toiletries, an iPod, digital camera, cell phone (Elliott, phone
home!), notebook computer, guidebooks”. Must be tough to lug around all those gadgets.

Charity Challenge Checklist

by Kelly Amabile on

This week’s Philanthropy on the Road spotlight
takes a look at Charity Challenges. I’m sure we will highlight participants of these challenges in the weeks to come,
but I thought this
overview piece from
the Telegraph was worth mentioning first. The checklist, compiled by UK journalist Sophie Butler, helps eager
active travelers make sure they are enrolling to assist a legitimate organization and worthy cause.

Before signing up for a trek, climb, bike or swim, travelers should research the organization and understand the
expectations regarding fundraising and other travel expenses. The intensity of the physical challenge should also be
understood before making a financial commitment.

Here are links to some of the charity challenges mentioned in her piece:

Charity Challenge

Childline Challenges

Discover Adventure
Challenges
Born Free

(*Check out Born Free’s Travellers Alert
campaign, which works to raise awareness of wildlife in danger by tourism around the world.)

On Chiles and Elephants

by Erik Olsen on

A pretty interesting story about how
farmers in Africa are using chilies to ward off elephants to protect their crops. Turns out the pesky pachyderms
haven’t acquired a taste for hot stuff, and so in the Zambezi valley in southern Zambia, the farmers make a paste out
of the chilies and spread the stuff on fences and places they want the elephants to avoid.

The problem is actually due to the successful
recovery of elephant populations in the region. According to a recent study, elephant populations have grown to 355,000
from 283,000 in the five years to 2002. The result is that over the last few years, elephants and farmers have come
into closer contact with one another as growing elephant populations put pressure on the farmer’s efforts to grow
crops. The elephants wreak major damage on crops, and have been known to wipe out the annual harvests of entire
villages. This is bad news for the rural poor who are barely surviving as it is. The solution is a good one when you
consider that sometimes the farmers kill elephants, which isn’t cool. You gotta like it when such a simple solution can
help alleviate a serious problem.

New West Magazine

by Erik Olsen on

I have been tuning in lately to a great relatively new online
magazine out of my favorite part of the country: The West. Sometimes when I sit here in my little office in Manhattan,
I daydream about the days I lived in Boulder, and I could just walk out the door and have the sprawling American
wilderness at my toe tips. Man, I miss those days sometimes.  

Called New West, the magazine is run by Jonathan
Weber, a co-founder and editor in chief of The Industry Standard, one of the more sorely missed magazines that fizzled
after the dot com bust.

The magzine features articles about conservation and government that you are unlikely to see in any mainstream
publications (someone tell me how many full-time reporters the NY Times has in the West?), as well as discussions on
books and writers, all with a distinctly western theme. There are also some well-done travel pieces like
this one on Telluride, which mentions the
recent Shroomfest, an event that I am sorry I missed if just for the
seminar called Visionary Mushrooms: the Next 25 Years, an Interactive Discussion.

At a time when conservation and Western issues need broader attention, New West is a very welcome addition to a
relatively slim number of publications do a good job covering the region.