Afghan wildlife refuge: no hand grenade fishing

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Afghanistan is going green. The war-torn country has declared Band-e-Amir its first conservation area. While it may be premature to book your trip to this spectacle, at least there’s hope that you’ll get to enjoy it someday.

Band-e-Amir, like the rest of Afghanistan, has had a rough run over the past 30 years. Let’s face it: that’s how long the country’s been engaged in one war or another. The region’s snow leopards fell victim to the conflict between Soviet troops and mujahideen in the 1980s. Of course, the great Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

The fighting is reportedly in other parts of the country, these days, which the locals will attract foreign visitors. The lakes are the major draw, assuming you’re willing to subject yourself to a brutal daylong drive from Kabul. The destination may be billed as safe, but the journey certainly isn’t. Head into Afghanistan at your own risk.

For now, local merchants have their fingers crossed for Afghan tourists. Westerners, one would assume, would come much later.

If you do throw caution to the wind, be sure to follow the rules. Fishing with hand grenades is no longer allowed.
Among the local practices that are now banned: no more fishing with hand grenades. If you role the dice, don’t worry. The rangers tasked with enforcement are paid less than $60 a month and can be on duty for up to 24 hours at a time.

Visit Yellowstone Offseason

by Kraig Becker on

Yellowstone National Park is one of the most popular destinations in the U.S., welcoming nearly 3 million visitors per year. Most of those come during the summer months, when the weather is consistently beautiful, and the travel season is in full swing. But this article suggests that we should go now, to beat the crowds, and enjoy springtime in the Northern Rockies, where no matter what time of the year it is, Old Faithful erupts, whether anyone is watching or not.

The Park covers more than 2.2 million acres, spreading out across Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. It was first established back in 1872, and is home to hundreds of species of birds and animals, including sixty distinct species of mammals, such as elk, moose, bison, wolves, and bear. Yellowstone also contains diverse terrain, with rivers, lakes, canyons, and mountains dominating the landcsape.

Of course, all of these natural wonders are also what attracts the large summer crowds, which makes visiting the park in the offseason such a popular idea for outdoor enthusiasts. For instance, even though it is spring, and temperatures are on the rise, there is still plenty of snow in the high country, allowing for some late season skiing or snow shoeing. At lower altitudes, the trails are now open, granting access to much of the park, and since the crowds haven’t arrived yet, there is plenty of solitude as well.

The article offers some excellent links to websites that cover Yellowstone from top to bottom and have plenty of great tips on how to maximize your visit, including the best places to stay, both inside and out of the park. Beat the rush in Yellowstone. Go before Memorial Day weekend, to have the park mostly to yourself.

Gadling Gear Review: Keen Redmond hiking shoes

by Grant Martin on

I won’t deny that I’m a city boy when it comes to travel. Though my voyages have taken me far and wide on this great earth I usually don’t get too far outside of the city limits, and even then, it’s on a high speed train bound for the next city.

Things on my most recent vacation, however, I knew would be different. New Zealand just isn’t the sort of place where you land on the tarmac, take the subway to a few wine bars and sleep until noon. The vast, varying landscapes require – nay, plea to be tread upon, with sprawling lakes, huge mountains and cavernous canyons. For a trip like this, I would need something with traction. I would need a pair of hiking shoes.

Recommended by a colleague at Gadling, I was able to track down a pair of Keen Redmonds before I left the United States, a simple, low cut pair of shoes with all of the features found in a normal pair of hiking boots and only a fraction of the weight. Despite never having tried a pair of Keens on in my life, I faithfully ordered my size, crossed my fingers and waited until two days prior to departure before they showed up. And to my delight, they worked out fantastically.Now, before I get into the deep details of how the Redmonds worked out on the trail I’ll give you some insight into my needs as a city boy in the woods. They’re pretty basic: my shoes need to be comfortable, stay dry, grip the trail and not smell. Whether the shoes are made out of Gortex PCB297 bulletproof material, polymethyl-methacrylate or cotton candy doesn’t matter to me, as long as my needs are kept.

And how the Redmonds hold these virtues. The first thing I noticed when I put on my new shoes (two days before I left) was how comfortable they were. With a wider footprint, my feet had plenty of room to breathe while still snugly tied into the backbone of the shoe. While I figured a small nick or corner would eventually start to bother me while trekking across an entire country, these faults never arose.

Indeed, throughout the entire trip my Redmond’s performed well, staying dry after dunking them in the water in Tongariro National Park, smelling fine after tromping through the natural springs in Rotorua and keeping traction when heeling on a SailNZ yacht.

Now, long past my return from Oceania I understand why Keen has a cult following among outdoor enthusiasts. It fits well, it’s always comfortable and it performs damn well on the road. What more could you ask for?

Half a century atop El Capitan

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Fifty years ago, Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan was climbed for the first time. Today, we celebrate that milestone with a continuation of the initial effort. Let’s face it, nobody will ever be first again, but you can still be part of the tradition.

Once upon a time, El Capitan was thought to be insurmountable, due in large part to a 3,000-foot granite cliff. Warren Harding assembled a small team and invested 47 days over more than a year in setting up climbing hardware and logistics to get to the top. The final drive took 12 days. This led to the glory of being first.

Today, the climb is considerably different.

Six months ago, two climbers made the summit in a hair more than 2 ½ hours. Modern equipment, advanced dietary technology and improved clothing have made this possible. That being said, the view from the top remains the view from the top.

Check out the video after the jump.

Volcano Boarding: Sledding Down An Active Volcano

by Kraig Becker on

The New York TImes has the scoop on a new sport that can trace its origins back to the slopes of Cerro Negro, a 2388 foot tall volcano in western Nicaragua. The new extreme sport is called Volcano Boarding, and participants use a small piece of plywood to rocket down the side of a sometimes active volcano, reaching speeds of up to 50 mph.

The article credits Darryn Webb, an Australian tour guide working in Nicaragua, with coming up with the idea behind volcano boarding. Webb grew up in Queensland, where he learned to sandboard, which is a bit like snowboarding on sand dunes. Back in 2005, when he first set eyes on Cerro Negro, he immeditely began plotting a new way to go down its slopes.

Webb says they tried a variety of different concepts when looking for their “sled”, including boogie boards, mattresses, and even a minibar fridge (!), before eventually going with their current design, which is little more than reinforced plywood with formica on the underside to increase speed. Boarders don a jumpsuit and goggle designed to protect them should they become separated from their rides, and begin the arduous 45 minute climb to the summit, carrying their board.The ride down is, as you would expect, unlike anything else. The writer reports of high speeds, but also a very bumpy and noisy run, in which rocks, dust and ash flew everywhere. Controlling your speed is a challenge to say the least, and when using a technique for slowing down that was shown to her by an instructor, she ended up crashing out of control. But once the ride was over, she wanted to go again, which says a lot for the experience as well.

For extreme sports junkies, hurling down the side of a mountain isn’t nearly extreme enough of course, so the lure of an active volcano makes it all the more exciting. Cerro Negro is young, geologically speaking, and still very active. Since 1850, the volcano has erupted 20 times, and I suppose there are some who come to ride its slopes who have visions of outrunning lava flows as they go. So far, that hasn’t happened, but then again, this is a new sport.