Denali Wildlife

by Catherine Bodry on


Some friends of mine were camping in Denali National Park and Preserve in August, and woke up to a herd of Dall sheep right outside their tent. They spent a good hour photographing and filming the animals, and even captured two rams butting heads. But I love this photo best — as Lane and Jeanie focus on what’s happening in front of them, they miss the little guy in the background. Not only does he appear to be posing for the photo, he also looks pretty friendly, like you might want to invite him in to the tent to play cards.

Thanks to Steve Rafuse for the photo.

Want to Climb Everest? Approaching 40? Lots of Luck

by Jamie Rhein on

It’s not whether you are a man or a woman that determines how successful you’ll be climbing Mt. Everest–or even if you are an experienced mountain climber, although experience might help–it’s how old you are.

The statistics are in. According to data collected after 15 years of studying who makes it to the summit and who doesn’t, researchers have found that after a person reaches age 40, his or her chance of making it to the top drops dramatically. Once you hit 60, you may as well forget about it. Well, you might make it to the top at that age, but your chances are slim. After 40 your body systems poop out faster. (That’s my interpretation of what I’ve read.)

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try after the age of 40, but I’d say, know your limits and don’t be stupid. If you can’t make it, you can’t make it. Heck, how many people actually get to Everest’s first base camp? How many people actually make it to Nepal? or Tibet? How many people don’t even know where these two places are exactly? Or what a sherpa is? If you go trekking in Nepal, hire one. (This shot posted on Flickr by yourclimbing.com was cleverly doctored. Not by me, the person who posted it. Mt. Everest is in the background.)

Here are some climbing Mt. Everest statistics and facts:

  • The first person to reach the summit was Edmund Hillary in 1957.
  • Since then, more than 2,000 people have reached the top
  • more than 200 have died trying.
  • Those who die are usually left where they died.

If you’re contemplating a trip up Everest, the researchers also found that if you want to be successful, be part of a group. (see article from The Cosmos: Science of Everything) This second photo was taken from the International Space Station. Since today is the 50th anniversary since Sputnik the first satellite, was sent to space, this photo seems fitting. Click on it for a larger image and a view of the path up to Everest’s summit.

Go Where the Ancient Ones Lived to Honor the Earth

by Jamie Rhein on

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.

Scuba Dive and Play Tennis in a Cave

by Jamie Rhein on

We’ve written about how you can mail a postcard in a cave, stay the night in a volcano cave–or some other caves, bungy jump in a cave, paddle in a cave, and go to church in a cave. There’s a whole lot more you can do in a cave and I’m sure one of us have mentioned it, but these will do for now. Missouri is the place to go for even more cave fun. It’s not called The Cave State for nothing.

The reason Missouri has such cave wealth has something to do with mining. When you dig sand, limestone and lead from underground, huge caverns are the result. These left behind caverns make for terrific underground recreation facilities since the temperature stays constant year round regardless of what the weather is doing above ground.

Here’s what you can do in Missouri’s caves besides walking through them. You can:

And in the future, hopefully, you will be able to ice-skate and kayak at Crystal City Underground, once a sand mine.

The Benefits of Global Warming: Killing off Bandit Marmots

by Neil Woodburn on

Global warming, as we all know, is a very, very bad thing.

There are, however, some unexpected benefits to be gained from our planet heating up. Last month, for example, Backpacker Magazine dedicated an entire issue to the problems of global warming. One of the articles featured in this issue (but, alas, not online) is titled Species We Can Kiss Goodbye. This certainly sounds ominous and my heart goes out to the American pika, wolverine, and Bicknell’s thrush which may all soon disappear. The article, however, also mentions that marmots might suffer a similar fate.

Excuse for a moment; Yeahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you’ve ever been backpacking in the Sierras you know what I’m talking about. Marmots are the cat burglars of the backcountry, pilfering and destroying anything shiny or salty left alone for even the briefest of moments. I’ve seen sweaty shirts ripped to pieces, bota bags torn asunder and even watches ripped off from the campsite (marmots love the salty leather bands). And don’t even think of leaving any food out.
In fact, marmot activities are so bad in Kings Canyon National Park that visitors bring chicken wire to wrap around the base of their cars in the parking lot. Otherwise backpackers return from their time in the mountains to a car whose underbelly of rubber tubes has been chewed open by hungry marmot vandals.

So why are these critters endangered? According to Backapcker Magazine, global warming is wrecking havoc with the marmot’s internal clock, causing the animal to emerge from hibernation more than a month earlier than normal when snow might still be on the ground. This means that there is little food to eat and no backpackers to steal from. This lack of food and a colder environment may ultimately force the critter to burn “muscle instead of fat to jump-start its metabolism–which makes it vulnerable to starvation and predation.”

And, of course, vigilante backpackers tired of getting jacked by these thugs.