The Chicago Trib
heads out West to God’s country and visits the great Mount St. Helens that blew her top on my birthday all those
years ago. Writer Robert Cross takes us there and delivers a dose of history and geology about this monumental natural
event. Myself, I was a wee lad, but I still remember the images on the tele. And it seems ol St. Helens has been acting
up again lately, though she hasn’t yet blown her top again. There is an active volcano there still and St. Helens
watchers (as well as a few apocalypse hunters) have been camping out waiting for her to go, thus heralding in the end
of the world as we know it. But don’t worry, you’ll feel fine. (subscription req)
Arun’s Travel Blog
Travel blogger Arun lives in Bangalore, India, and from there has been writing one of the more entertaining and
beautiful blogs I’ve seen in a while. Arun’s travel blog is filled
with insights about travel and decorated with marvelous photographs. Arun is an active outdoorsman…hiking in the
Himalayas, skiing in Auli…Arun is also
an avid birder, and some of the bird photos (like the one here) will really impress.
As a big fan of India, I’ll be checking back on this wonderful blog every so often.
Photo of the Day: (11/29/05) Buck Forester
Man oh man, we go to the
phantasmagorically talented photographer
Buck Forester again for our POTD. You really need to see this
guy’s work. Nothing short of glorious. For my money, he’s doing a fine job following in the footsteps of Galen Rowell
as one of the great photographers of California.
This photo taken at winter camp at Mono Lake is one of those shots that could be on the cover of
Outside.
Banff 2005 Photo Contest Winners
This is one of my favorite events of the year, the Banff
Photo Contest. The images collected here never fail to blow the mind. This year is no exception.
Check out the
winners. The grand prize shot was done by Kiwi Mead Norton of Auckland, for a sweet photo of Prayer Offerings on
the Shore of Namtso Lake, Tibet. But not to be missed are
the
landscape photos as well. And, for that matter the
mountain
flora and fauna photos. Aw heck, whle you’re at it, see the mountain scenery shots too. I
mean, face it. They’re all good.
Greenland: Extreme Tourism
I’ll never forget the day my called ID displayed: GREENLAND. I was dating an engineer who, despite being sequestered
on an icy fjord drilling for oil somewhere, had made time to give me a ring. So I got a call from
Greenland, but that’s about the extent of my interaction with the massive
glacier island to the north. This recent
Baltimore Sun piece
explains that over 30,000 tourists (80% from Denmark) visit the world’s largest island every year. This is a great spot
for engaged adventure travel: hiking, trekking, angling,
kayaking, skiing, ice fishing or how about some
ice golf? We’ve actually
mentioned Greenland quite a few
times here at Gadling, I guess we’re just fascinated with this unique iceberg nation — maybe we should consider a group
field trip?! I think the Arctic
Palerfik in April would be cool. I’m all about getting a suntan on a dog sled.