The Appalachian Trail Turns 80

by Erik Olsen on

Were you aware that the
Appalachian Trail, famous for its white “blazes”, the makers along its
ribbonous length, was conceived in eighty years ago, in 1925 by a forester named Benton MacKaye. MacKaye saw the trail
as an outdoor refuge from urban life…even though at the time, people probably needed an escape less than they do
today.

I have hike only part of the trail, but after reading Bill Bryson’s Walk in the Woods, of course would like to do the
whole thing some day…perhaps with a young son or something, wouldn’t that be the ultimate father/son thing to do?

The trail, you may remember is quite long. It runs 2,175 miles from Springer Mountain, Ga., to Mount Katahdin,
Maine, offering escapes for hikers of every ability, from novices to long-distance hikers who often spend as long as
six months walking the entire route. 

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the group that overseas the trail, is
hoping to raise awareness and get folks to hit the trail ts year, so if you’re interested, check out their site, or
visit this site which has an immense amount of info on the trail and
was obviously assembled by a very impassioned AT hiker. 

The World’s Worst Places from Space

by Erik Olsen on

Pretty interesting concept here. This site Sprol.com features satellite imagery
of some of the world’s worst places. Where environmental catastrophe and, in the words of the site itself “evidence of
humankind’s wanton destruction” can be enjoyed from the comfort of your office, home or cube…and perhaps even your cell
phone.

The images, many taken from Google Maps, are accompanied by well-written, albeit
a wee bit panicky in some cases, articles explaining what damage man hath wrought. The top piece today discusses the
midwestern city of Martinsville, which is “dealing with a massive drinking water catastrophe that will likely take
years, plus possibly millions of dollars, to clean up”. So that’s a bummer. Then
there is a cool (pun!) image of the retreating, er, collapsed, Antarctic
“Larsen-B” ice shelf that disintegrated in 35 days in 2002 (pictured). Depressing eh? So, I guess if you take this site
and match it against the earlier Onion post, well, they
sort of cancel each other out, humor-wise. Sorry about that.

Telluride Film Festival

by Erik Olsen on

One of the best film festivals of the year is coming up soon, and this might be the
opportunity you’ve been looking for to head to Colorado for both culture and superb outdoor fun. I’m talking, of
course, about the Telluride Film Festival. For outdoors buffs, the
mountain biking around Telluride is kick ass, as is the hiking and fishing. But you can’t beat it as a killer venue for
watching films and then heading out for a beer at one of the local bars. But it’s a very popular place during the
festival (the town’s population literally triples during the festival), so at this point, you probably have to know
someone to stay with or find a good campsite to pitch a tent.
Here’s a site with a list of some of the camping areas
nearby. 

This year’s festival runs from September 2-5. Looks like some of
the passes are sold out, but you can still get your hands on the
Full Festival Pass for $650. That’s not cheap, but I’ll
bet if you just went, you could sneak your way into some of the venues. Not that I’m advocating you do something so,
well, evil.

 

One of the oddities, but oddly compelling things about the festival is that they never reveal the program until just
before it starts, so it’s usually full of surprises. But every year they show films both big and small. A couple of
films that have premiered at the festival include: Sling Blade, Roger and Me and
Lost in Translation.

 

If you’ve never been to Telluride before, well, you’ve missed out. It’s one of the most beautiful places around. We
used to go every year to the bluegrass festival there in the heart of summer, and just sitting there with the mountains
and the old mill rising above you, the old Western charm of the place, man, I wish I was going.

Snap Guides from Budget Travel

by Erik Olsen on

Budget Travel is a great magazine for finding trip ideas for
cash-conscious people who are looking for useful details on where to go, where to stay and how to get there. I always
check out the magazine and have developed a particular fondness for their
Road Trip series. Now they’ve
started a new feature that is especially cool. They call them Snap Guides, and they are downloadable, very
elegant and informative guides to cities around the world.

This one, their
newest, is about Paris, and is a must-read if you’re heading to the City of Lights and don’t know much about it.
(and I assure you that even if you are a Francophile, you’ll find useful items in the guide). The 8-page guide to Paris
provides tips on places to see (museums, cathedrals, cultural spots), restaurants, taxi tips and a whole lot more.
There are also guides to
London,
Santa Fe and
New York. I
highly recommend these for your next trip. Besides, their FREE!

The guides are provided in Adobe Acrobat to maintain their elegance and to make them easy to print.

Brush Up on Your Mideast History

by Erik Olsen on

With the forced evacuation of Gaza making

big headlines everywhere, perhaps its time to brush up on your knowledge of Middle East history. As every cognizant
being knows the battle over Jerusalem, the establishment of the state of Israel, the settlements, terrorism…all these
things have had a major impact on the 20th and 21st centuries. On OUR lives. Whichever side you are on, you can’t deny
that it is a major global issue that affects us all in some way. So it is surprising sometimes how little people know
about thr roots of the Mid East conflict. How did Israel get there? Why is Jerusalem so important? How can so many
people see the same issue in so many different ways?

Well, it is obviously a very complex series of issues that I don’t purport to explain here. But I can provide you with
some useful links to help you understand it better. One place that you should go for a simple, and elegant overview of
the problems in the Middle East is this National Geographic site called
Xpedition Hall. Using a clever device
called “Culture Goggles” they show how different religions view the same issue, in one case, the city of Jerusalem.
Another well-done piece called
Lines in the Sand by Nat Geo gives an overview of
the Gaza issue, so big in the news right now. Of course, no online history lesson would be complete without checking
out Wikipedia. Here is a superb discussion of Jerusalem, as well
as links to articles on the Six Day War and the
Yom Kippur War, both of which are of immense
importance in understanding what is going on over there. I realize these just scratch the surface, there are scores of
books to recommend as well (including several superb ones by Tom Friedman) but it is never a bad idea to brush up on
your understanding of such important issues.