So, without further ado, here's their top ten list and brief explanation of why each one is there: 1. Potomac River - Pollution 2. Green River - Water withdrawals 3. Chattahoochee River - New dams and reservoirs 4. Missouri River - Outdated flood management 5. Hoback River - Natural gas development 6. Grand River - Natural gas development 7. Skykomish River - New dam 8. Crystal River - Dams and water diversions 9. Coal River - Mountaintop coal mining 10. Kansas River - Sand and gravel dredging
So there you have it. Chances are there's a river near you that could use some effort on your part.
Clearly this new sleeping bag would be utterly useless for backpacking. It weighs a bloody five and a half pounds and I'm guessing doesn't pack down very small. But if you're a car camper or have access to Forest Service cabins then, it just might be what you've been waiting for.
It's called the Zippered Vents Sleeping Bag and it provides just that, a bunch of zippers that you can use to stick out an arm or a leg or get a little air. Four horizontal zippers augment the traditional one zipper that runs the length of the bag, so you have five opportunities to get the bag liner stuck in the zipper every time you open or close a vent.
The bag is supposedly rated to 20 degrees and has a cotton flannel lining and nylon shell. I highly doubt the rating is accurate, but I also highly doubt anyone who would use this bag would be camping when it was below freezing. It costs a low $119.95 and is available at everyone's favorite camping store, Hammacher Schlemmer.
It's that time of the year again, REI's biggest sale starts today and runs through 5/28/12. Time to gear up for the summer. Take 20% off one item with the coupon below.
Outside Magazine has a fun article this month that encourages readers to break the rules this summer and engage in activities that are the right mix of dangerous and fun. Nothing in the article is especially outrageous, but each suggestion reminds me of the freedom summer meant when I was a kid. We got the boot every morning and spent the day outside, pushing the limits of what a 12 year old considered dangerous. No one died, no one even got all that hurt. Maybe a broken bone or two, but what's childhood without a cast upon which to scribe your name? Of course, in typical Outside fashion, they do take cool ideas and make them nice and commercial. Take, for example, rule # 6 "Rope Swings are Dangerous and Usually Illegal." Not only do they instruct on the right type of tree to tie your rope swing to, but they offer a convenient link to a specific brand of climbing rope for you to use. Or Rule # 3, "Stick to the Course." Outside suggests readers "[G]et some folks tougher at a trailhead. Plot a rough course. Ride or run (or both) like hell. Argue who won over beers." That's all pretty easy and free. But if you use the suggested social fitness app, the experience will be that much more fun. I guess Outside figures that getting some friends together to race a one-time, on-the-spot course is obviously more fun when you can use a computer program to compare your time with others.
OK, maybe I"m being a bit of cynic here. That's what they pay me for. Still, the article seems to miss the point in some respects. I guess at Outside, the one rule you can't break is taking advantage of product placement opportunities at every turn.
Now, get out there and make a rope swing with some old suspect rope you found in the garage or salvaged from a dumpster. Cross your fingers and go…summer's here and it's time to break an arm.
The Interior Department announced yesterday that all active duty military personnel and their families will receive free admission to National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and other public lands that charge admission fees.
This Saturday - Armed Forces Day - will mark the beginning of the program, which will present the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Annual Pass to the families for free. While vets and retirees won't be able to get a pass, activated members of the National Guard and Reserves will be.
The effort is part of the Joining Forces initiative, a program spearheaded by Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, which supports military families. Mrs. Biden (wife of Vice President, Joe Biden, for all you non politicos) summed it up well,
Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to our servicemen and women who make great sacrifices to protect our country and preserve our freedom. In recognition of their service, we are so pleased to be putting out a welcome mat for our military families at America's most beautiful and storied sites.
The pass costs the rest of us $80, which, once you think about other
things you spend $80 on, isn't really that much. Still, it's a great way
to recognize the sacrifice and valor of the folks who protect our right
to pay to access our public lands.
After college, I moved to Alaska where I ended up working at an adaptive ski school. We taught mentally and physically disabled people how to ski. It was pretty powerful and, more so than any other job, made me proud and contented. Of course we were based at the resort and used the lifts to ferry skiers and the heavy adaptive equipment they needed up to the top of the run.
Well, paraplegic skier Jeremy McGhee is planning to rip a big, hardcore backcountry couloir without all that lift served fuss. He's gonna shred Bloody Couloir form the top, without the help of his pals.
McGhee was hit by a car riding his motorcycle in 2001 and lost the use of his legs. He has since worked to live his life to its fullest, surfing, skiing, and generally being a badass.
Frustrated by the difficulty he experienced getting across the sand from his car to the ocean where he surfs, he invented a lightweight motorized unit that easily attaches to his wheel chair - the Surf Checker. Now he can surf without the assistance of his friends whenever he wants to.
He intends to apply the same engineering savvy, tenacity and drive to figuring out a way to get to the top of Bloody Couloir in the Sierras, and "…eat a pb+j sandwich at the top." Why not just enlist his buddies to help him get there?
"I don't want them [my friends] to feel like they need to get me there. You see, I've got arms. I can get anywhere. It might take a while, but physically, I can get there." Holy shit. Imagine how many fewer obese people there'd be in this country if we all had the same attitude towards our legs this guy has towards his arms.
For some more inspiration, check out "Drop In" the first segment of McGhee's Bloody Couloir series.
Before you watch this video, a few words. Especially if you're a rather new reader, which we sometimes attract. If you're easily offended just don't watch it. In fact, if you're easily offended, you'd best not even read this blog. Granted, we're rarely as offensive now as we were say 5 years ago. But, well, we still sometimes have our moments. Anyway, back to this video. It's hilarious. It's got fixies, it's got ninjas, it's got anime girls come to life, it's got ninjas on fixies chasing anime girls come to life. There's a upskirt cam, which is really most offensive part. And it's f'ing hilarious. Great way to waste 5 minutes on a Friday morning. Tx to Bike Hugger for introducing it to us.
A cool new nonprofit, Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, is launching a nationwide effort to get cyclists to note and report roadkill they see as they're rolling down the road. Cyclists can snap a photo, make a mental note, or jot down location and species on a note pad and then enter the information in an online database.
“The tens of thousands of people that are outside every day can now be
mobilized to do more with their time, to be citizen scientists,” said
Gregg Treinish, who founded and directs the non-profit group.
Similar programs in California and Maine have already proved valuable to wildlife scientists. In California, 708 riders have logged more than 17,000 observations into the database. Researchers are hoping that both bike commuters, who can provide long term data and help identify trends, and expedition cyclists, whose data can help identify large-scale patterns, participate in the program.
Of course, you don't have to be a cyclist to record road kill, but to quote the University of California, Davis ecologist, Fraser Schiling, who started the project in California, “I think that cyclists and the pedestrian world have this weird
connection to roadkill because of the risk we’re always facing,” said
Shilling. Yep, that's pretty true.
All you cyclists out there who wish you had a big old horn to honk when some a-hole in a car nearly runs you over - now is your chance for extreme retribution.
For a cool 8,000 bucks or so, you can buy the one-of-a-kind "Hornster" bike, which comes mounted with an Airchime KHA triple air horn. I don't know much about horns, but apparently this one needs a modified scuba tank of air to toot and turned all the way up to 11 emits a 178 decibel sound. That's as loud as a the take off of an F-14, or the landing of a Condorde Jet. I think that sound might make your ears bleed, but I'm not sure.
The bike was designed by Yannick Read for Britain's Environmental Transport Association as a gag to draw attention to car bike collisions caused by the fact that most drivers seem utterly incapable of realizing that yes people ride bikes on the road and yes they have a right to be there and yes you need look out for them.
Whatever the reason it was made, if you do buy it and actually ride it around, you'd better damn well hope no one runs into you. If the valves and controls for the horn get knocked off, or the scuba tank ruptures with all that pressurized air in it, I'm thinking it could get messy.
When I was a little grommet, growing up in a small town in Maine, mountain culture was more Maine woods than Rocky Mountain. Sure we wore hand-me-down L.L. Bean shirts, pants, boots, and pretty much everything else, but we also ate lobsters once a week. At $3.00 a pound you could feed a family pretty cheap in July or August.
Why am I telling you this? Well, although we had tons of lobsters, what we lacked was screenings of cool mountain films. If you too, live in a small burg that doesn't host the latest Telluride or Banff film tour every year, the good folks over at Outside Magazine will play a Mountainfilm documentary every Thursday through May.
On the 10th Outside will show Undercity - a documentary about urban caver Steve Duncan's quest to piece together the dark history of New York City by exploring its tunnels and sewers.
To watch, simply access the film here anytime between 6-9 Mountain Time (ha Mountain Time, take that East Coast!). You can join a discussion with the filmmaker Andrew Wonder and Steve Duncan for a Q&A through the website, starting at 7 pm.
On the 17th, catch Felt Soul Productions award-winning environmental documentary about salmon in Alaska, Red Gold.
Finally, on May 24, Outside will play Samsara, the story of Jimmy Chin, Conrad Anker, and Renan Oztruk's first attempt to climb India's 20,702-foot Meru.
Outside Magazine
A cool new nonprofit, 
When I was a little grommet, growing up in a small town in Maine, mountain culture was more Maine woods than Rocky Mountain. Sure we wore hand-me-down L.L. Bean shirts, pants, boots, and pretty much everything else, but we also ate lobsters once a week. At $3.00 a pound you could feed a family pretty cheap in July or August. 
