Everglades Back On UN Endangered List?

Needless to say, when the Bush Administration took the Everglades off the United Nations list of endangered sites, it was a controversial decision. Most critics chalked it up to Bush's complete disregard of all things environment while supporters argued that by originally being put on the list back in 1993, the Everglades achieved a restoration project and the UN's money should now be spent in other much poorer countries. Unfortunately the restoration hadn't been completed yet.Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and The Obama Administration announced today that they will move to put the Everglades back on the UN list of endangered sites. Salazar claims that Bush's decision was "without adequate consultations with the National Park Service, the state of Florida and other stakeholders."My only experience in the Everglades was two years ago when a friend (Tim, pictured above and the mastermind behind this site) and I paddled for three days around Cape Sable, but as most people that know me are well are of, that trip was one of the most extraordinary three days I ever spent on this Earth and easily one of the best life/camping experiences I've ever had. Go there. It's un-fucking-believably beautiful, scary, hot, and vast. And f-ed.(Via The Goat)MP3: Macon Ed and Tampa Joe - Mean Florida Blues

Wild Horses Of Sable Island

screenshot_0120screenshot_048screenshot_024Roberto Dutestco's photographs of Sable Island Horses:

This narrow 41 km sandbar is located 300 km southeast of Halifx, Nova Scotia. Known for hundreds of years as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic", it is the site of over 275 shipwrecks, and the home of more than 300 wild horses.It is a world that exits by its own rules, a place without trees, without shade, and without shelter. It is a place where I have witnessed true peace and unquestionable love among its occupants - the wild horses of Sable Island.

The Wild Horses of Sable Island is currently on view at 13 Crosby Street, NY, NY

New Mexico's Flag

744px-flag_of_new_mexicosvgWiki:

The Daughters of the American Revolution pushed New Mexico to design a contemporary and unique flag in 1920. A contest to design the new state flag was won by Dr. Harry Mera of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mera was an archaeologist who was familiar with the Zia sun symbol found at Zia Pueblo on a 19th century pot. The symbol has sacred meaning to the Zia. Four is a sacred number which symbolizes the Circle of Life: four winds, four seasons, four directions, and four sacred obligations. The circle binds the four elements of four together. His winning design is the flag that the state uses today. The salutation, “I salute the flag of the State of New Mexico and the Zia symbol of perfect friendship among united cultures," was many years ago commonly recited in New Mexico public schools after the United States pledge of allegiance.

Crazy Creek HexaLite Original

hexalite-originalThere is rarely a situation that wouldn't be made better by a Crazy Creek. If God went camping, he'd for sure choose a Crazy Creek over the sawed off stump that he created with his own two hands a few years back. They're just that comfortable. I was obsessed with my Crazy Creek after I went to summer camp for the first time. I kept one in the trunk of my car until I was 22 when I lost the need for an automobile. But in the backcountry, the chair's awkward shape and size just don't work too well. It was always sad to have to leave it behind.Good news. Last year, Crazy Creek came out with the HexaLite Original, HexaLite LongBack, and the HexaLite PowerLounger, which weigh in at 14.8, 18.5, and 21.6 ounces respectively. They're the lightest chairs the company has ever made, using comfortable 1/2" Hexagonal-cored foam and a polyester mesh seating surface. Most importantly, they roll up so you can easily strap them to the outside of your pack when you get on the trail. Crazy Creek was nice enough to send Cold Splinters a HexaLite Original to test out and we highly recommend getting one. The chair is a little narrow and it's not as comfortable as "The Original," but sitting around the campfire in one of these after unrolling it from the straps of your bag is pure bliss. Sure, they're not necessary. You could save the weight. But it's summer now which means you're packing less and might not need a tent, so spend the $33 and make your ass and back happy.And if you don't trust me, The Gear Junkie put it on his 2008 Top 10 Gear Picks Under $30.MP3: Little Feat - Roll Um Easy

Man Vs Wild Saves A Boy In The Woods

screenshot_0117Home Alone in the woods:

When he realized he'd been separated from his family on a weekend hike in a northern Utah forest, 9-year-old Grayson Wynne's thoughts turned to television.Grayson watches "Man vs. Wild" on the Discovery Channel every week with his brothers and his dad. On the show, host and adventurer Bear Grylls strands himself in the wilderness and then shows viewers how to survive the sticky situations.That's where Grayson says he learned to leave clues behind to help searchers find him.

Read the article here. At what point did his parents realize he was gone? When they got home?

The Maine Woods

My two old friends, Sean and Adrienne, both of whom have been my Maine tour guides for a majority of the time that I have spent in that wonderful place over the past several years, spent the night in my Brooklyn apartment last night. They've painted my face in Portland while I pounded on an electric organ, blasted Ali Farka Touré on a hot summer day while driving down the coast in Harpswell, and introduced me to the world's best smell, Sweet Annie, at the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity. Sean stomped into my apartment around 6:00 pm yesterday, carrying a bass guitar he picked up for me on Long Island and wearing his Quoddys, excited as hell to tell me all about the summer that he and Adrienne will be spending in Portland. Since my folks moved up to the Portsmouth, NH, I've spent a good deal of time around the southern parts of the state, but my version of Maine is all them. For better of worse. The way life should be.From The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau:

You commonly make your camp just at sundown, and are collecting wood, getting your supper, or pitching your tent while the shades of night are gathering around and adding to the already dense gloom of the forest. You have no time to explore or look around you before it is dark. You may penetrate half a dozen rods farther into that twilight wilderness, after some dry bark to kindle your fire with, and wonder what mysteries lie hidden still deeper in it, say at the end of a long day's walk; or you may run down to the shore for a dipper of water, and get a clearer view for a short distance up or down the stream, and while you stand there, see a fish leap, or a duck alight in the river, or hear a wood-thrush or robin sing in the woods. That is as if you had been to town or civilized parts. But there is no sauntering off to see the country, and ten or fifteen rods seems a great way from your companions, and you come back with the air of a much traveled man, as from a long journey, with adventures to relate, though you may have heard the crackling of the fire all the while, - and at a hundred rods you might be lost past recovery, and have to camp out. It is all mossy and moosey. In some of those dense fir and spruce woods there is hardly room for the smoke to go up. The trees are a standing night, and every fir and spruce which you fell is a plume plucked from the night's raven wing. Then at night the general stillness is more impressive than any sound, but occasionally you hear the note of an owl farther or nearer in the woods, and if near a lake, the semi-human cry of the loons at their unearthly levels.

MP3: Ali Farka Touré - Timbarma

Smokey Bear

screenshot_023A few Smokey Bear facts:1) The living symbol of Smokey Bear, the United States Forest Service mascot, was a black bear that was caught in the Capitan Gap fire, a wildfire that burned 17, 000 acres in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico in 1950. The bear climbed a tree to escape the fire, but his paws and legs were burned when he was found and rescued.2) "Smokey The Bear" or "Smokey Bear?" Smokey Bear. The "the" was added in 1952 by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins while writing the bear's anthem. In order to maintain the correct rhythm, they needed to add the extra syllable.3) The Smokey Bear campaign is the longest running public service campaign in history.4) In April 2001, Smokey's message was updated to "Only You Can Prevent Wildfires."And now you know.Read: Smokey's WikipediaLook: Smokey's Poster Archive MP3: Smokey The Bear A few Smokey Bear PSAs after the jump...

Barbara Dane and the chambers brothers

screenshot_0115Y'all hear this record before? I know there's a ton of records that make you feel like you're laying down in the room with the band while they practice the songs for the first time, but this one rubs me real good. Right as rain. Good way to ring in the 500th post up in here. Thanks for reading/commenting/hating/not giving a shit/listening/making fun of me 500 times.MP3: Barbara Dane and The Chambers Brothers - Go Tell It On The MountainMP3: Barbara Dane and The Chambers Brother - I Am Weary and a Lonesome Traveler

Beer In A bag?

If you've ever used a river or lake to chill your beers (which you for sure have) while camping or backpacking, you know how heavy a six pack of Coors Light can be. A few companies make plastic camping flasks to put your whiskey in, but we all know that a cold beer after a hike is way better than a pull of warm Old Grand-Dad. The Beverage Pouch Company has found a solution to this weight dilemma by creating Beer In A Bag, which will make it easier for you to bring your favorite micro-brewery beers into the backcountry. Sounds like a cool idea, but I already know there is no chance I will ever use one of these. Nice try though!

Watch Hill Ferry

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alidasphotos/633333743/If you're living in New York and want to get out to the state's only nationally recognized wilderness, the Watch Hill Ferry to Fire Island is now up and running again. It was shut down for a short time while the NPS was fixing their dock. If you take the LIRR to Patchogue and walk behind the bowling alley, jump on the ferry and have an Atlantic Ocean beach all to yourself when the sun goes down.  Get there early, the NPS only issues permits to 12 people at a time in the eastern section and 24 in the western section.Look: Cold Splinters on Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness