"Smoothing It"

From Nessmuk's Woodcraft and Camping:

With a large majority of prospective tourists and outers, “camping out” is a leading factor in the summer vacation. And during the long winter months they are prone to collect in little knots and talk much of camps, fishing, hunting, and “roughing it.” The last phrase is very popular and always cropping out in the talks on matters pertaining to a vacation in the woods. I dislike the phrase. We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home; in towns and cities; in shops, offices, stores, banks anywhere that we may be placed – with the necessity always present on being on time and up to our work; of providing for the dependent ones; of keeping up, catching up, or getting left. Alas for the life-long battle, whose bravest slogan is bread.As for the few fortunate ones who have no call to take a hand in any strife or struggle, who not only have all the time there is, but a great deal that they cannot disposte of with any satisfaction to themselves of anybody else - I am not writing for them; but only to those of the world's workers who go, or would like to go, every summer to the woods. And to these I would say, don't rough it; make it as smooth, as restful and pleasurable as you can.

Woodcraft and Camping on Google Books after the jump...

National Wild Horse Adoption Day

Under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages wild horses and burros to ensure that herds and rangelands are healthy. One of the key responsibilities of the 1971 law is to determine the "appropriate management level" of these animals as they have no natural predators. As a result, a herd can double its size every four years. Almost 37,000 wild horses and burros roam land managed by the BLM in 10 Western states, a population that's 10,350 horses and burros more that can exist in balance with the resources of the public rangeland in which they roam.The BLM gathers thousands of wild horses and burros each year and offers them for adoption or sale to individuals or groups who are able to provide humane, long-term care. Since 1973, 220,000 wild horses and burros, usually between the ages of 1 and 6, have been adopted.September 26th is National Wild Horse Adoption Day. With events happening all over the country, a goal of 1,000 adoptions has been set, which could mean a savings of $1.5 million dollars to the BLM and American taxpayer.Is there a single person out there who reads this blog that a) has enough land and resources to support a horse or b) is actually thinking about adopting one? If there is, that'd be real cool.

Yellowstone Grizzlies are "Threatened"

NYT:

A federal court on Monday effectively reversed a 2007 decision by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the population of grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park from its list of ‘threatened’ species, a designation that had entitled the bears to special protections under the Endangered Species Act.

Read more: "Federal Court Rules That Yellowstone Grizzlies Should Be Listed as ‘Threatened’"

Wilderness.net

Photos by Tom KaffineI've linked to it on many occasions - twice in the post below - but I'm not sure I've ever officially mentioned Wildnerness.net on Cold Splinters before. It's the definitive internet source for America's wilderness areas and has some of the best pictures you can find on the web. Both shots above are from their Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness archive. It's also the "only officially-recognized, national, comprehensive, inter-agency database of information about all Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service and National Park Service wilderness areas." I get lost there for hours, so I hope you'll do the same:

Wilderness.net is a website formed in 1996 through a collaborative partnership between the College of Forestry and Conservation's Wilderness Institute at The University of Montana, the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. The latter two partners are the wilderness training and research arms of the Federal government, respectively. The program is overseen by a working group and steering committee.

MP3: Cat Stevens - Where Do The Children Play

Sawtooth Mountain Wilderness, Idaho

Congress designated the Sawtooth Wilderness in 1972, which now has a total of 217, 099 acres. It's some of the wildest land in the lower 48, boasting 42 peaks over 10,000 feet. Right outside the wilderness area is Ketchum, ID, where Ernest Hemingway blew his brains out. He's buried in the Ketchum town cemetery.Backpacker's Senior Editor, Tracy Ross, wrote an essay called "The Source Of All Things," that recounts her experience going back to the Sawtooths with her father 30 years after he had molested her there as a child. The essay won a National Magazine Award in 2009. It's an intense story, but it's well worth your time to read it.

Juniperus communis

Juniperus communis:

Juniperus communis, the Common Juniper, is a species in the genus Juniperus, in the family Cupressaceae. It has the largest range of any woody plant, throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic south in mountains to around 30°N latitude in North America, Europe and Asia.It is a shrub or small tree, very variable and often a low spreading shrub, but occasionally reaching 10 m tall. Common Juniper has needle-like leaves in whorls of three; the leaves are green, with a single white stomatal band on the inner surface. It is dioecious, with male and female cones on separate plants, which are wind pollinated. The seed cones are berry-like, green ripening in 18 months to purple-black with a blue waxy coating; they are spherical, 4–12 mm diameter, and usually have three (occasionally six) fused scales, each scale with a single seed. The seeds are dispersed when birds eat the cones, digesting the fleshy scales and passing the hard seeds in their droppings. The male cones are yellow, 2–3 mm long, and fall soon after shedding their pollen in March–April.

Youtube: Donovan - Jennifer Juniper

The Tallest Man On Earth

Several months ago, I shared a lean-to on the AT with a few medical school students who, when all the jokes were told and all the food was eaten, asked if it was okay if they put on some music while the fire was dying down and laughable whispered talks of troubling long-distance relationships were beginning. Much to my dismay I agreed, and seconds later, the sound of The Tallest Man On Earth filled a small section of New York forest until the sun finally went down. Truth is, it was kind of nice. But don't tell anyone.Watch, Watch, Watch: The Tallest Man On Earth on NPRRead: The real tallest man on Earth.

The Art Of Mountain Watching

Spending a season as a fire lookout is one of the most romantic ideas I can think of - the key word being "idea," as I'm not sure I was raised right to be alone for that long. Poet Gary Snyder applied to be a lookout in 1952 and when he asked for the “highest, most remote and most difficult-of-access lookout,” he was put 8,129 feet high, on Crater Mountain in North Cascades National Park. The next summer he was stationed at Sourdough Lookout (pictured above in the 80s) where Philip Whalen and Jack Kerouac would both visit. The National Parks Conservation Association's quarterly magazine, National Parks, has an article this fall entitled "The Art Of Mountain Watching" that profiles the lookout rangers and their history at North Cascades. It's a quick and interesting read from an amazing organization:

When you work as a fire lookout in Washington’s North Cascades National Park, your day begins at 5:30 a.m., when the sun rises over miles of immense glaciated peaks, blasts through your window-walled cabin, and pin-balls off the propane stove, lightning stool, and Osborne Fire Finder, sending diamond light in all directions. There is no snooze button on this “alarm clock,” and even if there were, North Cascades park rangers like Gerry Cook and Kelly Bush wouldn’t push it. There is work to be done: snow must be boiled for drinking water, the cabin must be tidied should a park guest come to visit and, most important, a vast expanse of pristine wilderness needs to be looked after. It is July, fire season in the North Cascades, and despite the early hour, the day is hot, forest dry, and punctured purple clouds brood on the horizon.

Read: "The Art Of Mountain Watching"MP3: Neil Young - Lookout Joe

Burrowing Owl

Smithsonian National Zoo Flickr:

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo welcomed two burrowing owl chicks Aug. 2—the first hatching of this species at the Zoo in 30 years. The chicks’ parents, a 5-year-old male and 4-year-old female, have been at the Zoo since June 2006.The last time burrowing owls successfully bred at the National Zoo was in the late 1970s. A recent population-management plan recommended breeding the Zoo’s current adult pair. The chicks are with their parents in the Zoo’s Bird House. Currently, there is semi-transparent filter paper covering their exhibit, providing the chicks with privacy. As they become more comfortable with their new surroundings, the paper will slowly be removed.

Look: Burrowing Owl as an adult

West Rim Trail, PA

by Jeff Stockdale The West Rim Trail is a 30.5 mile trail located along the west rim of Pine Creek Gorge, "The Pennsylvania Grand Canyon", in the Tioga State Forest of north central Pennsylvania. It picks up outside the small town of Wellsboro, home of George Washington Sears, pen name “Nessmuk,” an early environmentalist/writer whose stories first appeared in Forest and Stream magazine (of which Field and Stream acquired in 1930) in in the 1880’s. Portions of the trail follow old logging roads and railroad grades left over from the 19th century. There are numerous campsites, located either in laurel-lined vistas overlooking the gorge or deep in hollows along the Allegheny mountain streams.Be sure to pick up a copy of Chuck Dillon’s Guide to the West Rim Trail, which provides details about the geology of the places and the legendary tales of their founding. In his highlighting of Barbour Rock, we learn of Samuel Barbour, a logger who lost his life after unpinning a log jam; and at Dead Man Hollow, where a trapper was found in his own trap after the spring thaw.Look: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' West Rim Trail Map

WWII 103rd Cactus Division Patch

I got my second WWII 103rd Cactus Division patch in the mail yesterday (the first one was dirty as can be) and boy does it look good. I tend to dig the ones that have no writing on them, so as soon as Kalen revs up the ol' sewing machine, this'll be on the front pocket of an old khaki Woolrich vest that I found in Cold Spring a few weekends back after hiking Breakneck Ridge.Find tons more old patches on Ebay.Read: 103rd Infantry Division on Wikipedia

Repost: The Last American Man

I listened to the This American Life with Eustance Conway last night before going to bed (it focuses on Eustace and his brother's journey across the country on horseback) and decided it'd be a good idea to post this again. Read this book if you haven't already. It's really wonderful.Before Elizabeth Gilbert wrote the ubiquitous Eat, Pray, Love, she wrote a fantastic book about a guy named Eustace Conway called The Last American Man. Conway is a naturalist who moved out of his house when he was 17 years old to live in a teepee. From there, he bought a plot of land in North Carolina that he named Turtle Island and has been living the "old fashioned" way ever since.There's mountains more to the story than that, but the interesting part of this book is how Gilbert focuses on Eustace the person, not Eustace the mountain man. The Last American Man is not about what tools Eustace uses to make a barn or how Eustace catches the squirrels that he eats for dinner. The book is a sad chicken and egg story about a guy's exile from his family life and the modern world and his extreme obsession with a forgotten way of life. Eustace is one of the most incredible, brutal, and intense men you'll ever read about. His story reminds us of how difficult it is to simply go into the woods and "live off the land." There are papers to be signed and lots of money to be made...Eustace on This American Life (I highly recommend listening to this)Eustace on The Today ShowMP3: Gillian Welch - I Had A Real Good Mother And Father

Nas Chompas

BRAVELY DONE: Your artwork has a strong Northwest vibe; lots of pine trees, rickety ships and friendly bears, are you from these parts?NAS: Not originally. I’m from San Diego but moved up here a few years back. I think it’s pretty accurate to say that everything I’ve made since the move has changed a lot. I fell in love with the general Pacific Northwest and it never seems to get old to me.

America the Beautiful Quarters

From Oh Ranger:

50 Department of the Interior sites have been selected for the America the Beautiful Quarters™ program.Hot Springs, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon National Parks will be the first sites commemorated in a new quarter-dollar program announced today by the U.S. Mint.Starting in April of 2010, the America the Beautiful Quarters Program will begin producing quarters with reverse (tails side) designs showcasing a national park or other federally preserved area from each state, U.S. territory, and the District of Columbia.“The new quarter program recognizes that public places of inspiration and recreation have always been important to Americans,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “The quarters highlight the diversity and magnificence of 48 National Park Service sites and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges cared for by the Department of the Interior as well as six national forests administered by the Department of Agriculture. Hopefully the coins will encourage people to learn more about each area and its significance to our heritage.”A new quarter will be introduced approximately every 10 weeks for eleven years. The 56 coins will be issued sequentially in the order in which the featured location was first placed under the care of the federal government.The first, Hot Springs National Park, was established as Hot Springs Reservation in 1832 and later became a national park. Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872, followed by Yosemite in 1890 and the Grand Canyon in 1893.