The Color Of Dinosaurs

Until last week, paleontologists could offer no clear-cut evidence for the color of dinosaurs. Thanks to melanosomes, researchers have provided evidence that a dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx had a white-and-ginger striped tail. Melanosomes are pigment -loaded sacs that survive for millions of years in fossil bird feathers. The shape and arrangement of melanosomes help produce the color of feathers, so scientists are now able to get clues about the color of fossil feathers from their melanosomes alone. The discovery, which the researchers reported last week in Nature, supports research showing that birds are dinosaurs, having descended from a group of bipedal dinosaurs called theropods. More at the NYT.

Tom Brown Jr.

The Way Of The Scout and The Tracker were always being read and discussed when I was young, largely in part because of Trevor, a friend who was obsessed with sneaking around the farms adjacent to his house and practicing psychological warfare on the farms' owners. (Psychological warfare is not at all the plot or message of either of the books.) We pretended we were trackers while we crawled around Horizon Farms, switching flags and dodging the barn's motion censored lights.Tom Brown Jr. is a guy from New Jersey who was taught tracking skills by a Lipan Apache elder named Stalking Wolf, who he refers to as "Grandfather" in his writings. He's the author of many field guides and owns a survival school in Manahawkin, NJ.In addition to his books, Brown started Tracker Magazine and wrote numerous articles for Mother Earth News throughout the 80s. Brown's Mother Earth News column was called "At Home In The Wilderness" (the logo looks a little familiar, eh?) and the topics ranged from fire, shelter, hunting and traps to making natural cordage. Scroll to the bottom here to read the articles in full.

Half Dome Permits

In an effort to be better regulate the number of hikers using the Half Dome cable system, Yosemite will begin requiring day-use permits when the cables are put back in May. Last year, Manoj Kumar, 40, of San Ramon, Calif., fell to his death from the cables, and the following weekend, a woman fell during a rainstorm and sustained serious injury.The Half Dome day-use permits (they're "free" with a 1.50 service charge) will only be required on weekends, including Fridays, as well as holidays. Four hundred will be issued per day, with 100 of those to be included in wilderness permits. Last summer, the daily visitor numbers on peak days were around 1,100.*At least people are getting out of their cars...MP3: Allen Toussaint - The Chokin' Kind

David Bird Thomson

David Bird Thomson was living in Denver at the end of the 70s when he decided to hop on his mule, buy some flour and head to the mountains, in search of a plot of a land to build his cabin. Sound familiar? Thomson's account of his quest, In The Shining Mountains, is more tongue-in-cheek than Proenneke (his "mule" was his car and the "trail" was I-70) but the sentiment hits closer to home than One Man's Wilderness or The Big Sky. Ed Abbey called Thomson " the Thoreau of the 80's," a statement that I wouldn't quite agree with, because Thomson's book attacks the "enemies" and truthfully chronicles the trials and tribulations of a guy who wants to live like a mountain man in the modern age. Long story short, it's hard. And if it's that hard in the late 70s, 2010 can't be much easier.The more interesting story surrounding this book is that Thomson has been missing since July 1st, 1979, just around the time In The Shining Mountains came out. He was last seen in Minnetonka, MN wearing a flannel shirt, jeans and a yin yang necklace.I hope he found his plot of land.MP3: Michael Hurley and Betsy Nichols - River In The Rain (thx BTBN)

Save The Redwoods

"Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot defend themselves or run away. And few destroyers of trees ever plant any; nor can planting avail much toward restoring our grand aboriginal giants. It took more than three thousand years to make some of the oldest of the Sequoias, trees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. Through all the eventful centuries since Christ's time, and long before that, God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand storms; but he cannot save them from sawmills and fools; this is left to the American people." - John Muir

The Big Wind

Sad news. New Hampshire's Mount Washington has officially lost its distinction as the site of the fastest wind gust ever recorded on Earth. On April 12, 1934, 231 mph winds graced the top of the mountain, the highest point in the Eastern United States. Before the Europeans arrived, Mount Washington was known as Agiocochook, or "home of the Great Spirit."Three days ago, the World Meteorological Organization posted a snippet on its website saying a panel of experts reviewing extreme weather and climate data turned up a 253 mph gust on Australia's Barrow Island during Cyclone Olivia in 1996."It's obviously a big disappointment. Having the world record for over six decades was such a part of the soul of this organization and for fans of Mount Washington around the country," said Scot Henley, the Mount Washington Observatory's executive director.Mount Washington still holds the record for the Northern and Western hemispheres. Although that doesn't sound nearly as cool as the title it lost, the "highest wind gust ever recorded on the surface of the Earth by means of an anemometer." (via)

The Scout

The Scout is a bronze statue of Buffalo Bill Cody outside the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming. The project was initiated by Cody's niece and was sculpted by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1924. The statue stands on a large stone base, meant to represent nearby Cedar Mountain, which Cody chose as his gravesite. Unfotunately, Cody was buried, against his wishes, at Lookout Mountain in Colorado.The statue's full title is Buffalo Bill - The Scout and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Rothco

It's very probable that the desert canteens, first aid kits, WWII mechanic sweaters, henleys and backpacks at your local army surplus store were made by Long Island's Rothco. The company started in Manhattan over 50 years ago and is now "America's foremost wholesale supplier of military and outdoor products." Whether or not that's true, I don't know, but they sure do make some damn handsome camping gear. And I'm sure their canteens are BPA free...

Outdoor Retailer

I spent the weekend driving back and forth between Salt Lake City and Park City, stuffing my face with food, drooling over various camping/hiking this and thats and meeting the great people that I've been emailing with over the past few years of this Cold Splinters thing. It was an exciting couple of days.One thing I didn't anticipate was the baby/puppy effect that my Vasques (not the Sundowners, but the pair pictured above in their original Ebay glamour shot) were going to have while walking the floor at OR. As much as I really don't want to admit that or even recognize it, it was pretty amazing how many people started conversation with me because of those boots.You'd think that if a pair of boots had such an effect on a group of campers/hikers/guys with kilts/nerds, then maybe a certain company would bring some old models back into their mix...

IME

On the way to and from climbing last weekend, we repeatedly passed North Conway, NH's one-stop shop for climbing and all things outdoors, International Mountain Equipment Inc. Opened in 1974, IME was bought in 1979 by Rick Wilcox, who has been president of the Mountain/Rescue Service, Inc. of New Hampshire, served as secretary to the American Alpine Club under three presidents and for six years was a director of the American Mountain Guides Association. He knows his climbing.IME's ground level and upstairs are filled with an amazing selection of climbing gear, camping gear and Tibetan prayer flags and garments, but to be completely honest, it was the little red corner of the store's sign that made me want to get out of the car. The bottom floor of IME is a consignment shop, filled with old hiking boots, vintage backpacks from deceased New Hampshire and Maine outdoor companies and loads of clothes. And the stuff is cheap. Real cheap. Much to my dismay, my camera decided to stop working for a few hours because of the cold it was exposed to on the mountain, so I couldn't grab any photos, but if you're around that area anytime in the near future, don't forget to poke your head in and leave with a pair of wafflestompers the size of your face.

Sweetgrass

Sweetgrass follows some of our country's last cowboys on their annual trip to Montana’s Absaroka‐Beartooth mountains for summer pasture. The footage is, for lack of a better word, breathtaking, and I often found myself shaking my head in disbelief, taken aback by the magnitude of some of the shots. The film is void of any sentimental music or narration, and is instead voiced by the unintended humor of the cowboys, the dumb/LOUD sheep and the sounds and realities of spending three months in Big Sky country.Lucien Castaing-Taylor, the film's director, spent a summer filming the journey, coming back in the fall with twenty less pounds on his bones, 300 hours of footage and trauma induced degenerative arthritis, caused by carrying the equipment day and night. Lucien and his wife, fellow director Ilisa Barbash, returned to the farm for two more summers, but ended up using most of the footage from the first summer to make Sweetgrass.Check here to see when Sweetgrass is coming to a theater near you. For those of you in New York, last night was it's final night at Film Forum, but rumor is it's going to be playing at Cinema Village, so keep your eyes open. Trailer is after the jump.

Cinema Gully

I'm not sure how many of you have gone ice climbing before, but if you haven't, the best way to describe it, at least the version done in the White Mountains, is cold and difficult. I'm sure those adjectives change as you get better, but it was my first time, so there you go. Cinema Gully (pictured above) is a somewhat easy four pitch climb on Mount Willard in Crawford Notch State Park. I say "somewhat easy" because I didn't lead a single pitch, and my animal of a college friend/guide, Mark - who will spend the months of June and July on Denali doing Search and Rescue - made sure to keep the rope tight.After we finished Cinema Gully, we traversed in knee high snow over to Hitchcock (pictured here), where we climbed for several hours until the sun started to show signs it was going down. The only sensible route back to the car was a rappel off of a vertical cliff, where my backpack got stuck on a tree (go figure), and a long, steep glacade down the mountain, through trees and ice the size of a small car. My self arresting skills are sub-par at best, so I ended up at the bottom face first, out of breath from failing to control my slide.When we finally reached the car, we went straight to the Tuckerman Pale Ales, drove to Wolfeboro to meet my folks for nachos and veggie burgers, then drove back to North Conway and went to bed. I woke up the next morning tired and stiff, ready to do it all again.