Lake Clark National Park

I have a couple friends who last year up and moved to Kenai, Alaska (just southwest of Anchorage, north of Kodiak Island).  Since their move, I've been living vicariously through their amazing photos and am hoping to make it there by summer's end. Kenai is just across a Gulf of Alaska inlet and less than 50 miles from Lake Clark National Park & Preserve. The best way to access Lake Clark is by small plane, on wheels, floats, or skis. There is no highway access to the park, from anywhere.When Dick Proenneke passed away in 2003 (after living alone in the wilderness for over 30 years), he entrusted his handbuilt cabin and cache to the NPS, in the Twin Lakes region of Lake Clark. The cabin now stands and serves as a museum of Prokenneke and his legacy, maintained by the park service year round. I'm most of the way through More Readings from One Man's Wilderness: The Journals of Richard L. Proenneke, 1974-1980 and it's making me more itchy footed by the day to get up there.Anyone ever been?

Our State Parks

The NYT takes a look at the state park dilemma and what some parks will be doing to stay open this season:

Here in Washington, one of only a handful of states that has not charged entrance fees to state parks, the revenue stream is about to change. Beginning July 1, the parks will no longer receive state money for their operating budgets. Instead, they will rely directly on new entrance fees — $30 for an annual pass, $10 for one day. It is far from clear that the new plan will compensate for the $70 million in state money that parks are losing each year.“We’re totally free of the tax system,” said Jack Hartt, the manager here at Deception Pass State Park. “If you support the park system, you’ll buy a pass. If not, you won’t.”“Customers,” Mr. Hartt said, “is the new buzzword.”

Bandelier National Monument

Located in New Mexico an hour from Santa Fe, the 33,677 acres Bandelier National Monument preserves the homes of Ancestral Pueblo People. The park is named after Swiss anthropologist Adolph Bandelier, who researched the cultures of the area in the late 19th century. Bandelier was designated a National Monument on February 11, 1916, while most of its backcountry became a "designated wilderness" in October 1976. .Above are paintings by Pablita Velarde, which were comissioned by Bandelier under the Works Progression Administration in the early 40s. See many more here.

National Park Week

Yes, it started on Friday, April 16th, but it goes until April 24th, so don't miss your chance to get out to your favorite national park this week FOR FREE. That's right, all 394 national parks are waiving their entrance fee until Sunday, so you still have one more weekend if you can't manage a weekday trip. It's all part of National Park Week, brought to you by the National Park Service.Or you could stay home, pay the small fee on a weekday/weekend that's way less crowded, and avoid the mayhem of the big parks.

Isle Royale Wolves

NPR did a piece last week about the alarmingly dwindling gray wolf population on Isle Royale which is definitely worth reading. Isle Royale, for those unfamiliar, is a large (200+ sq. miles) island in Michigan, off the northern shore of Lake Superior near Ontario. Isle Royale boasts no roads, flying or floating its visitors in by small bush planes or via ferry. The island also only provides year round home to a very small handful of people. Less people visit Isle Royale National Park in a year than the Smokies get in a day.Isle Royale sits 15 miles off the shore from Ontario, its location playing an important role in the island's moose and wolf relationship. This predator-prey relationship has been studied for quite some time, virtually untouched by human interaction. The island's location allowed moose to swim to the island, it is suspected, sometime around the turn of the 20th century. This distance does not allow other "similar" predators or prey to swim to the island, like deer or coyote. It is thought that wolves then traveled an ice bridge from Canada as soon as 60 years ago, and numbers flourished to near 50+ until recent years. Wolves tend to prey on the weakest of the moose, allowing both species to in turn grow stronger and more vital.Recently, because of "parovirus, bitter winters, hunger and warfare between packs" the Isle Royale wolf numbers have dwindled to 15, with a suspected one or two reproducing females. If both of these females were to die without raising a healthy litter of pups, this would spell the end of the gray wolf on the island.Cold Splinters is hoping to make the jaunt to Isle Royale later this summer. Beautiful place.

Mark Twain National Forest

A former coworker of mine sent me this gem of a brochure in an email a couple of weeks ago. This is the 2010 (yes, 2010) brochure for Missouri's Mark Twain National Forest. I mean, come on, no matter how small of a budget any public land has, to hold onto this thing until 2010 is, well, fantastic. I think...The MTNF covers approximately 1.5 million acres, 78,000 acres of which are Wilderness and National Scenic River area. It spans 29 counties and represents 11% of all forested land in Missouri. I've never been there. Have you?Download the full brochure here. The awesome pictures don't stop at the cover.

MONKEY WRENCHER: Tim DeChristopher

On February 28, Tim DeChristoper goes to trial in the state of Utah. One month prior to President Bush leaving office, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) intended to auction off thousands of acres of southern Utah wilderness to private oil and gas companies. Twenty seven year old student and environmental activist Tim DeChristoper threw a stick in the spokes, and that stick was a bidders paddle.In their mad rush to sell the land before President Obama was sworn into office, the BLM failed to properly clear each bonded bidder, something that DeChristopher quickly understood when attending the auction. DeChristoper, intending only to protest and stir things up, realized his chance amidst the haphazard operation to stall the sale by buying as much land as possible. In the end, DeChristoper had bought over 22,000 acres of land surrounding Arches National Park, land that he never intended to pay for. The truth quickly surfaced that he bid falsely to save the land from sale, but his ploy worked. The BLM, now under the Obama administration, is still sorting out the sale.Abbey'd be proud.Check out this article for more info on DeChristopher, and his upcoming trial.

Pukaskwa National Park

Being that I celebrate the entire Bill Mason catalog, figured I'd highlight this promotional mini-documentary that he did in the early eighties for the Pukaskwa National Park on the Ontario shores of Lake Superior. The Pukaskwa Park is still really young, having become a National Park in 1971 to protect the natural wonders of our northern lakes, but more specifically the Pukaskwa Pits.The Pukaskwa Pits are small holes (1-2 meters long, and half a meter deep) dug by the ancestors of the native Ojibwa. The pits are dug in the rough, cobblestone beaches along the Superior shore. Theories on the pits purposes range from hunting blinds and seasonal food storage to spiritual sites. The park itself spans 700 square miles of thick, remote hardwoods, separated by the White River on it's way to the world's largest freshwater lake.Watch Bill Mason's take on the park over at NFB.ca.

CONTINENTAL DIVIDE TRAIL

The Continental Divide Trail runs for 3,100+ miles from Mexico to Canada, along you guessed it, the Continental Divide. The Continental Divide Trail Alliance (CDTA) was formed in 1995 to aid in the completion of the trail, and help maintain the miles already blazed. In 2007, Francis Tapon round-tripped the CDT, by first hiking from Mexico to Canada, then back. The trip took him 6 months to finish, and rounded out his Triple-Crown. There is a similar mountain bike trail through the Great Divide Basin spanning from Banff, Canada, to Mexico. Check out the trailer for Ride the Divide, a documentary about the "world's toughest mountain bike race". Sheesh.

HIGH ON LECONTE

High on LeConte is a blog that acts as a daily journal/weather record for those who work at the LeConte Lodge, on Mt. LeConte (Elev. 6,593 ft.) in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. During the winter months, only one person at a time acts as caretaker of this snowed in lodge and set of cabins, which remain closed for the most part until spring. They keep tabs on the weather, take videos/photos for the park, and have lots of time to themselves. Sign me up.