Cold Splinters

On February 2nd, The U. S. Forest Service, with partner organizations, the National Association of State Foresters and the American Forest Foundation, announced the U.S. celebration of the official United Nations International Year of Forests 2011. The theme of the U.S. campaign is “Celebrate Forests. Celebrate Life.”

More PR blabble here. Thank you BP.

As many of you know, I’ve been hacked over the last couple of weeks and my posts in Google Reader are coming up as penis enlargement pill advertisements (!) and all that fun stuff. I’m not so wonderful at these kind of technical computer things, so myself and the Cold Splinters backend guru, Tim, are doing our best to get the problem fixed. Thanks for the emails and concerns, friends. Wish us (Tim) luck.

MP3: John David Souther – Run Like A Thief

Nevada’s beautiful Great Basin National Park boasts the oldest trees on the planet, the bristlecone pine. The oldest living tree of the bunch, named Methuselah, is over 4,800 years young. According to a NYT article posted yesterday, scientists say these ancient trees may soon come in contact with not only white pine blister rust, an Asian fungus that came to the United States from Asia, via Europe, a century ago, but the ubiquitous native pine bark beetle as well.

There are three species of bristlecones — the Great Basin, Foxtail and Rocky Mountain. As of now, only the Rocky Mountain has been effected, but scientists believe it’s only a matter of time until it spreads to the rest of them. More info at NYT.

Recreational Equipment Inc is moving into the Puck Building on Houston in NYC. That is going to be one big store. Lordy.

MP3: J Tillman – Come On Baby Lets Go Downtown (Thank you JG + AD)

The Filson booth at OR sure was handsome, especially when juxtaposed with the dreadlocked teenagers walking across tightropes a hundred feet away. (I’m not knocking dreadlocks or walking across a nylon chord. Both are extremely difficult achievements.) The Seattle-based Filson has collaborated with San Francisco-based Levi’s and made some co-branded workwear together. Check it out here.

Even more exciting is that they’ve tapped VBS (who also brought you Heimo) to make a series of videos to help promote the collaboration. Lucky for us. The first installment is a two-parter called “Oregon Fire Lines” that chronicles the daily work of the wildland firefighters who work for Grayback Forestry in Southern Oregon. Go watch it and be thankful/depressed that you work at a computer.

Watch: The Oregon Fire Lines – We Are All Workers | VBS.TV

I’d write my own little summary about today being the 30th anniversary of Mount St. Helens, but Boston.com couldn’t have done it better. They have a lot more amazing pictures, so be sure to click here.

On May 18th, 1980, thirty years ago today, at 8:32 a.m., the ground shook beneath Mount St. Helens in Washington state as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck, setting off one of the largest landslides in recorded history – the entire north slope of the volcano slid away. As the land moved, it exposed the superheated core of the volcano setting off gigantic explosions and eruptions of steam, ash and rock debris. The blast was heard hundreds of miles away, the pressure wave flattened entire forests, the heat melted glaciers and set off destructive mudflows, and 57 people lost their lives. The erupting ash column shot up 80,000 feet into the atmosphere for over 10 hours, depositing ash across Eastern Washington and 10 other states.

MP3: Link Wray – God Out West (thx)

“WHAT WILL I DO WITHOUT OLD CAMPING PHOTOS AND USELESS INFORMATION?”

Sorry for the lack of posts. These park guides don’t write themselves, I suppose.

Youtube: Jerry Garcia Band – Simple Twist Of Fate

Sardines are great for camping. High(ish) protein, canned, CHEAP, extremely aromatic (great for attracting bears!), compact and low in mercury. I don’t eat a beef salami, so these are even better for little ol’ me. Not a lot of people enjoy these fishy little fish, so when you find someone else that indulges in sardines and toast, you feel an automatic kinship. You’re part of a club.

Maine used to be home to a hell of a lot of sardine canneries, but as of April 18th, that will be all but a memory. The last American sardine cannery, located in Prospect Harbor, ME, will be closing down. The cannery is owned by Bumble Bee, but is still known as the Stinson plant, after the founding family. Read more about it at the NYT.

Roy Cleveland Sullivan was a U.S. park ranger in Shenandoah National Park, that, between 1942 and 1977, was hit by lightning on seven different occasions. He is recognized by Guinness World Records as the person being struck by lightning more recorded times than any other human being. Tetra Pak has a new commercial that’s an homage of sorts to Roy that’s well worth watching. Head on over to 10Engines and have at it.

Unfortunately, Sullivan was finally killed in 1983 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the stomach.

California is trying to ban smoking in state parks and on beaches. I don’t smoke, but even I find that to be ridiculous. If someone wants to smoke, let them smoke. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but there’s too much restriction nowadays. I have friends that smoke on camping trips, and they always always always pack their cigarette butts out. I’m sure they’d do the same on a California beach. As San Bernardino Count legistlator Anthony Adams told the SF Chronicle, “”Prohibiting smoking is not the answer. [It] assumes everyone who smokes does something intrinsically criminal.” Read more here.