The Florida Trail

From the Florida Trail Association

In the early 1960s, Jim Kern, a Miami resident, visited the Appalachian Trail for a backpacking trip and came back to Florida with a burning desire to create a long-distance hiking trail in his own backyard. Founding the Florida Trail Association to pursue that goal, Kern rounded up like-minded Floridians and set to work. The Florida Trail’s first blaze was painted in the Ocala National Forest near Clearwater Lake in October 1966.Today, Kern’s original dream of a 500-mile long distance hiking trail has grown to a federally designated National Scenic Trail more than 1,400 miles across the state of Florida..

A book from Johnny MalloyMP3: Califone - The Orchids (Thanks)

AMC Trail Sign Auction

From the Appalachian Mountain Club:

Every year the AMC's White Mountain Trail Crew replaces weathered or out-of-date trail signs with new signs. The old signs are collector's items, having guided thousands of visitors for many years along celebrated paths throughout the Whites.All proceeds from the auction will support AMC's trail efforts in the Northeast.This year's auction is taking place on eBay and will run from Tuesday, November 25 through Friday, December 5, 2008.

Youtube: Bob Dylan - Sign On The Window (Sicilian Version)

Allegheny Islands Wilderness

From Wilderness.net:

Between Buckaloons Recreation Area and the town of Tionesta, a distance of approximately 56 miles, seven islands in the Allegheny River have been designated Wilderness. Alluvial in origin, the islands were formed from deposits of sand, mud, and clay that the river carried down from the Allegheny Mountains. Old river-bottom trees--willow, sycamore, and silver maple--characterize these little hunks of land. Crull's, at 96 acres, is the largest, followed by Thompson's and Baker (both 67 acres), Courson (62 acres), King (36 acres), R. Thompson's (30 acres), and No-Name (10 acres).

Free Spirit Spheres

From Outside:

Free Spirit Spheres, located an hour north of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island's east shore, is comprised of Eve and Eryn. These two pods, created by former boat craftsman Tom Chudleigh, hang suspended 15 feet in the in the air, looking as if they were spherical spacecrafts that landed in the trees on their decent to earth. Eve is the smaller of the two at 11 feet in diameter, and both are made of cedar stripping.

More pics hereMP3: Derek & The Dominos - Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?

Death Valley

The last time I visited California, a group of us stopped in a gravel parking lot to take a picture in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. We left the car that we had driven out from Colorado in and, after a minute of snapping away, heard another car peel out in the distance. We didn't think much of it until we got back to the car and found that the pebbles from the peel out had broken one of our back side windows. Lack of funds and time made it impossible to get fixed, so we used the next best thing. A garbage bag.We drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Phoenix to Boulder with the constant thump of the wind hitting plastic in our ears and, more importantly, were constantly in fear of getting robbed whenever we'd park.I've decided to go back this Christmas and drive out with a few friends through Yosemite and down to Death Valley, so if you're around, give me a ring on my cellular telephone.MP3: Third Wave - Eleanor Rigby

Suicide

I was asked by a college friend last week to join him and his brothers on their annual winter traverse of New Hampshire's Presidential Range. I am monumentally unprepared to do this infamous hike/suicide mission and the brothers I would be going with might as well be a family of monster trucks. Their idea of bonding on the 4th of July was to create their own triathlon by their house on Lake Winnipesaukee.Here's a little more info on why this is such a bad idea.MP3: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Way

World Gone Wrong

A couple of winters before the one that's on the tip of our tongues, we all went walking around the woods near a waterfall whose name I always say wrong. We walked through ankle high snow, made it to the top of a small mountain, and took a shortcut home across half frozen rivers and private bunny hills. We stayed in a state park cabin made of fake wood while one of us put on the only thing that made those cold walls worth a damn.MP3: Bob Dylan - World Gone Wrong

Cumberland Island

There was a time last February when I almost spent a few hundred dollars on a plane ticket to go visit the wild horses of Georgia's Cumberland Island. I ended up not going, but hear me roar, we'll all make it down there soon enough. A wild horse is nothing that these eyes have had the pleasure of bouncing up to this brain, but I hope that the sight is not nearly as disappointing as I imagine it to be. See you soon.MP3: Tyrannosaurus Rex - Great HorseBest Moment Ever Caught On Film

Colorado Yurts and Tipis

Colorado Yurt Company:

Our story began back in 1976 when owners Dan and Emma Kigar made their first tipi and called it home. They set their tipi on a mountainside and watched the stars pass and the seasons change. It wasn't long before some of their friends wanted the same experience and the adventure called Earthworks Tipis began. Living at 9,000 feet in harsh Colorado winters in a tipi gave them the first hand experience they needed to design and manufacture fabric structures that withstand extreme climate conditions while leaving a light footprint environmentally!

A 20 foot yurt on the Conejos River in ColoradoMP3: Trees Community - Jesus He Knows

Anza Borrego Desert

People tend to have some vacation days around Christmas/New Year's so, if you ain't a skier, look to the desert...Anza Borrego Desert State Park:

The park is named after Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and the Spanish name borrego, or bighorn sheep. The park features washes, wildflowers, palm groves, cacti and sweeping vistas. Visitors may also have the chance to see roadrunner, golden eagles, kit foxes, mule deer and bighorn sheep as well as iguanas, chuckwallas and the red diamond rattlesnake.

Related: My Wild Love Went RiiiiiiiiiiiiidinMP3: High Places - Sandy Feat (Thank You Covert Curiosity)

The Experiences Are Endless

"It gets real boring acting like animals all the time." - PSA from the Pacific Northwest Region National Park Service"One word says it all: Jeep" - Jeep (Not Grand) Wagoneer Commercial"Here comes the unstoppable Big 6" - Toyota Land Cruiser Commercial 1 and 2"The experiences are endless. The memories last a lifetime." - Ontario Camping Association Commercial"We've got some real bad guys in this country" - Preserving and Protecting National Parks and Public Land Video narrated by Lou Gossett Jr.

We're All Screwed

Whoever writes Steap and Cheap's Daily Dose is a genius. Today's email:

A guy I met said that he was looking through some photos he'd shot during a long solo hiking trip when he got back home, and he found a photo of himself sleeping peacefully in his tent from the middle of his trip. Either he has a camera remote or wolves have developed opposable thumbs and we're all screwed. The story creeped me out at first, but now it just seems funny that someone would go through a guy's pack while he's asleep, take a picture of him with his own camera, and then put the camera back. This kind of behavior is something I will definitely engage in if ever given a chance.

Tearjerker..MP3: Willie Nelson - Can I Sleep In Your Arms?

Super 8 Boy Scouts

"Boy Scout Troop 506 went to summer camp for a week on Catalina Island. This week was one of the highlights of 1977. We earned merit badges, swam, and jumped off a rock into the ocean. We took the Catalina Island ferry from San Pedro. Then hiked from Isthmus Cove north to the camp." Here"July 1976 Boy Scout Troop 506 (La Jolla California) week-long backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada. Hike originated in Mineral King, to Sawtooth Pass over the Great Western Divide, into the basin of Big Five Lakes, Little Five Lakes, and back west to Columbine Lake, returning to our starting point. The adult leaders are Paul Vellum and Mr. John Gilliland. I was age 12 when I shot this 11-1/2 minute Super 8 film." Here"I don't really remember this particular trip. But since I filmed it I must have been there. Each year during a holiday weekend in February, it has been and continues to be the tradition for Boy Scout Troop 506 (La Jolla, California) to canoe a 15 to 30 mile reach of the lower Colorado River. Some years the trip is Black Canyon-Lake Mohave. Other years it's Park Moabi-Topoc Gorge-Lake Havasu, and in the 1970s, it was usually Walter's Camp-Picacho-Fisher's Landing, a favorite of the late Sid Lubin, Scoutmaster of Troop 506 in the 1970s." HereMP3: Willie Nelson - Devil In A Sleeping BagMP3: Tom Petty - Anything That's Rock N Roll

Wiley Shelter

If you take the Metro North towards Wassaic on the weekend, it'll drop you off at a little bench in the woods so you can go camping. But you know that.If you leave the bench and go west on the Appalachian Trail, you'll hit the Telephone Pioneers shelter in about 4 miles. If you go east, you'll hit the Wiley Shelter in about 6. There are lean-tos past both of these, but these are the closest places to lay your head after you get off that big gray speeding bullet.If you decide to hike towards the Wiley Shelter, you'll go through twenty minutes of a cattle farm until you reach the thin forest. If you happen to be wearing your Mets hat, be sure not to pull any Mitch and Norman type escapades. And keep your eye out for wild turkeys. From there, follow the white blaze for about 5.5 miles until you come across Wiley. Tons of places to set up a tent, a well with freezing cold water, and the faint sound of the Metro North's horn make it a hell of an overnight. Especially during this time of year when you can remember what it feels like to actually need a fire.MP3: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Long As I Can See The Light