Hiking News - January 2009

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The World's First Towel to Function as a Survival

Friday, 30 January 2009

After thousands of years of "regular" towel use, Lightload Towels presents a towel that functions as a real survival tool. The multi-purpose towel that will fit in your pocket and leave room for keys and pocket change is quickly becoming a must-have item in every outdoorsman's survival kit as summer approaches.

The eco-friendly, biodegradable towel is essential for any survival kit due to its many uses, which range from functioning as a coffee filter, fire starter, emergency signaling flag, blanket, warming scarf, or as a good old fashioned towel. Unlike the traditional towel, the Lightload Towel absorbs nine times its weight in water and is equivalent in size to two normal-sized towels.

In addition to being the only survival tool of its kind, the Lightload Towels beach towel is a must for every surfer who enjoys a super-absorbent, pocket-sized towel during an active day at the beach. Lightload Towels is the only beach towel that can fit in your pocket with room to spare.

The waterproof packaging can also be used for entertainment purposes during a rainy day indoors, either as a checkers piece or a hockey puck. The towels are reusable, but will not harm the environment once disposed because of their biodegradable material.

About the Founder:

The brain behind Lightload Towels is George "Wideload" Wheeler, an avid long distance hiker who completed the 2160-mile Appalachian Trail in 1999. The year after, he hiked the 540 miles of Virginia to West Virginia on the same trail.

"As an outdoorsman who loves hiking and camping in the wild, I realized the necessity of an easily-portable, space-saving, multi-purpose towel that would be eco-friendly," said Wheeler. "It's essential to any first-aid kit and is great to have handy whether you are hunting and fishing or just playing golf."

Wheeler spent eight years living in Asia, where he took and led hikes in Taiwan, Nepal, Pakistan and China. During this time he also learned how to speak Chinese. Moreover, Wheeler has hiked and camped in many of America's national forests including the Ochoco and Willamette in Oregon, Davy Crockett in Texas, San Francisco in New Mexico, Piedmont in Alabama, Desoto in Mississippi, Allegheny in Pennsylvania, and the Green Mountain in Vermont.

For more information please contact www.ultralighttowels.com or call 917 922 0154.

Eco-hiking in France to be Derailed?

Friday, 30 January 2009

The Enlightened Traveller is actively engaged in striking the right balance in promoting responsible travel in France. We are critical of mass tourism; and of tour operators that pay lip service to the environment, whilst producing brochures that contribute to the destruction of rainforests. Is it the only travel company bearing business cards printed on recycled paper? Very possibly, yes. So it is not surprising that we view the covert agenda of French Railways, the SNCF, with some dismay: the closure of the magnificent 'Cevenol' mountain railway looks increasingly likely.

The Cevennes railway lies in south-central France, linking Nimes to Clermont Ferrand along a section of the Paris to Marseille line called the "line of 100 tunnels." Make that 106 tunnels, numerous bridges and galleries, and some of ‘railwaydom’s’ highest and most spectacular viaducts. Veritable works of industrial art, they form just part of the enormous historical investment expended on opening up Languedoc to Paris in the 1870s. It took some six or seven thousand men six years of their lives to build a railroad that would confound most civil engineers today were its creation to be mooted afresh.

The immense technological feat, weighing in at a staggering 520 million francs, puts the enormity of the challenge, and its realization, into its true historical context. It is a national treasure and, like most of the world’s heritage, it takes brinkmanship to shake people into action and foreigners to educate national leaders as to just how important the preservation of such gems is to future generations. Perhaps the answer lies in the line's adoption as a World Heritage Site? Maybe that’s the answer.

Nevertheless, one would have thought that the magnitude of the human costs resulting from the line's closure would have been enough to set the alarm bells ringing. Not so, or at least not the right bells. Lozere is France's most thinly-populated department with only 15 people per square kilometre. Add to that the fact that is has the highest average altitude of any department and the word 'remote' trips quite easily off the tongue. This then is the mountain region traversed by the Cevenol. On the upside, Lozere boasts the lowest unemployment level in France, of between five and six percent. However, there's no 'Silicon Plateau' to thank for this, just straightforward massive rural de-population.

Those that have remained are engaged in either agriculture (itself at an all-time low) or tourism, and there lies the rub: at the very moment when green tourism is hailed as the future hope for those remaining in the countryside, short-term economic rationality wields the axe to the only real and sustainable means by which today's eco-friendly travellers can access the region. And it is not without some irony, that France has just witnessed rail freight volumes exceeding those carried by lorry for the first time since the hey-day of rail transport.

The estimated cost required for the line's repair and maintenance is estimated at fifty million Euros (approx. 68 million USD). In contrast to the billions that are being spent on keeping profligate car firms alive, it's cheap and money well spent. Yet the last thing the Cevenol needs is state interference in the form of the omnipresent tourist boards launching some horrendous value-added (sic) exercise that would only serve to squeeze the real life and nature out of the 'product,' replacing it with a fabricated 'plan touristique' lacking authenticity. The French state doesn't 'do tourism' very well, and any move towards trinket shops in railway stations and the further sanitization of hiking trails will simply kill the 19th Century goose that laid the golden Cevenol egg.

Those that are familiar with the case of The Regordane Way, a medieval trail that is a hiking history book, will know what I am saying: the State decided what should be preserved in its name and the resulting concoction is a dog's dinner with which very few outside the local 'postes de tourismes' are happy. In the end, and as is the case with the preservation of the medieval Regordane, the best way to conserve our heritage is to give it our patronage, not patronize it.

So of what relevance is hiking to the continuance of The Cevenol? Well, it won't be its saviour, but it can play an important role in the economic diversity of the region and the improved viability of the railroad. The land traversed by the Cevennes Railway is truly spectacular hiking country and the Cevenol provides excellent access to its fruits. The natural fault-line running down the eastern flank of the Cevennes is home to both The Cevenol and The Regordane; whilst the railroad provides an entrée to those wishing to trek part or all of the Robert Louis Stevenson Trail - not to mention some great circular hiking options that are spread out along its course and known only to the local cognoscenti.

If you enjoy the simple pleasures of train travel for its own sake, and are not in too much of a hurry to arrive, then The Cevenol is an experience you need to place on your wish-list. Hikers of the world will unite in rating the beauty of the Languedoc trails that lie either side of the rails as being some of the best in France, whilst those who are smitten by both means of conveyance will have the time of their lives. But please don't defer your decision making for too long, for you risk missing out on what could become one of France's mythical journeys of yesteryear. The local population rose up and held demonstrations late last year in the face of what seemed to be the imminent closure of the line. They won a reprieve, but for how long is anyone's guess.

Further details on the Cevenol can be found at The Cevennes Railway and Endangered: France's most beautiful railroad!

The Enlightened Traveller is proud to play an active role in the Cevenol’s preservation via eco-friendly hiking tours in France that feature a mix of short rides along the railroad and enjoyable hikes in the surrounding countryside.

© The Enlightened Traveller 2009 – all rights reserved worldwide

Youth Outdoor Legacy Fund Announces 2009 Grants

Thursday, 29 January 2009

Salt Lake City, Utah and Seattle — Four years ago, the mission of the Youth Outdoors Legacy Fund was founded with two fundamental beliefs: children need to be in the outdoors more and non-profit organizations and volunteers who work with kids in the outdoors need our help. Since its inception in 2005, YOLF has made grants exceeding $585,000 to support that mission.

"We cast the net w ide in our search for children's outdoor programs to fund and were pleasantly surprised by the number of quality programs being conducted in almost every corner of the U.S.," said Dennis Madsen, founder of the Youth Outdoor Legacy Fund. "While each program tends to be as different as night and day, the one common characteristic is the engaging outdoor activity that stimulates kid's curiosity, enthusiasm, and love of the world around them. In New York, the Rocking the Boat outdoor program gives kids and opportunity to build boats and explore the Hudson River while in Washington state, the YBOYS program uses the local Cascade Mountains as a place to challenge and excite participants. The best programs have designed their offerings based upon the unique special places close by," he said.

"Tough economic times are challenging businesses and non profits in the outdoor community. A variety of creative approaches which mutually benefit donors (such as cause marketing or a philanthropic savings account) continue to enable support of important non-profit programs. In spite of the volatile financial markets and challenges to its own resources, the YOLF Board has agreed to continue our grants program in 2009," Madsen added. "We are especially grateful to Merrell for their 2008 donation of $15,000 and an opt-in program of $5.00 per order from their prodeal website. They are the first to implement this type of pro-deal level cause-marketing program resulting in an additional $4,317 raised for YOLF."

Twelve organizations are receiving grants in 2009:

• Appalachian Mountain Club (Boston, Mass.) - $15,000 for its Youth Opportunities Program (YOP)
• Bay Area Wilderness Training (Oakland, Calif.) - $15,000 to support its Wilderness Leadership Training Program
• Chicago Inner City Outings (Chicago, Ill.) - $6,000 grant to provide outings to inner-city youth
• Colorado Mountain Club (Denver, Colo.) $10,000 to support its Youth Education Program
• Ebony Rose Ski Club (Portland, Ore.) - $14,000 grant to introduce African American high school students to skiing and snowboarding as part of the youth outreach activities conducted by ERSC (Grant to be made in the fall pending results from 2008/9 program)
• Kids in Training (Cary, N.C.) - $15,000 grant to provide access to fitness and health programs
• Metrocenter YMCA/YBOYS (Seattle, Wash.) - $12,500 grant for its YBOYS Outdoor Adventure Program
• Outdoor Outreach (San Diego, Calif.) - $15,000 grant to continue its core programming work. Programs currently offered include: rock climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, hiking/backpacking, river rafting, camping, surfing and marine science education.
• Passages Northwest (Seattle, Wash.) - $15,000 to support two core programs: Girls Wilderness and Girls Rock
• Rocking the Boat (New York, N.Y.) - $15,000 to support its traditional wooden boat building and on-water education program
• Trips for Kids (Washington, D.C.) - $8,500 to continue its core youth nature and biking programs
• Youth Conservation Corps (Waukegan, Ill.) - $12,500 to enable youth outreach to youth living in the low-income communities of Round Lake Heights, Round Lake Beach and Mundelein, Ill., in north suburban Chicago (Lake County).

Source: www.outdoorindustry.org

Forest Trees of Maine Guidebook Updated

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

The Maine Department of Conservation has published a new edition of the guidebook Forest Trees of Maine, Centennial Edition 1908-2008. The 14th edition of this popular publication is a special centennial edition and has been significantly improved for the occasion.

This 178 page guidebook offers something for everyone, including easy cross-referenced identification for veteran natural ists, and also a step-by-step process for those less experienced. The book focuses on the "commercially important" trees of Maine and also a few important non-native trees for a total of 78 identifications. Each tree is shown in sharp color photography of its leaves, bark and cones or buds.

The guidebook should be of great use to anyone who wishes to know more about the large flora of Maine. A hard copy of this book can be ordered here: www.state.me.us - for $7 per copy or a digital copy may be downloaded by here: www.state.me.us - at no cost.

For more information on this news, please vist www.amcmaine.org.

Language of Flowers Exhibit Highlights Valentine's

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Phoenix, Arizona - Invite your sweetheart to come with you to the Language of Flowers Valentine's Exhibit Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park. And be sure to bring your sweet tooth because the chocolate tasting portion of the event will be most tempting.

The annual Valentine's Day floral exhibit and chocolate tasting event will be held February 13-15 during Valentine's weekend. Visitor s will learn the history of many kinds of flowers popular with couples on Cupid's day.

The exhibit will be held in the Smith Building Lecture Room from 8:00am until 5:00pm. Bring along a few dollars because chocolates will be sold along the trails from 10:00am until 3:00pm daily during the exhibit.

New Sunday Story Hour Premieres this Month
Preston Cox will be the featured children's book reader January 25 during the Arboretum's new story hour. He will read There was a Coyote who Swallowed a Flea beginning at 2:00pm. The new weekly series for children will also feature interactive lessons about desert plants and animals that depend on them. A guest reader will present a different book for children each week throughout February.

"The Arboretum Rocks" New Geology Walking Tour
Beginning January 31, the Arboretum's new geology tour will teach visitors about volcanic and rock formations along the Main Trail. Visitors will learn about two billion years of history during this educational experience. Miami, AZ resident Ben Henderson, a professional geologist and Arizona State Parks volunteer, will conduct the tour beginning at 1:30pm. The area around the Arboretum is one of the richest copper regions in the world.

Storytelling and Concert Highlight Australia Day
Australia Day is a celebration of "the land down under" and will feature outback storytelling and a tour through the Arboretum's towering 100-foot Eucalyptus Forest followed by a digerdoo concert. Australia Day is the annual event dedicated to showcasing the Arboretum's Australian forest collections.

The walking tour begins at 11:00am followed by the storytelling session and concert from 1:30pm until 3:00pm. "Didgeridoo" is a large bamboo or wooden trumpet of the Australian aborigines.

Storytelling will feature Australian folklorist Paul "Walking Stick" Taylor, who will share his bush ballads, outback poems and didgeridoo music.

Visitors are invited to learn to play their own didgeridoo at a morning workshop the same day. The one-of-a-kind class will be held from 9:00am until 11:30am. Cost is $35 for Arboretum members and $45 for non-members. Phone 520-689-2723 to enroll.

Edible and Medicinal Desert Plants Guided Walk
Ethno-botanist Dave Morris guides this Sunday tour January 25 explaining the ways native desert plants have fed, clothed and healed indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The tour begins at 1:30pm and follows the Curandero trail, which is moderately steep and not accessible by wheelchair.

Plants of the Bible Guided Walk
Learn about plants, botany and Scripture during this slow-paced tour that points out plant species mentioned in the Bible growing at the Arboretum. The tour begins at 1:30pm February 1 and follows wheelchair accessible trails.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park is located three miles west of historic Superior on U.S. Highway 60. The Language of Flowers event, Australia Day activities (except for the didgeridoo workshop), Story Hour, Arboretum Rocks, and all tours and guided walks are free with admission. Phone 520-689-2723 or visit http://ag.arizona.edu/bta for more information.

For information about Arizona State Parks call (602) 542-4174 (outside of the Phoenix metro area call toll-free (800) 285-3703) or visit the website at www.azstateparks.com.

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