Field Notes

Feds Get New Guidelines for E-Bikes in National Parks, Forests

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Federal officials will operate under new guidelines as they struggle with how to regulate a growing number of fast-moving battery-assisted bicycles in national parks and national forests. One new guideline emerged from a suit filed against the National Park Service that challenged its sweeping decision allowing e-bikes wherever conventional bicycles roll. Now, a judge ruled, … Read more

Book Excerpt: Between an Avalanche and a Hard Place

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Back in Adventure Journal 07 we recommended the book Honouring High Places: The Mountain Life of Junko Tabei. It’s a collection of stories written by Tabei (co-written by translator Helen Rolfe), the first woman to summit Mt. Everest and to climb all Seven Summits, among a bushel of other mountaineering feats. Tabei was a hero … Read more

Am I a Man? Or a Tree?

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Has this tree achieved sentience? Or is it not a tree at all, but some dude tripping his face off? Wait, does it matter? What’s the difference? Warning, lots and lots of f-bombs in here, if that bothers ya.

Lake Baikal Really Doesn’t Feel Like It’s Part of This World

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Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and one of the biggest overall (depending on if you measure volume vs surface area, etc.). It’s also one of the strangest, with suspended methane bubbles, legendary lake monsters, UFO sightings, even underwater UFO sightings. The weirdness, however, doesn’t overshadow the beauty.

The Joy and Struggle of the Rae Lakes Trek

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A few years ago we posted a little trailer of Chris Smead’s new film, “The High Sierra Trail,” about Chris and a friend hiking over the spine of the southern Sierra Nevada to Mt. Whitney, but, it turns out, this wasn’t Smead’s first backpacking film. He’d also tackled the Rae Lakes Loop. While talking to my … Read more

Ombraz’s Armless Sunnies Have New Styles

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We’ve written before about Ombraz, the company that makes sunglasses without arms—they’re held in place by nylon straps instead. The idea is the straps eliminate pressure points, making them more comfortable. That’s 100% true, but also, they’re pretty much perfect travel sunglasses since they’re effectively flat without the folded arms. Ombraz has kept things pretty … Read more

SUV Nearly Obliterated by Yellowstone Rockfall

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We reported yesterday about the flooding and mudslides wreaking havoc in Yellowstone, closing the park and requiring evacuations. This video shows a harrowing drive as boulders plummet down a mountain nearly cleaving this vehicle in two, like something out of a Jurassic Park film. Yikes.

An Ode to My Chacos

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Hey, it’s sandal season! Let the weird tans begin. We’re repubbing one of our fave essays about the glory of sandals, Chacos in particular for this writer. -Ed. I was dating this guy and we’d just gotten a permit to float the Rogue River in Oregon with a few friends. I was from the East … Read more

An Ode to My Chacos

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I was dating this guy and we’d just gotten a permit to float the Rogue River in Oregon with a few friends. I was from the East Coast and had a pair of Keens, which are acceptable footwear on the East Coast. But in the West, Keens scream “dad shoes” — or worse, “East Coast … Read more