Tabla de contenidos para May 2016 en Outside

A century after their creation, we’ve got a lot of reasons to love the national parks— 100 by our count. They have preserved some 84 million acres of forest, mountain, prairie, canyon, coastline, and tundra. They offer peaceful sanctuaries for reflection and rejuvenation, and give our kids playgrounds way cooler than concrete. But mostly, they’re the best places in the country to get your wild on. To set out on an empty trail. To launch your SUP across a glacial lake. To disappear into an endless range of rock and ice. For this we say, hats off—and packs on—to the next 100 years of adventure.…

Plenty of breweries are able to boast of their enviable proximity to national parks. (Coors, for instance, is located 30 miles downstream from Rocky Mountain National Park.) But only Superior Bathhouse Brewery and Distillery in Arkansas can say that its beer is made directly from one. Hot Springs National Park has several bath houses, most clustered along two blocks of historic Central Avenue, which runs through the heart of the park. Three years ago, park superintendent Josie Fernan dez asked for ideas to help increase tourism. Rose Schweik hart, Superior’s owner, responded: “Make beer with water from the hot springs.” The park’s water has no taste or odor, and locals have been drinking it for hundreds of years. Superior made its fi rst hot-spring-sourced beer in 2015, and today there…

16 TEN - SECOND ODE It's possible to tag the Texas high point in Guadalupe Mountains and see seminal works of minimalist sculpture two hours down the road at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa on the same day. 17 TEN - SECOND ODE After a hike in Cuyahoga Valley, you can shower off in Blue Hen Falls. A CENTURY AGO, when the mission of the National Park Service was spelled out, recreation as we know it didn’t exist. Since then pack rafts, wingsuits, and Vibram soles have come on the scene, and the increasing variety and pervasiveness of outdoor pursuits have sparked an unlikely battle between recreationists, who want to be free to ride, paddle, and climb, and conservationists, who want to restrict those sorts of activities in the name…

I grew up in New Orleans and learned to SUP on the bayous that carve through southern Louisiana. For the past year, though, it’s the waters of landlocked Montana I’ve most wanted to explore, after a friend in Missoula told me about a chain of lakes in the westernmost part of Glacier. They are said to be sacred to the Blackfeet, clear pools carved out over thousands of years by glaciers dipping to about 250 feet at their deepest. Last October, I grabbed a friend, a wetsuit, and a paddleboard, and headed north. As you approach from Missoula, Glacier lies behind the Flathead Range, hidden until you gain elevation and the world opens up into more than a million acres of coniferous forests, glaciated peaks, and wildfl ower meadows. George…

St. John is the jewel of the Caribbean. While most of the other Virgin Islands were corrupted long ago, Virgin Islands National Park has preserved St. John’s integrity: 7,259 acres above sea level and 5,650 below, 26 miles of hiking trails, and 30 beaches Photoshopped by God. Alas, this is hardly a secret. With no remote camping allowed, and fleets of taxis delivering day-trippers to the same famous north-shore spots, the beaches can get downright bougie. Yet the charts show scads of remote coves accessible only by long hike, dubious jeep trail, or water. Scheming from the deck of my eco-tent on a December morn, I came up with a plan: What better way to gather intel than by circumnavigating the island by sail, then revisiting the gems with a…

“The epiphany moment happened in Acadia National Park. I was standing on top of a mountain in the rain, wanting to know the best route back down, and I had no signal on my phone. Chimani is basically a guidebook—curated original content—in an app that’s designed for when there’s no connectivity. We take it a step further by including audio fi les and topo maps that are GPS enabled. Mobile devices are a tidal wave that’s about to hit the park experience. Chimani had more than 1.5 million user sessions last year, yet I would say we’ve tapped only about 5 percent of the market. To be blunt, if we don’t get this right, we’re talking about the death of the park system. If people don’t have a positive experience…

Taking on multipitch climbs often means spending hours in your harness. (a) Black Diamond’s Big Gun ($120) is the most comfortable we’ve found, and the stacked gear loops make it easy to rack and organize all your equipment. (b) Petzl’s Reverso 4 belay device ($30) lets you swap leads effi ciently when tackling the southeast buttress of Cathedral. V-shaped grooves in the aluminum body increase braking power during long rappels. Twenty percent lighter than before, the (c) Metolius Ultralight Master cams (from $60) are the sveltest on the market. We like that Metolius kept the color-coded slings and red-yellowgreen range-fi nder system, which lets you know you’ve got the right size. Even in summer, early-morning starts and after-sundown fi nishes get cold. The (d) Marmot ThermalClime Pro 1/2 Zip midlayer…

“WE REALIZED we could have a crazy adventure in our own backyard and see pristine wilderness that very few people have seen in the wintertime,” says Jackson, Wyoming, photographer Taylor Glenn. After Glenn and wildlife biologist Taylor Phillips brainstormed travel ideas, the two decided to try a 32-mile crosscountry ski tour from Old Faithful to Yellowstone’s Bechler Ranger Station last February. In addition to crossings like the Ferris Fork, the six-day journey involved dragging a sled through deep, unpacked snow, fully loaded. “It was a battle,” Glenn says, “but it was worth it.”…

Go Retro Rob Decker studied under Ansel Adams and in 1980 began taking his own composite photography of the parks. He adds WPA-style effects to give his versions a vintage look. $30; nationalpark-posters.com Practical, Too! Jared Prince has been scanning and re touch ing original USGS maps of 17 parks since 2014. They’re antique looking but have a richer color palette. $59; muir-way.com The New WPA In 2014, Max Slavkin and Aaron Perry-Zucker partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association to commission new posters via the See America Project. $25; seeamerica project.com Authenticity Is Everything A company called Ranger Doug has been silkscreening reproductions from the original templates since 1993. $40; rangerdoug.com 53 TEN - SECOND ODE North Cascades has a climbable mini K 2 :…

The 700-fi ll down in the (a) NEMO Concerto sleeping bag ($400) is so plush, we’ve considered using this sack as our comforter. On warmer nights, the built-in sheet provides snuggly coverage. No need to sacrifi ce comfort for weight on a car-camping trip, particularly when a good night’s sleep is on the line. (b) L.L.Bean’s Deluxe Swedish folding cot ($139) is as cushy as it gets, with a three-inch foam mattress and wood slats that won’t sag in the middle. CamelBak paired an ergonomic lid with vacuum-sealed double-wall stainless steel for its (c) Forge Vacuum travel mug ($30) to keep coffee hot during the hours it takes to get everyone up, dressed, fed, and on the trail. The rugged cottonpolyester body of (d) Fjällräven’s Rucksack No. 21 Medium ($180)…

25, San Diego, California “The Park Service realizes that things can’t carry on as they have been if we are to connect with the upcoming generation. That’s the idea behind the Centennial Ambassador program: we were brought in to shake things up. Not everyone likes change, but we have to reach young people on their level. When I started working with Cabrillo National Monument, the Facebook page wasn’t being fully managed, we didn’t have Instagram, and there wasn’t a good understanding of the power of social media. The park was pressed for time and resources, so I suggested a high school internship program. It’s not typical volunteerism—we have students creating a video series on our YouTube channel, and I’ve been collaborating with nonprofi t charter schools. These are kids who…

What You’re After: A big canyon in Arizona. Skip: Grand Canyon National Park. It’s swamped. Head To: Canyon De Chelly National Monument. It boasts 5,000 years of Navajo history. What You’re After: Fossils. Skip: Arizona’s Petrifi ed Forest National Park. Petrifi ed wood is only kind of cool. Head To: Dinosaur National Monument, in Colo rado and Utah. Dinosaurs are the coolest. What You’re After: Crazily shaped sandstone. Skip: Utah’s Arches National Park. It’s consistently mobbed. Head To: Rainbow Bridge National Monument, also in Utah. One of the world’s largest natural bridges, accessible only by boat or multi-day hike. What You’re After: Multipitch climbing. Skip: Yosemite. The place is often overrun by tour buses and Tommy Caldwell wannabes. Head To: Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. More than 100 of…

The interface on the (a) Wahoo Fitness Elemnt GPS ($330) can be con trolled from your smartphone via Bluetooth. That means you can manage fi tness metrics on the fl y as well as upload tracks and trails to follow out among the giants. Although (b) Evoc’s CC 10L pack ($85) hauls plenty, its narrow silhouette and raised back pads make it virtually unnoticeable when riding. There are tons of organizational features, including multiple internal tool pockets and clips for carrying a helmet. (c) Gore’s One Gore Tex Active Bike jacket ($300) is an airy 4.7 ounces and packs down to the size of a fi st, yet it provided full weather protection when afternoon storms rolled in. A svelte cut and seamless fl oating chamois helped the (d) 7mesh…

Wind Cave, South Dakota: Boasts more passageways per cubic mile than any other cave in the world. Mammoth Cave, Kentucky: The world’s largest—more than 400 miles have been explored. Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico: There’s a subterranean snack bar—enough said. 94 TEN - SECOND ODE The ridiculously hard hikes to the bottom of Black Canyon of the Gunnison mean you'll have the fishing all to your self. 95 TEN - SECOND ODE The two-hour ferry back to Key West from Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas serves margaritas.…

THE GHOST ROPE snaked over the lip of Keyhole Canyon’s third and fi nal rappel. At fi rst, Kaden Anderson thought it meant that there was a group ahead of his party, but when he called down no one answered. It was about three on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 15, and Ander son, a 25-year-old off-duty canyoneering guide with nearby Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort, was leading two friends, India and Jay Piacitelli, ages 20 and 26, respec tively, on an outing. The couple had gotten married two days earlier, overlooking the Grand Canyon’s Horseshoe Bend, and they decided to honeymoon their way home through Utah’s national parks. The Piacitellis didn’t have any canyoneering experience, which is generally fi ne on this route. Zion National Park, with its towering Navajosandstone…

DEATH VALLEY is known for parched terrain and sneakermelting summer heat, with temperatures topping out at over 120 degrees. Luckily, highs generally stay in the double digits between September and May, when the gardens and swimming pools of the Furnace Creek Inn make the harsh desert feel welcoming. By day, hike through windswept sand dunes, lunar-like craters, and wildfl ower fi elds—El Niño is delivering an otherworldly bloom—or rent a Jeep for off-road adventures past historical mines. Cool down with a pint of the resort’s signature Badwater Ale. Then, come night, you’re practically guaranteed a view of the Milky Way: Death Valley is the world’s largest Inter national Dark Sky Park. From $369; furnacecreek resort.com…

18 TEN - SECOND ODE Mount Rainier’s namesake peak is among the stoutest alpine challenges in the lower 4 8 — less than half the 10, 025 climbers who at tempted it last year summited . THIS YEAR, Congress OK’d the largest parks budget in his tory, with more money than ever for educational programs (Visitor Services, in budget lingo), preservation and restoration (Resource Stewardship), and police and emergency responders (Park Protection), among other expenses. Unfortunately, lawmakers gave the Park Service $225 million less than it asked for and has been shorting it for years—there’s now an esti mated $11.9 billion in backlogged main tenance. Here’s how the parks will divvy up the money they do get.…

62 TEN - SECOND ODE The difficulty of Bryce Canyon’s Fairyland Loop means hard-earned solitude through the hoodoo-filled am-phitheater. WITH AN ARID climate, scant nearby development, and few fl ight paths overhead, Great Sand Dunes, in southern Colorado, is among our quietest national parks. In some of its massive undulating piles, the average decibel level is lower than ten—quieter than very soft breathing. That we can measure this kind of subtlety is thanks to the Park Service’s Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, the only federal bureau devoted to researching noise pollution and protecting natural soundscapes. Over the span of 15 years, scientists with the division analyzed 1.5 million hours of recordings and, in 2015, publicly released a set of groundbreaking maps that predict the median sound levels across the…

OPENED IN 1927, the Ahwahnee Hotel soon became as iconic as the natural wonders surrounding it. A recent trademark dispute prompted a change of the hotel’s name to the Majestic Yosemite, but all the stuff that made it legendary is still here. Trailheads that lead to El Capitan and Mirror Lake are minutes from the front door, the staff will set up climbing instruction with the world-class Yosemite Mountaineering School, and the dining room has fl oor-to-ceiling views of Glacier Point. A 2010 renovation spruced things up a bit, but don’t worry: the boysenberry pie—on the menu for more than 50 years—will always remain. From $426; travel.yosemite.com 88 TEN - SECOND ODE When one of the giant trees in Sequoia fell across a road in 1937, the Park Service transformed…

34, Washington, D.C. “Today we’re benefi ting from the efforts of past conservation leaders. We have these aging white elders who worked to get things like the Wilderness Act passed. Historically, it hasn’t been crucial to engage diverse communities. But now it’s critical. Demographics have changed, and we need to make sure that, a century from now, we’re celebrating 200 years of the parks. A group called Green 2.0 surveyed all the major environmental organizations for diversity, and the fi ndings were dismal. The park system is either going to keep declining as its advocates get older and whiter, or it’s going to strengthen as they get older and whiter and younger and browner. The narrative has always been that hiking is for white people, or at least that you…

When the water’s calm and there’s no precipitation, the inner NanoPuff hoodie of the (a) Patagonia 3-in-1 Salt jacket ($589) will keep you warm with PrimaLoft Gold. Should the skies open up, throw the H2No Performance rain-jacket layer on top. Pair with Patagonia’s (b) Nano Puff pants ($179) for a toasty lower half. You’ll fi nd the (c) Hatch Finatic 7 Plus reel ($600) on guide boats everywhere from British Columbia to the Bahamas. Made from a single block of machined aluminum, this work horse pairs perfectly with Rio’s cast-friendly (d) Skagit Max-Versi Tip line ($160). (e) Echo Flyfi shing’s Echo 3 7130 spey rod ($550) is made of stiff graphite, commonly used in more expensive poles. What it lacks in feel it makes up for with strength. At 13…

I have been coming to this park since I was born, but this is the first time I’ve seen a wolf. It’s ten degrees below zero, two days before Thanksgiving, and my dad and I are waiting just inside the western border of Yellowstone, yards from where our car is parked at the start of the Fawn Pass Trail. Up ahead, an enormous gray shape lumbers across the snowdrifts, fur billowing in the wind. My hands are so cold I feel like I might scream. Our skis squeak on the crisp snow. Yellowstone has always felt like home to me. It’s the place my parents met in their early twenties and the place we visited every summer until my younger brother and I were teenagers. The sulfuric smell from the…

IN 2008, BRANDON Latham was teaching rescue techniques to Sherpas at the Khumbu Climbing Center. The KCC, founded in 2003 by the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation, is about a dozen miles from Everest Base Camp and offers the best mountaineering training available in the region. Latham, then a ranger at Denali National Park, helped run the courses, along with about 15 other Western climbers and a few locals skilled enough to lead. Then he had an idea: Why not train Nepali instructors alongside National Park Service rangers, so they could develop advanced skills and teach them at the KCC? “It gives Nepali guides an opportunity to see how climbing rangers perform search and rescue,” says Latham. In 2009, the Sherpa Exchange Program was born, and Phunuru Sherpa, then a 28-yearold…

The national parks are ideal camera fodder: they’re inherently dramatic and gorgeous in any light. These three series stand out, whether you want an absorbing narrative, sumptuous visuals, or a little of both. 59 TEN - SECOND ODE Three subspecies of Urocyon littoralis, a tiny (and extremely cute) fox , live only within Channel Islands.…

27, San Francisco, California “Before I started Hipcamp, I’d spent so many hours online trying to fi nd and book a campground that I nearly gave up. I couldn’t believe how diffi cult it was. Once, after I’d fi nally got a campsite, I showed up and realized that I hadn’t been told the most important thing about the spot—that it had an incredible surf break. And, of course, I hadn’t brought my board! The idea for Hipcamp hit me like a ton of bricks. Our site allows you to easily fi nd and reserve great campsites nationwide, regardless of who owns or manages the land. When we started, we had to push the Park Service to open its data system to people who are more digitally minded—people who have…

32, Mariposa, California “A lot of kids don’t understand that national parks are places where you can go camping and fishing and travel where nobody ever drives a car. Programs like NatureBridge allow them to see that the parks are their world. We’ve been operating in Yosemite since 1971, and educate some 13,000 kids a year, K through 12 students who come for five days. This fall we’ll finish the first phase of construction of a $56 million National Environmental Science Center. It makes a massive statement about the Park Service’s dedication to education. Technology is a big part of it. In out -door programs, it’s always important to figure out how to incorporate what the students are using in their daily lives. We want kids to embrace the natural…

In the past decade, exactly one national park has been created. That’s because a national park can be established only by Congress, which is in a perpetual state of political gridlock. Thankfully, during his time in offi ce, President Obama has created 21 national monuments, which require only an executive order. And he’s expected to add to that tally before he leaves offi ce next January. Here are fi ve he should include. Owyhee Canyonlands, Oregon The 2.5 million acres of multi-fi ngered river gorge and rhyolitic ramparts located in southeastern Oregon’s Malheur County contain some of the most remote lands in the lower 48, as well as its darkest night skies, and is home to the nation’s largest herd of California bighorn sheep. Greater Grand Canyon Heritage, Arizona In…