-Most hikers think of their hobby as low-impact, a way to enjoy nature without harming it, but a new publication from Colorado State Parks suggests they’re only partly right. Planning Trails with Wildlife in Mind: A Handbook for Trail Planners shows how trails can interfere with wild areas. The guide suggests routing trails along ecological […]
Recreation
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Murmurs about a new monument
The 3 million-acre swath of Bureau of Land Management land between the Grand Canyon and the Utah border, unromantically known as the Arizona Strip, is getting more visitors than usual these days. In late November, Bruce Babbitt toured the area and suggested that nearly 400,000 acres of the wide-open desert lands are worthy of stronger […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Sewage fouls Yellowstone
Outdated plumbing at tourist lodges in Yellowstone National Park is spilling sewage into lakes and streams, and the state of Wyoming has taken an unprecedented step: In October, it threatened to fine the National Park Service unless it fixes antiquated sewage systems pieced together over the last 50 years. Such fines are unprecedented in Wyoming, […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
A river rat remembers
As we round a bend and come over a small rise, I feel like I’ve been hit in the middle of my everything. I grab for Frank’s arm and say, “Wait a minute, Bigfeets, I don’t think I can take much more of this. It’s too beautiful!” Suddenly, I’m crying. He nods, takes my hand, […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Grand Canyon Timeline
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. 1869 John Wesley Powell’s first expedition 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt makes Grand Canyon a national monument. 1911-12 Emery and Ellsworth Kolb make a movie of a river trip. 1919 Grand Canyon becomes a national park. First airplane overflight. 1922 Phantom Ranch is built. 1935-36 […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
River guide quits and tells why
I began my “career” as a Grand Canyon river guide in 1971, in the heart of what we later referred to as the clueless years. Few boatmen had more than a couple dozen trips under their belt; some were on their first. We had few wizened veteran guides to tell us where to hike, how […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Grand Canyon Gridlock
Note: four sidebar articles accompany this feature story: an excerpt from the journals of Buzz Holmstrom describes the first solo river trip through the Grand Canyon in 1937, a timeline of significant events within the Grand Canyon, a book review of “The Doing of the Thing: The Brief Brilliant Whitewater Career of Buzz Holmstrom,” and […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
From the journals of Buzz Holmstrom
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Camp on right at lower end Rapid – mile 247 with the last bad one above me – the Bad Rapid – Lava Cliff – that I have been looking for – nearly a thousand miles. I had thought – once past there – […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
A brief brilliant life on the river
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. In 1869, John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War veteran, was the first to explore and record the canyons of the Green and Colorado. Launching with nine sturdy men, Powell spent 100 days working his heavy, keeled boats downriver. There was no art to […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Scientists get a free ride
-We’re not very receptive to charges that the park is “wimping out,” “””says Rocky Mountain National Park spokesman Doug Caldwell. But critics say the park did just that – by permitting a crew of soil scientists to take a helicopter ride in a wilderness study area. Last summer, the park in northeastern Colorado sent a […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Keep the backcountry free
Backpackers who frequent Grand Teton National Park scored a partial victory in their fight to keep the backcountry experience almost free. When Park Superintendent Jack Neckels unveiled an extensive backcountry fee program at a recent meeting organized by the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, the audience of over 200 people vehemently protested. Many Jackson residents told […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Grand Staircase-Escalante in the spotlight
When President Clinton created the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah two years ago, environmentalists broke out the champagne, while many locals moped (HCN, 4/14/97). A proposed management plan for the monument has the two groups in each others’ shoes. “I thought the people doing the plan really did a good job,” Kane County […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Crystal Mountain plans to grow
Ski resort collector Boyne USA is laying the groundwork for a massive makeover of Crystal Mountain in Washington’s Cascade Mountains. Boyne, also the owner of Big Sky in Montana (HCN, 3/31/97), plans to pump $40 million into the resort to keep Seattle-area skiers from fleeing the state to visit other resorts. Improvements include 10 new […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Note: three sidebar articles accompany this feature story: a variety of concerned Coloradans speak out in their own words about Vail, “Anger on the web,” and an index of interesting facts about Vail and other Colorado ski areas. VAIL, Colo. – Diane Gansauer was on a future-of-skiing panel for activists a year ago when she […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Concerned Coloradans comment
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. J. Francis Stafford Former Catholic Archbishop of Denver, 1994 Pastoral Letter: “The time when the Western Slope could be overlooked as a reserve of empty, if beautiful, solitude, has long since passed. The current explosion of Front Range growth has its parallel in communities […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Anger on the Web
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Michael Lewinski, writing in the Unofficial Stop SuperVail Website, bcn.boulder.co.us/environment/Vail/, says that after the Oct. 19 arson at Vail, e-mail poured in. “I’ve been called some extremely nasty names,” he writes. – ‘Nazi” seems the most popular so far. “Ours is not the first […]
Posted inDecember 7, 1998: Vail and the road to a recreational empire
Colorado: Snow = skiers
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Inches of snowfall per year at selected Colorado ski resorts: More than 300 Number of days of sunshine: More than 300 Acres at Vail, Colorado’s – and North America’s – largest ski area: 4,644 Number of U.S. ski areas in 1967: 1,400 Number in […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Deaths drive change at Lake Mead
BOULDER CITY, Nev. – Lake Mead has never pretended to be anything but a watersports playground for the masses. Recreational pursuits that would make visitors outlaws at most areas managed by the National Park Service get a warm reception at Lake Mead. This summer, the lake hosted a hydroplane boat race, a bass-fishing tournament and […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Vail fires outrage community
VAIL, Colo. – Vail Resorts has never enjoyed so much support. The early-morning fires that destroyed cafeterias and other ski facilities atop Vail Mountain, causing $12 million in damage, have transformed the nation’s largest ski area into a victim. The Earth Liberation Front – Internet sites identify it as a splinter group of Earth First! […]
Posted inNovember 9, 1998: Grizzly war
Arson isn’t the only crime on Vail Mountain
Fires set atop Colorado’s Vail Mountain have unleashed a storm of condemnation, a media feeding frenzy, and a no-holds-barred federal investigation. But the powerful public outrage provoked by the arson has obscured more important events occurring on the backside of Vail Mountain. To my way of thinking, there was just as much to be outraged […]