Tag: Outdoors

Oil Spill Update: Heartbreak on the Gulf Coast

Two more moving pieces on travel and the oil spill in the Gulf: World Hum contributor and Lonely Planet’s U.S. Travel Editor Robert Reid writes about a “sobering and powerful” trip to the Florida panhandle last week, and Carl Hiaasen gets angry about the oil washing up on Florida’s shores. He writes:

It might be difficult for someone who was born and raised far from a beach or a bayou to visualize a place they cherish being poisoned and defaced on such a massive scale.

Or maybe not so difficult. Imagine if 120 million gallons of crude oil were flushed into the Minnesota headwaters of the Mississippi River, and for months the sludge was allowed to seep down through the veins of America’s midwest.

Now you begin to get the picture—the heartbreak, the helplessness.

Previously, Tom Swick wrote for World Hum about the situation in the Florida Keys.


What’s the Next Foodie Eco Trend? ‘Entrepreneurial Foraging.’

What’s “entrepreneurial foraging,” you ask?

That would be the businesses sprouting up around foraging for miner’s lettuce, mushrooms and other food growing wildly, even in urban environments. Think mushroom-hunting safaris.

Writes Greg Beato in Reason:

All across America, enterprising eco-aggregators are engaged in the somewhat paradoxical pursuit of commercialized foraging, leading mushroom-hunting safaris in forests and selling wild-harvested dandelion roots in bulk on the Internet. Iso Rabins, a 28-year-old resident of San Francisco, joined their ranks two years ago, when he started organizing “wild kitchens,” paid events where diners enjoy “rambling dinner[s] of wild foraged foods” in private locales around the Bay Area. A few months later, Rabins added home delivery of food boxes to his menu of services.

(Via the New York Times Ideas blog)


Pirates to Captain: Just Tell Us Where the Tourism Boats Are

Chilling story by Sean Flynn in the latest GQ. He recounts the sagas of two hijacked boats in the Indian Ocean and tells how tourists—and tourism—are increasingly targets of pirates. One exchange:

“Tourism?” One of the pirates was close now. “Tourism boat?”

Roucou nodded. “Yes.”

The pirates broke into wide smiles, congratulating themselves, celebrating.

“Where is tourism? Where?”

“No tourists,” Roucou said. “There are none. They’ve all gone.”

The pirate scowled, then dispatched a few of his men to search the Explorer. They returned, confirmed there were no passengers on board. The pirates were no longer pleased.

“Where tourists? Where?”

The tourist boats were a few hours to the south, three of them near Assumption Island. Roucou had seen them earlier that day: the Sea Bird, the Adventurer, and the Hebridean Spirit, with nearly 200 passengers and crew among them.

“There are none,” Roucou told the pirates. “There’s only us.”

He’d answered quickly and surely, but the pirates did not believe him. Eight of them took most of the crew to the aft deck, and three stayed with Roucou and his chief engineer in the wheelhouse. One of them used the Explorer’s satellite phone to call a contact in Somalia, who spoke perfect English. He put Roucou on the line with a man named Abdi.

“Tell them where the tourism boats are,” Abdi said, “and they will let you go.”


Photo You Must See: Rolling Clouds on Table Mountain

Photo You Must See: Rolling Clouds on Table Mountain REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

Taxis and buses wait for tourists as clouds engulf Cape Town's iconic Table Mountain

See the full photo »


Waiting for Oil in the Florida Keys

Waiting for Oil in the Florida Keys iStockPhoto

On a visit to the islands, where some are now contemplating the unthinkable

Read More »


Travel Movie Watch: ‘180 Degrees South’

180 South looks like a great new outdoorsy travel documentary. In it, Jeff Johnson retraces a 1968 road trip from Ventura, California, to southern Patagonia undertaken by Yvon Chouinard and a few others. The film features surfing and climbing, and, it seems, a healthy dose of philosophizing about travel and life.

It’s touring the country now—dates and locations are listed here—and it comes out on DVD in June. Here’s the trailer:


Why I Walk

Why I Walk iStockPhoto

No, it's not quick or expedient. But it offers something other modes of transport can't. Bill Belleville on traveling by foot.

Read More »


Let’s See What’s Down There

Let’s See What’s Down There iStockPhoto

In an excerpt from his new book, David Grann takes to New Zealand's high seas on a quest for elusive giant squid

Read More »


The Accidental Tsunami Rider

The Accidental Tsunami Rider iStockPhoto

After Chile's earthquake, Jill K. Robinson paddled her kayak into California's Half Moon Bay and felt the energy from a hemisphere away

Read More »


Photo You Must See: Shaun White Flying Over Vancouver

Photo You Must See: Shaun White Flying Over Vancouver REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Before winning the gold, Shaun White competes in the men's halfpipe qualifying on Cypress Mountain at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

See the full photo »


Forests to Burn

Forests to Burn Photo by Joshua Berman

Joshua Berman spent a glorious summer exploring some of America's most beautiful wilderness areas -- with a drip torch in hand

Read More »


Photo You Must See: Flocking to Geumgang Lake, South Korea

Photo You Must See: Flocking to Geumgang Lake, South Korea REUTERS/Office of Gunsan City

A flock of teals fly over Geumgang Lake in Gunsan, about 168 miles south of Seoul.

See the full photo »


Video You Must See: Ice, Water and Steam in Iceland


Photo You Must See: Glacier Sunrise in Patagonia

REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

The sun rises over the Perito Moreno glacier near El Calafate, Argentina.


Video You Must See: Iceberg Collapse in Newfoundland


Video You Must See: Scuba Diving in a Flooded Meadow


Trekking the High Atlas, Taking the Pain

Trekking the High Atlas, Taking the Pain iStockPhoto

A fall in Morocco's rugged mountains left Jeffrey Tayler writhing in agony -- and wondering whether to abandon his journey

Read More »


Video You Must See: Snow Sculptures in China


Video You Must See: Sailing on Ice


Video You Must See: Mountain Light in California

(Via The Daily Dish)