“There was a hardness of stone,” Theodore Roethke starts a poem, “an uncertain glory … Between cliffs of light / We strayed like children.” The Harsh Country, the poem is called. I’m miles away from what I think of as the harsh country, the cliffs of light, the country of bright stone. It has a […]
Recreation
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
Speak up for a quiet Grand Canyon
On my first visit to the Grand Canyon 45 years ago, I was overwhelmed by its magnificent silence, tranquility and timelessness. That serenity is hard to find today. It’s destroyed by the relentless drone of planes and helicopters. A thousand flights a day, 100 flights an hour rain noise down on the canyon. At best, […]
Posted inSeptember 16, 1996: The filthy West: Toxics pour into our air, water, land
Choose not to go boldly outdoors
I don’t hike often in Elk Meadow anymore, the county park near my home in Evergreen, Colo. I don’t hike often in Boulder’s open space parks, either. And I don’t hike any more in Rocky Mountain National Park. Everywhere I look our local and national wild places are crowded with ecology-minded recreationists, and I am […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 1996: Last line of defense: Civil disobedience and protest slow down 'lawless logging'
Devils Tower may get a second name
To Plains Indians, the name Devils Tower dishonors a sacred place. But to local Wyoming residents, the name stands for community identity and tourist dollars. When Devils Tower National Monument Superintendent Deborah Liggett revived the idea of renaming the feature, people spoke out in opposition. At an Aug. 15 meeting, says Liggett, “I was labeled […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
New rules seek to cap canyon flights
GRAND CANYON, Ariz. – Nearly 10 years ago, when Congress set a national goal to restore natural quiet here, surveys indicated that only 43 percent of the park was unaffected by aircraft noise. Now only 31 percent of the park is considered quiet, defined as free from aircraft noise at least 75 percent of the […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Strapped parks look for money
Visitors who go to Nevada’s Great Basin National Park to tour limestone caves and gawk at wind-twisted bristlecone pines may not notice anything different this summer. Campground gates and visitors’ center doors are open as usual. Rangers lead hikes to Alpine Lake each morning, and lecture campers in the evenings about everything from bats to […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Yellowstone cutbacks bring out the politicians
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news story, “Strapped parks look for money.” When Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Mike Finley started to feel the budget pinch this summer, he made sure everyone knew about it. Finley closed a popular campground and two museums in Yellowstone, […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
Why Juan Valdez doesn’t haul coffee beans on a llama
Recently I read a story in an outdoor-sports magazine about how “superior” llamas are to horses, burros and mules for backcountry packing. It caused me to spit green grass juice. Over the last decade, I have trained, cared for and packed with burros, horses and llamas. I’ve even gone so far as to enter a […]
Posted inAugust 5, 1996: Disappearing railroad blues
We love our parks
Congressional hopefuls take heed: It pays to support national parks. Three-quarters of voting Americans say their representative’s record on parks is important, according to a 1996 survey conducted by Colorado State University for the nonprofit National Parks and Conservation Association. The 46-page survey, American Views on National Park Issues, found that only 4 percent of […]
Posted inAugust 5, 1996: Disappearing railroad blues
A cellular call of the wild
A trip into the wilds of Yellowstone National Park just got tamer. Hikers can now toss a cellular phone into their backpacks. “What’s next, cable?” asked a grubby Los Angeles resident fresh in from a couple of nights in the forest, where he spotted one of the park’s fabled grizzly bears. Park officials say the […]
Posted inAugust 5, 1996: Disappearing railroad blues
Feds set “terrible precedent’ with Kolob Canyon settlement
The survivors of an outing that left two Explorer Scout leaders dead in Utah’s Kolob Canyon will get more than $2 million from an out-of-court settlement with public agencies. David Fleischer and LeRoy Kim Ellis drowned in July 1993 while descending a narrow slot canyon near Zion National Park. A surviving Scout leader, four of […]
Posted inJuly 22, 1996: Glen Canyon: Using a dam to heal a river
Canyon trip turns fatal
When Robin Phillips of Bountiful, Utah, planned a six-day hiking trip into the Grand Canyon for his troop of Boy Scouts last month, he knew the remote route would be waterless. But maps and guidebooks couldn’t tell him it would prove deadly. Three days into the trip, which, as it turned out, Phillips could not […]
Posted inJuly 22, 1996: Glen Canyon: Using a dam to heal a river
Budget crisis may doom Oregon’s state parks
LINCOLN CITY, Ore. – At first glance, Road’s End Wayside Rest Area here is simply a big asphalt parking lot, complete with a bathroom and stairs winding downhill. But the stairs lead to a huge, sandy beach, making it one of more than 60 public access points on the Oregon coast. Public beach access has […]
Posted inJune 24, 1996: Catron County's politics heat up as its land goes bankrupt
Can the silence be unbroken?
Rocky Mountain National Park has so far been spared the headache – and earache – of commercial scenic overflights for one reason: no tour operators exist yet. Hoping to head off possible conflicts, Transportation Secretary Federico Peûa has proposed a ban on commercial overflights in the park. Peûa’s May 11 recommendation came with three alternatives: […]
Posted inJune 24, 1996: Catron County's politics heat up as its land goes bankrupt
Canyonlands is a park in name only; in truth only highly organized chaos reigns
They put a park on it in 1964. Canyonlands National Park. People struggled to define its borders, to leave in Indian Creek, or to exclude Lavender Canyon, should the Orange Cliffs be inside or outside? A congressional hearing was held. Meanwhile rocks off the Orange Cliffs broke loose and moved from BLM land into proposed […]
Posted inJune 24, 1996: Catron County's politics heat up as its land goes bankrupt
Wyoming climbers win equal footing
CASPER, Wyo. “There are nearly 200 separate climbing routes up the granite face of Devils Tower National Monument, and Andy Petefish will be able to guide you up any one of them this month – thanks to a ruling by a federal judge. Petefish and other climbing guides have won the first round in what […]
Posted inJune 24, 1996: Catron County's politics heat up as its land goes bankrupt
Ski industry masters the sneak attack
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Legislation often resembles siege warfare back in the days of the battering ram and the catapult. The attackers figure that the more stuff they throw at the walls – rocks, spears, little guys – the better the odds that something will get through. They’re right, because the defenders tend to relax after […]
Posted inMay 27, 1996: Utah ushers its frogs toward oblivion
Runaway runway advances at Jackson Hole airport
Despite overwhelming public opposition, Jackson Hole airport officials have decided to push the high-altitude airport’s runway deeper into Grand Teton National park. Airport board members characterized the decision to add 968 feet of pavement to the 6,300-foot-long runway as a compromise. “I’m looking at what is doable,” said airport board member Fred Hibberd. An earlier […]
Posted inMay 27, 1996: Utah ushers its frogs toward oblivion
Joyriding kills
Joyriding kills Recklessness and speed apparently killed nine snowmobilers last winter in areas surrounding Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. In all of the past four years, only 10 people died. The recent deaths occurred when riders collided with other snowmobiles or with trees. “Anyone who is able to simply sit on a snowmobile and […]
Posted inMay 27, 1996: Utah ushers its frogs toward oblivion
Open your wallet; visit a national park
It’s 1911 and your grandparents are braving mountain roads to visit the year-old Glacier National Park. The charge: $4 to cover everyone in their black Model T. Now jump ahead to 1996. You’re braving the roads to Glacier as your grandparents did before you. But though your burgundy Volvo station wagon is new, the fee […]