Merrell’s new line of NADA jackets takes their name from an acronym of the phrase “Not Any Dye Applied.” As you would guess, the garments are Storm Trooper white, which is going to look great when I sit on a bus seat or some grease drips off the chairlift tower onto me. Merrill’s claim is that leaving the jackets plain white instead of giving them a dye job drastically decreases the pollutants that need to be poured into the garment. They could put some kind of heavy duty chemical on the shell so that you could wipe off grease and coffee stains, but that would defeat the purpose of skipping the dye. These jackets will be out in Fall 09.
Morgan Briggs planned a four-day backpacking trip that would take him off trail into a rugged part of Smoky Mountains National Park. Dense vegetation and downed trees pointed him into sheer bluffs on day 2, and he became lost. He made his way out and hiked to a high point where he pitched his tent, rationed his Spam, set up rainwater collectors, and waited for rescue. A contract helicopter pilot spotted Briggs waving his arms on top of Porters Mountain on Saturday afternoon. They dropped Briggs a radio and he told them it wasn’t a medical emergency, so they made plans to come back for him the next day.
Turns out that Briggs was one of the first Appalachian Trail Ridge Runners in the Smokies. He served as the park’s eyes and ears along the 70 miles that run through it. Also, 70 really isn’t that old; I bet the photographer from Knox News begged him to get into that rocking chair.
A landslide into Lake Roosevelt in Washington created a massive wave that caused about $250k in damage. The Morning Report puts the wave at 12 feet tall while The Seattle Times says only 5 or 6 feet. Two kids were slammed into a dock and no one was seriously injured; during a similar incident earlier in the year one person was killed. This time it sounds like about an acre of land broke loose and smashed into the lake, which caused a wave to roll into Porcupine Bay Campground in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. It’d be insane to climb out of your tent and walk to the lakeshore to see what that loud bang was only to see a 12-foot roller headed towards you. What about the acre that fell in? Good thing the campgrounds isn’t on that side of the lake.
Damien Walters is a martial arts expert, gymnast, and guy who looks like he doesn’t spend much time sitting on barstools. Some might argue that his strange brand of Urban Gymnastics isn’t exactly Parkour since the sport is supposed to be moving from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. Whatever it is, it’s pretty rad (and distinctly European).
Kens Burns chats with Backpacker about the impeding release of his latest 6-part film series, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” I’m really excited to see this and mean no offence to Mr. Burns, but you worked on the project for 10 years and you couldn’t come up with a better name?
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