A group of campers in Hickory, North Carolina were startled on Friday night when a man in a black tank top and camo pants with a gun strapped to his belt rushed into their campsite and told them he was a game warden. He was checking into their suspected drug use and demanding to know if they had any drugs on them. One of the campers dialed 911 on her phone and told the operator that there was a freak with a gun and knife in their campsite impersonating a game warden. The man fled for the hills and remains at large. Stealing beer from camping teenagers, great idea. Poor execution in this case, of course.

How very Euro. Budget pinches mean that some California State Park privies can no longer afford to be stocked with toilet paper. Hikers will have to bring their own rolls, which isn’t exactly news for the backcountry but in highly trafficked parks it’s a bit odd. I’m sure the bathroom attendants who work in the California State Park system will just begin selling TP alongside all the cologne and breath mints.

A backcountry camper in Arizona skipped paying the $5 daily use fee while camping in the 160k acre forest surrounding Sedona. He returned to his truck to find a $100 ticket on his window. Instead of paying, he geared up for a legal battle over the winter, went to court, and won.

In his written ruling, [the judge] said that although the Forest Service could legally require passes and collect fees in areas with improvements — like restrooms, picnic tables, parking spots or trash collection — the agency couldn’t require someone to have a pass just to visit an unimproved trailhead, or a wilderness.

While I disagree that wilderness lacking restrooms and picnic tables is ‘unimproved,’ I agree that they shouldn’t be able to charge per day to camp in National Forests. That’s our land, we paid for it. And it’s nice to have as a fallback option as a place to live if I ever need. These aren’t campgrounds, it’s land owned by the government. The least they could do is let us use it once in a while.

Coca-Cola asked Americans to vote for their favorite national or state park in the country, and over 1.6 million answered. When the votes were totaled, there was a bit of head scratching. Joshua Tree, The Grand Canyon and Yosemite didn’t make the cut - the winner? Bear Head Lake State Park in Northern Minnesota. A place that gets 100,000 visitors annually and boasts wilderness similar to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area further north, but much easier access and amenities like cabins and car camping.

How this small Minnesota State Park won the honor is a bit of a mystery, but the good news is that they’ll be getting $100,000 of the $500,000 in grants that Coca-Cola is giving out for this initiative.

The Canadian park where a 16-year-old was attacked by coyotes last week hasn’t seen a decline in attendance, though wildlife experts are at a loss to explain what’s making the animals so aggressive. Coyotes normally run at the sight of humans, but about 6 months ago a Canadian singer was killed by a pack of them. Some speculate that these particular coyotes have some wolf genetics, or more likely, they’ve just grown used to seeing humans so they’re testing their boundaries.