Veteran outdoor reporter Kevin Fedarko’s new book on running the Colorado River in the summer of 1983 is out and it’s clearly a must read. “The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History through the Heart of the Grand Canyon,” is set against the backdrop of a record spring runoff. Fedarko [ more... ]

The Streetview crew from Google Maps strapped on their backpack camera rigs and hit the Bright Angel Trail shooting about 9,500 panoramic images in the process. You can sort through them and take a virtual hike while killing time at work. The images cover more than 75 miles of the trails and surrounding roads. The [ more... ]

Elk, which until recently were rare at the Grand Canyon are now so plentiful they’re causing problems. Last year the National Park Service reported 115 “elk jams” over 53 days, taking anywhere from one minute to two hours to clear area roads. And the animals can be dangerous; encounters in recent years have included several [ more... ]

You might know adventurer Erik Weihenmayer as “the blind guy who climbed Mount Everest,” but did you also know that he’s an ice climber, hang glider, and skydiver? And we’re not talking that skydiving where you’re strapped to someone’s chest; he goes solo, putting his faith in instruments. Now he’s prepping for what could be [ more... ]

Google has unveiled the Street View Trekker giving us one more way to explore the planet without ever having to go outside. Considering all the talk about mining national lands going on during this presidential election (and the lack of talk about protecting the environment), I’m glad that Google is documenting these great trails in the Muir Woods and Grand Canyon in case uranium mines are ever developed near them. At least our children will have access to high-res images. Google Trekkers have been spotted on the Bright Angel Trail and South Kaibab Trail, both in Grand Canyon National Park.

Officials at the Grand Canyon have introduced new ways to access the park, and they’re hoping it’ll mean less traffic. Effectively a park-and-ride, the new lot is near the entrance to the park with free seasonal shuttles running in and out. Something tells me a new 100-car lot isn’t going to do much to alleviate [ more... ]

Not exactly turning it into an airport. More like keeping it an airport. Lawmakers in the U.S. Congress have passed legislation that effectively makes it impossible for the National Park Service to limit flyover noise as much as they’d like in the Grand Canyon. The good news is that it was members of both parties [ more... ]

I find the notion that even one inch of the Grand Canyon has gone unexplored something hard to fathom. But the crew behind The Last Great Unknown would have me believe otherwise. The team headed into the narrow slot canyons carved by the river’s innumerable tributaries, and they came out with this lovely trailer for a film that has premiered this month.

A couple of circling condors have led to the discovery of a body in Grand Canyon National Park. Rangers noticed the birds near Lees Ferry and two of them went to investigate finding the man’s body below Navajo Bridge. This is just one more reason people don’t like condors. If they would find people before [ more... ]

This year three condor chicks were born in Grand Canyon National Park shattering previous records for the National Park’s condor recovery efforts. One of the chicks was found dead outside of its nest, but the remaining two are still enough to set records. One of the two survivors has already began fledging and taken flight, [ more... ]