Fifty-two days, eight hours, and twenty-five minutes. As of Thursday evening, that鈥檚 the record Timothy Olson appears to have beat running from border to border, Mexico to Canada, on the Pacific Crest Trail. Once , he will have completed the PCT faster than anyone ever before. According to his Instagram account, his unconfirmed time is 51 days, 16 hours, and 55 minutes.

When Olson arrived at the northern terminus of the PCT at 10:48 P.M. on Thursday, he seemingly surpassed the record held by Karel Sabbe from Belgium since 2016. An FKT on the PCT, which winds through 2,652 miles of rugged mountain terrain in California, Oregon, and Washington, is one of the most prized speed records in thru-hiking and ultra-running. And for good reason: Olson averaged more than 50 miles a day for seven weeks straight for this record, often at alpine altitudes, gaining more than 400,000 feet in elevation. Not to mention another 400,000 feet of elevation loss.

Olson wore a GPS tracker for the length of his run, and once the data is confirmed, the official time will be released. (The complete tracker data has yet to be made public.) He started his journey in Campo, California, on June 1, which suggests he beat Sabbe鈥檚 time by less than 24 hours. The record comparison is complicated by the fact that trail adjustments, closures, and above all, , mean that the Pacific Crest Trail varies in route and length every year. This means that Olson, along with every thru-hiker, had to improvise: at least once, Olson ran up to a trail closure, turned around, ran back to a trailhead, and was driven to the other side of the closure. The extra added miles approximately equaled the distance of the closure, so even if Olson could not run every mile of the trail, he likely ran as many miles, if not slightly more.

Olson is not an amateur athlete, and this isn鈥檛 his first ultrarunning record. He once held the record for the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, which he won听in 2012 and 2013. But running the PCT is a fundamentally different challenge, physically and logistically.

Many FKT attempts on the country鈥檚 鈥渢riple crown鈥� of thru-hikes, which also includes the Appalachian Trail and the Continental Divide Trail, end in failure, often due to injury, inclement weather, or sheer exhaustion. Olson was supported by a team of seven following along听in two RVs, rendezvousing with Olson as he passed through trailheads, and handling logistics like food and laundry. Most nights, Olson slept in an RV. But in several especially isolated sections, such as the Sierra Nevada, Olson spent the night alone, sleeping on the ground along the trail.

Sweetening the moment of victory for Olson is that his wife and fellow ultrarunner, Krista Olson, is eight months pregnant with their first daughter. 鈥淓ach step of the journey, I am connected to my family,鈥� as he ran through Snoqualmie Pass in Washington. Krista and both of his sons, Tristan, 8, and Kai, 5, were active members of his support team, meeting him at trailheads and assisting with logistics. Sometimes, his sons even joined听him for brief sections of trail.

In addition to record-chasing, trail running has helped the Olsons cope with loss鈥攊n particular, two miscarriages they experienced before their current pregnancy. As part of the FKT attempt, they鈥檝e been raising money for , a non-profit that supports families going through pregnancy loss or baby loss.

Thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is an elite physical challenge, even at a normal pace. In 2019, the Pacific Crest Trail Association issued 5,441 thru-hike permits, and another 2,437 permits for section hikes. Of those, only 1,181 people self-reported as having completed the entire PCT. Typically, thru-hikers finish in five to six months, carrying their own food and gear, and sleeping in tents each night. Completing the trail in less than two months, and the logistics needed to make an FKT attempt possible, registers on an altogether different scale of magnitude.

鈥淚n a normal year, only around one-fifth of the people who set out to hike the entire PCT actually succeed,鈥� says Scott Wilkinson of the Pacific Crest Trail Association. 鈥淭o travel the entire trail in a single season is remarkable. To do it faster than anyone ever has? It鈥檚 mind-boggling.鈥�

The number of thru-hikers grows each year, as does the number of competitive ultrarunners. For those reasons, Olson鈥檚 FKT attempt certainly won鈥檛 be the last. But for now, he can rest easy knowing that he is very likely the fastest known PCT thru-hiker of all-time.

Editor鈥檚 Note: On July 29, the FKT organization Olson鈥檚 time as the fastest ever on the PCT at 51 days, 16 hours, 55 minutes, and 0 seconds.

The post Timothy Olson (Probably) Just Nabbed the FKT on the PCT appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Hopes for an Everest season unaffected by the pandemic dimmed last week听when the first member of an expedition at Base Camp tested positive for COVID-19, according to a source at camp听who asked to remain anonymous.

The infected patient was originally thought to be suffering from high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE)听and was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Upon arrival, the person听tested positive for听COVID-19. The rest of their听expedition team then began quarantining at Base Camp.

While only a single case of COVID-19 has been identified here so far, an outbreak would have disastrous consequences.听鈥淲hen you鈥檙e sitting at Everest Base Camp at 17,600 feet, your immune system gets compromised because of the lack of oxygen,鈥� 国产吃瓜黑料 Everest correspondent Alan Arnette told us听last spring, when the virus cut the season short before it even started.听鈥淓ven a small cut on your finger doesn鈥檛 heal until you get back down to an oxygen-rich environment. I think the risks are really high, and people are taking a gamble if they climb.鈥�

The virus threatens the summit aspirations of climbers, the economic security of Sherpas, and the health of both.听

鈥淥f course we are worried,鈥� says Dr. Sangeeta Poudel, a volunteer at the Himalayan Rescue Association, a nonprofit that works to reduce deaths from acute mountain sickness in the Nepalese听Himalayas. If there was an听outbreak at Base Camp, Poudel says, 鈥渋t would be an earthquake-like 蝉颈迟耻补迟颈辞苍.鈥�

The high elevation of Base Camp is particularly worrisome, as the virus could听be masked by, or mistaken for, symptoms commonly caused by extreme altitude.听

鈥淲ith HAPE and COVID-19, we have a diagnosis dilemma, because they share symptoms,鈥� says Dr. Suraj Shrestha, another Himalayan Rescue Association volunteer. Ambiguous symptoms include cough, a loss of appetite, and shortness of breath,听all commonly experienced at high elevation.听

Doctors at Base Camp have already arranged seven emergency evacuations, including听some听for multiple cases of HAPE. But because they aren鈥檛 able to test for COVID-19 at Base Camp, they don鈥檛 always feel certain in their diagnoses.听

As of now, the teams on the mountain听are feeling cautious but unfazed by a single positive test result听and are going forward as normal. While some initially expected a quieter climbing season this year, the government has听issued 338 permits,听almost as many as usual. Masks are worn sporadically听at听Base Camp, and social-distancing protocols vary widely among expedition companies, with a few听imposing strict isolation and others more or less carrying on like a normal year.

鈥淭he camp is as big as 2019, there is no difference,鈥澨齭ays Noel Hanna of Northern Ireland, who is at Base Camp for his third time. 鈥淓verything seems to be the same.鈥�

Most foreigners had to present a negative COVID听test听result听upon arrival in Nepal. The government also requires a quarantine period and a second negative test after arrival, but these rules appear to be largely self-enforced. Many individuals and expedition companies seem to have followed the rules, albeit some more seriously than others. A fair share of the foreigners claim to听have received a vaccination, allaying concerns to an extent, but most Sherpas,听who travel听down the mountain and to Kathmandu more frequently, have not.

Luckily, Nepal has seen听a relatively low COVID听infection rate since early January. In Kathmandu, many people wear masks, and life mostly goes听on as usual. However, cases are starting to trend upward. Particularly worrisome is the skyrocketing number of cases in India, which shares an open border with Nepal.

Yet there is a fair amount of optimism for a successful climbing season. Doctors and expedition leaders hope that the single known case has been contained. And at the end of the day, for many summit听hopefuls, the coronavirus is just one more danger on a dangerous mountain.听

Says Hanna: 鈥淭he way I look at COVID,听if I get it, I get it. It鈥檚 just the gamble you take.鈥�

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With climate and ecological catastrophe at the forefront of conversations about the outdoors these days, it would have been easy to听remake Jack London鈥檚 1903 classic novel听听in a way that rallied viewers to engage with the natural world.听Like Buck, the story鈥檚 canine protagonist, who eventually abandons human society to join the wolves of the forest, today鈥檚 audiences might benefit from connecting with the natural surroundings we鈥檝e听long听taken for granted.

However, the听, which hit听theaters February 21, remains polite and politically agnostic听while subtly glorifying wild places and adventure. Audiences are taken on a virtual Disneyland ride through the Yukon鈥檚 gold rush,听starring a computer-generated and easy-to-love version of Buck, a听Saint听Bernard鈥揝cotch collie mix,听and live-action human heroes led by Harrison Ford.听The plot will be familiar to most older audiences: Buck begins the story as the domesticated pet of Judge Miller (Bradley Whitford)听but is kidnapped from his home in California and shipped to a boomtown in northwest Canada, where he鈥檚 sold to mushers and soon learns to thrive on the frontier as a member of a mail-running dogsled team. Later听the team is sold to the movie鈥檚 villain, an inexperienced, mean, and cartoonishly dressed听prospector (Dan Stevens). But Buck is soon saved by John Thorton,听played by听Ford听with gruffness and a grandfatherly sympathy. Given more freedom than ever, Buck is drawn to the forest, where he meets a pack of wolves. He travels back and forth between Thorton and the forest听and eventually joins the pack permanently, embracing his wild ancestral birthright.听

But while 20th Century Fox (now owned by Disney)听has made a children鈥檚听version of The听Call of the Wild designed for听wide appeal,听Ford has no reservations about advocacy. During a recent听press interview听in Los Angeles, I asked Ford what he would say to any fans that didn鈥檛 believe in climate change.听

鈥淕et out of my house,鈥� Ford replied, without hesitation.

That response won鈥檛 surprise anyone familiar with Ford鈥檚 years of unapologetic environmental activism. A former Boy Scout and current听resident of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Ford was once 听from Indonesia during a documentary shoot听as he aggressively questioned the country鈥檚 forestry minister about illegal logging in one of the country鈥檚 national parks. Now 77 years old, Ford says he was drawn to The听Call of the Wild听as an opportunity to make a family film.听

Fans of the book may be divided about this unabashedly听tame remake, but the film succeeds听by doubling听down on two things听outdoorspeople will appreciate: dogs and adventure. There were no real canines used on set,听and Buck鈥檚 movements are a little too perfectly expressive to be confused with a real animal鈥攂ut the CGI captures all the reasons we love gregarious, mischievous pets like Buck, and rooting for a protagonist without any lines isn鈥檛听difficult.听

Those of a certain age in the audience will be treated to a reminder of the exasperated Ford that they loved in Indiana Jones听and Star Wars: 鈥淪on of a鈥�,鈥� Ford mutters听characteristically听at one point听as he walks outside and slams听a door behind him, newly resolved to rescue Buck. (Of course, this being Disney, the noise from the slamming door cuts off Ford鈥檚 line before any expletives are heard.)

As an adaptation, the movie freely discards some of the grittier and darker parts of the book (London鈥檚 version听includes far more graphic violence).听It鈥檚 not a perfect representation of dogsledding, the gold rush, or the Yukon either. It was also filmed outside Los Angeles and heavily augmented with CGI, and it鈥檚 kind of depressingly impressive to realize that a film about the role of nature in our lives chose to have its depictions of natural scenery magnificently rendered by computers. What the movie gets right is the听sense of belonging that one experiences鈥攚hether one is human or a dog鈥攚hen communing with the natural world.

It鈥檚 a feeling Ford knows well: he and his family just spent 12听days rafting on the Colorado River, which he described as transcendental. 鈥淓ach day it is just you, geology, sky, and the power of nature,鈥� he said. He spoke slowly and seriously, taking time to find the right words. 鈥淭he beauty of interrelationships, the biodiversity, all of this spectacular complication that鈥檚 part of nature, that鈥檚 life,鈥� he continued. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 as elemental as it gets.鈥澨�

Humans have often attempted to express the elation, contentment, or sense of pure rightness that comes from spending time in the wild. Attempts to capture those feelings听in popular stories can often be sappy or insufficient compared to actual听experience, and听Disney鈥檚 new adaptation, bursting with cheesy moments and CGI-altered reality, is no exception. But at the end of the day, what鈥檚听the harm of an utterly tame, family-friendly flick that glorifies an animated approximation of the wild? With any听luck,听it鈥檒l inspire some of the children watching to go outside.听

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While doing a routine check of passing vehicles in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, in 2006, Sergeant Trey Cate and his fellow soldiers were ambushed. Standing in the street, the initial blast鈥攖riggered by a suicide bomber鈥攕hattered his legs. Moments later, gunmen hidden on nearby rooftops opened fire, shooting him in the back, arm, and helmet. A stray bullet hit a barrel of gasoline, and fire enveloped the wounded soldiers, including Cate.

Remarkably, every soldier made it out alive. But when Cate got to the hospital, a doctor told him he鈥檇 never walk again.听Cate didn鈥檛 accept it. 鈥淲atch me prove you wrong,鈥澨齢e told the doctor.

鈥淭hey told me I didn鈥檛 understand how injured I was,鈥� says Cate. 鈥淚 told them they don鈥檛 understand my mentality.鈥�

Thirteen years later, not only does Cate, 35,听walk, but he hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in 2017 and the Pacific Crest Trail in 2018.

Cate听was introduced to former Marine Jeremy 鈥淢ac鈥� McDonald, 34, as part of the thru-hiking community. Together,听the two veterans are organizing one of the most ambitious thru-hiking expeditions in recent years: a 听that will take听on the 6,875-mile Great Western Loop.听

McDonald听spent eight years in the Marine Corps, did three tours in Iraq, and was the head of Marine security at the U.S. embassy in Dakar, Senegal. 鈥淚鈥檝e backpacked in some of the craziest places, just because I鈥檝e gotten to travel so much,鈥� he says. In 2014, after he听left the Marines, McDonald hiked the Appalachian Trail.

But Cate has the more unusual thru-hiking conversion story. Stuck in the hospital听as he recovered from his war injuries, Cate would spend hours daydreaming. 鈥淚鈥檓 in a hospital bed, and people are telling me I鈥檒l never walk again, and so all I could think about was walking again,鈥� he says. Not accepting he鈥檇 spend his life in a wheelchair, Cate forced himself to get out of bed and practiced putting one foot in front of the other.

鈥淲hile walking around, the hospital aides would follow me with a couch on wheels for when I鈥檇 fall,鈥� Cate says. 鈥淚鈥檇 lost a lot of weight at this point鈥擨鈥檓 six foot three,听and I weighed 140 pounds.鈥�

It was Cate鈥檚 younger brother who first told him about the Appalachian Trail. When Cate saw photos of how happy his brother looked while trekking听a 30-mile section, he immediately knew he wanted to thru-hike the entire thing. 鈥淚 had already been daydreaming about doing something with my legs,鈥� says Cate. 鈥淲hy learn to walk again if I don鈥檛 do something incredible?鈥�

But it wasn鈥檛 only听the injuries to his legs that Cate was trying to overcome. The blast left him with a traumatic brain injury, and when he initially came to in the hospital, he had amnesia. 鈥淲hen I woke up, a woman was hugging me, and I thought, Wow, my girlfriend is old,鈥� says Cate. 鈥淚 shoved her away. But turns out听it was my mom.鈥� He recognized her after a few days, but his memories never fully returned.

After Cate retired from the Army and graduated from the University of South Florida in 2015, he decided to fulfill the promise he鈥檇 made to himself on the hospital bed years ago. He began preparing to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, but Cate听says a side effect of his brain injury was that it left him overly trusting of others. On White Blaze, a forum for Appalachian Trail hikers, an anonymous user played a joke on him, feeding him false information about what thru-hiking entailed. He told Cate that if he started hiking the Appalachian Trail in January, he wouldn鈥檛 need anything warmer than a 30-degree sleeping bag. (That is very incorrect; temperatures frequently drop听to single digits.) Cate also believed it when the stranger told him that the backcountry shelters had electric outlets, and that he could charge his phone there at night. (Also not true.)

Cate completed half of the hike, starting in Georgia and getting off trail at Harpers Ferry in West Virginia听because he wasn鈥檛 appropriately prepared. He then went home, studied what he did wrong, and tried again the next year. That time听he successfully hiked the entire trail, and he loved it.

The two got the idea to tackle the Great Western Loop because they wanted to do more with their passion for the outdoors, 鈥渟omething really interesting that gets the attention of the entire thru-hiking community,鈥� says听Cate. Taking a dozen people on the longest thru-hike in the United States听certainly qualifies.听

The loop听links together five existing long-distance trails: the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, the , the Arizona Trail, and the Pacific Northwest Trail. Its听footpath follows the Sierra, the Cascades, and the Rocky Mountains听and passes through 12 national parks and 75 wilderness areas. To date, only two people have ever hiked the Great Western Loop to completion in a calendar year, one of whom is听国产吃瓜黑料 columnist听Andrew Skurka.

To accomplish their goal, Cate and McDonald听set up the expedition as an LLC called 听and partnered with a marketing company for publicity and to acquire sponsors to provide supplies and funds to the hikers, which include听McDonald.听They spent much of the last year getting听sponsors听and now have a budget of around $250,000. With the plan in place, they are ready to start hiking in March, beginning and ending in Cuba, New Mexico.

Because of the logistics required, Cate volunteered to follow the hikers in a support van rather than hike himself. 鈥淭his level of organization is what we used for military missions,鈥� Cate says. 鈥淵ou have to consider everything down to the final detail:听the weather, the supplies, the travel.鈥� Two vehicles will follow the hikers, ferry them to town, and resupply them with food. Support staff will also assess pick-up points, respond to emergencies,听and听even do their laundry.听

鈥淭here definitely will be a rate of injury,鈥� says Phaneendra Kollipara, one of the thru-hikers selected for the expedition. Kollipara, a 27-year-old engineer from India living in Michigan, has hiked all three major trails in the U.S. 鈥淭here are things we can do to help prevent injury, but bad luck can happen to anybody,鈥� he听says.

听between the ages of 22 and 36 and听hailing from four countries were selected. All are experienced thru-hikers. Each selected a charity to raise money听for, including the , the , and the , and they鈥檒l be seeking听donations while they hike as well as asking sponsors to support their chosen organizations.听

Cate and McDonald initially spread word of their plans in person and by posting in thru-hiking Facebook groups, and soon enough, applications began flooding in. Experience in long-distance hiking was requisite,听but not enough: Cate searched for individuals听who were patient and听easy to get along with and who听followed directions well. 鈥淚 tried to stay away from people who wanted to 鈥榬ace鈥� the whole time听or would get angry the moment something didn鈥檛 go their way,鈥� Cate says. They wanted people from different backgrounds, they recruited internationally, and they tried to balance the number of men and women. Because 12听people is an unwieldy number on a trail where campsites rarely fit more than four tents, the team听will be divided into four groups of three people, with听staggered听start times.

Skurka was the first person to ever hike the Great Western Loop, completing it in 206 days in 2007. 鈥淚t was complicated enough when I did it by my lonesome,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 imagine what it would take to organize for 12听people.鈥�

He听points out that the biggest challenge the group will face will be hiking through the Sierra Nevada听once the snow starts to melt around mid-May, and then booking it all the way to the Rockies, where it鈥檒l听have to exit the San Juans of southern Colorado before the snow falls in October. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e basically racing against winter the whole time,鈥� says Skurka. 鈥淵ou need to throw down 30 or 40 miles a day. That鈥檚 the inherent difficulty.鈥�

Even if you can handle the physical challenge, says Skurka, it can be just as tough psychologically.

鈥淚 would struggle to do that trip nowadays, because it鈥檚 got so many mind-bogglingly boring miles, hour after hour after hour,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 do these things for fame and fortune, you have to love it at the end of the day. There are too many hours at some level of discomfort to make it worthwhile otherwise.鈥� That said, Skurka looks back on the Great Western Loop as one of the best things he鈥檚 ever done. 鈥淚 hope they can experience that, too.鈥�

Cate and McDonald are hopeful that the success of this听expedition will听allow them to host new outdoor challenges in the future.听But for now, they鈥檙e counting the days until the听adventure begins.

鈥淚 am very excited,鈥� says McDonald. 鈥淚 wish we were starting yesterday.鈥�

The post Two Veterans Are Assembling the Avengers of Thru-Hiking appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

In the year 2019, thermoses听can do anything. They鈥檙e leak resistant. They鈥檙e vacuum insulated. They can , , and . If social progress was measured by the sheer variety of vessels designed to keep your bean juice piping hot, we鈥檝e arguably reached utopia.

But as a nondrinker of that bitter, brown liquid, I wanted to know: What can travel mugs do for me? So a few friends and I drove from Santa Fe听to Ju谩rez, Mexico, this fall听and visited the extremely disputed听birthplace of an alcoholic drink dear to the hearts of many: the margarita. After filling four thermoses with the frozen cocktail, we drove back to Santa Fe and taste-tested the concoction听from each travel mug.

The test gave us the answer to听that age-old question: Which container听best keeps margaritas tasting cold and fresh after 24 hours of travel? These are the results of our investigation.

The Bar

The 99-year-old in Ju谩rez opened during Prohibition, when distilleries from Kentucky and other states听moved to Mexico to legally continue their craft. The bar and restaurant quickly became a destination for ethanol-deprived Americans, who would cross the border in听El Paso, Texas, seeking refreshment. Legend has it that the establishment鈥檚 bartender in the late 1930s, Lorenzo 鈥淟encho鈥� Hernandez, first put tequila, lime juice, Cointreau, and crushed ice in a cocktail shaker. But in reality, the Kentucky Club is hardly the only bar that claims to have invented the drink, and the true origin story will probably . But for our purposes, these margaritas did听just fine.

The Test

We purchased eight margaritas on Saturday, October 12, at 2:35 P.M., and听drank a few at the club (this round of drinks听would serve as our control group). We then gingerly poured two margaritas each into insulated travel mugs representing four different brands: CamelBak, Hydro Flask, Stanley, and Yeti.听On Saturday night, we camped at White Sands National Monument,听outside Alamogordo, New Mexico, (and had a hard time resisting a swig from our vessels) before returning to Sante Fe on Sunday afternoon, October 13.听At 5:18 P.M.,听three other journalists and I taste-tested the margaritas in each thermos (that鈥檚 is 26 hours and 48 minutes of travel time.) The four of us each awarded the drinks a score on a scale of one to ten, for a possible total of 40 points. We considered听three criteria: coldness, taste, and drinkability. In order to preserve the purity of our palates, we did not order Domino鈥檚 Pizza until after the testing concluded.

Test Case 1: CamelBak Eddy + 20-Ounce听Bottle

Sitting around the day-old margaritas, we didn鈥檛 know what to expect. Would any of them be cold at all? Would they all taste exactly the same, rendering our intended comparisons鈥攁nd our entire journey south of the border鈥攁 waste of time? relieved our first concern. The margarita had听remained colder than room temperature. But the crushed ice had melted, so the snow-cone texture that makes the cocktail so enjoyable on a hot day was absent.听The drink was what can be best described as luke-cold,听which was better than our worst fears.

Otherwise, we thought the margarita in the CamelBak tasted OK. The听tequila wasn鈥檛 well masked, leaving听the beverage with a somewhat harsh flavor. One reviewer succinctly summarized our collective impression: 鈥淚 would definitely drink it, but I already have a pretty low bar.鈥�

Score: 20/40

Taste Case 2: Yeti Rambler 18-Ounce听Bottle

We had high hopes for our听. This听high-end brand has听made coolers so cool, they鈥檝e听become a lifestyle.听And we did think the margarita in the听Rambler听tasted notably better than that in the听CamelBak. Not only did this version seem smoother and saltier, it was even colder than the CamelBak鈥檚. But听there was also no sign of ice.

Two of our judges felt the drink took听on a metallic taste while in the Rambler. It was the low note of a travel-mug margarita (mugarita?) that otherwise held up well.

Score: 28/40

Test Case 3: Stanley Master Unbreakable Trigger-Action Mug, 16 Ounce

This aesthetically pleasing 听may be unbreakable, but it broke our hearts听a little. The green liquid in it remained about as cold as the CamelBak version, but the flavors were amiss. Two of our judges agreed that the adult beverage tasted 鈥渂riney,鈥� which some cocktail experts would surely agree is the spiritual antonym of 鈥渞efreshing.鈥� There was no ice.

It was almost as if Stanley thermoses weren鈥檛 explicitly designed to preserve the flavors of margaritas for more than 24 hours. (This mug is an excellent choice for coffee and tea, howver.) I think it is safe to say we鈥檙e never going to drive to Ju谩rez to fill our Stanley Master Unbreakable Trigger-Action Mug at the Kentucky Club again.

Score: 17/40

Test Case 4: Hydro Flask 18-Ounce Wide Mouth

Rejoice, for the Hydro Flask version of the mugarita has no equal! All four of us gave the highest scores (an 8, an 8.5, a 7, and a 6.5 out of 10), largely because of how well the Wide Mouth maintained the margarita鈥檚 true and original flavor. We all concluded that the听concoction in this thermos was just as cold as the Rambler version. Sadly, all the ice inside the Hydro Flask had melted, too.

鈥淚t has the best mouth feel,鈥� said one judge (not a qualified sommelier). 鈥淚t tastes as if the individual components have not separated听but rather kept together nicely.鈥� All of us agreed that the flavor reminded us of a multidimensional, fresh margarita.

We admit that, by now, several margaritas into the evening, the tequila may have altered the accuracy of our judgments听as well as our mental states. But there was one thing we knew for sure: we had undoubtedly made the most of our weekend听for the sake of science.

Score: 30/40

The post Which Thermos Kept Our Margaritas Coldest? appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

It was听Valentine鈥檚 Day 2019 on the Pacific Crest Trail in Southern California, just a few dozen miles north of the Mexican border. This stretch of the PCT runs through the Laguna Mountains, 6,000 feet above sea level, and the high-desert scrub that spreads in every direction was blanketed with snow. Pretty much nobody was thru-hiking it this early in the year, but 33-year-old Cory McDonald was already underway. As he trudged along on a thin layer of frost, weighed down by a backpack, he heard a voice behind him say, 鈥淗ey, Second Chance!鈥�

Cory froze. He turned to see an older man he didn鈥檛 recognize, who somehow knew his trail name. 鈥淚 saw you on YouTube,鈥� the man said.

The stranger, standing trailside, didn鈥檛 look like a thru-hiker. Of course, people thought Cory didn鈥檛 either鈥攖hanks to his shaved head, baby face, and a weight of nearly 400 pounds. But at least Cory听had a backpack. This man wasn鈥檛 carrying one, and he made Cory very uneasy when he said, 鈥淚 followed your footsteps through the snow.鈥�

This wasn鈥檛 the first instance of somebody tracking Cory down in the wilderness. Don鈥檛 murder me,听he thought as the man came closer. How many more times is this going to happen?

Cory鈥檚 decision to attempt the PCT dated back to March 2018. He was living by himself in Fort Myers, Florida, definitely not loving his existence. He鈥檇 recently given up trying to make a living as a day trader, which was stressful and volatile. Before that听he鈥檇 quit a job selling soft drinks to gas stations, and before that he鈥檇 worked at Target and Pizza Hut. He was bored. He also doubted that he鈥檇 ever find love.

鈥淚 was very depressed, very unhappy, miserable with everything,鈥� Cory told me when I first interviewed him by phone last summer. 鈥淢y life wasn鈥檛 going in the direction I wanted. I couldn鈥檛 get a girlfriend. I was very lonely, and I kept sitting around, dreaming that one day I鈥檇 have this awesome life.鈥�

Cory blamed his weight. 鈥淚 tried different diet plans, but none of them were working,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淚 kept gaining weight every year.鈥� Heart disease runs in his family, so he visited a cardiologist, who studied the results of an echocardiogram and told Cory his heart looked mostly healthy. But the doctor听scared him with stories about former patients who had dropped dead from a heart attack in their late thirties.

鈥淭hat was a big eye-opener,鈥� Cory said. 鈥淚 just felt like I hit rock bottom.鈥�

Not long after, while surfing YouTube on his couch, Cory came across a channel called , where he discovered a series of hiking videos made by a woman named Jessica Mills, a 33-year-old from Alabama who used the trail nickname Dixie. Dixie was a vision: charming, fun, outdoorsy, and doing a solo long-distance hike on a trail that Cory knew little about, the PCT. It was far away from Florida, in the romantic-sounding West.

One video led to another, and Cory soon discovered an entire ecosystem of thru-hikers who were vlogging about their adventures. They shot videos as they went, releasing episodes on their YouTube channels maybe once a week. Cory and thousands of others could vicariously experience a thru-hiker鈥檚 journey as the hikers lived it.

鈥淚 was blown away by Dixie, Darwin, Jay Wanders Out, Whimsical Woman, all the YouTube hikers,鈥� said听Cory, ticking off the names of other thru-hiking stars. 鈥淚 started binge-watching them and said, 鈥業 want to do this, too. I want to go hiking.鈥欌��

Cory had some experience camping and hiking in Missouri and Florida, and he researched what he needed to know about taking on the PCT. He didn鈥檛 train, but he spent more than a hundred hours rounding up equipment. 鈥淚t was next to impossible to find gear that would fit me, ultralight or otherwise,鈥� he said. In November, he sold his house. Cory knew he鈥檇 be slower than most thru-hikers, so he booked a ticket to San Diego for the end of January 2019, months before anybody else would begin the northbound transit.

As for YouTube, Cory was interested in becoming a star himself鈥攂ut not until after his thru-hike, when he鈥檇 lost some weight. He decided to bring a GoPro with him anyway, for practice. Before long,听a friend in Florida encouraged him to go ahead and start making episodes, sending her his footage so she could edit and upload it. He gave in, and on the Second Chance Hiker听channel debuted on February 6. In it听you watch Cory at home in Florida, stepping onto a scale. Then he鈥檚 on the jet ride to California, asking for a seat-belt extension. Finally, you see him standing next to the southern terminus of the PCT, goofily waving at Border Patrol agents as they drive past.

鈥淚鈥檓 Second Chance Hiker, and I鈥檓 starting the Pacific Crest Trail on January 30听to drop 200 pounds,鈥� Cory announces. It鈥檚 windy, and the sky is overcast, but he鈥檚 giggling and smiling. 鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to get my life back on track.鈥�

Thousands of thru-hikers tackle the country鈥檚 longest trails every year. And hundreds of thousands, if not millions, watch them on screens. I watched some myself in early 2018, as I prepared for my own thru-hike of the PCT that summer.

In 30 minutes of recent searching, I found more than 60 YouTube channels devoted to thru-hiking. The most well-known听belong to Dixie and a hiker , who asked that I not share his real name. Both Dixie and Darwin have more than 200,000 subscribers. Dixie has posted nearly 350 videos, which have collectively gotten more than 31 million views. Rates vary, but for every thousand views a channel receives, its creator earns a few bucks through advertising. That can add up quickly, and it鈥檚 fair to say that YouTubers like Dixie are the biggest names in thru-hiking right now.

鈥淵ouTube鈥檚 influence is enormous,鈥� said听Scott Wilkinson, director of communications at the Pacific Crest Trail Association, which is based in Sacramento, California. 鈥淲ith good reason. People like Dixie and Darwin are so popular, because they are authentic and they care. There is nothing crass or commercial or enterprising about what they do.鈥�

Not long ago, Wilkinson said, Cheryl Strayed was the biggest trail celebrity鈥攈er 2012 book听Wild, along with the 2014 film adaptation starring Reese Witherspoon, brought more people to the PCT than ever before. But Wilkinson said听that YouTube and social media may have surpassed听Wild as 鈥渢he leading drivers听of growth on the trail.鈥�

Dixie is the queen of the medium. Young, blonde, friendly, with an easy-listening accent and scraped-up limbs, she鈥檚 part southern belle and part hardcore adventurer. Her videos have the unusual ability to make thru-hiking seem both approachable and epic.

鈥淚 want to bring the experience to people鈥檚 living rooms,鈥� Dixie told me. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 freezing cold and miserable, how do I let other people feel that, without just telling them that I feel cold? How do I have somebody else get as close to that experience without doing it themselves?鈥�

Alas, the online thru-hiking community is also rife with cyberbullies, trolls, and argumentative jerks, many of whom aren鈥檛 thru-hikers but seem to think they know all about it. Dixie has had some unsettling experiences. One time she blocked a man from her YouTube channel after he cursed out other viewers in the comments section. He found her email address and wrote: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 wait to find you on the trail this year, where you can鈥檛 silence my voice.鈥� After Dixie posted a video about whether thru-hikers should carry a gun on trail鈥攕he doesn鈥檛 think it鈥檚 necessary鈥攐ne person commented, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to put a bullet in your skull.鈥� Equally chilling, a few fans discovered her home address in Alabama and visited her house unprompted.

For Dixie and others who get targeted, the online vitriol comes in all forms: body shaming, gear shaming, charges of egotism and self-promotion. The most successful YouTube thru-hikers, like Dixie and Darwin, make enough money from their online presence to support what is basically a never-ending journey. Darwin, who hit the trail in 2015, says he can make anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 a month off views of his YouTube videos鈥攏ot a fortune, but enough to keep him going. Dixie says she makes twice as much from the crowdfunding platform Patreon as she does from YouTube;听there, 900 monthly donors get access to private Q and听A鈥檚 with her, and some use Dixie as a consultant to help them plan their own thru-hikes.

Darwin and Dixie both said听that people’s听skepticism about their authenticity and motives can sting. Running a successful YouTube channel is harder work than it appears, and there are easier ways to make a living, but they do it anyway because they love it. Neither has been tracked down on the trail, but they don鈥檛 doubt听it could happen.

鈥淚f people were willing to show up at my house uninvited,鈥� Dixie said,听鈥渢hey鈥檇 absolutely be willing to find me on trail.鈥�

Because of the exertion he put himself through on his first day, Cory ran out of water that night. There are few water sources along the initial stretch of the PCT鈥攋ust a sea of muted-green, drought-tolerant shrubs stretching across khaki-colored mountains that characterize much of the first 700 miles. Fortunately, a storm rolled inland, and the next day Cory collected rainwater running off his tent.

By his fourth day, Cory had walked a total of 7.3 miles. Slow starts aren鈥檛 unusual, but most thru-hikers on the PCT aim to cover around 20 miles per day.

Still, Cory remained inexplicably, infectiously happy. He鈥檇 sing silly songs to the camera. He鈥檇 laugh like a little kid at his own jokes. Cory confides his thoughts and feelings to viewers, as if he鈥檚 speaking to good friends on FaceTime. It鈥檚 endearing, which is probably why his YouTube channel took off and people started watching and cheering him on. 鈥淚鈥檓 very proud of you for just getting out there and giving it a shot,鈥� wrote a viewer. 鈥淪ending love and support from Australia,鈥� wrote another. A fan group launched on Facebook; its members uploaded photos of themselves hiking. One of them posted watercolors he鈥檇 painted听based on stills from Cory鈥檚 videos.

But not everybody approved of Cory鈥檚 quest, and some believed he shouldn鈥檛 have been attempting it because of his weight. He was a danger to himself and others, they said.

鈥淵ou need to take the black capsule,鈥� one troll suggested, a reference to committing suicide. Another, writing on a popular forum for Appalachian Trail hikers called White Blaze, said: 鈥淚f more people Fat Shamed others (which should probably be compulsory), then perhaps the 39.8% of obesity amongst the 99.3 million US adults could be seriously reduced and SAVE LIVES, instead of being concerned about 鈥榟urty feelings鈥�!鈥�

鈥淵ou would think some of these park rangers would intervene … and [put] a stop to this freak show,鈥� someone else wrote on the same forum. 鈥淚 did call the PCT assoc. when I first saw this clown and gave them a ear full about it. I think if more people did they can pull his permit.鈥�

Cory tried to ignore the nasty comments, but then something truly unexpected happened: strangers, fans and haters alike, started searching for him on the trail.

In Southern California, the PCT roller-coasters up forested mountains and down into desert-valley passes, crossing highways and back roads several times a day. By watching Cory鈥檚 videos and approximating his mileage, people could home in听on him. Early on, a woman from the Facebook fan group announced her intention to help 鈥渞escue鈥� Cory and get him off the trail. Shortly after, strangers started driving to various segments of the PCT to look for him. They would park along the road and start hiking until they saw their quarry. One man who showed up was homeless, and he told Cory that he would follow and 鈥渢ake care鈥� of him.

If people weren鈥檛 trying to rescue Cory, they were听often trying to manipulate him. One stranger demanded that Cory hire him as a 鈥渕anager.鈥� In Agua Dulce, a small trail town outside Los Angeles that鈥檚 been used as a location for dozens of Hollywood films, a woman impersonated a journalist to get access to a home where Cory was staying overnight, claiming that she had an appointment to speak with him. She then tried to physically intimidate him into accepting her brand of drinking water as his official sponsor.

鈥淪he said it cures cancer and snakebites,鈥� said听Cory, who doesn鈥檛 remember her name but calls her Water Lady. Other hikers hid Cory in the back of the property, but Water Lady parked out front and refused to leave. Cory鈥檚 friends had to sneak him out.

Two incidents frightened Cory more than any others. On a February morning at 6:30,听still too early in the year for other thru-hikers to be on the trail, Cory was lying in his sleeping bag when he heard a voice outside his tent.

鈥淪econd Chance, is that you in there?鈥� a man asked. 鈥淚鈥檝e been searching for you. I鈥檓 here to help.鈥� Cory freaked out. He was alone in the woods, and he hadn鈥檛 asked for assistance. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very scary, because you don鈥檛 know what their intentions are,鈥� Cory said. 鈥淪ome of them have it in their mind that they鈥檙e here to save me听and I should be grateful and thankful.鈥� Not long after, another stranger showed up, the one who tracked Cory鈥檚 footsteps through the snow. In both cases, he hid his fear, politely refused their help, and excused himself before hurriedly hiking away.

After encountering the 鈥渟talkers,鈥� as Cory called听them, he messaged Darwin on Instagram, looking for advice on what to do about such people. Darwin shared a strategy that he and Dixie had used for years: Delay your social media. Don鈥檛 post YouTube videos, Instagram posts, or anything else until weeks after you鈥檝e hiked through an area.

Cory started publishing videos on a monthlong delay, and for the most part, it worked. Strangers stopped finding him;听nobody tried to rescue him. By April, as more and more people began thru-hiking the PCT, Cory discovered that many of them had been watching his early videos as they prepared for their own hikes. If they happened to catch up with him, they were thrilled.

鈥淥ne day听ten people in a row wanted a selfie with me,鈥� Cory said. 鈥淚 felt like the nerdy kid in the high school movie who becomes super popular, and everybody wants to talk to you and get your picture.鈥�

Life was looking up. Cory kept posting videos, gaining 25,000 followers. And he鈥檇 met a girl in Agua Dulce: Nessa Pepp, a fellow YouTube thru-hiker from Germany. 鈥淪he鈥檚 the perfect girl,鈥� Cory said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 really sweet, and she sells honey in Germany. When we first met, she didn鈥檛 know who I was, and she actually didn鈥檛 think I was a hiker, because she thought I was too fat. I thought that was really funny.鈥� They started hiking together a few days later听and after a few weeks became a couple.

Before long, Cory and Nessa ran into a problem that had nothing to do with YouTube or his weight. After weaving through the desert mountains, the PCT ascends into the glacial-carved Sierra Nevada. But 2019 was a record-breaking snow season, and the range鈥檚 famous mountain passes鈥攖he trail reaches its highest point at the 13,000-foot Forester Pass in California, near Mount Whitney鈥攚ere snowbound and dangerous. When Cory arrived in the southern Sierra, he assessed the situation, then chose to do what many PCT hikers do: skip the Sierra and get back on the trail far to the north, in Ashland, Oregon. The plan was to do the California portion later that year, once the snow melted.

Though it was already June by this point, Oregon鈥檚 Cascades also hadn鈥檛 fully escaped the grasp of winter. On Devil鈥檚 Peak, not far north of Ashland, the trail disappeared beneath a sheet of snow. Faced with the option of pushing on or backtracking, Cory and Nessa decided to keep going. Cory strapped on his microspikes and followed a steep, trodden snow track that went down the mountain.

He didn鈥檛 get far. Nessa was filming when Cory started sliding out of control, grasping at the snow unsuccessfully. The images she shot, which can be seen听near the end of on YouTube, show him flailing and grunting loudly in discomfort.

In , Cory finally stops sliding, and he slowly makes his way back to the snow track and down the mountain. Shortly after, as the adrenaline rush fades, he stumbles and feels a sharp pain. Screaming and听unable to get off the ground, Cory realizes that he鈥檚 badly hurt, and Nessa uses her InReach to call for emergency assistance. In due course,听, and Cory is taken by helicopter and ambulance to Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Cory鈥檚 story鈥攊nspirational, defiant, feel-good鈥攚as suddenly overshadowed by an uncomfortable question. The online critics and haters had doubted his ability. Were they right?

When an adventurer negligently wanders into the wilderness, it鈥檚 not just their livelihood at stake. Search and rescue missions are expensive, often billed to the public, and can distract personnel from other emergencies. Sometimes听volunteers get hurt or die in a rescue attempt, which happened in California .

The consequences are far-reaching, and Cory is aware of that. But he thinks the public does a poor job of determining who has听acted听negligently and who is capable听but simply got into a jam that could have happened to anyone. Cory told me about a number of hikers he met who were rescued at some point but faced no consequences or judgment. Cory begged Nessa not to hit the SOS button, because he knew what the critics would say about a guy like him getting rescued.

鈥淚 went up there with all the right gear, I didn鈥檛 cross my limits,鈥� Cory said. Accidents听happen all the time, but there鈥檚 a double standard. 鈥淚f you are attractive, they assume you know what you鈥檙e doing. But I鈥檓 a big fat guy, so I get judged much more harshly.鈥�

Cory was right about the flak he鈥檇 get after posting the video of his rescue. 鈥淧athetic,鈥� one commenter said. 鈥淧eople like them should not be allowed in the mountains.鈥�

鈥淚 swear you act like you鈥檙e so hurt to get 鈥� attention and sympathy,鈥� wrote听another.

鈥淚 tried to watch the rescue video, but it was too painful,鈥� Cory said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 like that day at all. It was an awful day.鈥�

As Cory recuperated in a hospital bed in Klamath Falls, he learned that he鈥檇 likely sustained tissue and nerve damage in his back. His doctor said he would recover, but he had to stop hiking for at least three weeks. It鈥檚 not uncommon for thru-hikers to end their hike because of injuries, but Cory didn鈥檛 want that to be the end of his story.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know what to do,鈥� he said on YouTube. 鈥淚鈥檓 out here to accomplish something, and I haven鈥檛 accomplished it yet.鈥� A hiker and fan living in Bend, Oregon, opened up his house to Cory, who rested, recovered, and plotted his return. Progress was slow鈥攁t first听his back couldn鈥檛 even bear the weight of his pack. He decided to spend time hiking and camping in Oregon forests around the PCT, slowly building up his strength. But before he left for the woods, a surprise visitor showed up.

It was Dixie. Turns out听Cory鈥檚 original inspiration to hike the PCT was a fan of his channel.

鈥淚 was completely blown away to meet Dixie,鈥� Cory said. 鈥淢eeting her has been one of the greatest highlights of my hike.鈥� The two had a long conversation, and Dixie helped Cory get back on the trail, carrying some of the gear to the campsite where Cory would spend the next five days.

After seven weeks of recovery, Cory got going again in August. The PCT in Washington is not as high as the Sierra, but it鈥檚 steeper and wetter, and winter can dump snow on the Cascades as early as mid-September. With his back still healing, Cory hiked sections of trail without a pack, occasionally skipping ahead by car so he could keep up with Nessa. They weren鈥檛 just racing the weather; they were racing Nessa鈥檚 six-month visa, which was set to expire on September 27. But they were determined to make it to Canada in time.

By this point, Cory had hiked significantly farther than his critics expected, but he would keep hearing hateful comments from people who doubted him. 鈥淵ou shouldn鈥檛 be hiking until you deal with your food addiction first,鈥� a stranger听in Washington told him on the trail. Cory had noticed a consistent pattern. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always older white guys,鈥� Cory told me. 鈥淓very time.鈥�

But Cory didn鈥檛 care about any of that anymore. His back had healed and he was backpacking again. He didn鈥檛 care that he wasn鈥檛 a 鈥減urist鈥� thru-hiker, choosing to cherry-pick the sections of trail he wanted to hike the most, meeting up with Nessa when he could. He hiked Washington鈥檚 Goat Rocks Wilderness twice, where the razor-thin crest of the Cascades dramatically slices through the alpine air, just because he found the scenery so moving. He had lost nearly a hundred pounds and felt healthier than he had in 10 or 15 years. His shaved head had grown wild with hair, his unruly beard a thru-hiking badge of honor. And Cory kept churning out YouTube videos, where fans loved him just as much as he loved them.

In his last video from the PCT, people who had watched his hike jammed the comment section with their affection. 鈥淚 have followed you from day one and worried, laughed, cried, cheered with you in every video,鈥� one wrote. 鈥淚鈥檓 so proud and happy for you, and deeply inspired,鈥� said another.

Reinvigorated, Cory told听me he is newly determined to keep hiking, to run toward life rather than hide from it. 鈥淭he PCT has been a complete reset of my life,鈥� he said. Not to mention, Cory reminded听me, he found love. Nessa managed to renew her visa, and they鈥檙e now figuring out their future.

On September 20, Cory of the Pacific Crest Trail. In the final moments of his nine-month journey, he and Nessa slowly danced on the border of Canada.

The post Fame, Romance, and a Second Chance on the PCT appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

If you thought Sweden was all meatballs and Abba, you are sorely mistaken. In fact, one of Sweden鈥檚 largest sociocultural exports in 2019 is rather serious: flygskam,听and it has . Translating roughly to 鈥渇light shame,鈥� the movement was initially espoused by Olympic biathlete听Bjorn Ferry in 2015听and听aims to shun others into flying less, citing the massive carbon footprint of air travel as its raison d鈥櫭猼re. The global surge in air travel to preventing the climate crisis. A single round-trip flight from New York to London produces about 2,173 pounds of carbon dioxide per passenger, . In 56 countries, the average person emits less carbon dioxide in an entire year.

Now, flight shame听is 听to the United States. But it鈥檚 not so simple as saying all plane flights are equally bad听and every alternative is always better.听For the person who wants to travel greener without giving up travel altogether, it鈥檚 worth digging deeper into how carbon emissions compare among the options available to you. I talked to , a researcher at the听nonprofit science advocacy organization听,听who helped听me put together nine principles听that鈥檒l help you听cut听your carbon footprint while planning your next trip.

Consider Driving听Instead of听Flying in Some Cases

Air听travel isn鈥檛 always the worst. 鈥淎 vehicle that is traveling a long distance and isn鈥檛 fuel efficient won鈥檛 be as good of a choice as a plane for a single traveler,鈥� Anair says. In a standard vehicle with average fuel economy鈥攁round 25 miles per gallon鈥攁 traveler will probably emit more carbon driving alone than they would flying economy for the same distance.听This is because even though a plane expends much more fuel than any car, the carbon cost is shared among all of the plane鈥檚 passengers. When comparing cars to planes per passenger per mile, a plane is almost always more efficient than a solo driver.

Taking a flight that鈥檚 in the air for an hour or less, though, will almost certainly be the least green travel option听of all, because听planes use an inordinate fuel while taking off and landing. 鈥淪o, for shorter flights,鈥� Anair says, 鈥渢he takeoff and landing emissions are a bigger fraction of the overall trip.鈥� Which means longer flights of more than an听hour, while producing more emissions overall, produce less emissions per mile.

Fly Direct

Yes, fly direct鈥攐r at least straight. A layover means double the carbon-intensive takeoffs and landings. It also likely means a less-direct route. A flight from Houston to New York via Orlando burns听a lot more jet fuel than a direct flight, so you might as well treat yourself by avoiding the layover altogether. If you have to take a multiple-leg flight, a layover in a city in the direction you are headed is much better than a city that鈥檚 out of the way.

Choose the Bus (Almost Always) Over Planes, Trains, and (Most) Automobiles

There are exceptions to every rule, but in many instances, a bus trip emits less carbon that a car, plane, or even train trip. 鈥淭raveling by bus is consistently a good low-carbon travel choice, even when compared to trains, for intercity travel,鈥� Anair says.听Despite in airplane and car efficiency, interstate coaches usually have the smallest carbon footprints, especially when you鈥檙e traveling alone, for long or short distances. Obviously, buses are slower than planes, but not only are they greener, they鈥檙e often . If a bus won鈥檛 work, and you鈥檙e traveling solo or with one other person, Amtrak is another good option. Especially in the Northeast Corridor, where trains travel on electricity rather than diesel.听But, again, traveling in a packed,听energy-efficient vehicle will beat out both alternatives.

Carpool

A car at full occupancy鈥攕ay, four people鈥攊s far better than a plane. It cuts the carbon footprint per passenger by close to 75 percent, compared to a solo driver. But on a plane, a family of four would take four seats that could be occupied by individual customers.听In fact, a hybrid car carrying four people is so efficient that听it will probably emit less carbon than four people traveling by train听and is even comparable to travel by bus. Driving an electric car? You鈥檙e golden.

Avoid Delays听Whenever Possible

While they鈥檙e often out of our control, try to plan around听flight delays and bad traffic. Some airports and carriers experience than others, and planes idling uselessly on the tarmac听or flying in circles overhead听equate听to completely pointless carbon emissions. Same goes for cars in stop-and-go traffic. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e traveling in a gasoline vehicle, getting stuck in traffic is not very efficient,鈥� Anair says. Choosing to travel along routes or during times of the day with less congestion is an easy way to ensure you are not adding to your carbon footprint while going nowhere at all.

At the End of the Day, Fly Less, Not More听

Driving to your local national park in your gas-guzzling SUV, eating exclusively red meat, and burning your garbage is still probably better for the environment than flying to Alaska to stay at an eco-lodge. Every form of long-distance travel contributes significantly to your carbon footprint, and a staycation is an effective way to reduce your impact, no question. Changing your vacation plans from two one-week trips abroad to one two-week trip abroad could effectively cut your long-distance travel emissions in half.

In terms of business travel, which, according to , accounts for around 28 percent of domestic flights听Americans take every year, employees should utilize the other technologies to conduct meetings and conferences.听鈥淢eet over a video conference rather than take a business trip. That can reduce how much people might travel in a year,鈥� Anair says. But if you have to attend in person, consider giving up your first- or business-class seat for economy. 鈥淔irst class typically takes up about the area that would accommodate two economy seats,鈥� Anair says. The more space dedicated to roomier, upgraded seats, the fewer听people can fit on a听plane. Your choice won鈥檛 affect the overall footprint of the flight, but it will impact your individual trip.听鈥淚t鈥檚 a luxury that comes at a high price,鈥� Anair says, 鈥淣ot just in dollars, but in carbon efficiency.鈥�

The post How to Cut Down on Carbon Emissions When Traveling appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Lisa Zaccone was racing her coworkers to Chicago. Except, not really. They were tracking the number of steps they took each day, converting those steps into approximate mileage, and competing to see who, in a hypothetical trip starting at their office in Ann Arbor, Michigan, would arrive first in the Windy City.听

Doing those calculations every day for everyone in the office was a lot of work, so Zaccone听asked her son,听John, a 31-year-old software engineer, to create an app that tracked the progress of their footrace for them.

John didn鈥檛 say no, even though he had never developed an app before. He wasn鈥檛 that kind of software engineer. But his mom was asking, and who can turn down their mom? So he began working on a way to track those steps.听However, John thought he could do better than the imagined听road walk from Michigan to Illinois that his mother and her coworkers had come up with. Instead, he coded the Appalachian Trail.听

Today, John鈥檚 mom has 2,000 people to thru-hike with鈥攙irtually. That鈥檚 how many people have downloaded the app, called听,听since June, and it鈥檚 not far off听the (2,272) who successfully completed the actual trail during its first five decades of existence. Currently, the app is only available for iOS, but John鈥檚 developing an Android version, which should be ready next year.

The app connects to your iPhone鈥檚 Health app, which measures the mileage you鈥檝e walked while carrying your phone, even when the app isn鈥檛 in use. John鈥檚 app uses that information to then show you where you would be on the Appalachian Trail听if you were thru-hiking. And you鈥檙e not hiking alone. Literally every other user is visible on the same map, passing you and getting passed by you.

鈥淪ome people tell their friends to download the app at the same time, and then they鈥檙e motivated to keep up with each other,鈥� John says. 鈥淚 want it to be a social experience.鈥�

Having thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail last year鈥攑hysically, not virtually鈥擨 was intrigued听when I first heard about the app. It鈥檚 the latest example of technology finding a window into the world of thru-hiking, much like the navigation apps that many actual thru-hikers now rely on. I love the idea. Not everyone has the time, money, or ability to hike the Appalachian Trail, even if they like the idea of thru-hiking. Hiking virtually might not be as good as the real thing, but it鈥檚 a lighthearted and easy way to connect with the trail and get a sense of how long it takes to hike 2,000 miles.

鈥淚 went to school in Blacksburg, Virginia, which is basically right off the Appalachian Trail,鈥� says John,听who has backpacked a few sections of the AT. 鈥淚 really wanted to make an app for the people who have the inspiration or the dream to hike the whole trail.鈥� As users progress, they pass virtual signposts, which include听shelters, scenic points, and trail-volunteer information. The first 150 miles are free, then听it costs $3听to walk the rest of the way to the trail鈥檚 northern terminus in Maine, Mount听Katahdin.听

For a person walking 10,000 steps a day, John听calculated it would take an average of 440 days to hike the entire trail on Walk the Distance.听That鈥檚 more than twice as long as it would take most thru-hikers, and it doesn鈥檛 take into account elevation change or a heavy pack. But it鈥檚 still an impressive achievement, given that the average adult in the United States only . In 2020, John says, he wants to challenge people using his app to walk the entire trail within the calendar year, which would be slightly more than 12,000 steps a day.

But he听isn鈥檛 content with just the Appalachian Trail. His next coding project?听The Pacific Crest Trail. Who knows, maybe one day you can become a virtual triple crowner.

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The campfire is out, it鈥檚 dark outside your tent, and you hear something rustle in the woods. You know it鈥檚 probably nothing, but your body is on alert. Then, as a moonlit听shadow slowly passes over your vulnerable tent, you ask yourself:听Why did I think it would be a good idea to spend the night at a haunted campground? For the thrill, of course. But haunted houses are clich茅, and you visited the corn maze last October, so put your nerves to the test and head out into the woods, where strange sounds, floating figures, and high electromagnetic readings abound. Here are a few campgrounds across the spooky spectrum that you can visit this Halloween.

Lake Morena, California

This , near the start of the Pacific Crest Trail听and听not far from听the Mexican border, has experienced unexplained activity for at least 40 years. On October 26, 1983, the San Diego Union听ran a story with the headline听鈥淢ore than Fish Haunt Morena.鈥� At the time, park volunteers and rangers attested to witnessing levitating bodies, hearing heavy footsteps when nobody was around, and seeing an old man in their peripheral vision.

On one occasion, reported the newspaper, when a ranger hosted a relative in his house, she woke in the night to see 鈥渁 baby鈥檚 christening gown across the room. It floated to her, brushed her cheek, floated back where she had first seen it and disappeared.鈥� In the years since, guests have reported similar experiences of floating听figures, unexplained sounds, and even a woman in white standing at听the shoreline.

Big Moose Lake, New York

Stories of hauntings are often preceded by legends of murders, and鈥攊f the murder happened at all鈥攖he details are murky. This isn鈥檛 the case for the story of听, site of the well-documented murder of Grace Brown in 1906. Located in a remote region of the Adirondacks听near Fourth Lake, in a place听that has听primitive campsites,听the lake and the killing听that took place there听have听inspired numerous fictitious accounts, including听Theodore Dreiser鈥檚 novel An American Tragedy听and the movie听A Place in the Sun,听starring Elizabeth Taylor.

The story听goes that听18-year-old听Brown was working at a skirt factory in Cortland, New York, when she met the company owner鈥檚 charming nephew, Chester Gillette. They began secretly dating, and soon enough, Brown听was pregnant. She begged Gillette to marry her, desperately wanting to avoid the fate of an unwed young mother. To her delight, he promised he鈥檇 take her on a trip, presumably to propose. They traveled to听upstate New York听and decided to paddle听a canoe onto the lake. Brown听had mentioned that she couldn鈥檛 swim, and when they got far enough out, Gillette听grabbed a tennis racket from his bag听and smashed in her head. She fell into the water and drowned.

Gillette was arrested within days听and eventually sentenced to death. Ever since, campers have reported seeing a supernatural presence at Big Moose Lake. 鈥淚 understand her ghost haunts the lake,鈥� a told The New York Times in 2006.

Fort Worden State Historical Park, Washington

There are miles of buried tunnels, dead ends, and old rooms beneath , a former military base that鈥檚 now a campground 60 miles north of Seattle. 鈥淭here is a lot to be explored here that will get your spine tingling,鈥� says Megan Claflin, who works for听the park, where you听can explore century-old fortifications that housed nearly a thousand troops and officers. While Claflin would not confirm whether the area is definitely haunted, she did say that visitors have had unsettling experiences.

Ghost hunters who have visited the fort claim to have witnessed听paranormal activity, including听glowing orb听sightings听and high electromagnetic readings. 鈥淭his was an active military base听and then juvenile detention center for about ten听years,鈥� says Claflin. 鈥淭here is certainly an echo of the individuals who made the fort their home, and if you believe in that kind of thing, perhaps there are some who have yet to move on.鈥�

Braley Pond, Virginia

This听popular fishing spot听in George Washington National Forest, 60 miles from Charlottesville, is the site of Virginia鈥檚 most haunted campground, . Rumors of disembodied laugher, floating figures, and other unearthly听activity escalated after a 听took place there in 2003. According to a story by , not long after the murder, paranormal听researcher Shea Willis visited the pond听and immediately began experiencing nausea and dread upon arriving.

Just before midnight, Willis and her colleagues heard something moving in the water, 鈥渟plashing violently.鈥� As they ran back to the car, Willis claims something landed on her back and began crawling all over her body. They escaped the campground and made it home, but Willis continued to feel haunted, experiencing nightmares and not feeling like herself for weeks afterward. 鈥淚t was like a communication with whatever this thing was,鈥� she told the Dyrt. 鈥淟ike little bits and pieces of it were still stuck with me.鈥�

Holy Ghost Campground, New Mexico

In New Mexico鈥檚 northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, , within Santa Fe National Forest, is an isolated but scenic place to spend the night. But before you go, know that it鈥檚 rumored to be the haunting grounds of a Spanish priest who was murdered there in the 17th century.

According to local ghost-tour guide Allan Pacheco, the surrounding Pecos Wilderness is home to all kinds of bizarre听activity. 鈥淭here are a number of people who have gone missing in that vicinity,鈥� Pacheco听says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like the Bermuda Triangle of New Mexico鈥攑eople disappear into thin air. No clothing or bones are ever found.鈥� According to Pacheco,听people have also spotted UFOs, seen strange shadows, and heard voices. 鈥淭here鈥檚听all kinds of speculation. Maybe there is a cosmic doorway that opens up there, maybe a Star Trek鈥搕ype dimensional wormhole. Different beings, different energies, you name it.鈥�

When reached for comment, a spokesperson听at Santa Fe National Forest denied the existence of paranormal activity in the area: 鈥淗oly Ghost Campground cannot be haunted for one simple, yet big and important reason:听ghosts are not real.鈥�

Update: On Friday, October 18, after this story published, a group of 国产吃瓜黑料听editors bravely spent the night at Holy Ghost to investigate the claims of paranormal activity. The night passed peacefully, but the next morning, associate managing editor Aleta Burchyski got up early to fish the nearby Holy Ghost Creek. About ten minutes in, her hook got snagged on a root along the bank. As Burchyski worked to free the hook, she saw a dark figure of a man in her peripheral vision, approaching her. 鈥淗e was walking weird, kind of loping,鈥澨鼴urchyski says. Initially听she thought it was her husband coming over to tell her how cold he was, walking strangely in an attempt to warm up. 鈥淏ut then I turned to say hi,鈥澨齭he says, 鈥渁nd NOBODY WAS THERE.鈥�

Bannack State Park, Montana听

The Montana Territory, before it became the state in 1889, was a rough-and-tumble place. During the gold rush of the 1860s, a听civilian group known as the Montana Vigilantes听set out to capture and hang members of the Innocents,听a highway gang that targeted shipments of gold passing through the territory. The Vigilantes accused Henry Plummer, the local sheriff of Bannack, of leading the gang, and Plummer was hung from the same gallows north of town that he had previously ordered built. It鈥檚 still disputed whether Plummer was guilty, and in a 1993 posthumous trial in Virginia City, Montana, the jury was split six-six.

Maybe it鈥檚 the ghost of Plummer who听haunts today鈥攏ow a ghost town with a spooky reputation. Visitors regularly report paranormal experiences. 鈥淥ur most commonly seen spirit is a young girl named Dorothy who drowned here,鈥� says John Philip, a ranger at Bannack State Park. You can camp nearby, and while visitors are not usually allowed in Bannack itself after dark,听听are scheduled there听the weekend before Halloween.

Humboldt State Park, California

Hiking through the redwoods of at night during a full moon, or camping overnight at听one of 250 sites, you might encounter strange听鈥済host trees.鈥� They look like regular redwood trees, but their leaves are pale, as white as a skeleton.

While eerie in the right light, these albino redwoods are more hauntingly beautiful than anything. Only about 400 are known to exist around the world. Without chlorophyll, these redwoods are unable to produce their own sugar, so nearby trees will pass sugar to albinos through their roots, allowing them to live. Why do the other trees give up precious nutrients? One theory points to the fact that albino redwoods have , which could kill an ordinary redwood. So it鈥檚 possible that a symbiotic relationship exists, in which other redwoods feed the albino trees, and the albinos in turn remove more heavy metals from the soil.

These trees are fragile听and easily damaged by visitors. Enjoy them from a distance, or you won鈥檛 need a ghost story to scare you鈥攁n angry ranger will do the job fine.

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It鈥檚 the kind of freak accident that nobody thinks could happen to them. In late August, the Skamania County Sheriff鈥檚 Office in Washington State received a broken cell-phone call. A tree had fallen and struck Finn Bastian, a 28-year-old from Germany, while he was hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail. As emergency responders rushed to the scene, Bastian鈥檚 condition deteriorated. Search and rescue managed to bring Bastian to the trailhead, but after CPR failed to revive him.

The tragedy happened two weeks after another tree , 56, as she slept in her tent on the Colorado Trail. Falling timber killed a hiker on the Appalachian Trail in 2015 and again in 2018. And two kids died in Yosemite Valley, California, when a limb from an oak tree , also in 2015.

There are no exact statistics kept on the number of Americans killed by falling trees, so it鈥檚 difficult to know for sure if the problem has gotten worse, and if so, how much worse. After all, you鈥檙e still far more likely to die driving to the trailhead than you are from a falling tree, says Wesley Trimble of the American Hiking Society. But it turns out, the tragedies named above may not be isolated incidents鈥攅specially as phenomena like beetle kill, wildfire, and climate change continue to ravage American forests at increasing rates.

鈥淎 lot of forests are suffering, whether it鈥檚 from pine beetles, other invasive species, or diseases that are causing trees to die off,鈥� says Trimble. 鈥淭he likelihood of trees falling down is a much lower possibility when there is a forest full of healthy trees, but there are a lot of unhealthy forests, especially along the Colorado Trail and Pacific Crest Trail.鈥�

In California and Colorado, forests are littered with a particularly high number of still-standing dead trees, known as snags. An unprecedented have died from drought and bark beetles since 2010 (both afflictions have been linked to climate change). Any of those dead trees can fall at any moment, especially once they’ve been left standing long enough that their roots begin to rot, leaving them precariously unsupported.

All that’s in addition to the deadwood that has accumulated over a century of fire suppression. The result is forests stocked with vertical firewood鈥攚hich can lead to the kind of massive, out-of-control wildfires that have plagued California in recent years. These fires, of course, kill even more trees. While some burnt trunks fall over, many remain standing鈥攁dding to the risk of falling timber. For that reason, burn areas are particularly at risk for spontaneous falls. That’s a problem for many thru-hikers; both the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail wander through a number of burn zones.

So, are the numbers of standing dead trees increasing? It’s hard to make a global statement. But in Colorado, for example, there were an estimated as of 2017. That’s one in 14 trees鈥攁s much as 30 percent more than in 2010.

鈥淎s the climate gets dryer and hotter, these problems are going to become even greater, at least until we change the way our forests are managed,鈥� says Trimble.

Trail crews work to make hiking paths safer, but there are simply too many dead trees. Even can’t get to them all, which means it’s impossible to completely eliminate the risk. A single crew will often remove hundreds of downed trees from a section of trail each season, but its priority is typically the downed trees blocking the trail鈥攏ot dead trees that are still upright.

The prospect of falling trees shouldn鈥檛 keep anyone out of the woods, says Trimble, but it is a real danger. As a thru-hiker and former trail-crew supervisor, he has a few precautions that he thinks every hiker, camper, and backpacker should consider when in the forest. Here are his top tips.

Look Up

You can get hit by a tree while hiking, but the bigger danger comes when you’re sitting still, like while taking a lunch break or lounging in your tent. It doesn鈥檛 take long to evaluate your surroundings, and that鈥檚 the easiest way to avoid a hazardous situation.

鈥淭here are campsites that people have used for years and years, but people never look up [to assess the trees in the area],” says Trimble. 鈥淚 honestly don鈥檛 think enough backpackers and hikers evaluate that risk.鈥�

There are two things to look for first: hung snags and widow-makers. Hung snags are dead trees that have begun to fall but are听caught in the branches and trunks of adjacent trees and haven鈥檛听hit听the ground. Even if they look stable, they could easily shift, break apart, or even uproot the tree they鈥檙e听leaning on.

Widow-makers, or foolkillers, describe broken limbs and branches hanging freely in a tree. Even tiny a disturbance can cause a widow-maker to come crashing to the ground.

You should also evaluate听any other dead trees in the area. Trimble says there are so many snags in today鈥檚 forests that听it鈥檚 often impossible to find a primitive campsite without any nearby. Maintained campgrounds sometimes remove trees that are deemed dangerous. But if there are dead trees, it鈥檚 simply a judgment call. If you see a snag that鈥檚 leaning or appears unstable, it鈥檚 probably worth pitching your tent elsewhere.

This might sound like a lot, but in practice, it doesn鈥檛 take long to check for hazards. 鈥淭ake two seconds and evaluate what鈥檚 above you,鈥� says Trimble. It could save your life.

Be Alert to the Weather and Your Surroundings

If it鈥檚 windy, maybe save that hike through a burn zone for another day. Heavy rain can saturate soil, making it easier for a snag to uproot. If you notice trees leaning over the trail and bobbing up and down, take heed.

When it comes to avoiding falling trees, hiking is less risky than camping or taking a break along the trail, because it鈥檚 an advantage to be already moving. Trees fall fast, but being on your feet and able to quickly get out of the way can make a difference. Still, that won鈥檛 matter if you aren鈥檛 paying attention to what鈥檚 around you. 鈥淚 know a lot of PCT hikers listen to music or podcasts or audiobooks on trail,鈥� says Trimble, 鈥渂ut when it鈥檚 windy out, I intentionally do not have my earbuds in so I can be more aware of my surroundings.鈥� Often, snags will creak or crack before they falter, so keep your ears open. It could help you notice an impending fall before it happens.

A completely windless day is no guarantor of safety, however. Trees can fall due to disease, rot, and other reasons, even in calm weather. (The tree that killed Finn Bastian on the PCT, for example, was at its base.)

The odds of getting hit by a falling tree or limb are still small听and often a matter of chance. But a basic awareness of the danger is an easy way to make those odds even smaller.

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