Last week we gave you a big old serving of national parks. And now (much as we love our public lands)听we're back to regular programming. But we couldn't help sneaking in a couple more centennial听treats from this week. Thursday marked the National听Park Service's听official 100th birthday, after all. We also have some quality mountain literature and some podcasts full of questionable language鈥攂ut really, have you heard of Truman Everts? Tears! Fires! Eating songbirds! Now tell us you're ever going to get tired of national park stories.听
Very Long Weekend听Reading
'Yellowstone: A Journey Through America's Wild Heart' by David Quammen
Find an excerpt from听翱耻迟蝉颈诲别听肠辞苍迟谤颈产耻迟辞谤听蚕耻补尘尘别苍'蝉 , a follow-up to two years of reporting on the park for听National Geographic,听over at PopSci:
There were three pens, all located discreetly up little drainages beyond sight from the Lamar road鈥攐ne at Rose Creek, one at Crystal Creek, one farther upstream at Soda Butte鈥攁nd containing a total of 14 translocated wolves. At first the wolves scarcely dared step out of the crates. They had been abducted by aliens, after all, and who knew what might happen next?
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Somewhat Long Weekend Reading
The Hapless Explorer Who Helped Create the National Park System
One of the more bizarre stories we've published this year:
Everts鈥 first meal in five days came on wings benumbed by cold. Lying under a tree as a blizzard blanketed the region, a small, confused songbird landed right in front of him. 鈥淚 instantly seized and killed it, and, plucking its feathers, ate it raw,鈥 he wrote. 鈥淚t was a delicious meal for a half-starved man.鈥 听
With the September storm raging, Everts abandoned hope of being found by his fellow explorers. He stumbled through what he estimated were ten miles of mush and snow鈥攑ark historian Whittlesey puts it at closer to three or four鈥攗ntil he found a collection of hot springs at the foot of what he called Mount Everts. Freezing and soaked through, he lay down beside the blistering springs for warmth. There he stayed for seven days, waiting out the snow.听
Let's Be Realistic and Add These to Your Future Reading List
The Best Mountain Books of the Year
The听shortlist came out on Wednesday, awarding the five best pieces of peak prose for 2016. Without further ado:
- by Alex Honnold and David Roberts: The 31-year-old has already done enough to fill a book, so he and talented climber/writer Roberts听did exactly that.
- 听by Simon McCartney: The British alpinist remembers tackling Denali with his climbing partner鈥攁n attempt that almost killed him.
- by Steve Olson: Olson unpacks the May 1980 eruption through the eyes of the people (from scientists to loggers)听who were forced to make tough decisions when it finally blew.
- by Mark Vallance: The story of cams, from the man who first created them in the seventies.
- by Robert Wainwright: You've likely heard of Finch as an early proponent of supplemental oxygen. Wainwright has a lot more to say about the听climbing anti-hero.
Watch List
Ski Porn Preview
Follow our writer's lead: Pour yourself a glass of wine, load up these听snow-packed trailers,听and听bask听in the knowledge that powder season is nigh. Here's our rundown of听the most anticipated ski movies dropping soon鈥攃omplete with the songs听that will likely become soundtrack to all your winter听road trips. (What will be the next听My Silver Lining?)
Podcasts
'WTF Is TFC?'
国产吃瓜黑料/In embeds with a legendary trail crew in the northeast. Now try and guess what TFC stands for.
'Bears, Tigers, Leeches, and Spicy Food'
A rerun from听How to Do Everything听that we're glad to see resurface. Featuring hypothetical large-animal fights and less-hypothetical-than-we'd-hope survival advice from Bear Grylls.
Virtual Reality
Google Goes to the National Parks
We'd love to execute听these听dream itineraries听at classic national parks鈥攚reck diving in Dry Tortugas! Iceberg kayaking in Kenai Fjords!鈥攂ut for now, we'll settle for experiencing it secondhand in .听Being based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we're partial to the Carlsbad Caverns portion (around 2:40). Whether or not you have VR goggles, this is a fun one to poke around for a few minutes听(or hours).