hobolinks :: February :: 2007

This couple, living a retirement that most hikers will only dream about, is gearing up to hike the Pacific Crest Trail again as a way to see how their other hikes may have affected their perspective.

If you have a blog that refers to outdoor places, my map site theoutdoormap.com has something new to offer: automatic links back to your blog posts. Take a second to consider it.

We often name outdoor places when we write. Maybe we link the name to one of a great number of web sites relevant to the place. I think we could reap many benefits by sending these links to the location pages of The Outdoor Map:

• If your link comes from a blog with an RSS feed, The Outdoor Map will scan the feed and attempt to add a link back to your post from the location page. (Here’s an example). This will create a chronological list of blog posts relevant to the location, including yours. All it takes to accomplish this is:
  1. Search The Outdoor Map to find the location.
  2. Copy the URL for the location’s detail page.
  3. Use the URL in your post to link the location name.

  That’s it - you don’t even have to have an account at The Outdoor Map.

• I’m committed to gathering the best online resources for outdoor locations available for every location.
• If you are a member, you can add relevant links to the location detail page, and rate existing links.

That’s a brief summary. There’s more there, and I’m always working to improve it. You can help me just by using it. If something is preventing you, please tell me what it is. Thanks!

This looks like a well-funded effort: three guys run across the Sahara for a National Geographic documentary. I’m sure it will be good, but I find Paula Constant’s Sahara trek more inspiring, probably because of the much lower level of support she has.

(Via GoBlog)

I’ve enjoyed all the interviews I’ve heard with Scott Williamson, including this one by Ryan Jordon at Backpacking Light. Williamson is the only person to “yo-yo” the PCT, Mexico->Canada->Mexico in one go, and he’s done it more than once.

I follow several human powered around-the-world expeditions, and have often wondered if there is some contention among them. Today, Jason of Expedition 360 addressed the issue directly (from the middle of the Arabian sea no less). He identifies his competition, and asks for support for the “antipodal” definition of circumnavigation to be recognized by National Geographic. I have great respect for all these explorers, but I must admit that hitting a pair of opposite points on the planet has a certain aesthetic appeal.

I’ve finally started reading some of the journal excerpts recently published from Karl Bushby and Dmitri Kieffer’s 2006 crossing of the Bering Straits. They’re pretty riveting:

The nights out here are extremely creepy. Tightly wrapped in our bags we start as things outside crack and groan. As the ice constantly shifts, forms pressure ridges or breaks apart it creates the most amazing sounds. Unlike anything you would expect, it can imitate a car engine, a pack of howling dogs or a human scream.

I like the tent-city method of civic demonstration. I’ve heard of a few of these, most recently the Paris canal tent city. The message that investment in preventing homeless problems is much cheaper than the alternative is worthy of more press.

Scientists doing genetic tests on birds have discovered at least 15 species of North American birds that do not interbreed, but look like other species. They project the same is true for other animals, and around the globe.

Interesting and potentially useful to see what it takes for two regular guys to tackle a big peak.

(Via Best Hike)

I suppose it’s to be expected from bloggers who reject society and civilization, but I’m sad to see that Casemeau’s excellent blog Living In A Van Down By The River has disappeared. I’ll miss it.

Kevin Quaderer is taking the plunge, and blogging it. Thanks to Modern Hiker for pointing it out.

National Geographic has photos and video of human-sized glowing squid attacking their prey. The squid may also use their lights for communication. Wild.

Ok, you can’t actually look at any maps yet, but I couldn’t resist the idea of hiking maps of Mars. They’re just talking about the first topo maps of the red planet, of course.

Climbing doesn’t make the sports page very often, but it tends to entertain me when it does. This article from an english paper in Turkey is no exception. I would truly love to visit the sport crags outside Istanbul, covered with climbers old and young.

This time Japanese fishers hauled up a goblin shark, and again it died shortly after. There seems to be some head scratching going on about why these animals are being caught so close to the surface.

A mashup of outdoor routes for “rock and ice climbing, caving, canyoning, hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, mountain biking”. Most of the points are in Europe currently. I like the idea of quick map access to route diagrams, but none of the “route diagram” links I tried actually contained any diagrams. Maybe it will get better.

This puts species discoveries in the news way ahead of extinctions. I think this gives new meaning to scientists “having a field day”.

I’ve been inspired by recent reading to eat more locally produced food. Apparently the UK is really getting into it. Here’s a sample of what African farmers have to say about that:

“With the deepest respect, the farmers in the villages where I come from don’t have televisions, they don’t have refrigerators, they don’t have even one car, let alone two, they don’t have motorbikes, they’ve never even been to our country’s capital let alone flown all over the world on holiday — so don’t ask those farmers to pick up the cost of environmental problems you in the industrialised West have caused.”

This is a travel map mashup for Australia that lets you add your own markers and notes.

Many of the links I cover in this blog are driven by an interest in when the thousands of species extinctions predicted by scientists will reach the news. Until now I haven’t found any other blogs on subject. Here is Exctinction Blog, news from the brink.