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Archive for 'March 2012'

Part 2: Finally Hiking the John Muir Trail at Age 50

My hike of California's 211-mile John Muir Trail was a long time coming. Some 30 years long, in fact, thanks to the life changes I shared in my previous REI Blog post. Rewind to when I started backpacking in the late 1970s: Back then, my hiking boots weighed more than a modern ultra-lighter's entire load. My camera used a thing called "film." There was no such thing as the "internet," and an apple was simply a fruit that you ate daily to keep the doctor away. My last experience hauling a ...

Posted by Curt Cragg on March 23, 2012 3:04 PM & Tagged Hiking, John Muir Trail, Mount Whitney, Yosemite and backpacking | permalink | Comments



Black Girls RUN!: The Fight Against Obesity Is Getting Its Legs

Editor's note: REI is kicking off a national partnership with Black Girls RUN!, a group that is inspiring women to put on their sneakers and run for a healthier lifestyle. Here, BGR cofounder Toni Carey explains how and why this group got started: Three years ago this month, Ashley Hicks and I created a blog called "Black Girls RUN!" It was our way to share our running experiences with friends and other runners, bring to light the startling statistics surrounding black women's health and, ...

Posted by Myrian C on March 22, 2012 2:48 PM & Tagged African Americans, Black Girls RUN, Running and fitness | permalink | Comments



National Natural Landmarks: What Are They, and Can You Find One Located Near You?

Have you visited a National Natural Landmark? Not sure? Then check out this map and click on your state to see if you have some NNLs (561 of them exist) in your area. NNLs explained: Different from a National Historic Landmark or a unit of the National Landscape Conservation System, a National Natural Landmark, other than being hard to say 3 times fast, is part of a program started in 1962 to "encourage the preservation of the best remaining examples of the nation's biological and geological ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on March 21, 2012 6:16 PM & Tagged National Natural Landmarks and national parks | permalink | Comments



Yosemite Finally Shows Off Its Snowy Side on the First Day of Spring

Today's exercise in irony: Spring officially began today in the Northern Hemisphere at 1:14 a.m. (EDT), the exact arrival of the vernal equinox—and Yosemite is covered by its thickest snow cover of the year. It's been an odd, largely snow-free winter in many places, including Yosemite National Park. In January we wrote about local climbers ascending a snow-free Half Dome on a day trip on Jan. 4—a meteorologically surreal event for the customarily snowy Sierra Nevada. Then this past weekend a ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on March 20, 2012 5:20 PM & Tagged REI Adventures, Travel, Yosemite and national parks | permalink | Comments



Marathon Prep: U.S. Women Runners Plan for a Twisty Olympic Course in London

Marathons made a little news coast-to-coast this weekend. On Sunday 20-year-old Fatuma Sado of Ethiopia was the first owman to cross the finish line at the Los Angeles Marathon, and on the same day fellow Ethiopian Firehiwot Dado was the top female finisher in the New York City Half Marathon. Placing third at the NYC Half was American Kara Goucher. On Aug. 5 Goucher will be one 3 American women (along with Desiree Devila, who place ninth at the NYC Half) and Shalane Flanagan) competing for the ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on March 19, 2012 5:55 PM & Tagged Olympic Games, Running, marathon and training | permalink | Comments