Adventure-Crew.com

by Maureen Oltrogge
KCSG.com

National Parks observe Earth Science Week. NPS photo

(Grand Canyon, AZ) – Grand Canyon National Park will celebrate Earth Science Week and National Fossil Day by offering a variety of special programs and events during the week of October 9 – 15, 2011. Earth Science Week promotes understanding and appreciation of the value of earth science research and its applications and relevance to our daily lives. Grand Canyon National Park is an ideal place to celebrate Earth Science Week, as the park is a natural classroom and laboratory for the earth sciences, and is one of the world’s most well known and most scenic geologic landscapes.

National Fossil Day is Wednesday, October 12 and is a part of Earth Science Week. National Fossil Day is a celebration organized by the National Park Service to promote public awareness and stewardship of fossils, as well as to foster a greater appreciation of their scientific and educational values.

Grand Canyon National Park will offer a variety of other special programs to commemorate Earth Science Week. Daily Fossil Walks will be offered from Sunday, October 9 through Saturday, October 15. Fossil Walks begin at 10:00AM, meet at the patio behind Bright Angel Lodge and will visit a fossil bed containing the remains of a variety of marine organisms exposed near the rim of Grand Canyon. The programs will last approximately one hour and include an easy ½ mile walk.

Ranger evening programs offered during the week will be on the earth sciences. Evening Programs begin at 7:00PM and last approximately one hour and are presented in the Shrine of the Ages Auditorium. Topics include the geology of the canyon, the age of Grand Canyon rocks, caves, and weather.

On Tuesday, October 11, the park will celebrate No Child Left Inside Day as part of Earth Science Week by offering a special family-oriented Fossil Walk at 4:30PM, meeting on the patio behind Bright Angel Lodge.

The Junior Paleontologist Program, a self-guided activity booklet for kids ages 5 through 12, will also be available at Park Headquarters and Visitor Centers. Kids can learn about ancient life, complete fun activities, and explore some of the national parks that offer a look into the past in the Junior Paleontologist booklet. Upon completion, Junior Paleontologists will receive a Junior Paleontologist badge.

Grand Canyon Association, the official nonprofit partner of Grand Canyon National Park, will have a special sales promotion of 20% off selected geology titles in their bookstores and online at www.grandcanyon.org. Proceeds from sales benefit the educational, scientific, historical and research efforts of the National Park Service.

Superintendent Dave Uberuaga said, “Grand Canyon National Park is very pleased to offer special programs in recognition of Earth Science Week. The earth sciences are essential tools that the National Park Service uses to preserve and protect Grand Canyon. Participation in Earth Science Week is one way the Grand Canyon marks its heritage as the world’s most famous and most celebrated geologic locale.”

You can also follow Grand Canyon National Park’s celebration of Earth Science Week on Twitter at twitter.com/#!/GrandCanyonNPS. Park staff will be posting park geology-related information on Twitter throughout the week.

To learn more about Earth Science Week activities at Grand Canyon National Park, please contact Allyson Mathis, Science and Education Outreach Coordinator, at (928) 638-7923, or Donna Richardson, Deputy Chief of Interpretation at (928) 638-7835, or visit Earth Science Week.

Submitted by Bob Janiskee on September 20, 2011 – 2:59am
National Parks Traveler.com

Cosmopolitan Bathhouse & Saloon

Back in the 1870s and 1880s, tourists who endured the long, bone-jarring ride to Yosemite Valley could enjoy some surprising amenities at the valley’s Cosmopolitan Bathhouse & Saloon. Although this unusual establishment disappeared into history 127 years ago, it left a remarkable legacy and a story well worth telling.

Concerned about the impacts of overgrazing, logging, mining, and other threats to the Yosemite area’s exceptional beauty and geologic resources, Congress set the land aside as a park in 1864 and gave it to the state of California to administer. This was eight years before Congress made Yellowstone America’s first national park (there being no state of Wyoming to turn the park over to), but well into the age of mass communication and aggressive tourism promotion and development. Within just a few decades, people throughout California and all over America learned about the wonders of Yosemite and developed a yen to visit the place. The transfer to state management in 1864, the end of the Civil War in 1865, the completion of the transcontinental railroad (1869), the construction of wagon roads to the Yosemite region, and other factors combined to create a Yosemite Valley tourism industry that grew at a rapid clip.

Yosemite’s hospitality industry began to take shape in the late 1850s and 1860s with the construction of several primitive lodging facilities, including Clark’s Station (1857) at Wawona, and Lower Hotel (1859) and Upper Hotel (later Hutchings House) in the valley. Transportation improvements and recreational infrastructure development also occurred at a fairly rapid rate during the 1860s and 70s. By the mid-1870s, Yosemite sported several privately-developed trails for horse and mule rides (few people were interested in hiking back then) and was served by toll roads that extended all the way into the valley. No railroad served Yosemite at that time, but a person living in San Francisco or Oakland could travel to Yosemite in about a day and a half if s/he was willing to endure a punishing ride on wagon roads and (prior to 1874) complete the last leg of the trip into the valley on a horse or mule. In those early days, a visit to Yosemite Valley (aka Yo-Semite Valley) was only for hardy, adventuresome people.

While riding trails and various other tourist-oriented enterprises opened up in Yosemite Valley during the 1860s, the valley still lacked decent lodging and related hospitality amenities as the decade drew to a close. Seeing a golden opportunity, John C. Smith constructed a building that introduced a new standard of quality when it was completed in 1871. Officially called the Cosmopolitan Bathhouse & Saloon (isn’t that a grand name?), but known simply as the Cosmopolitan, Smith’s establishment offered Yosemite visitors two prime amenities — hot or cold baths at any time of the day or night, plus a very well-stocked bar (Smith’s mint juleps were a favorite).

The clientele included some campers, but consisted mostly of well-heeled easterners, Californians, and foreigners lodging at the valley’s inns. All appreciated the Cosmopolitan’s special amenities, which included fine glassware, carpeted baths, full-length mirrors, delicate bath soaps, clean towels and linens, full-size billiard tables, a barber service, a ladies’ parlor, a gentlemen’s reading room, and even up-to-date newspapers. How all of the fragile stuff could have been hauled into the valley without breaking it, especially on the rugged 20-mile final approach, doubtlessly mystified many customers.

Yosemite Valley visitors very much needed the comforts that the Cosmopolitan offered. The visitor register that was kept on the Cosmopolitan’s porch beginning in 1873 contains liberal mention of miseries arising from dusty roads, insect bites, sick horses, foul weather, isolation, and various other afflictions. After long, wearying days of travel and sightseeing, perhaps in association with the discomforts of camping, imagine how happy Cosmopolitan customers were to have a libation to clear the dust from their throat, a bath to wash the dirt from their hide, and maybe a go at the billiards table to make them feel even more civilized.

By 1876, Yosemite was attracting nearly 2,000 visitors a year, most of whom stayed in the valley for several weeks at a time. At that time the valley had three nondescript inns — Black’s Hotel, Leidig’s Hotel, and the Coulter and Murphy Hotel (former Hutchings House/ Upper Hotel). The Cosmopolitan, which was located across the road from the latter, enjoyed a brisk trade. None of the valley’s rather primitive hotels offered amenities like those of the comparatively elegant Cosmopolitan. And except for the firefall (introduced by James McCauley in the 1870s), there were no significant competing diversions after the sun went down.

The valley’s lodging industry began shifting to a more modern footing in the 1870s and 1880s. Older structures underwent renovations and added new services. Prime examples of upgrading included the Yosemite Falls Hotel (later the Sentinel Hotel) in the Old Village area adjacent to the Cosmopolitan and the La Casa Nevada (between Vernal and Nevada Falls).

The Cosmopolitan remained a going concern into the early 1880s, enjoying a national reputation as a “must” stop for Yosemite Valley visitors. Many a Yosemite newbie was eager to add the Cosmopolitan to his “been there, done that” list.

An impressive number of impressive folks enjoyed the Cosmopolitan’s comforts. The visitor register, which is now in the Yosemite Museum, bears the comments and autographs of such notables as John Muir, Rudyard Kipling, William Randolph Hearst, Lillie Langtry, William ‘Buffalo Bill” Cody, and Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, and James Garfield. (Theodore Roosevelt signed the register in 1903, long after the Cosmopolitan closed its doors.)

Unfortunately, the Cosmopolitan was forced out of business after a successful run of only 13 years. The State Board of Commissioners closed it down in 1884, just six years before Congress established Yosemite National Park. The commissioners had decided that any saloon in Yosemite would have to be operated in conjunction with a hotel.

The building that housed the Cosmopolitan was put to other uses for nearly half a century, but finally burned down on December 8, 1932. Today, few visitors know that the Cosmopolitan ever existed.

Postscript: A forthcoming Traveler article will provide additional information about the Cosmopolitan’s remarkable visitor register, the Grand Register of Yo-Semite Valley.

Written by Joyce Kuzmanic
stgnews.com

NATIONAL PARKS –National Public Lands Day is next Saturday, Sept. 24, and offers fee free entry into national parks.

The fee waiver extends to individual entrance as well as commercial tour entrance fees but does not include fees for camping, special permits, reservations, tours or use of concessions. It also does not cover fees for extended stay beyond Sept. 24 entry.

National Public Lands Day began in 1994 and is intended to encourage shared stewardship of our nation’s public lands. Today, NPLD is the nation’s largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance federal, state and local public lands.

Grand Canyon National Park, Zion National Park  and Bryce Canyon National Park are all offering the fee free entry Saturday.

In Grand Canyon National Park, volunteers and park staff will be working with the park’s Vegetation Program on native plant restoration and exotic plant control.

To learn more about National Public Lands Day, please visit the NPLD web site.

Yosemite Trail, yourcaliforniashow.com

YourCaliforniashow.com

Yosemite National Park, Calif. — Nearly 75 miles of hiking trails and habitat in Yosemite National Park have been restored in the largest ever trail repair project undertaken in the park.

“Our goal was elegant in its simplicity – improve the condition of Yosemite’s most treasured, high-profile trails in order to protect irreplaceable natural resources,” said Mike Tollefson, president of Yosemite Conservancy. “Yosemite’s spectacular trails are a mirror of the democratic notion of the National Park Service’s founding – they exist for all people for all time.”

Repairs were done to 33 miles of the John Muir Trail, from Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley.  The improvements include new stone walls, rock staircases, drainage structures and habitat restoration.  Repairs were also made to the John Muir Trailhead in Yosemite Valley and to the east and west ends of the Yosemite Valley Loop Trail.  Repairs were made to foot bridges and new signage was added.

Along Tioga Road, improvements were made to trailheads at Tamarack Flat, May Lake, Yosemite Creek/Ten Lakes, Snow Creek and Gaylor Lakes.  Safer parking was added to some of the trailheads, as well as food storage lockers and wilderness education exhibits.

“Yosemite’s trails are pathways to discovery and inspiration. Some of the park’s most important trails were improved to reverse years of degradation to benefit visitors for decades,” said Superintendent Don Neubacher. “The result is better trails, restored habitats and greater education opportunities for visitors.”

The $13.5 million restoration campaign was a collaboration between Yosemite Conservancy and the park, with Conservancy donors contributing $10.5 million.

“Improvements were made to trails for every type of visitor from families with small children to ardent backcountry enthusiasts,” said John Dorman, Yosemite Conservancy board chairman. “These arteries provide access to unimaginable beauty and a life-time of memories.”

Royal Robbins, a climber and a Yosemite Conservancy council member, said, “Yosemite’s landscape harbors an unforgettable grand collection of peaks, domes, high waterfalls and alpine meadows. The best way to see these natural wonders is by trail.”

The completion of the six-year Campaign for Yosemite Trails was celebrated last week with a ceremonial dedication of the East Valley Loop Trail and recognition of the donors and Yosemite trail crews.

Petrified Forest National Park

Boston.com

PHOENIX – The federal government is gaining control over an even larger expanse of rainbow-colored petrified wood, fossils from the dawning age of dinosaurs and petroglyphs left by American Indian tribes who once lived in eastern Arizona.

The National Park Service secured the first major private ranch within the Petrified Forest National Park boundaries yesterday, capping off negotiations that began years ago with the help of a conservation group. Scientists say they are eager to explore the more than 26,000 acres that have remained largely untouched and discover even more treasures.

“The opportunity to actually go out into an area that hasn’t been worked before by other researchers, the opportunity to find things that are truly new to science – there’s a very good chance of that, so it’s pretty exciting,’’ said Bill Parker, a paleontologist at the park. “I think we’re definitely going to be able to find some things that are new out there that are really going to enhance the story of the park.’’

Congress expanded the boundaries of the park in 2004 from 93,500 acres to about 218,500 acres but did not immediately appropriate any money to buy the private holdings. The funding for land purchases came years later through a federal land protection program. The Park Service now has acquired about a third of the 120,000 acres it wants, with the most significant acreage coming from a transfer of US Bureau of Land Management land and yesterday’s $8 million purchase of the Paulsell Ranch within the park boundaries.

Mike Ford, the Southwest director for the Conservation Fund, said he began a quest to acquire the land for the Park Service in 1999 at the request of Bruce Babbitt, a former interior secretary. Ford recalled driving around in a pickup with the landowner, Marvin Hatch, surveying the land and trying to strike a deal that the two never quite agreed on. Hatch’s family contacted Ford after Hatch died to continue the talks.

The Park Service expects to spend a few years doing inventory on the land before it decides how the public can best enjoy it, Parker said. Some 630,000 people visit the park each year.