Adventure-Crew.com

And so the conflict continues…

By MATTHEW BROWN (AP) – 1 day ago

BILLINGS, Mont. — The state of Wyoming on Friday asked a federal judge to force Yellowstone National Park to allow up to 740 snowmobiles daily during winter — more than twice what the Obama administration wants.

The administration said Thursday it wants to cut the number of the machines to 318 daily and require all riders to take guided tours.

That would last for two years while a permanent rule is crafted on how many are allowed.

Also Friday, six members of Congress — from Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado and Utah — asked Interior Sec. Ken Salazar to reconsider the administration’s proposal.

Since an outright ban on snowmobiles was proposed by President Bill Clinton in 2000, the number allowed has gone up and down according to competing court orders and power shifts in Washington.

Yellowstone includes portions of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

The Obama proposal also reduces the number of snowmobiles in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park and the adjacent John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, a park spokeswoman said Friday.

Under the prior plan, those parks allowed a combined 140 snowmobiles per day. The new one calls for just 50 per day, said Jackie Skaggs at Grand Teton National Park.

The administration proposal is now in a 45-day public comment period.

The number of snowmobiles desired by Wyoming would be the same as what was in place for the past several years.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer in Cheyenne issued an order last November saying the old rules should be kept in place until permanent numbers for the three parks are settled on.

The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office on Friday filed court documents asking Brimmer to enforce that order.

“It would be nice if they sat down and said, ‘what really works for the folks who are wanting to visit, and the folks who are making a living up in Yellowstone?’” said Wyoming’s Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal.

“It seems to me that the environmental groups aren’t going to be satisfied with anything more than zero, so we’re going to continue to have a fight,” he added.

The prior cap of 720 machines was never reached. An average of 205 snowmobiles daily entered the park in 2008-09, when the busiest day of the season saw only 426 of the machines.

Associated Press Writer Ben Neary in Cheyenne contributed to this story.

Trail Sign

Mammoth Cave National Park has recently opened a new hiking and biking trail called, Mammoth Cave Railroad Hike and Bike Trail. A nine-mile gravel and wooden boardwalk trail, it was opened in December 2007. We stopped at Mammoth Cave on our way home from our vacation and spent some time on the trail. Although better known for the famous caverns, what we discovered above ground left us wanting to come back again and again and see this beautiful path in all the different seasons. A little over 6 hours away from Chicago, off of I-65, makes this a very feasible weekend adventure.

Old railroad lines make great biking and hiking paths, but this is not a trail for a beginner bicyclist. There are numerous hills and three areas that are so steep, they recommend you get off your bike and walk it up the hill. It was a recommendation we thought highly of as we attempted to ride part way up the hill before hopping off the bikes and walking. Even that was strenuous! We did, however, have great fun riding down those steep hills!

Mammoth Cave

The path winds through some awesome forests and deep ravines. Since we were there in the Fall, we caught gorgeous fall foliage. We also got to see several deer including an amorous buck. The valleys and hills were well worth the ride with new glimpses of fantastic fall color as we rounded a bend. Pictures just never do it justice. We had the trail all to ourselves although we did see some other people biking it as we arrived in the park.

Stu riding down the trail

The trail passes a couple of cemeteries where several of the original settlers in the area are buried. You can also stop at Sloan’s Crossing Pond where normally you can see wildlife, but the water levels were way down when we were there so there was mostly mud to see. There are also several historic places and a privately owned cave, Diamond Caverns that you will pass by as you travel this path.

Furlong Cemetary

You will be sure to get a workout as well as see some great landscapes while riding or hiking the Mammoth Cave Railroad Hike and Bike Trail. Be sure to bring plenty of water, snacks and a repair kit as this nine-mile one-way trail could leave you stranded with a long walk back if not prepared. My back tire went flat while we were on the trail and we would have had a long walk back if not for my husband’s forethought to bring a repair kit and not just an air pump.

Trail Specs:
Length: 9 miles, one-way
Difficulty:  Moderate
Elevation Change: 12% steepness grade for hills

Trail Map

Zion National Park marks its 100th anniversary later this month.

The July 31 event will include speakers, dedication of the rehabilitated Grotto Museum building, Paiute dancers and an evening chamber music concert.

The ceremony begins at 9:30 a.m. Entrance into the park will be free that day.

The park was established as Mukuntuweap National Monument by President William Taft on July 31, 1909. It was rededicated as Zion National Park a decade later.

The Associated Press

The co-owners of a classic 1937 motor coach restored the vehicle and donated it to Mount Rainier National Park, where the coach and others like it were used for decades to ferry tourists.

Mount Rainier motor coach

By Erik Lacitis
Seattle Times staff reporter
The Seattle Times Company

A couple of guys work hard, take small businesses and make them successful, they’ve got a right to treat themselves.

That is how on Monday afternoon, park officials here were given the keys to a deco-style, canvas-topped, nearly 30-foot-long, 18-passenger, completely redone 1937 Kenworth Touring Motor Coach that used to take tourists to Mount Rainier.

The coach was returning home, courtesy of two Gig Harbor men:

Art Redford, 69, who founded Honey Bucket, the portable-toilet business with the instantly recognizable name; and Frank Pupo, 72, who owned the Northwest chain of Sam’s Tire Service.

The coach had been a rust heap sitting under power lines in a Pierce County field just outside Tacoma, surrounded by weeds and blackberry bushes.

Sixty-thousand dollars later, the heap became a vehicle that onlookers can’t help but ooh and ahh about.

Redford couldn’t let this classic piece of machinery with its beautiful lines end up sold for scrap.

Only five or eight (the exact number is lost in history) had been built by Kenworth, the venerable Kirkland truck-building company.

In the early 1980s, Redford used to drive by the field and look at the dilapidated vehicle. It brought back memories of his Tacoma childhood.

“I grew up in Fern Hill, and in the 1940s and ’50s, I’d ride my bike to Pacific Avenue, and I’d see it go up to the mountain, loaded with people,” says Redford.

That memory never left him.

From the 1930s until 1962, the coaches were specially built for the Rainier National Park Company to take tourists from the Olympic Hotel in Seattle, and the now-closed Winthrop Hotel in Tacoma, to the mountain.

Only three of the coaches are known to have been restored — this one, one that’s now in Montana, and another in Alaska.

Redford paid $350 for the coach in February 1984.

He figured it’d take maybe $15,000 to refurbish the vehicle, and recruited Pupo to help.

They had much in common. Both had taken over their father’s small businesses and grown them into something big.

“It sounded intriguing to me,” says Pupo.

But that $15,000 estimate soon was forgotten.

“The hood was missing, the wood on the floor was rotted, the engine wouldn’t work, the headlights were gone, the running boards were rusted out, the bottoms of the doors were basically missing, the canvas roof had collapsed,” remembers Redford.

It took three years to refurbish the old coach.

Then, Redford and Pupo used it for special trips with family and friends.

The coach went to Husky and Seahawks games; Redford’s kids used it for their weddings; it was loaned out for charity events.

The coach can cruise on the freeway at 50 to 55 miles an hour. It has a 40-gallon tank, uses regular gas, and gets 5 miles per gallon.

Twenty-five years later, Redford and Pupo decided it was time to part with the coach.

So they gave it to the park, the only conditions being that it be used as a working vehicle and never be sold.

Monday, the park gladly accepted, although it’s still figuring out just how to use the coach.

For now, it’ll be displayed at the historic Longmire gas station at the park entrance.

Redford says he’s sentimental about parting with the coach, “but I’m happy.”

The coach has come home, ready to stoke a new generation’s imaginations.

A 22-year-old Stueben woman is in the hospital today after being rescued by a multi-agency unit that took two days to to get her down from Hamlin Peak in Baxter state park where she fell and broke her leg.

Ashley Dewitt and first responders camped out over night under heavy rain storms in tents the rescuers brought up with them after getting the call on Friday. When the rest of the rescue team arrived Saturday morning under still rainy conditions, they carefully carried her down the trail to Chimney Pond Ranger Station by nightfall where she spent a night in a real bed.

Sunday morning at 8:30 a helicopter from the from the 126th Army National Guard Medivac unit airlifted her to Millinocket Regional hospital.

 The agencies involved in the difficult but successful two-day rescue were rangers from Baxter, workers from Acadia National park, the Maine Forest Service, the State Fisheries and Wildlife Department and volunteers.

source: WABI TV5