Outdoors News Stories

[IntrepidXJ]

Moab Bans E-Bikes on Mountain Bike Trails

http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from-the-field/Moab-Bans-E-Bikes-on-Mountain-Bike-Trails.html

I guess it needed to be spelled out for some people that motorized vehicles include ebikes...

Though I'm pretty sure that the Slickrock trail allows motorized bikes (especially since it was created by motorcycles), so the article is wrong on that one.

 

[Nick]

I had never even heard of an e-bike until now...

 

[IntrepidXJ]

I had never even heard of an e-bike until now...

They've been promoting them in the windows of the bike shops around here for a little while....that's the only reason I knew they existed.

 

[Artemus]

Oh yeah, eBikes are a big controversy nationwide and in my county (Summit). The county council has had to take up the issue regarding our trail polices. I for one hope they are never allowed on a walking trail.

 

[WasatchWill]

I can see ebikes being nice for those who live in the foothills and want to ride to work down lower in the valley. Makes the ride up hill and back home a little nicer in the hot summer afternoons. I don't see any reason to ever have them out on a trail restricted to motorized traffic.

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[Henk]

In the Netherlands e-bikes are getting pretty common and increasingly popular already.
We don't have mountains and only have 2 hills of about 300 metres (=1000 feet) but the winds blowing over our flat country on a regular basis can be pretty bad as well as Murphys laws makes that it usually will blow in the wrong direction.
So with the rapidly inreasing numbers of windmills windpower will help to beat the wind.

It started off with senior people, but more recently also teeners that live not so close to their schools have discovered the e-bike.

In view of the gradual changeover to renewable/clean energy also electrical cars are currently promoted and even subsidized.
The high price of gasoline (about $ 7-7.5/ gallon) helps these developments.

 

[BJett]

E-bikes, E-cigarettes...hipsters are so lazy.

 

[Dan_85]

I've not seen this posted anywhere but I learnt a few days ago that Martin Litton, "defender of the Grand Canyon", died last weekend. I was aware of the name and roughly what he stood for but have read many more articles on him in the past few days. What a fantastic activist who dedicated his life to preventing the building of dams within the Grand Canyon (as well as Dinosaur NM) and preserving California's giant redwoods.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...ms-colorado-river-martin-litton-conservation/

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoo...-backpacking/The-10-Most-Dangerous-Hikes.html

RIP

 

[Absarokanaut]

Thanks for the post Dan. One can't really discuss Mr. Litton without getting political so I'll simply say as much as I didn't agree with him on certain issues and the tactics he tried to employ at times like any of the sane among us I am eternally grateful for the gifts he engineered for all of us to enjoy in perpetuity unless we allow the voices of avarice, arrogance, apathy, and asininity to overcome us.

RIP Sir.

 

[gnwatts]

A huge victory.....

http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/164922

This has closed the Thompson Divide, a pristine area near Carbondale (and the last buffer between the environmental travesty that is occurring around Rifle, Silt and the Colorado River basin) to gas and oil drilling, mainly gas. I urge everyone to Google Earth Rifle and look just beyond the I-70 corridor, and you will see thousands of well pads, and the only thing keeping Encana and Co from moving into our area was the Thompson Divide, a place the gas companies held leases in.
This is the first big victory, and hopefully one that will not be overturned.

 

[BJett]

A huge victory.....

http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/164922

This has closed the Thompson Divide, a pristine area near Carbondale (and the last buffer between the environmental travesty that is occurring around Rifle, Silt and the Colorado River basin) to gas and oil drilling, mainly gas. I urge everyone to Google Earth Rifle and look just beyond the I-70 corridor, and you will see thousands of well pads, and the only thing keeping Encana and Co from moving into our area was the Thompson Divide, a place the gas companies held leases in.
This is the first big victory, and hopefully one that will not be overturned.

That is great news. The Roan Plateau battle is finally coming to a happier ending as well (not perfect but a good compromise), that one has dragged on for over a decade.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

Enough is enough at the Glen Canyon Recreation Area

http://www.hcn.org/articles/enough-is-enough-at-the-glen-canyon-recreation-area

 

[Nick]

Enough is enough at the Glen Canyon Recreation Area

http://www.hcn.org/articles/enough-is-enough-at-the-glen-canyon-recreation-area

After spending quite a bit of time out there last year, I totally see what he is talking about. It is totally mind-blowing to me how little regulation enforcement exists there. Fine, budget cuts, that's an excuse. But a bit more enforcement would easily pay for itself many times through all the tickets that should be getting written. We stayed away from the busiest parts during the busiest seasons, but we still saw tons of it on pretty much every trip. It's so prevalent you wouldn't even have to try to catch someone. All the rangers would have to do is show up. And imagine if they ticketed people after the fact like other NPS units do by monitoring things like Flickr and sites like Backcountry Post. They could practically quit charging admission!

 

[Christian]

Cows being typically awful and destructive to GSENM: http://www.sltrib.com/news/1965846-155/dead-cow-clogs-utah-slot-canyon

 

[WasatchWill]

Cows being typically awful and destructive to GSENM: http://www.sltrib.com/news/1965846-155/dead-cow-clogs-utah-slot-canyon

Peek-a-boo Canyon can now be renamed to "Pee-Yoo" Canyon. It's sad for cow, ranchers, and hikers that this stuff can happen. I'd give up eating steak and hamburger if I knew it would actually keep beautiful hiking areas pristine.

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[Nick]

I'd give up eating steak and hamburger if I knew it would actually keep beautiful hiking areas pristine.

Me too. In a heartbeat.

I'm sure everyone around here has seen it, but just in case, the BLM wants to hear from you about your thoughts on grazing in GSENM.

http://backcountrypost.com/forum/threads/grand-staircase-grazing-plan.3850/

 

[Christian]

Me too. In a heartbeat.

I'm sure everyone around here has seen it, but just in case, the BLM wants to hear from you about your thoughts on grazing in GSENM.

http://backcountrypost.com/forum/threads/grand-staircase-grazing-plan.3850/

We should organize as many BCP members as we can to speak out on Cow overrun.

 

[Artemus]

http://www.sltrib.com/news/1965846-155/dead-cow-clogs-utah-slot-canyon

Damnation! The three stooges, no the sixteen stooges. This is horrible, this is pitiful on so many levels.

@WasatchWill and @Nick: I already did starting five years ago to protest this mistreatment of our lands and also the mistreatment of animals in our factory farm system. Join me. There are sources of meat NOT grazed on public land and not inhumanely treated in factory farms.

 

[Nick]

Damnation! The three stooges, no the sixteen stooges. This is horrible, this is pitiful on so many levels.

@WasatchWill and @Nick: I already did starting five years ago to protest this mistreatment of our lands and also the mistreatment of animals in our factory farm system. Join me. There are sources of meat NOT grazed on public land and not inhumanely treated in factory farms.

I'm already right there with you. Well, the part about it coming from places other than factory farms and public land anyway.

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

Edit: I realized my post was veering off topic and deleted it.