Trail Runner | Misadventurist | Storyteller

Tag: Climbing

Happy Birthday

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” – John Muir, “Our National Parks”

In 1916, the United States Congress created the National Park Service (NPS) with the mission of protecting our National Parks for future generations. One hundred years later they continue their mission of preserving our countries most important places.

When people think of the NPS often it is of places like Yosemite or Yellowstone, but in reality, they protect so much more. Their mission has grown to include protecting our sacred places such as Pearl Harbor, the Gettysburg Battlefield, Valley Forge, and sites of the Civil Rights Movement. They are truly tasked with maintaining our history.

The men and women of the NPS are not just passionate curators our history, but also, they are rescuers, law enforcement officers, and educators. There are not many jobs with the description of teaching children about owls to apprehending armed criminals to scaling El Cap to bring home a stranded climbing party. In their storied 100-year history 32 Rangers have lost their lives on the job.

In 2015 alone over 307 million people visited a NPS location. Truly the men and women of the NPS have a monumental task at hand as they continue to maintain and educate visitors about these places.

So what can you do to help celebrate their centennial birthday? You can take the time to remind your representatives in Congress how much you appreciate our National Parks and that they too should endeavor to protect them. Second, and most important, visit the National Parks!

REI has teamed up with the NPS to help make it easier. Download the REI National Parks App, pick up a visitor’s pass and get out there and explore!

What is your favorite National Park and why? Share your stories. Please comment below.

The Ballad of Caballo Blanco: Rule One of the Wilderness

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If you intentionally own two or more pairs of Running Shoes, then you probably know who Caballo Blanco is. Caballo Blanco is the nickname of ultra running legend Micah True whom went on to become the mystical central figure of Christopher McDougall’s book “Born to Run”.

Micah True lived a life without materialism and in pursuit of passion. With the decision to eschew a normative American life he developed a bit of a following not unlike that of Christopher McCandless. For a man who lived a fairly private life this lead to complications but also the ability to use his celebrity to further causes he cared about, like protecting Copper Canyon in Mexico. Unfortunately, just as he spend a large portion of his time running alone through the mountains his life would end the same way.

On May 27, 2012 True left the Wilderness Lodge in the Gila Wilderness, part of the Gila National Forest in New Mexico, for a 12-mile run. After he failed to return to the lodge a large search and rescue operation was launched in an attempt to locate him. On March 31st, after searching a 200,000-acre area, they finally found his body alongside a stream. True had died from complications related to a heart disorder.

Could True have been saved? That is something we will never know, but what we can learn from it is the importance of notifying people as to where you are.

When I was younger I used to go solo hiking all the time, and I would often write up my where I was and my proposed route and when to contact help if I had not returned. I would then tape it to my roommate’s door and begin my adventure. Fortunately I never needed assistance but at least rescuers would not waste valuable time searching other areas.

Aron Ralston famously gave a vague description of his weekend itinerary in Utah and found his arm pinned under a boulder in a canyon. While searchers looked elsewhere, Ralston was forced to cut his own arm off to escape the predicament.

Today it is even easier to let people know you need help. There is a great app called Bugle. This app allows you to put in your important information, such as where you are going and when you plan to return. If you do not check in with the app in time it will automatically send alert notifications to your emergency contacts telling them they should check in with you and where you said you would be. The app is free so there are no excuses for an adventurer to not use it.

So unless you enjoy drinking your own urine or you’ve always wanted to attempt a major surgery on yourself, tell someone where you are going.

© 2024 Joshua Ebert

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