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    Destination Wild Olympics: Discover world-class outdoor recreation in the Pacific Northwest

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    To protect a place, you have to know it. You have to explore it and love it. Just a two-three hour drive from Seattle, the Olympic Mountains tower over the Puget Sound. The Olympic Peninsula is an incredible place to explore with some of the largest trees on the planet, dark canyons with wild rivers and fern-draped walls and deep beds of moss that carpet the forest floor. The more time you spend on the Peninsula, the more you fall in love with it. And while Olympic National Park provides protection for the core of the Peninsula, large swaths of incredible forests and rivers remain vulnerable to exploitation.

    Above: A family enjoys the spectacular old-growth forests of the Upper Dungeness Trail. Olympic National Forest, Washington. Photo: Wild Olympics Campaign

    Continue reading "Destination Wild Olympics: Discover world-class outdoor recreation in the Pacific Northwest" »

    Dirtbag Diaries Podcast: The Ultimate Weekend Warrior

    By Fitz & Becca Cahall

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    Jim Herson and Anne Smith live in the Bay Area. They’re in their fifties. Jim has worked the same computer science job since he graduated college in 1982, and he and Anne have been together nearly that long. They have two kids, a 17-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son, who they shuttle around the city in a maroon Subaru wagon. An all-around American family.

    Except for one thing: Jim and his kids get their family bonding time a thousand feet off the deck on Yosemite’s classic routes.

    Continue reading "Dirtbag Diaries Podcast: The Ultimate Weekend Warrior" »

    What Do We Know About Tiny Plastic Fibers in the Ocean?

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    Much has been written about the effects of plastic on the marine environment, from the Texas-sized Great Pacific garbage patch, to bottles expelled from cruise ships washed up on the beach, to “ghost” nets and weirs abandoned by factory-sized trawlers, and more. A new report on marine plastics was presented at the World Economic Forum earlier this year. It highlights the gravity of plastic pollution—“in 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea”—and notes that plastic packaging is the primary culprit. CNN proclaimed: “The world is flooded with plastic garbage.” The study finds that 95 percent of plastic packaging material is lost to the economy after a short single-use cycle, at a cost of $80-120 billion. The sizeable portion of this plastic that ends up in our environment takes an even greater toll, financially and on the health of the planet.

    Photo: Kyle Sparks

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    Tasmania: The Totem Pole

    By Sonnie Trotter

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    “Great climb, eh?” said a voice from up and over my right shoulder.

    “Yeah,” I replied, while clipping the anchor on After Midnight one of Mount Wellington’s most prized pitches and no giveaway at 24 (or 5.11d in Yosemite terms), “incredible, actually.”

    “Where you from?” the voice asked.

    “Canada!” I said.

    Above: Later in the trip, Sonnie Trotter begins to feel the exposure as he nears the top of pitch #2 of the Regular Free Route (5.12b) of the Totem Pole. He and his partner endured 18 hours of traveling time for this one amazing climb. Photo: Cameron Maier

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    Down the Indian Creek Rabbit Hole: An excerpt from ‘American Climber’

    By Luke Mehall

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    After El Capitan, my desire for wall climbing diminished. Perhaps it was growing older, or perhaps it was just my surroundings. The Black Canyon was no longer an hour away. Yosemite was no longer in my waking dreams every day. Durango was so close to the desert, and thus the desert became all that mattered to me in climbing. Just like wall climbing, the desert is a fantastic rabbit hole to go down.

    I started to view the desert in a multitude of ways. As a home. As a canvas to paint my art. My own field of dreams where I could return to a childlike state of being, with the hindsight of an adult. A place where I could progress my vision of what it meant to be an American climber.

    Above: North Six Shooter, Indian Creek, Utah. Photo: Keith Brett

    Continue reading "Down the Indian Creek Rabbit Hole: An excerpt from ‘American Climber’" »

    Blame It on the Trout

    By Håkan Stenlund

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    At first light, a toucan comes flying over the patio and sits in an old tree in front of the house. The bird stares at me as I have my first sip of coffee. Then another toucan lands in the tree, followed by a whole flock. I get up and snap a picture of the birds as my guide, José Caparros, tells me it’s a rare sight. I take it as an omen, a good one. Then I take another sip, anticipating the day’s fishing as I wait in the shadows of the morning.

    We define fly fishing by many things, but down to the core it’s pretty simple: the fly in the water. You can talk about the double haul, the single spey, about sink lines or greased lines, about using everything from size 24 nymphs to size 4/0 Dee winged salmon flies. You can talk about how to set your hook. You can talk about all that—and even know all about that—but fly fishing is really just about keeping your woolly bugger in the water. About being a part of it.

    Above: You fish big, floating dry flies on Argentina’s Río Dorado. But the take is nothing gentle; you better hold on to your rod. Photo: Håkan Stenlund

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    America’s Great Bears Face a Dire Future: An open letter to President Obama and how you can help

    By Doug Peacock

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    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans in March to remove Endangered Species Act protections from the Yellowstone grizzly bear. Patagonia along with many other environmental NGOs and over 110,000 people have already voiced their opposition to delisting Yellowstone grizzly bears during the public comment period that ended May 10th. With grizzly bears still under threat, we continue to need your voice. Please add your name to those who’ve signed the following letter to President Obama asking that Yellowstone grizzly bears remain on the endangered species list. Photo: R. Bear Stands Last, courtesy of the GOAL Tribal Coalition

    Dear President Obama:

    We are writing to thank you for your leadership on climate change and to ask for your help: Yellowstone grizzly bears are in grave danger.

    Your administration has regrettably taken steps to strip the bear’s federal protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), opening up a grizzly bear trophy hunt on the edges of Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone’s bears are a remnant and isolated population. They must be allowed to wander safely outside of Yellowstone National Park.

    Continue reading "America’s Great Bears Face a Dire Future: An open letter to President Obama and how you can help" »

    Save the Blue Heart of Europe: 23 Rivers, 6 Countries, 390 River Kilometers, 1 Purpose

    By Hans Cole

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    “Jo diga ne Pocem! Jo diga ne Pocem!”

    The rallying cry repeated as anti-dam protestors, activists, kayakers and local people from the Vjosa River valley marched through the Albanian capital of Tirana on Friday, May 20th. Translation: “No dams in Pocem!” This protest, the final event of the 35-day Balkan Rivers Tour, marked the delivery of a “kayak petition” to the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, and demanded an end to new dam development on the pristine Vjosa River, including a major dam project near the village of Pocem.

    The Vjosa, which flows 270 kilometers without barriers from the Pindus Mountains to the Adriatic Sea, is just one of many rivers in the Balkans region that is being threatened by a tidal wave of more than 2,700 new hydropower dam projects.

    Above: Paddlers from the Balkan Rivers Tour gather on the bank of the Vjosa River. Photo: Andrew Burr

    Continue reading "Save the Blue Heart of Europe: 23 Rivers, 6 Countries, 390 River Kilometers, 1 Purpose" »

    Mālama Honua: Hōkūle‘a’s Voyage of Hope – Part 2, The Sāmoan Way

    By Jennifer Allen

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    This year marks the 100th anniversary of the U.S. National Parks—and on the worldwide Mālama Honua voyage, the crew of the Hōkūleʻa has visited several, including those in American Sāmoa, St John in the Caribbean, the Everglades in Florida, and coming up in early June, Governors Island in New York City. Along the way, the crew has learned how every community has its own way of practicing Mālama Honua, to care for our earth. The Sāmoan way was clearly communicated by Pua Tuaua, National Park Ranger when the canoe was docked in Pago Pago, American Sāmoa, in September 2015.

    “Our land is probably the most valuable asset of our people,” Pua explained.

    Above: A thriving rainforest covers Rainmaker Mountain on the island of Tutuila in American Sāmoa. Photo: John Bilderback

    Continue reading "Mālama Honua: Hōkūle‘a’s Voyage of Hope – Part 2, The Sāmoan Way" »

    Dirtbag Diaries Podcast: Live From 5Point Vol. 9

    By Fitz & Becca Cahall

    Live From 5Point Vol. 9

    Before Semi-Rad.com, Brendan Leonard wrote a Short for The Dirtbag Diaries called Sixty Meters to Anywhere. He recently published a book with the same title, documenting his journey from handcuffs to hand-jams, from rural Iowa to the mountains of Colorado and from business casual to assignments for Climbing magazine. We returned from our sixth annual pilgrimage to the 5Point Film Festival with something a little different this year: a lightly edited version of the presentation Brendan gave to a packed house. See you there next year?

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