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Nature Travel / Active Travel / Panama Travel / Soberania National Park / Central America Travel / → All Tags

Skip the Zip Lines for the Aerial Tram in Panama

One of the highlights of a trip to Panama can be a day trip out to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, which is about a 40-minute drive from Panama City. Set along the Chagres River, all the rooms here have stunning views of the rainforest, plus a spa and nice outdoor pool area to lounge around like a cocodrilo in the midday sun.

Guests are kept busy with a list of outdoor activities, guided tours and excursions; you name it (fishing, bird-watching, kayaking, night safaris), they've got it. So it was with much joy that we booked ourselves for a ride on the resort's own Swiss-engineered aerial tram, which runs smoothly up a 1.2 km stretch of pretty dense rainforest.

From there, there's the option to then climb an eleven-story observation tower (also built by the hotel), until you reach...the top of Soberania National Park!

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National Parks are Free for All This Weekend

In the way long ago past of 2011, we may have mentioned that there were some free entry days coming to National Parks across the United states in 2012. Well the future is here—this weekend—so pack up the minivan, Prius, or station wagon and visit your favorite national park on the house.

Uncle Sam is opening the gates to all his parks as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, so it might be a good idea to do something nice—like donating your time or money—rather than just freeloading a free hike. The admission fees are waived January 14-16.

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Nature Travel / Costa Rica Travel / Hiking / Green Travel / Active Travel / National Parks / Volcanoes / Volcano Travel / → All Tags

Froggies and Fumaroles: Hiking Costa Rica's Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park

Have you got a spare three or four hours? If you were in Costa Rica right now, those could be spent hiking around a volcano and petting frogs. Sure, everyone knows the giant Arenal volcano towards the center of the Central American country, but Costa Rica has six other active volcanoes, one of which is Rincón de la Vieja Volcano, located in the Guanacaste province and within its own National Park.

Rincón de la Vieja is serious business as far as volcanoes go. Heading up to its top rim and caldera is no longer allowed (too risky!) but local, experienced guides can easily lead you on a several-hour hike to spot fumaroles (steam vents), bubbly muddy water cauldrons, cute froggies and waterfalls so clear and cool you'd think it was Norway instead.

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Volunteer Travel / Eco Travel / Colorado Travel / Active Travel / Hiking / Voluntourism / Charity Travel / → All Tags

Help Build the Continental Divide Trail in Colorado Next Year

Volunteers in Colorado are helping to build a completely new hiking trail, called the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), that stretches from Mexico to Canada and across Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Volunteers with the Continental Divide Trail Alliance (CDTA)—based in Golden, Colorado—dig out the trail, clear vegetation and move huge boulders and trees from the established route.

If forging a new trail sounds like a New Year's resolution you'd like to make, CDTA is already lining up volunteers for next season, which runs from April to October. Volunteer trips can last from one day to one week and include trail building, maintaining the existing trail, helping the crew chefs prepare meals, and participating in educational outreach programs. Trip leaders provide all gear, food and water, while volunteers bring their own tents, sleeping bags and day packs.

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Surviving a Trip to Mount Everest's Super Dangerous Lukla Airport

You've heard of Tenzing-Hillary/Lukla Airport (LUA) before. Everyone has. As the airport for Mount Everest, it's not only top of our list of World's Most Dangerous Airports, but it's one that's proved killer in the past. Landing here and taking off from here, if the weather allows for it, means braving an uneven runway and old, tiny airplanes. Needless to say, it scares the bejeezus out of us.

That said, day in and day out, Lukla Airport flies tourists and trekkers to the remote location. One such recent visitor (who survived her ordeal) is friend of Jaunted Farryn Weiner. Farryn, formerly of Jetsetter.com and presently at Michael Kors, just returned from a few weeks of going native around India and Nepal. She cobbled together her photos and video shot on the trip into the inspiring mini-film above, which kind of reminds us of a series of GIFs.

The first few seconds of the video feature her view from the plane on the way to Lukla Airport, but we've also got some words from her on the experience:

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The Grand Canyon's on the Edge of Banning Plastic Water Bottles

You better revise your list and ask Santa for one of those stainless steel water bottles, as there’s one place your plastic bottle is no longer welcome.

Initially the head honcho over at the National Park Service wasn’t totally cool with banning plastic bottles at the parks across the land, but now it sounds like things might move forward at places including the Grand Canyon. Parks considering getting ready of plastic need to do a few things first, however, including making a checklist to report how much waste they’ll eliminate, as well as the effect on businesses and other groups that benefit from selling stuff at the park.

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Photo Gallery / Costa Rica Travel / Adventure Travel / Green Travel / Nature Travel / Active Travel / → All Tags

Forget Ziplining; Costa Rica is All About Canyoneering Next to a Volcano

Canopying goes hand-in-hand with Costa Rica. Maybe it's the allure of the seven volcanoes and the lush flora and fauna they support or the desire to get down and dirty, but visitors to the country often have communing with nature on their minds and we're no different.

Instead of ziplining through the trees and crossing swing bridges on the Caribbean/rainforesty side of the country, however, we were able to go whole hog on the Pacific/dry forest side in the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park of the Guanacaste region, where canopying combines with ziplining, rappeling, rock climbing, canyoneering and—yes, swing bridges—to make an experience simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting. There's no one word to describe it, but for now "adventure" will just have to do.

It begins easily enough. The lower half of your body is jimmied into harnesses and a helmet buckled onto your head, where nervous sweat is already starting to bead. From base at the Hacienda Guachipelin's Adventure Tours HQ, it's only a 2-minute walk to the first platform, from which you will take the plunge to zoom the longest of 12 ziplines.

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Winter Travel / Holiday Travel / Active Travel / Christmas Travel / Lists / Deep South Travel / → All Tags

Warm Weather Holidays: Four Ice Skating Rinks Found in the Southern States

The scene in downtown Raleigh...

Rolling hills covered with snow might be the typical scene around the holidays up North, but that’s usually not the case down South; however, that’s not stopping Southerners from celebrating the season. Here’s a few places where you can strap on a pair of ice skates and go for a spin in some southern spots:

· Dallas – Frisco Square’s Lights on Ice:
Apparently it’s been like a decade or so since the greater Dallas-Ft. Worth area has hosted an outdoor skating rink, but things are changing this year. The Zamboni has hit Frisco, Texas, as the ice rink is open in Frisco Square between now and January 8. It’s just $10 per person to go for a spin, and that even includes skate rental. If you and your holiday crew want a more intimate skating experience, they’ll even rent the whole place out to you for around $200 an hour. The rink is open pretty much every day—except for Christmas—and is open until 10pm each evening.

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Uncle Sam Names the National Park Access Free Days for 2012

The outdoor season might be winding down for 2011—it’s getting chilly—but that just means it’s time to start looking forward to 2012. Sure there’s plenty of stuff to do in the winter, but it won’t take many blizzards or snowpocalypses before we’re dreaming of spring at national parks across the country.

Even better than a visit to a slice of the country’s backyard is a free visit, and thankfully the National Park Service has already released its freebie days for next year. Start planning your trips now, as we’re sure the RVs and pop-up trailers will be swarming the entrance gates.

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Do Some Actual Running on a Runway Next Saturday in South Carolina

Now that fall has finally arrived and the temperatures have dropped to jacket-wearing weather, we can all finally get back to doing what we love most: sitting on the couch snuggled in a blanket getting active outdoors! Your next chance for a very unique sport experience is coming up soon however, so start planning for a weekend in South Carolina.

On Saturday, October 29, South Carolina's Columbia Airport (CAE) will shut down its runway to airplanes and open it up to runners for the second annual 5K Runway Run and 1-mile "Wing Walk."

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Riviera Maya Travel / Mexico Travel / Water Sports / Active Travel / Cancun Travel / → All Tags

Grab Your Headlights; It's Cave Swimming Time at Rio Secreto

One of our favorite things about staying on Mexico's Riviera Maya is that it's not just about dips in the Caribbean and margaritas by the pool. Clearly, those things rule, but what's even more awesome is that if you get a rainy day, there are plenty of activities to try.

We've found solace in a stroll down Playa del Carmen's Avenida 5 and in the Mayan ruins of Tulum and Cobá. But the best rainy day we've spent in the Yucatan took place underground—exploring the subterranean rivers of Rio Secreto.

Remember those geology lessons from way back? All that talk about calcium forming stalactites and stalagmites? Here, you get a bit of that education but it turns out, learning is way more fun when you're wearing a wetsuit and a helmet with a headlight. Also, we don't remember ever getting to swim in caves at school.

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Avoid Standing Next to Sweaty Strangers on the Tube with a London Bike Tour

A cyclist heading up Regent's Canal on a sunny day in London

Underground, bus, and ridiculously pricey black cabs are the three most common modes of transport for visitors to London, but they're certainly not always the most pleasant. If you've ever stood cheek-to-cheek next to a sweaty stranger on the tube, taken a night bus full of drunken teens back to your hotel, or shelled out upward of £30.00 for a taxi ride across town, surely you understand.

But, what you'll also notice on London's streets are a bevy of cyclists, mainly locals, taking advantage of the city's many bike-friendly pathways and routes. Tourists hoping to do the same can rent a Boris bike and make their way around Hyde Park or Regent's Canal, feeling the burn in the process.

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