Instead of filling up the car for your next trip, spend that gas money on an expensive pair of hiking boots and head outside for National Trails Day on June 7.
Sponsored by The American Hiking Society, the day seeks to share the fun of hiking with newbies through gear demonstrations, workshops and educational exhibits. The group has put together an interactive map, so you can easily figure out what's going on near you. Just a quick look reveals new trails to explore, dedications and events and opportunities to volunteer to improve your favorite trail.
Even if you're not that into hiking, the day is sponsored by a bunch of outdoorsy companies, so you can probably score some free swag just for showing up!
Visitors have been enjoying the show at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park since March, when a new vent exploded open in Halemaumau Crater at the summit of Kilauea. The volcano has sent a continuous flow of fluffy white gas into the sky, adding some excitement to the park's already impressive lava flows.
But Kilauea has also covered the Big Island in a haze of "vog"--volcanic fog--which is heavy in sulfur dioxide and has some island residents wheezing and worrying for their health. Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park has been among the voggiest areas, leading rangers to close parts of the park nearest the summit, and even temporarily shutter the entire park in April.
The Big Island Visitors Bureau launched a press push this week to bring visitors back to the park, noting that the trade winds returned last Friday, pushing the vog out to sea and creating clearer viewing opportunities.
If you'd rather check the vog from a distance, the NPS has set up a webcam on the volcano.
Hibernation time is over! Maine's Acadia National Park reopens its central Park Loop Road tomorrow for the official season. The road, built by philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. as a set of carriage trails criss-crossing the preserve, takes visitors throughout the park, which is located primarily on Mount Desert Island.
The only national park in New England is heavily traveled during the summer months but it's a great place to hike in spring, before the hordes arrive. Use of a camp site is just ten dollars a night.
Japan's sakura are widely lauded as the most beautiful spring blossoms in the world--except, of course, in South Korea. On the other side of the East Sea--or as your map probably calls it, the Sea of Japan--Koreans are proud of their own cherry trees, and have several festivals celebrating the arrival of the blooming season.
One of the most famous is the Gunhang Festival in Jinhae, on Korea's southern shore. This small port city about 40 miles away from Busan hosts this event annually, starting on Wednesday this year. The festivities not only celebrate the scenery but also commemorate Admiral Yi Sun-shin, who is famous for his victories against the Japanese navy during several invasion attempts in the late 1500s. Ahhh, nothing like the smell of flowers to remind you of bitter history!
In Seoul, the best place to see those pink petals floating on the wind is in Yeouido, on Yunjungno Road. Every year traffic is closed along a several mile stretch so locals and tourists can ogle the natural beauty without being run over. Don't let the daytime crowds deter you--during the festival the city keeps this street brightly illuminated well into the night.
Another reason to head Down Under is added to the list tomorrow, March 15, when the Illawarra Fly Treetop Walk opens. Located two hours south of Sydney, it's another eco-friendly tourist attraction that lets us commune with nature and snap a ton of beautiful photos at the same time.
Similar to the Western Australian tree top walk, the Illawarra Fly is a set of steel suspension bridges at the canopy level of the rainforest. Most of the walk is around 30 meters above the ground, and you can get half that far up again by climbing the Knights Tower, the ultimate viewing point.
The Illawarra Fly will be open every day from nine to five. It's not that cheap, at A$19 (nearly US$18) per adult, and you'll need to factor in another purchase: the driving directions mention that the turn-off for the Fly is opposite the Robertson Pie Shop, and you shouldn't pass up a chance to eat an Aussie pie.
The unpredictable blooming of cherry blossom trees must be a real source of frustration for the punctual, orderly Japanese. Last year, the blossoms arrived early; this year, the prediction is they'll bloom ten days later than normal.
That means that Tokyo should have cherry blossoms by March 26, Osaka by March 30, and the mountains of Nagano as late as April 16. One of the really beautiful spots to experience hanamizake--drinking sake while looking at cherry blossoms--is in Kyoto, which should have its first blooms by March 29.
If you can get your timing right, this really is a magnificent time of year to check out Japan, and you only need to learn one word of Japanese: kirei. It means "beautiful," and we promise you'll hear it from one end of Japan to the other when the cherry blossom flowers finally arrive.
We know you savvy travelers. You would never dump your six-pack rings or your dirty napkins out on the beach. But how about picking up your toys? After a larger-than-life LEGO man was fished out of the sea in a Dutch resort town, it occurred to us that maybe some people need to be reminded not to leave 8-foot pieces of debris in their wake.
If you're planning to spend vacation time along a beach, a lake or a river, practice minimal impact camping by sticking to established trails, scattering or packing your ashes if you make a fire and choosing biodegradable soap over the ol' soap on a rope. Check your camping skills against this list of minimum-impact tricks. And please, while you're out at the beach this weekend, pick up your LEGOs when you're done playing with them.
Head a few hours east of the Western Australian city of Perth (already vying for the title of the world's most isolated city) and you'll be in the dry outback (be careful!). But don't forget your surfboard for a photo op at Wave Rock.
A few miles east of the small town of Hyden, Wave Rock is a 2700 million year old massive rock formation that really looks like a piece of surf about to crash on a beach. It might be a little way off the world tourist radar, but it did get a mention in the New York Times yesterday in a piece about a Rubin Museum exhibition, and it's worth visiting. Apart from strolling along the bottom of the wave, you can climb about on top, do various bush walks in the area, and watch as other tourists pose as world champion surfers.
0 Comments - Add Yours
by kjb
