#hiking article

[veranavera]

I got another article written about me - first one in two years!!!

Wording's a little funny at times, but I feel like it's a overall fair representation of what I had to say - so feel free to read if you're so inclined!!!

[bloodiegawz]

What about Bo's relationship with Jade??

SCIENCE BUDDIES! THEY ARE FORAGING IN THE DIRT TOGETHER

Bo has never been particularly afraid of the twins, his first impressions landing somewhere between "distrusts" and "potentially dangerous so stay on guard", but they don't set off his anxiety as much as others might speculate. Most of the reason they're intimidating is because half the time they're playing with people while doing odd jobs for Azul, at least in Bo's eyes.

Jade's interest in Bo peaked upon the discovery of his (then) budding insect collection. A fellow nature-lover would surely be a pleasant recruit to his club, right...? Well, not officially, but Bo is a returning honorary member. They sometimes watch over each other's vivariums like a form of pet-sitting and love to chat about what "adventures" they got up to. Usually, if one has mysteriously disappeared off-campus, the other will have as well, and they'll return soon in less than stellar shape with bags full of moss. No need to worry.

Outside of their bond through being absolute fucking nerds, they don't typically hang out together if it isn't situational. Bo will, on occasion, seek out Jade for assistance with potionology or similar homework, but they tend to go their separate ways.

[asherelbein]

It sounds like satire: a beloved Texas state park has been sold to a Dallas real estate guy, who plans to develop it into a private gated community. How could this happen? The answer: an old lease agreement, some bad timing, and a series of bizarre fumbles by the state of Texas itself.

For The Texas Observer, I wrote about the last days of Fairfield Lake State Park.

[vaguely-concerned]

I went on a stone age art wikiwalk. come partake in some highlights with me

Çatalhöyük. Often called 'the world's first city' and located in current day Turkey. Here's a probable reconstruction of an interior of the houses:

Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük. A figurine found in Çatalhöyük. Personal note: what the hell this art fucks so incredibly, look at that definition, those shapes!!

Venus of Dolní Věstonice, found in current day Czech Republic. It's dated to 29,000–25,000 BCE (!!!!) and is one of the oldest known ceramic pieces ever made.

I don't know why this got to me as much as it did, but during a scan in 2004 they found the fingerprint of a child between 7-15 on this figurine -- they probably weren't the artist, but must have handled it at some point before it was fired. and somehow that gets me real emotional haha

Venus of Monruz. Found in current day Switzerland, likely about 11,000 years old, and of a profile I feel can only suitably be described as 'absolute dumptruck'. Mostly here for the ass enjoyers to balance out the representation of glorious boobage, if I'm being honest. Some similar figurines were found in Germany and at least one of them are theorized to be made by the same artist; I find this idea absolutely delightful because I love the idea that someone so obviously Knew What They Were About back then. (The actual function of Venus figurines, whether for ritualistic/religious purposes as fertility symbols, works of art, or good old fashioned tit(t)illation is uncertain and contentious (as is the use of 'Venus figurine' as a name for them, accordingly), but in my own humble and entirely unqualified opinion: somehow this one feels deeply horny. someone here was all about that base and didn't care who knew it.)

Venus of Hohle Fels Found in current day Germany, the oldest known clear depiction of a human being we know of, dated to 40,000 -- 30,000 years old. (The Löwenmensch figurine is likely older, but it's kind of unclear if that is meant to depict a human being or a god or what. My unprofessional personal opinion: Yes, that is right; the furries got there first, and I don't see why anyone's surprised fhsdfjak.)

Several male anthropologists have said some deeply exuberantly weird and horny things about this one! It does somehow feel like I'm daring tumblr to strike me down even in the absence of female presenting nipples on display here (nevermind the 'more of a pussy out sort of look' of it all) so maybe they have a point, but I find this piece of art so deeply charming I'm ready to take the chance anyway. I adore the way the hands are rendered especially. I also cannot recommend enough that you go to the wikimedia section of this one, not least because I found THIS in there

the power of transformative art. the anime titty jiggle of our modern day applied to the oldest known human figure. art begets art across the ages

Not a piece of art as such, but the the Neanderthal skeletons found in the Shanidar Cave in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq fascinate me. Lots of interesting speculation about the possible presence of altruism in Neanderthals brought up from this. Special shoutout to the body known as Shanidar 3: a male person who was between 40 and 50 at the time of his death, and who may have been the first guy we know of to have been stabbed to death by someone. what a claim to fame. Caesar may have done it the most but this guy did it first

This little guy

I can't stop laughing. yes that is exactly how I feel too, trace of French cave art possibly depicting a cave hyena from Le Babiliou Cave, Dordogne, France. You're saying what we're all thinking

[tiger-balm]

"Are you the first finish?" "Oh yeah!"

(credit to years of hill training)

[tereghan]

https://www.garagegrowngear.com/blogs/trail-talk/crushing-it-how-we-talk-about-outdoor-adventure-and-why-it-matters

This guy understands it, and puts it much better than I ever could. Coming to nature with a conquering and colonialist mindset is not going to help, but neither will, "Trusting Mother Earth to take care of me, the trail provides!"

We have a responsibility to take care of ourselves in nature and be prepared so that we come home safely. We also have a responsibility to take care of the areas we enjoy, reduce our harm to the natural environment, and give back if we can. A good walk in nature can do great things for your short term mental health but it will not replace treatment if you need it.

But if you plan ahead, and bring enough water and dress for the weather, then you can have an amazing time exploring all the amazing sights right outside your backyard.

[purposefully-lost]

Alex like a year and a half after Rabbit's death going awol for a while to hike the Appalachian trail

[blackpearlblast]

like i just searched his name and clicked on the second article that showed up and it maybe talked about trevonte for a paragraph or two then spent the rest of the article talking about the nature reserve. they care more about an inanimate location (that was not even harmed, just that something bad happened there at all) than a black man's life and death.

his full name was trevonte jamal shubert-helton.

[thoughtportal]

DTE outages are a long standing problem that have nothing to do with an ice storm

[senadimell]

Cleaned my desk last night (long overdue) and now there are only two projects on it!

[immaterial-girl]

everyone talks about how your frontal lobe finishes cooking at 25 but maybe they are on to something bc i have been suddenly struck with inspiration to live a more fulfilling life?? like mentally.

to try and work toward self-improvement and to stretch & do yoga and meditate and read more nonfiction and do research about things just because i find them interesting and journal more and commit time to creative projects and actually commit to the languages i’m learning and just like invest good things in myself because if i feed my brain garbage it will output garbage.

like i am generally very happy & have been for a minute, and that is fine but it makes me worry that as long as i am happy i won’t have any reason to work toward becoming the kind of person i would meet and want to aspire to be more like. so anyway

TL;DR: if anyone has any thoughts on concrete ways to improve life and being a person i would very much like to hear♥️ in tags, replies or comments

[saurotitan]

The Outdoorsman's Season

Fall is upon us, which means time spent outdoors. Allow me to explain why I think of autumn as the outdoorsman's season.

Autumn is now upon us, dear readers, and that means it’s time to reconnect with nature. Spring and summer may be the seasons for all things green and growing, but they’re both too full of rain, heat, humidity, and biting insects for all but the most diehard fans of the great outdoors to truly enjoy them in peace. That’s why everyone who has a choice has spent the last several hundred days inside…

[borom1r]

ive had to block two fucking AI art blogs in the boromir tag today WHAT is going on

[noonslullabies]

Here's the article.

Full offense but I would never hike a mountain with my coworkers.

[thrivingisthegoal]

Golf Courses ARE Being Converted

The Solarpunk "fantasy" that so many of us tout as a dream vision, converting golf courses into ecological wonderlands, is being implemented across the USA according to this NYT article!

The article covers courses in Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, and New York that are being bought and turned into habitat and hiking trails.

The article goes more into detail about how sand traps are being turned into sand boxes for kids, endangered local species are being planted, rocks for owl habitat are being installed, and that as these courses become wilder, they are creating more areas for biodiversity to thrive.

Most of the courses in transition are being bought by Local Land Trusts. Apparently the supply of golf courses in the USA is way over the demand, and many have been shut down since the early 2000s. While many are bought up and paved over, land Trusts have been able to buy several and turn them into what the communities want: public areas for people and wildlife. It does make a point to say that not every hold course location lends itself well to habitat for animals (but that doesn't mean it wouldn't make great housing!)

So lets be excited by the fact that people we don't even know about are working on the solutions we love to see! Turning a private space that needs thousands of gallons of water and fertilizer into an ecologically oriented public space is the future I want to see! I can say when I used to work in water conservation, we were getting a lot of clients that were golf courses that were interested in cutting their resource input, and they ended up planting a lot of natives! So even the golf courses that still operate could be making an effort.

So what I'd encourage you to do is see if there's any land or community trusts in your area, and see if you can get involved! Maybe even look into how to start one in your community! Through land trusts it's not always golf course conversions, but community gardens, solar fields, disaster adaptation, or low cost housing! (Here's a link to the first locator I found, but that doesn't mean if something isn't on here it doesn't exist in your area, do some digging!)

[abby-howard]

Some folks were asking for my boiled peanuts recipe (as they feature in our game, Scarlet Hollow, and we made a big batch this past weekend), but it's unfortunately a bit difficult for me to post with lightness in my heart right now because this past weekend the entirety of western North Carolina, where Scarlet Hollow takes place, was devastated by hurricane Helene.

Towns I have been to and have fond memories of have been described as "washed away." The region is almost entirely still out of power, the water is all contaminated with repair efforts expected to take weeks, and there are hundreds of people stranded, including my relatives, as roads have been totally destroyed. My uncle sent a photo of the road near his house, thankfully his home is okay but I have to image it's going to take a while for roads like this to see repairs:

I know this photo has been making the rounds, but it bears posting for those who haven't seen it-- the main strip of Chimney Rock, before and after:

Trees, cars, buildings, everything is gone. And now all that debris is just sitting in lakes and rivers. This is Lake Lure today:

Pictures from Swannanoa, an absolutely lovely town with so much character, where my sister went to folk music camp as a teen, where mobile home parks were hit hardest-- people's houses just floated away downriver:

And of course Asheville is the town most people will have heard of. A city of 95k, completely isolated in the days after the storm. The River Arts District was still underwater as of yesterday:

People throughout the entire region are without power and transport and fuel and water and food, they've lost their homes and their businesses, and people have had to resort to hiking to reach loved ones to see if they're safe or whether their homes were just wiped off the face of the earth-- hundreds are still missing because it's been so difficult to get in contact with people in these isolated, rural communities that are now nearly impossible to get to because roads were washed away or collapsed in landslides.

I honestly don't even know where to start when it comes to relief funds or ways that people can help. I've been listening to the local radio station and it sounds like the area is in shock, people are coming in to help pick up the pieces but there is so much recovery that will have to happen that it's hard to know where to start.

This article from the Citizen Times has a list of places that are currently helping with relief efforts.

It's absolutely unfathomable that a hurricane could hit the mountains. The effects of this are going to be felt in western NC for a long time, and my heart goes out to everyone who is currently stranded or trying to get in touch with people who are.