Travel

In the newly launched travel magazine Nowhere: Travel Stories, noted nature and travel writer David Quammen, author of The Song of the Dodo, Monster of God, and The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, journals about Romania during September 2000, when he was researching brown bears:

“Just inside the entry, as you walk a concrete catwalk, you begin passing skulls, femurs and other bones of Ursus spelaeus (and 100 lei coins tossed down by visitors), the cave bear, littering the floor, left just where they’ve lain (so we’re told) for 17,000 years. Some are iced-over with calcium carbonate drippings & cemented to the floor. In all, our guide says, remnants of 141 bears were found.”

Vermont’s Sugarbush ski resort is looking for ways to deepen its on-mountain adventure experiences, offering cat-access skiing, in addition to camps and clinics focused on snow evaluation, shelter building, and backcountry rescue and first aid.

“‘People want and respond to new adventures,’ said Win Smith, the owner of Sugarbush. ‘So, yes, the snow and the terrain is your essential core appeal, but you see people’s eyes light up when you offer something unexpected.’” Bill Pennington of The New York Times reports.

• Basque Country and the Pyrenees:  The New York Times
• Black Hills of South Dakota: National Geographic Adventure
• Top Travel-Planning Websites: The San Francisco Chronicle
• Baja and The East Cape: The San Francisco Chronicle

Bob Sherwood of The Financial Times writes about fly fishing Argentina’s Rio Gallegos River (roughly a three-hour flight south of Buenos Aires) for broad-shouldered sea run browns on the wind-blown landscapes of southern Patagonia.

“Sea trout are not native to Patagonia. Stocking of British brown trout early last century appeared to have been a failure until years later a large migratory influx revealed that a healthy population of sea-run fish had been established. Now this region of southern Argentina claims the best sea trout fishing on the planet.”

photo credit: Kirk Deeter

Celebrity antithesis: Joshua Hammer of The New York Times explores Italy’s coastal town of Calasetta (“lacking in glamour, but it is rich with history”) on the small island of Sant’Antioco–just off Sardinia, Italy’s southwestern coast.

“Sant’Antioco is a charming town of about 5,000 people, with a seafront promenade and warrens of pastel-shaded houses hugging cobblestone streets that slope upward toward the basilica. The stone church at the top of the village dates back to the fifth century.”

“…a tranquil backwater, with two quaint ports, a smattering of ruins dating back to pre-Roman times, sweeping Mediterranean savannah, the region’s most unspoiled beaches, and little else.”

photo credit: ezioman

Jeb Admire of Backcountry Beacon offers some sage travel trips (packing, gear, clothing, security, finding meals etc.) for the upcoming summer “hostel circuit”: “If you’re staying in one location for several days, find a restaurant you like and stick with it more than once; this may sound unadventurous, but you’ll develop a rapport with the staff, sample a variety of dishes on a reliable menu, and save the time and stress of always finding a new place…”

Men’s Journal outlines 5 big-city outdoor escapes for your next road trip: Chicago kayaking, NY fly fishing, Houston cycling, Seattle hiking, and Charlotte, NC kayaking.

Rogue River Rafts

Bonnie Tsui of The New York Times writes about the growing trend among whitewater rafting companies in offering culinary cooking camps in addition to their standard river experience. ROW Adventures’ Culinary Whitewater Series (rafting the Snake and Salmon Rivers in Idaho, or northeast Oregon’s Grande Ronde) and O.A.R.S. adventure rafting company’s Wilderness Gourmet trip series (Oregon’s Rogue River) are just two such examples.

“Peter Grubb, president and founder of ROW Adventures, said the company started the Culinary Whitewater Series last year in response to the growing interest in culinary travel… ‘we thought it would be fun to do with some guides on our staff who are experienced cooks and natural teachers. We wanted it to be experiential, so that people could learn how to do gourmet camp cooking at home or on their own camping trips.’”

photo credit: nwrafting

Ilulissat Icefjord: The Jakobshavn Glacier (Ilulissat Glacier) is a large outlet glacier in western Greenland, “producing roughly 20 billion tons worth of icebergs each year, making it the most productive glacier in the northern hemisphere.” Icescapes.tv

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“When we stepped outside to get ready for bed in the cottage’s bathroom, a stone’s throw from the tepee and shared with other guests, we realized what the canines’ fuss was about. It was the new moon and a milky fan of shockingly bright stars hung in the desert sky. The coyotes had been celebrating.”  In the Los Angeles Times,  Jessica Gelt writes about her tour of Death Valley desert towns, including a stay in a tepee on the grounds of China Ranch, a date farm in the tiny town of Tecopa just outside the Park.