Planning spring break is high pressure. You only get a one-week respite from school or work, and the timing, late March or early April, makes it tough to find a location with consistently good weather. Those months could offer spring ski conditions or prime surf weather鈥攐r not.

More than a few times, I鈥檝e had to pivot at the last minute, having thought it would be warm enough for family surfing on the Outer Banks for spring break and then found temperatures in the low 50s. We moved our vacation further south.

Yes, south is the operative word. So relax, because I鈥檝e found seven national-park units in the Southeast and Southwest that offer gorgeous landscapes, many days鈥� worth of adventures, and just-about-guaranteed warm weather for the perfect spring break trip.

1. Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia

Best for: Swimming, Camping, and Contemplating History

Average Temperatures in March and April: Highs from mid 70s to mid 80s

Cumberland Island is wild. The largest barrier island off the coast of Georgia, Cumberland is a 17-mile-long, 36,000-acre swath of pristine beaches, tall dunes, maritime forests, fresh lakes, and marshy canals. Even though the Carnegie family once owned the island, and descendants still have some private property, Cumberland protects almost 10,000 acres of federally designated wilderness. The only way to reach the island is by a 45-minute ($20 one way) or private boat, and once you鈥檙e there the only way to get around is by foot or bike on hiking trails and 50 miles of sandy roads.

The island has no stores, so bring everything you鈥檒l need, and be prepared to pack it all back out. You鈥檒l see some ruins from a Victorian-era mansion built in 1884 as a winter home for Thomas Carnegie, as well as the remnants of a freedmen鈥檚 community of former slaves. You may spot members of the colony of feral horses that still roam the island, which are likely descendants of the horses brought over by the British during the War of 1812.

As for beaches, Cumberland offers 15 miles of undeveloped sand and dunes facing the Atlantic. For solitude, keep heading north away from the docks until you reach a patch of sand that鈥檚 too far for day-trippers to claim. It鈥檚 tough to find this much raw beach on the East Coast, so soak it in. The Atlantic is rough, but fine for swimming. Stay out of the marshes on the west side of the island, as they鈥檙e popular hangouts for alligators.

Where to Stay: is an all-inclusive hotel operating in one of the Carnegies鈥� former vacation homes (from $895 a night), but most visitors . Sea Camp has bathrooms and showers and allows fires (from $22 a night). Stafford Beach is more remote, requiring a three-mile hike from the docks, and it, too, has bathrooms with showers (from $12 a night). Book your spot early, up to six months in advance.

2. Big Bend National Park, Texas

Best for: Hiking, Biking, Climbing, Canoeing, Stargazing

Average Temperatures in March and April: Low to high 70s

The 800,000-acre Big Bend National Park has been a spring-break destination for decades. My mother-in-law still talks fondly about spending college spring breaks camping there during the 1960s.

Late March and early April are the busiest times to visit the park. But 鈥渃rowded鈥� is a relative term; I hit the place a few years ago at the end of March and never felt overwhelmed or discouraged by other visitors, mainly because the park and its neighboring Big Bend Ranch State Park are so large. I hiked, rode my bike, camped, and enjoyed the 鈥淔ar West Texas鈥� vibe of it all.

The Big Bend landscape is straight out of a Western, with its vistas of canyons, the towering Chisos Mountains, and big stretches of rocky desert. It鈥檚 a great place to explore by boot, bike, or boat, an ideal multi-sport national-park trip.

Hikers should tackle the 5.5-mile out and back Window Trail, which descends 1,000 feet from the Chisos Trailhead, at 5,400 feet elevation, through Oak Creek Canyon to a sheer drop-off framed by towering cliffs. Be prepared (and take water) for the steady climb back to the trailhead. Depending on recent storms, there could be a small stream in the center of the canyon, but the trail is still navigable. Subject to changes in the water level, you can paddle a 20-mile section of the Rio Grande through Santa Elena Canyon, which narrows to 100 feet wide, with limestone cliffs blotting out the sun. The area has been in a drought for the last couple of years, so spring trips aren鈥檛 guaranteed, but check with for water levels and trip options (from $160 per person).

Rio Grande Angell Expeditions video by Taylor Reilly

Just outside the national park is , with its bounty of mountain biking, where you can pedal to a backcountry oasis and through a slope filled with sparkling gemstones. Regardless of what you do, at the end of the day you must soak in the historic hot springs that are carved out of the Rio Grande.

Where to Stay: Chisos Mountain Lodge inside the park has 72 rooms, a restaurant, and a general store (from $170 a night). has 60 sites up almost a mile high in elevation; make reservations up to six months in advance ($16 a night).

3. Death Valley National Park, California

Best for Cycling, Hiking, Stargazing

Average Temps in March and April: Highs from 65 to 75

It would be borderline crazy to visit Death Valley National Park in the summertime, but in early spring, the temperatures are chef鈥檚-kiss perfect. Visitors in spring may also have the huge bonus of seeing the wildflowers pop off, particularly in the lower elevations, in fields of desert gold, poppies, and verbena. If you鈥檙e really into hitting the park during peak flower power, watch the rangers鈥� on which wildflowers are blooming throughout spring and summer.

Also cool: the park is home to one of the world鈥檚 rarest fish, the Devils Hole pupfish, an endangered species found only in a water cavern in Devils Hole here. The pupfish are visible during the annual spring migration as they move within the hole seeking warmth from direct sunlight. Scientists counted 191 of them last April, the highest count in 25 years.

You don鈥檛 need to be a cyclist to enjoy Death Valley鈥攖here are plenty of hiking trails鈥攂ut two wheels is a hell of a way to explore this landscape, with 785 miles of roads open to bikes. Cruise through otherworldly terrain like salt flats, expansive sand dunes, and red-rock formations, before climbing into mountains of up to 11,000 feet.

Artist鈥檚 Drive, a paved nine-mile one-way loop, is the park鈥檚 signature ride. It climbs from below sea level to 880 feet above it, offering views of the surrounding moon-like white sands and mountains on the horizon. At the crest, you鈥檒l be surrounded by pink and tan hills, which narrow to canyon-like proportions on the fun downhill to finish the loop. To give you a sense of the terrain, parts of the Star Wars franchise were filmed off this road.

Where to Stay: If you鈥檙e looking for nice digs, will put you in the heart of the action, and with a pool (from $507 a night). is the best developed campground in the park, with 136 sites on the valley floor and mountain views. Book up to six months in advance (from $30 a night).

4. White Sands National Park, New Mexico

Best for Hiking and Sand Sledding

Average Temperatures in March and April: 70 to 80

One of the newest national parks (established in 2019), White Sands isn鈥檛 huge, just 175,000 acres, but it protects half of the world鈥檚 largest gypsum-crystal field. The dunes roll through the Tularosa Basin like bright white waves, creating a landscape unlike anything else on this planet. You can see the San Andres Mountains on the horizon beyond the park, but it鈥檚 the sloping dunes that will mesmerize you.

The eight-mile Dunes Drive scenic road delivers you into the center of the dunes from the comfort of an air-conditioned vehicle, and the road also accesses the park鈥檚 five different hiking trails. The Dune Life Nature Trail is an easy one-mile loop that serves as a good intro to the landscape. But if you really want to dig into the dunes, hike the five-mile , which traces the edge of an ancient lake that has been replaced by the waves of dunes. You鈥檒l climb and descend 60-foot sandy mounds throughout.

If you can time it right, hit the park on a , when White Sands is open into the night, and ranger-led programs include guided hikes. And definitely bring a sled (or buy one in the park gift shop). The dunes at the are open to sledding, and the gypsum hills behave exactly like snow slopes.

Where to Stay: There is currently no camping inside the park: its backcountry campsites are closed for rehabilitation, with no timeline as to when they will be in service. The town of Alamogordo, 15 miles east of the park, has a variety of chain hotels.

5. Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida and Mississippi

Best for Island Hopping, Swimming, Surfing, Fishing, Birdwatching

Average Temperatures in March and April: Low to mid 70s

A lot of people have discovered the Gulf Islands National Seashore. In 2023, visitation jumped 40 percent, from 5.7 million to 8.2 million people, making this unit the fifth-most-visited in the park service. People are showing up for the white-sand beaches on the mainland and for barrier islands that you can only reach by boat. The national seashore is made up of a series of parks, beaches, and islands, split between Florida and Mississippi, and all surrounded by clear, aqua-blue waters that are home to gopher tortoises, bottlenose dolphins, starfish, crabs鈥nd the 300 species of birds that migrate through the area.

The easiest island to reach is Ship, 12 miles off the coast and accessible by regular from Gulfport and Biloxi ($44 per person, round trip). Once you鈥檙e on the island, you can explore the historic fort, lounge on the beaches, or swim in the Gulf. The recreation area is fully developed with concessions and restrooms, so it鈥檚 a convenient getaway.

If you鈥檙e looking for something wilder, consider venturing to , an eight-mile-long barrier island protected as a federally designated Wilderness area, so there are no commercial ferries to the island and no facilities on the ground. But if you have your own boat or want to hire a charter (from $675 at ), you鈥檒l find an island ringed with sugar-white sand beaches and grassy dunes, while pine trees and lagoons pack the interior. Mind the occasional alligator.

Where to Stay: The campground, on the mainland near the town of Ocean Springs, sits inside a maritime forest, with marshes and fishing docks ($25 a night, book six months in advance). You鈥檙e also allowed to on the beach on a few of the barrier islands (Petit Bois, West Petit Bois, and Horn Island) inside the park, but stay off the dunes and any vegetation, don鈥檛 bring any mechanical devices (ie, no coolers with wheels), and be prepared for a true wilderness experience, as there are no facilities.

6. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah and Arizona

Best for Boating, Swimming, Hiking

Average Temperatures in March and April: Highs from 60 to 69

Glen Canyon protects the incredible 1.25 million acres of land and water where the Colorado River pours into Lake Powell. The blue water of the lake contrasts sharply with the red and pink sandstone walls that rise directly from the edge, and the lake has countless fingers and canyons to explore by boat.

The water levels of Powell are constantly shifting, and have generally been in decline the last 20 years. Check the park site鈥檚 to make sure the boat ramp or launch you have in mind is operational. The lake was low when I visited a few years ago on a biking and paddle trip, and we had to contend with some mud on the banks, but the place was no less stunning.

The Antelope Point ramp typically has the least boat traffic, so it鈥檚 conducive to use of kayaks or canoes. From there, you can head south on the lake for a mile and paddle into Antelope Canyon, a narrow slot canyon that鈥檚 also a no-wake (no motorboating) zone. Under normal water levels, you can follow the creek upstream for about a mile. offers rental kayaks (from $75 a day). You can also launch directly from the beaches at Lone Rock Beach and Stanton Creek and explore the lake surrounding those alcoves.

Off the water, an easy 1.25-mile hike leads to one of the overlooks at , where the Colorado River takes a drastic turn around a massive sandstone escarpment.

Where to Stay: All inside the recreation area are first-come, first-served. Lees Ferry Campground has 54 sites, potable water, and restrooms ($26 a night). Lone Rock Beach has primitive sites on a sandy beach right next to the water ($14 per night).

7. Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, Arizona

Best for Overlanding, Hiking, and Seeking Solitude

Average Temperatures in March and April: High 50s to mid 60s

The Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument is primitive. This Northern Arizona park has no facilities, no campgrounds, and no paved roads. Instead, visitors are treated to the sights of 1 million acres of expansive plateaus, rugged canyons, and Mojave Desert, all traversed by a series of unimproved dirt roads and hiking trails. In other words, this monument is ideal for self-contained overlanding. I spent three days cruising Grand Canyon-Parashant in a side-by-side with a rooftop tent, while hiking and biking at various spots throughout, and was as mesmerized by the solitude as the grandeur of the landscape.

If you have a high-clearance 4WD vehicle, the monument is yours to explore. The park service details an 80-mile adventure to that cruises through a variety of terrain, from cattle fields to ponderosa forests, and ends on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. If you choose this route, you鈥檒l also have the chance to get out and stretch your legs on the Burnt Canyon Trail, an easy three-mile out-and-back on a grassy road bed that leads to a big view of the western edge of the Grand Canyon. On a clear day, you can see all the way to Mount Charleston, just outside of Las Vegas.

I took a roundabout, multi-day route to reach , with its long view into the Canyon, and an optional side hike down to the water. The last seven miles to Whitmore Point drop 1,500 feet over rocky, rutted terrain that was super fun to bomb on a mountain bike. The fastest way to this perch is a 50-mile traverse from Mount Trumbull Schoolhouse.

Where to Stay: Primitive camping is allowed throughout the monument, but if you鈥檙e looking for a bit of refinement in the midst of all this rugged adventure, the has hotel rooms and covered wagons on an inholding close to the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. It鈥檚 only accessible by a 70-mile dirt-road drive through the national monument or an airplane (the place has its own landing strip), but once you鈥檙e there, you鈥檒l be able to refuel your vehicle and have a damn fine dinner (starting at $172 a night).

Graham Averill is 国产吃瓜黑料 magazine鈥檚 national-parks columnist. Every year, he agonizes over how to maximize his kids鈥� spring break, dragging them to campsites in Florida, beaches in South Carolina, and lakes all over the Southeast. He recently wrote about hiking in Joshua Tree National Park and his absolute favorite mountain town on the East Coast. His latest article is all about visiting national parks for free.

The post These Are the 7 Best National Parks to Visit for Spring Break appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

鈥淒ammit Wes,鈥� a friend of mine shouted after I handed him my Swarovski binoculars for the first time. On my recommendation, he鈥檇 just splashed out $1,200 on some from another brand, and was so happy with them that he couldn鈥檛 believe mine would be noticeably better. But they were.

The phrase “the best” gets overused in gear reviews, but that鈥檚 exactly what these are: the best binoculars ever made. They鈥檇 better be, since they cost $2,999.

The Best Binoculars Ever Made Have a Price Tag to Match

NL Pure 10×42

How can Swarovski possibly justify that price for a piece of equipment that can cost听as little as $70? There are a bunch of jargony technical reasons, but let鈥檚 start with the emotional one that’s most important to me: I love animals. The time, travel, and equipment it takes to spot, hunt, and admire wildlife accounts for a huge amount of my spending each year. I dedicate large parts of my time to slogging up and down mountains, paddling rivers, waking up before dawn, and going to bed wet, sore, and exhausted just for the opportunity of a fleeting glimpse of fauna in the wild. These Swarovski binoculars help me make the most of each sighting.

The optical quality of the lenses鈥攇lass that is free of distortion and听transmits light equally across its entire surface. The Swarovski family, which also owns both a luxury crystal company and one that specializes in precision machine tools, has all the infrastructure in place to make high-quality glass. Swarovski treats the glass with coatings that protect it and amplify its performance in low light. Swarovski’s coatings eliminate reflection, directing as much light through the glass as possible. The protective layer prevents scratches and repels water and dirt, keeping the lenses clean.听Then, on the prism (which corrects the image orientation from upside down to right side up), there鈥檚 a phase coating which ensures light passing through the Swarovski binoculars is directed perfectly toward your eye.

I’m particularly impressed by the NL Pure 10×42’s eyepiece lenses, which are designed to flatten the image reaching your eyes. Many lenses create a rolling ball听effect, where objects appear larger in the center of the lens than they do near the edges. Not only does that effect distort the image, but it can create sort of a fun-house mirror sensation, causing dizziness and nausea over long periods of viewing. But the NL Pures display a perfectly flat field of view.

Then there’s the matter of what you can see through the lenses. As magnification increases, your field of view typically decreases. The purpose of binoculars is often simplified into image magnification. The 鈥�10鈥� in the name NL Pure 10×42 represents how much magnification they provide. But even at ten-times magnification, these NL Pures display as broad a swath of the landscape as older eight-times Swarovski designs. Flying birds stay in the frame longer than on conventional ten-times magnified binoculars, making them easier to track. That field of view is so broad that you can often lose sight of it beyond your peripheral vision, so looking through the Swarovski binoculars doesn’t feel like looking through a toilet-paper tube.

The 鈥�42鈥� in the name refers to the size of the objective lenses鈥攖he ones farthest away from your eyes. The more magnification an optic has, the less light reaches your eyes through it. However, the larger an objective lens is the more light reaches your eye. More light allowance into the binoculars improves the details you can see and the enhances the color resolution.

Every set of binoculars is a compromise between magnification, objective size, and overall size and weight. 10x42s are the ideal compromise for travel-size binoculars. You get plenty of magnification and light gathering, in a package that鈥檚 reasonably compact and lightweight.

Plus, these binoculars are incredibly svelte. Not only do the Swarovski NL Pures weigh less than 30 ounces, but the typical double bridge design of roof-prism binoculars has been replaced by a unified bridge. Their ergonomic shape鈥攖he tubes flatten into ovals halfway along, right where your hands want to grip the body鈥攑ositions the focus wheel directly under your index finger. Typical of Swarovskis, a thick rubber armor adorns the entire body, offering a sure grip even in wet conditions or while wearing gloves.

That shape, the iconic Swarovski green, and the Northern Goshawk logo sets the NL Pures apart, visually, from lesser binoculars. And, I won鈥檛 lie, that鈥檚 also part of the appeal. Soon after I brought this pair home, my wife asked me why I wouldn鈥檛 put them down. 鈥淭his is my Rolex,鈥� I explained. Carrying these, in my mind, signals that I’m someone who takes wildlife seriously and is dedicated to enjoying time with the creatures of the forest. But unlike a fancy watch, these binoculars actually do something my phone can鈥檛.

Unlike the larger, heavier, $5,330, animal-identifying, artificial intelligence-equipped Swarovski AX Visios, or other models equipped with laser rangefinders, these NL Pures are a simple, robust, purely mechanical device. There鈥檚 really nothing that can go wrong with them. In the two years I鈥檝e had them, I鈥檝e dropped them in the mud, banged them on trees and rocks, and dragged them everywhere from coastal Alaska to rural France to beaches in Baja, Mexico. In that time the only maintenance I’ve had to do was occasionally wipe the lenses with a cloth.

What鈥檚 it like to look through them? The crazy thing here is I can鈥檛 show you. No monitor, television, or printer in the world is capable of producing as crystal clear an image as is achieved by looking through this pair of Swarovski NL Pure binoculars. And no words describing how it feels like you鈥檙e standing ten times closer to whatever you鈥檙e looking at will ever do the experience justice. You just need to try a pair for yourself. But be warned: like my buddy found out, picking up a pair of Swarovskis will forever ruin your perception of all other binoculars.

The post What It鈥檚 Like to Look Through the Best Binoculars Ever Made appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Ever come across an incredible hotel that stops you mid-scroll and makes you think, Wow, wouldn鈥檛 it be something to stay there? We do, too鈥攁ll the time. Welcome to Friday Fantasy, where we highlight amazing hotels, lodges, cabins, tents, campsites, and other places perched in perfect outdoor settings. Read on for the intel you need to book an upcoming adventure here. Or at least dream about it.

Waking up in the middle of the night can be maddening. Unless you’re able to gaze directly up at the firmament.

The skies are the star attraction at Clear Sky Resorts Bryce Canyon, a new property set in a quiet gulch just 16 miles southeast of Bryce Canyon National Park. Far from light pollution and adjacent to this certified International Dark Sky Park, it offers superb stargazing by night and an otherworldly landscape by day.

Most nights, that is. I could consider it unfortunate that rain fell during my visit, but precipitation is good for the high desert. And while I lacked lucid starry skies, I enjoyed a daytime rainbow and an evening lightning show, both plenty compensatory. Upon waking at first light鈥攗sually discomfiting to this night owl鈥擨 watched raindrops run peaceful rivulets down the glass wall of my geodesic dome.

The resort is a collection of these futuristic structures, their surfaces half-glass and half-paneled. The window sides of each dome face up and also away from other units, though as darkness fell, I couldn鈥檛 help wondering (hey, a little) about anyone looking in. But all I had to do was close the lower tier of curtains, leaving the top ones open for viewing.

Hal Feinberg, resort founder and co-owner, said in the dining hall that evening that he came up with the sky-dome idea after seeing a teepee hotel in Livingston, Montana, that felt close to nature yet offered decks and nice indoor furniture.

In 2021, he opened Clear Sky Resorts Grand Canyon, 30 miles from the South Rim, with 45 sky domes that, like the ones in Utah, are connected by paths to shared activity spaces. With the Bryce iteration, Feinberg upgraded from using clear PVC canvas windows to ones made of glass. The result, he said, 鈥渋s like going from a Chevy to a Corvette.鈥�

Clear Sky Resorts Bryce Canyon opened August 9. It currently offers 25 domes, out of an intended final total of 62. Also underway is an employee-housing structure for up to 40 people.

This is luxury glamping with a jazzy, celestial theme. In the lobby, I passed a robot whose concierge duties include greeting guests by name and pulling up hiking maps. The nearby dining-hall dome, also known as the caf茅, featured a gleaming central boomerang-shaped bar. That evening as friends and I stared out of the caf茅鈥檚 28-foot-tall window, the amber lights lining the surrounding gravel paths and access road glowed like airport jetways.

A singer-guitarist played during dinner, and afterward, between showers, we hung out around the decorative fire pit on the deck. Daytime, people lounged there at the outdoor tables, and a grandfather smiled as his two grandsons went at it with cornhole.

国产吃瓜黑料 Intel

You can sign up for stargazing tours and outdoor yoga, or walk a pleasant mile or two around the property on the gravel paths and roadway. A nearby option is to drive ten miles to the northernmost hike in the national park, the moderate (0.8 mile one-way, with just 150 feet of elevation gain). This waterfall hike, a rarity for the area, winds along the park boundary.

But most visitors are here to explore the heart of . Friends and I intended to hike with April LeFevre, a fourth-generation area resident who drove shuttle groups in Bryce for 18 years before opening her own outfit, . Rain, however, nixed the morning鈥檚 hike, and instead we motored along on the main park road, UT-63, which stretches 18 miles north to south. Before doubling back to finish at the famed Bryce Amphitheater overlook near the entrance, we marveled at seeing the arch at Natural Bridge, 12 miles in, and two miles later the Hunter spire at Agua Canyon, come in and out of the mist.

Along the way, LeFevre recounted many local tales, including that of LeRoy Parker, later known as the outlaw Butch Cassidy, who grew up 50 miles away in Circleville. His life changed when he was 13, LeFevre said, after he visited a mercantile to pick up a pair of overalls he鈥檇 had repaired, and, finding the place closed, slipped through a window to take them and a pie. He left a note regarding payment, but the owner pressed charges. Though acquitted, the youth henceforth resented authority. LeFevre also said that while Cassidy is thought to have died with his partner, the Sundance Kid, in Bolivia, an area rancher (now long gone) told her that Cassidy had returned to Circleville. The rancher claimed to have given the former robber a ride in his wagon. Some say Cassidy is buried in a secret location in Circleville.

Anyone visiting the park will want to see the spindly hoodoos, striated in red, gold, and white. Bryce Canyon has the greatest concentration of hoodoos in the world: 12 amphitheaters of them. According to an ancient Piaute , the hoodoos were once people who鈥檇 committed evil acts. A coyote spirit invited them all to a party, to trap them, and turned them to stone.

In geological terms, the hoodoos and holes in the walls are remnants from 50 million years ago when the area was a lake surrounded by rock walls. The spires formed from erosion, weather, and ice expansion during freeze-thaw cycles.

Later, when the clouds cleared, our crew hiked the , a 1.8-mile round-trip, to reach a formation that supposedly looks like Queen Victoria. I didn鈥檛 think too much of the resemblance, but marveled at the views of endless golden towers and labyrinths. This hike is commonly for a stellar three-miler. I鈥檇 have loved to do the 4.2-mile hike to see the top-heavy hoodoos of the .

听

Bryce is known as an otherworldly place to see the sunrise (head to Sunrise Point) as it lights up the hoodoos. Rangers offer in the park as well, and doing that would be amazing.

The landscape is also a bird-watchers鈥� dream, drawing hawks, eagles, peregrine falcons, and swifts. I delighted in seeing both ponderosa pine, which smells of vanilla, and, at the highest point of the canyon, ancient twisted bristlecone pines. The mellow one-mile cuts through a forest, with side views of hoodoos. (This trail is considered largely wheelchair accessible, with assistance.)

Much of the hiking at Bryce begins at about 8,000 feet, and the Bristlecone Loop reaches 9,100 feet, so in coming from lower elevation, be prepared to deal with altitude. Always bring water and pay attention to intake.

Choice Rooms

The Standard Sky Domes sleep two. I stayed in a Deluxe, called Milky Way, with more controls for lights and temperature and vents than I possibly knew what to do with. The place had a patio (some have decks) and kitchenette, a king bed and two twin beds in a loft, and a rad shower with six adjustable side jets. The Milky Way ($730) was dubbed an XL in that it slept four, and I thought about how much fun (aside from the snoring) it would be to have my husband and two sons here.

The designs varied. One friend stayed in a two-occupant Deluxe called the Big Dipper ($630) with no loft but a cool swinging chair. Another was in Nova ($680), also double occupancy, that had, I kid you not, a dance floor, disco ball, and flashing lights. There鈥檚 a two-suite dome that sleeps eight ($1,125) if you want to go big.

Eat and Drink

The resort鈥檚 Sky Nova Caf茅 Bar and Grill, open to the public, affords wall-to-ceiling views of the canyon and sky and has a lot of fun themed touches, like little inverted domes within the water glasses and crazily multicolored silverware.

Entr茅es are generously sized and range from $20 and to $35, though the 20-ounce Atlas Ribeye is $49鈥攁nd that thing is a brick. I ordered the heavenly pan-seared Titan鈥檚 Trout with lemon-dill sauce.

I didn鈥檛 know I liked barbecue that much until I had lunch at i.d.k. Barbecue, six miles from the resort in the town of Tropic. While I had the sweet chicken and baked beans, also on offer were pulled pork, beef brisket, slaw, potato salad, and cornbread.

Ebenezer鈥檚 Barn and Grill, 15 miles away in Bryce Canyon City, is a popular 鈥済ourmet cowboy鈥� music hall, with a fixed-price meal served to hundreds in turn. The night we visited, Due West, a country band founded in Nashville, Tennessee, played original tunes.

When to Go

Clear Sky is open year-round, as is Bryce Canyon. Most visitors to the park come from June through September to take advantage of the warmer weather and clearest skies. The months of October through May are cooler but the upsides are fewer crowds, autumn foliage, and spring wildflowers. Some say the park is at its most beautiful with white snow atop the red rock.

How to Get There

The small Bryce Canyon Airport is just four miles north of the park. Most visitors fly into Salt Lake City and rent a car for the spectacular 294-mile drive south.

Don鈥檛 Miss

Stick your head into the lobby of the Bryce Canyon Lodge, built in 1924 in the Rustic style of national-park architecture and one of some half dozen lodges designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it meshes development, landscape architecture, and the environment. The lodge is located in the forest only 700 feet from the canyon rim, and a beautiful half-mile walk from Sunrise Point.

Details

Price: From $525
Address: 855 UT-12, Cannonville, UT 84718

888 704 4445

To Book

Alison Osius is a senior editor at 国产吃瓜黑料 and part of the travel team. She lives in Western Colorado. Previously, she had only flown over Bryce Canyon, though in a small plane with a sunset view. This was a prized chance to explore the park from the ground.

Looking for more great travel intel?

For more by this author, see a personal tale of years of hiking the Storm King Memorial Trail, just off Interstate 70, in Western Colorado, site of a famous firefighting tragedy.

See also this tribute to the most beautiful mountain town in Colorado.

And a lifetime’s accumulated camping tips.

The post What It鈥檚 Like to Stay in a Glass Dome Under Utah’s Darkest Skies appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The leaves are starting to fall here in New England and that perennial urge to bust out the rake and leaf blower is nagging at me. But for the first time in, well, forever, I will resist that urge. Because it turns out, raking up and bagging or burning those leaves is not only bad for soil health. It also takes away habitat for important wildlife like bugs and birds, who are critical pollinators.

I know what you鈥檙e thinking. What will my neighbors think if I ignore my yard work? We鈥檝e been taught鈥攂y society, by our homeowner鈥檚 associations, by our parents, and by our landscapers鈥攖o keep our yards clean and tidy. To remove leaves and branches as they fall. To whack back our shrubs and perennials after they bloom. And to invest in big fall and spring clean-ups that scour our flower beds free of debris. Your neighbors might think the alternative鈥攁 yard with fallen leaves, long grass, and flowers gone to seed鈥攊s untidy, or even a threat to property values and health (by attracting bugs and animals).

But ecologists say we need to rethink our preconceived notions of beautiful, well-maintained yards. Lawns comprise 44 million acres in the U.S. alone, more than double the acreage of all our national parks combined. And as satisfying as a perfect green lawn may be, it鈥檚 an ecological dead zone that doesn’t support any of the essential听functions鈥攍ike pollination, carbon sequestration, and nutrient recycling鈥攖hat sustain our ability to live on this planet.

According to a by NatureServe, a nonprofit specializing in biodiversity data, more than one third of species and ecosystems in the U.S. are at risk of disappearing. This kind of biodiversity loss would be catastrophic for humans, ecologist and entomologist Doug Tallamy told me in an interview for a story I wrote about rewilding.

Thankfully, natural landscaping is trending. According to House Beautiful, the practice鈥攚hich includes native perennials, wildflower and pollinator gardens, xeriscaping, and lawn reduction鈥攊s one of . That鈥檚 good news for folks on a budget (and those who want to reclaim their fall weekends) because natural landscapes are way less cost- and time-intensive to听maintain. It鈥檚 also good news for all the bugs, birds, and bees, which are so critical for biodiversity.

But back to raking. As I write these words, I can hear the buzz of leaf blowers in my neighborhood. I can see a big truck piled high with collected leaves, about to be carted off to who knows where. Meanwhile, in my yard, I鈥檓 watching them fall and wondering how to harness their glory.

Why Experts Say Don鈥檛 Rake

鈥淟eaves are not litter,鈥� says Matthew Shepherd, the director of outreach and education at Xerces is a nonprofit focused on protecting and conserving insects and other invertebrates. 鈥淭hey provide critical food and shelter for butterflies, beetles, bees, moths, and other invertebrates. And we need to stop thinking of these tiny creatures as pests, but rather as heroes. Instead of banishing them from our spaces, we need to roll out the welcome mat.鈥�

Insects are critical to humans because they transfer pollen from plant to plant, which helps plants and crops reproduce. 鈥淲ithout these pollinators, and ample habitat for them, our global food supply would be drastically diminished,鈥� says Shepherd. Insects are also a valuable food source for birds, reptiles, and other insects, and they help aerate soil and decompose organic matter.

Additionally, leaf debris helps build healthy soil that holds moisture. Leaves are nature’s fertilizer: free, nutrient-dense organic matter that breaks down and feeds the soil. It’s pretty ironic that we sweep our yards clear of them and then run to the garden center to buy chemical fertilizers (which, according to The Freedonia Group, a market research firm, is a $4 billion market).

Here鈥檚 How to Get the Most Out of Your Leaves

As I watched the leaves pile up on my lawn, I started to wonder whether there were any downsides to letting them be. Is there such a thing as too much leaf litter? What if they dried out鈥攃ould they be a fire hazard? I reached out to Jamie 鈥淒ekes鈥� Dedekian, an organic lawn expert I’ve come to trust at my local garden center, Country Garden, in Hyannis, Massachusetts, to get some basic best practices.

鈥淚f you let leaves build up on your lawn over time, and just let them sit, the answer is yes, they will smother and could kill it,鈥� Dedekian told me. But the answer is not to do a big fall clean up. Instead, he recommended a few easy “clean-in” techniques that will harness all the goodness in those leaves and distribute them in a beneficial way across your yard.

As they start to fall, blow whole leaves into your flower beds, where they鈥檒l create wildlife habitat and eventually decompose and feed the soil and plants. Once you’ve created a blanket in the beds that鈥檚 a few inches thick, then it’s time to feed the lawn some leaves. 鈥淩emove the bag on your mower and mulch them up into small pieces,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 essentially a free compost application. As those small bits of leaves decompose they will actually help your lawn, not hurt it.鈥�

If you live in a wildfire-prone area, you will also benefit from some leaf redistribution, because dry leaf litter听can pose a fire hazard in hot, dry, windy conditions. Shepherd suggests raking them into a pile a safe distance away from structures鈥攖he U.S. Department of Agriculture at least 30 feet from the home鈥攁nd letting them decompose naturally there.

鈥淓ven a small pile of leaves can make a positive impact,鈥� Shepherd says. 鈥淛ust find a corner of your yard, make a pile, and let it be. The animals will find it, and they鈥檒l appreciate it.鈥�

5 Pro Fall Tips for the Eco-Conscious Gardener

As I wrapped up my conversation with Shepherd, I asked him what yard tasks I can be doing to improve the health and beauty of my space this fall. After all, I love gardening and yard work, and with less raking to do, I鈥檇 have lots of time on my hands. Here are his ideas.

1. Relax and watch. 鈥淛ust sit and enjoy your morning coffee while watching the finches feed on your seed heads and the bees buzz around the last of your lavender,鈥� says Shepherd. 鈥淪ometimes protecting and promoting habitat means doing less. Part of gardening should be just sitting back and enjoying it. Actually taking time to notice and watch and appreciate the wildlife that you’re bringing in.鈥� It鈥檚 also a good time to make notes about plants that thrived and those that didn鈥檛, and make a list of new plants you want to try next year. Think about your bloom period through the year. 鈥淒id you have periods when you didn’t have a lot of bloom? Are there native plants you could introduce to fill those gaps?鈥� he says.

2. Collect seeds. Are there plants you love and want more of? For me this year it was cardinal flowers, which drew hummingbirds into my yard every day. I鈥檓 leaving many of the seed heads intact for the birds to feed on, but I鈥檓 collecting some to plant.

3. Make a brush pile, also known as habitat pile. Find a lonely corner of your yard and start building a pile of sticks and branches for animals to. Start with the largest logs and branches on the bottom, and keep adding as time goes on. Be sure to leave gaps for airflow and wildlife access.

4. Save the stems. Some bees nest in the stems of shrubs and perennials, so resist the urge to chop them down to nubs.

5. Split native perennials. Fall is a great time to divide many plants. Dividing entails digging plants up and splitting the root ball into smaller sections to replant in different spaces. This practice promotes growth and is a great way to fill in gaps in your garden. I鈥檝e got tons of splitting to do this fall: black-eyed Susans, daisies, catmint, sedum, and lavender to name a few.

Kristin Hostetter is 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别鈥檚 sustainability columnist. On most weekends when she鈥檚 not out hiking, you can find her puttering in her garden or in the kitchen cooking up the fruits of her labor. Follow her journey to live more sustainably by for her twice-monthly newsletter.

The post Raking Leaves Is Pointless鈥攁nd Bad for Your Yard appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Born and raised in Wichita Falls, Texas, I grew up chasing after horned lizards, flying off inflatable tubes pulled behind boats, and camping in triple-digit-degree summers. Family vacations were a mix of relaxing on the Galveston coast and testing my athletic abilities slalom water skiing on Lake Arrowhead.

Texas sometimes receives eye rolls and groans from the rest of the country, and I get it. We can be a little loud and braggy, and I鈥檝e got a bone to pick with some state policies. But the thing I鈥檝e never understood is why more people aren鈥檛 aware of the bounty of outdoor experiences here. There鈥檚 something indisputable about the diverse geography of the Lone Star State that I鈥檒l defend time and time again. We鈥檝e got outdoors to rival them all, y鈥檃ll.

My state has some of the biggest and best landscapes in the country, filled with diverse wildlife, awe-inspiring views, and adventurous activities. I am proud to put on my braggart Texan cap to explain how to experience it all. These are my favorite places and experiences to get outside in Texas.

1. National Parks

It was hard to believe Texas had 鈥渞eal鈥� mountains until, in the most spiritual experience I鈥檝e ever had in a state where churches sit on every corner, I saw them rising gloriously out of the desert in Big Bend National Park. On my first visit, seven years ago, I stayed with an 80-year-old in Terlingua whom I found through couchsurfing.com. He took me to the national park for a hike and we gazed at exposed ancient pictographs, which seem to show darts or arrowheads for hunting, in red pigments on the gold limestone.

Then we soaked in the Langford Hot Springs, outdoor baths above ancient faults where Tornillo Creek enters the Rio Grande. Big Bend National Park offers float trips through canyons, horseback riding, hiking, and stargazing; it鈥檚 an International Dark Sky Park.

That night I joined Terlinguan locals and national-park visitors on an impromptu walk through old mining tunnels, followed by porch-side singing of 1990s classics, and then a swim in the Terlingua Creek. I had thought I鈥檇 spend most of my time in Big Bend hiking alone; instead I was surrounded by a host of characters with big personalities. Sometimes a trip to a Texas national park takes you on a journey you don鈥檛 expect.

You can find many of the same activities at our other national park, Guadalupe, two hours east of El Paso. Guadalupe National Park has eight of the ten highest peaks in Texas, the world鈥檚 most extensive Permian fossil reef, and 80 hiking trails through unique geological formations, like thousand-foot cliffs and rocks with dark water-ripple streaks.

2. Kayaking and Canoeing

In 2021, I paddled a folding kayak on a voyage under the downtown Dallas skyline for a 12-mile portion of the 130-mile . The serenity of the experience was only interrupted by a few car honks when I floated under bridges鈥攁nd the sight of a passing gator.

Texas has located throughout the state, and with 3,700 streams, 15 major rivers, and 3,300 miles of tidal shoreline, an abundance of other places to paddle or row as well. You can kayak with dolphins in the Galveston Bay or canoe with gators through , home to one of the world鈥檚 largest cypress forests, the trees covered in Spanish moss. Autumn paddle trips are ideal for fall-foliage views and cooler temps, not to mention a chance to witness thousands of monarch butterflies migrating to Mexico over the Devil’s River in West Texas.

3. Climbing

Rock climbing has become popular in Texas鈥攜ou now see just as many dating profiles with rock-climbing photos as you do of folks holding up dead fish they鈥檝e caught. Climbers from here and elsewhere are scrambling to places like , a bouldering hub 30 miles east of El Paso featuring problems (meaning short routes done ropeless) from V0-V16, and near Austin, which offers bolted sport climbs. Some Texas property owners are opening their private lands to climbers for limited camping and use. For instance, new routes are being developed among the granite cliffs and boulders at .

4. Hiking

I鈥檝e hiked through flat North Texas fields of bluebonnets, across dinosaur tracks at , and up hills and limestone canyons full of Uvalde bigtooth maple trees at . Even within our cities there are spectacular hiking trails: like Austin鈥檚 ; or, just an hour-and-fifteen-minute drive from Houston, the 129-mile Lone Star Hiking Trail, which winds through the , the largest national forest in Texas.

For less crowded hikes, aim for natural areas in the South Texas Plains, Pineywoods, Panhandle Plains, and Big Bend Country. I hiked about eight miles on that follows the rim of Seminole Canyon in in Big Bend Country and saw only two other people.

East Texas holds the four national forests鈥擲am Houston, Davy Crockett, Sabine, and Angelina鈥攚ith the Caddo-Lyndon B. Johnson National Grasslands, also Forest Service-managed, located in northeast Texas. All are laced with hiking trails.

Texas hiking tips: Always pack more water than you need, and then pack an extra bottle鈥攁nd if you hear a rattle, move your ass. We have 15 varieties of venomous snakes, so be careful. But to keep it in perspective, more people die in Texas from lightning strikes than snake bites. So don鈥檛 chance the storms, either.

5. Cycling and Mountain Biking

You have to admire how most Texans aren鈥檛 fazed about cycling and biking in extreme temperatures in outdoor environments. Take me鈥擨 rode 100 miles in 100-degree-heat for a cycling ride aptly called in my hometown. My parents thought it鈥檇 be a 鈥渇un鈥� challenge for us to do together. They took me to a cycling shop and urged me to buy a bike. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good investment,鈥� my dad said. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l use it all the time.鈥�

My mom and I completed the Hotter N鈥� Hell Hundred ride more handily than I expected, while my dad, who was 60 at the time, outshone us by completing the Triple Threat (a 12-mile mountain-bike ride on Friday, 100-mile road ride on Saturday, and a 12-mile trail run on Sunday).

Our big ol鈥� state has cycling trails of all kinds鈥攍ike the 30-mile听, which passes by historic Spanish missions in the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park. The challenging 133-mile follows the old Union Pacific and Chaparral railroad right-of-ways through small towns and over railroad bridges from northeast of Dallas to Texarkana.

Let鈥檚 not forget mountain-biking trails. Looking for steep hills, granite outcrops, and other forms of technical terrain? Hit up Hill Country State Natural Area for 40 miles of mountain-biking trails like the .

6. The Coast

The Gulf of Mexico is warmer than the Atlantic or Pacific oceans鈥攕o why suffer the cold when Texas has 367 miles of shoreline and sandy beaches. Camp on the beach at places like or the remote , made up of 56,000 acres of offshore barrier islands and bayside marshes. You can swim, parasail, surf, water ski, boat, fish, kayak, and go horseback riding.

Despite what you may think, there is surfing along Texas鈥� coastline, at Surfside Beach, Port Aransas, and South Padre, especially during hurricane swells. Corpus Christi has among the largest number of kite-able days in the U.S., making it a well-known kitesurfing destination.

Dying for a surf experience but can鈥檛 make the drive to the coast? Do what I did and catch waves at located between Austin and Dallas, an hour and a half from each. The two-acre surf lake makes waves for beginners, intermediates, and pros. I easily caught 10 smooth waves in an hour and had a blast cheering other surfers between the ages of 10 and 78.

7. State Parks

Years ago, my friends and I packed our tents and drove to the Texas Panhandle to stay in the United States鈥� second-largest canyon, . During the day, we hiked through red strata rock formations, and at night we marveled and sang:

The stars at night

Are big and bright (clap four times)

Deep in the heart of Texas

Texas has 89 state parks, natural areas, and historic sites that display its geological variety. near San Antonio is a tropical getaway with dwarf palmetto plants, while has a 70-foot waterfall and 400 underground caves. Board across sand dunes in the , see the Texas State bison herd roaming in , or jump into the world鈥檚 largest spring-fed swimming pool in .

8. Lakes, Rivers, and Springs

We鈥檝e got every flavor of water you could want, from the picturesque swimming holes of to the crystal-blue reservoir at . I have many memories boating on Lake watching daredevil youths (and some adults) jumping off cliffs, sticking my backside in an inner tube to , and trying not to fall off paddle boards. There is scuba diving in , which has 200 artesian springs and the densest population of turtles in the country.

Come on out! Hope to see you on the trails.

听

If you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people active and outside.听Learn more.

听Alex Temblador was born and raised in North Texas, the traditional homeland of the Caddo, Comanche, Kiowa, Tawakoni, and Wichita peoples. She lives in the Dallas area, a short drive from hills, rivers, lakes, and springs, and continues to find beautiful places in her state to paddle, hike, and explore.听

The post Texas Is a Great Outdoor-国产吃瓜黑料 State. I Would Know. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

One lovely evening last summer I was enjoying a cocktail in my friend Joanie鈥檚 backyard. As we sat there sipping tequila and sodas in the gloaming, about a half dozen hummingbirds showed up to join the party.

We watched them for more than 30 minutes, sipping nectar from her feeders and then zipping over to her tangle of butterfly bush, where they鈥檇 hover over a flower and push their long beaks into one scarlet bloom after the other. It was mesmerizing: the calming buzz of their wings (which beat up to 5,400 times per minute), the precision of their beaks, the deftness of their flying, the way their feathers turn iridescent green when the light hits them a certain way.

Joanie, an artist and landscape designer, had intentionally created prime habitat for hummingbirds. And not just because they鈥檙e freaking听cool to watch. She did it because they, like bees, are pollinating superheroes. And pollinators, in case you didn鈥檛 know, are critical to both human survival and a healthy planet.

I was hooked and began wondering how to attract hummingbirds to my yard. After some research, I hatched a plan.

How Do Hummingbirds Help the World?

According to Pollinator Partnership, an astounding of food we eat can be traced to the work of pollinators like hummingbirds (along with other birds, bats, bees, butterflies, and beetles).

鈥淢any plant species depend on hummingbirds as their main source of pollination,鈥� says Anthony Colangelo from Pollinator Partnership, a nonprofit devoted to preserving and protecting the health of pollinators in North America.

Hummingbirds, Colangelo told me, are considered a keystone species. It means that their presence within an ecosystem has a disproportionate effect on other organisms within the system. How? 鈥淭hey are relentless workers and fast fliers, visiting 1,000 to 2,000 flowers in a single day, transferring pollen, from one plant to the next,鈥� says Colangelo. 鈥淭hey provide an essential service in our food web and help maintain healthy levels of biodiversity.鈥�

What Role Do Hummingbirds Play in Pollination?

In its simplest form, pollination is like sex for plants. It鈥檚 how they reproduce and form fruits and new flowers. Think of a pollen grain as a sperm. 鈥淲hen a pollen grain moves from the anther (male part) of a flower to the stigma (female part), pollination happens,鈥� says Colangelo. 鈥淭his is the first step in a process that produces seeds, fruits, and the next generation of plants, and it can happen through self-pollination, wind and water pollination, or through the work of hummingbirds and other pollinating animals that move pollen within the flower and from bloom to bloom.鈥�

This summer, watching this in action has been one of my favorite pastimes. Here鈥檚 what it looks like: A bird appears, seemingly out of nowhere, and I hear that wonderful vibrating purr. It hovers at a flower and inserts its long beak into the bloom for a few seconds. 鈥淎s it鈥檚 lapping up the nectar, pollen grains stick to its beak and facial feathers,鈥� says Colangelo. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of like the flower is rewarding the hummingbird for visiting it.鈥�

Next, the bird flits to another bloom, inserts its pollen-dusted beak, where it touches and fertilizes that flower鈥檚 reproductive organs and also gathers more pollen on its face. Then off it goes to the next bloom, and the next, and the next.

In an ideal world, hummingbirds have an endless pathway of native flowers to visit. But sadly, they often don鈥檛, which is where we come in.

What Happens If Hummingbirds Go Extinct?

If hummingbirds went extinct, . 鈥�90 percent of the world’s flowering plants and 87 of the top 128 global food crops need animal pollinators,鈥� says Colangelo.

Of the 366 different hummingbird species (all of which live exclusively in the Western Hemisphere), 鈥渁bout 8 percent are endangered or critically endangered due to habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, and invasive plants outcompeting natives in the landscape,鈥� says Colangelo.

In the winter, like many living beings (including humans), hummingbirds migrate south to warmer weather. That鈥檚 why creating pollinator pathways鈥攃ohesive networks of pollinating flowers and habitat鈥攊s crucial.

鈥淗ummingbirds live such energetic lives so they require lots of nectar (carbs) to fuel their daily flight,鈥� says Colangelo. 鈥淗aving lots of connected pathways reduces the amount of energy they have to spend finding food so they can expend that energy in other ways that keep their populations healthy, like finding mates, building nests, having and caring for babies, nest building, parental care.”

5 Ways to Attract Hummingbirds

Even though I鈥檝e been an avid outdoorswoman my whole life, birding has never been something I鈥檝e been that into. So it鈥檚 surprising and kind of ridiculous how hummingbirds now thrill me. In fact, of all the sustainability actions I鈥檝e taken in my life, this one is perhaps the most gratifying. A year ago, I had no hummingbirds. Now they visit me every day, pollinating my little piece of the world. And all I had to do was roll out the welcome mat.

Here鈥檚 how you can do it, too.

1. Plant a few key plants

Hummingbirds are attracted to bright red, orange, and sometimes yellow flowers. They prefer those with tubular blooms, ones that accommodate their long beaks. I chose ruby red cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis), which are native to my region. (Find your local native plants听with these .)听Just three plants placed in the border of my vegetable garden did the trick. Almost every time I look at the beautiful red flowers, there鈥檚 at least one hummingbird nearby.

2. Hang a feeder or two

Feeders are a great way to attract hummingbirds to your space because they give you the opportunity to watch and fall in love with them. But don鈥檛 rely on feeders alone, cautions Colangelo. 鈥淔eeders are like Gatorade,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey provide the birds with a fast and easy hit of energy so they can keep working, but hummingbirds can鈥檛 pollinate from a feeder. For that they need the native flowers.鈥�

You can buy hummingbird feeders like , which I like because it鈥檚 made of red glass rather than plastic, or make one yourself. I fashioned my own using a purchased , a recycled wine bottle, bits of wire, and some old red jewelry to attract the birds.

To fill the feeders, I make my own nectar by heating one part white sugar with four parts water until the sugar dissolves. Resist the urge to purchase hummingbird food tinted with red dye, which could harm the birds. And regularly: twice per week in hot weather and once per week in cooler temps.

3. Provide water for drinking and bathing

I made two water sources for my hummingbirds. The first is an ancient bird bath I scored off a Buy Nothing local Facebook group. It had cracks which I patched up with some quick-set concrete mix. The second is a lovely little fountain I made with an old garden pot, some river stones, and a purchased .

4. If you have an outdoor cat, put a bell on it

Cats are a big threat to hummingbirds and can snatch them right off of low-hanging feeders. Be sure to hang your feeders at least four feet off the ground, and consider putting a bell on your cat鈥檚 collar to warn the birds of their presence.

5. Support conservation organizations

Nonprofits like and 听work to educate the public on the importance of pollinators as well as provide tools and resources for people who want to rewild their yards to welcome pollinators.

If it鈥檚 5 o鈥檆lock, you can probably find Kristin Hostetter sitting in her pesticide-free backyard on Cape Cod with a cold drink and a bird book watching the hummingbirds. Follow her journey to live more sustainably by for her twice-monthly newsletter.

The post Here鈥檚 How (and Why) I Built A Simple Hummingbird Habitat appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Sliding my head through the bright orange life vest, I listen to the expedition leader walk us through emergency evacuation protocols. Almost 100 of us are gathered in the lounge toward the bow of the , an expedition ship scheduled for a five-day journey to the Channel Islands.

鈥淚n the unlikely event鈥� of our ship sinking, he says, we need to know how to put these vests on鈥攁nd how to buckle them properly to keep our heads out of the water if we get knocked out. It鈥檚 standard safety speak, but hardly settles my anxiety.

I don鈥檛 like boats. I’ve never liked boats. There鈥檚 the bit about sinking, sure, but mostly, boats make me sick. The nausea starts as soon as I step aboard and continues until several hours after disembarking. Honestly, most forms of transportation make me sick. Planes, cars, trains, buses, roller coasters 鈥� I even avoid rocking chairs.

I鈥檝e developed a scientific method, which is to drink a beer or two during a train ride or boat ride to help relax my inner ear and manage my nausea. This sounds horrible to most people but works for me. However, I鈥檒l be on this boat for five days. My liver can鈥檛 handle that much science.

Though a travel writer, I鈥檝e turned down every opportunity for a cruise or even a day sail. But the idea of an expedition cruise to a place I鈥檝e always wanted to see intrigued me. Two months ago I set aside my irrational fears and my practical concerns and decided to go.

As the cruise date approached, I wondered in irritation, Why did I say I鈥檇 do this? But I’m committed to hop aboard the Quest, and I have my reasons. Part of me is curious whether I can even survive so many days on a boat, but mostly, I want to see what an expedition cruise is like. And I have always wanted to explore the Channel Islands.

This isn鈥檛 your traditional cruise. Instead of an oversized, floating party bus hitting busy tourist ports, an expedition cruise uses state-of-the-art small ships as traveling basecamps to explore hard-to-reach locales, like the fjords of Greenland, the glaciated coast of Alaska, and the Antarctic Ice Sheet. This particular opportunity was aboard a National Geographic-branded ship, operated by .

With room for 100 guests and 60 crew, the Quest to me鈥攕omeone who is used to kayaks and river rafts鈥攍ooks like a miniature version of the Titanic, not a great reminder for someone afraid of boats. Still, it is taking us to the Channel Islands, a small archipelago 40 miles off the coast of Southern California, and will provide a base of operations for bouncing around these mountainous cays in the Pacific.

A few hours after the safety talk, we push off across the channel, and the nausea kicks in. I don鈥檛 throw up, I just want to. It鈥檚 even worse the next morning, and I skip breakfast because lying down is the only thing that keeps me from chumming the waters.

I decide I was right all along; boats are stupid, and I count the days until I can get off the ship. But after breakfast (a nibble of a granola bar, for me), we load into Zodiacs for our first taste of adventure, and my attitude changes entirely.

What to Do on Catalina Island

There are eight Channel Islands, five of which are designated as Channel Islands National Park. The first on our agenda, Catalina, sits outside of the park, but 88 percent of it is protected as a preserve by the . Catalina Island has one small town, Avalon, with a permanent population of 3,000, while the rest is wild, with nothing but dirt roads and hiking trails for infrastructure.

The paddleboard adventure I originally signed up for is canceled because of an increasing swell, so I join a moderate, three-mile hike on a mix of dirt roads, game trails, and a small piece of the 40-mile , which cuts a line along the mountains of the island, to traverse the bluffs surrounding Little Harbor, a rocky cove with a small campground.

I鈥檓 a sucker for a craggy coastline, and the views stack up: the 50-foot-tall bluffs that outline the coast are occasionally interrupted by golden beaches, while the endless blue of the Pacific Ocean melts into the horizon. From a high perch on the edge of the island, I get a kick out of seeing the Quest slowly bobbing in the swell off the coast. I really like boats when I鈥檓 standing on land. They鈥檙e pretty, and I don鈥檛 worry about them sinking at all.

The Channel Islands have been dubbed North America鈥檚 Galapagos because they鈥檝e evolved in relative isolation, never connected to the mainland. There are more than 150 endemic species on the islands, the terrain of which is a mixture of desert scrub brush, lush grass prairies, and steep cliffs.

On Catalina are bison, introduced in the 1920s during a film shoot (there鈥檚 debate as to which film), as well as a troublesome population of feral cats. Seeing bison is always a treat鈥攚e see one later on this hike, munching grass on a distant hillside鈥攚hether it鈥檚 supposed to be there or not, and I鈥檝e always thought populations of cats turning feral was weird.

But the native species throughout the island chain are even more interesting, like the ginormous squirrels, which are roughly 25 percent larger than those on the mainland. In a phenomenon known as 鈥渋sland gigantism,鈥� a species thrives because of a lack of competition for resources. But the native fox on the islands has evolved in the other direction and are tiny, usually between five and seven pounds. (Adult foxes in North America typically weigh seven to 15 pounds.)

The Quest was built with a shallow draft, which means it can venture into waters close to land, and on its stern are twin boarding platforms where guests can load into Zodiacs to go ashore. Aft in the ship is a large dining room, up forward is a sizable lounge, and both are loaded with windows to maximize the views. It鈥檚 all very civilized, with a small library of wildlife and geography books in the lounge, a well-equipped gym and a massage room, yoga on the top deck in the morning, and charcuterie and cocktails before dinner.

The idea behind any expedition cruise is that passengers should spend as much time off the boat as on, hiking, paddling, and cruising the coast in zippy little boats. The National Geographic expeditions are staffed with professional naturalists who give the whole experience a 鈥渟emester at sea鈥� vibe. There are the expedition leader, who adjusts plans based on conditions; a birding expert; a pro photographer to teach us how to take better photos; marine biologists, who dive and film the thriving kelp forests beneath the surface to show us slide shows during cocktail hour; and ornithologists who give talks and lead excursions.

National Geographic also puts a resident National Geographic Explorer onboard for each trip. I鈥檓 cruising with Greg Marshall, a biologist and filmmaker who invented the CritterCam, changing the way wildlife research is collected鈥攊magine a GoPro designed for animals. Marshall has an Emmy, and he鈥檚 hiking with us, giving talks, and teaching me how to keep my shoes dry during a beach landing in our Zodiac.

Ship life is completely new to me. The crew uses terms like 鈥渄isembark鈥� and 鈥渄off,鈥� the specific verbiage providing a certain gravitas to the situation.

As for the guests, at 47, I鈥檓 on the younger end of the spectrum. A few people in their 20s, including some young women van lifers, are scattered around, but the boat is mostly full of retirees, the adventurous kind. I strike up a friendship with a fit 65-year-old guy from Boise, Idaho, with decades of backcountry skiing experience.

I meet a nice grandmother who is a passionate birder, traveling the world to see different species. I have a wonderful conversation with Bernie and Maryanne, a retired couple who鈥檝e been to 59 national parks. They鈥檙e ticking off their 60th park with this cruise and plan to hit Katmai in Alaska later this summer. 鈥淲e hike,鈥� Maryanne tells me. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 just drive through them.鈥�

An expedition cruise has a rhythm. The ship travels at night, anchoring offshore at different islands as we progress through the journey, and we embark on various activities between meals during the day. The bartender usually meets us with a tray of fresh cocktails in the mudroom after each adventure.

I spend every meal at a different table meeting new people. Afternoons feature presentations about endemic birds or photography techniques while the passengers munch on hors d鈥檕euvres. At lunch one day, one of the naturalists runs into the dining room shouting, 鈥淒olphins, dolphins!鈥� and we all rush to the window to look.

The adventures are mild鈥攎ostly hiking and Zodiac tours of the coast鈥攂ut the terrain is stunning. The Channel Islands are full of wildflowers, like native hyacinth and buckwheat; wild creatures, like the pretty blue island scrub jay and the surprisingly cute spotted skunk; and dramatic cliffs. I give into the rhythm, and the nausea fades. This could be due to the steady ingestion of Dramamine, which I’ve also brought along, or maybe I鈥檓 just getting used to life at sea.

What to Do on Santa Rosa Island

For me, the highlight of the trip is an 8.5-mile hike around Santa Rosa Island, which some would argue is the jewel of the park, because of its tall cliffs, sand dunes, and grove of Torrey Pines. That particular species of evergreen is only found on this island and on one cliff in La Jolla, California.

My small hiking group sees a tiny fox meandering around the shade of the Torrey Pines, but I鈥檓 most impressed with the expansive, waist-high grassy meadows that roll all the way down to the edge of the island, where 100-foot vertical cliffs drop straight to the Pacific.

Two of America鈥檚 most iconic landscapes鈥攑rairie and the craggy coast鈥攂lend into one.

What to Do on Anacapa Island

On our last full day, I wake up before the sun rises and see the moon casting shadows through a 40-foot-tall rock arch just off the coast of Anacapa Island. Sea lions, the Pacific Ocean鈥檚 answer to the rooster, bark as the sun comes up. The joy of an expedition cruise is that you close your eyes to one view and wake up to another.

Choppy conditions keep us from making it ashore, so we take a Zodiac cruise, getting a close up view of the famed Arch Rock, a 40-foot-tall upside-down horseshoe of a rock that protrudes from the ocean, and seeing colonies of sea lions lounging on the black, rocky beaches.

I wonder if the sea lions have to jockey for the best spots on the beach, or if some sort of social hierarchy determines their positioning. The naturalist at the helm of our Zodiac says it鈥檚 very cordial, telling us that sea lions are 鈥減ositively thigmotactic,鈥� which in layman鈥檚 terms means they鈥檙e prone to snuggle.

It hits me that I haven’t been anxious since that first day. Somewhere between the post-Zodiac-cruise hot toddies and a presentation about the indigenous Chumash, I forgot all about the ship potentially sinking. The sickness comes and goes, but I don鈥檛 let it bother me. Nothing I was originally worried about troubles me anymore. If we sink, I know how to put on the life vest. If I get sick, I get sick.

But I鈥檓 onshore a lot hiking. I鈥檓 convinced that the expedition cruise is a hell of a way to travel. Imagine a high-end hotel staffed with expert guides, only the hotel moves to a different badass location every night while you sleep. And did I mention the bartender meeting us with trays of cocktails?

Four Small Expedition Cruises Worth Taking

National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions

Lindblad has 17 ships venturing into seas and bays all over the world. The is a great option if you鈥檙e curious about this style of travel, and it鈥檚 less expensive and shorter than some other options (five days, from $3,310 per person). But their trip, in October 2024, is a potential banger full of penguins and ice formations, with a visit to the gravesite of Sir Ernest Shackleton. Peter Hillary, a mountaineer and the son of Sir Edmund Hillary, who in 1953 with Tenzing Norgay first climbed Everest, is the onboard Nat Geo Explorer (22 days, from $28,304 per person).

Quark Expeditions

Quark specializes in arctic exploration, with ships traversing the coldest seas across the globe. Their 12-day expedition, with a boat capacity of 128 passengers, takes in the sights of Iceland and Greenland, allowing you to experience fjords, hike in the tundra, and visit Inuit communities (from $8,396 per person).

Viking Cruises

Viking operates a variety of cruises in different locations, but their 10-day trip, boat capacity of 378 passengers, gives you a chance to see the wilder side of North America鈥檚 inland sea. You鈥檒l kayak among pink-granite islands in Canada and hike to waterfalls along Wisconsin鈥檚 Door Peninsula (from $7,995 per person). 听

国产吃瓜黑料 Smith Explorations

Alaska is the number-one destination for expedition cruises, and operates an eight-day journey that includes two full days within Glacier Bay National Park. Capacity is 76 and 84 passengers on two different ships respectively. Daily adventures revolve around kayaking and hiking,with the chance to see puffins, whales, and bears (from $4,300 per person). 听

Graham Averill is 国产吃瓜黑料 magazine鈥檚 national-parks columnist. He is amazed to have survived five days on a boat and even more amazed to want to do it again.

For more by this author, Graham Averill, see:

Put These Beautiful National Monuments on Your Must-See List

The 5 Best National Park Road Trips in the U.S.

The 9 Most Fun 国产吃瓜黑料 Lodges in North America

and

The 9 Best Gateway Towns to U.S. National Parks

The post Boating Turns Me Green. But I Couldn鈥檛 Miss a Chance to See the Channel Islands. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Last year was a banner one for our national parks, with 325.5 million recreation visits in the books for 2023. Last week the National Park Service released its , detailing the total number of visitors to the 400 units鈥攚hich include national seashores and historic sites鈥攖he park service manages. Overall, recreation visits increased by 13 million, an uptick of 4 percent compared to 2022. The number of hours spent hanging out in our parks was also up 4 percent, from 1.36 to 1.4 billion hours. That鈥檚 a lot of hiking, or sitting in moose traffic jams, depending on the park.

Parks have never been more popular than they were in 2016, when the national park service was celebrating its centennial and visitation numbers hit a record 330,971,689. That total stayed constant for the next few years, with more than 327 million recreation visits in 2019. Then the pandemic hit, parks closed, travel halted, and visitation dropped by 90 million visits in 2020. The popularity of our scenic national parks has been climbing steadily since, last year almost reaching pre-pandemic levels.

The stats break down , so you can see which of our treasured landscapes are the most and least popular. The Blue Ridge Parkway continues to be the most sought-after park unit in the country (with 16,757,635 visits), and Great Smoky Mountains National Park听rules by far among national parks (13,297,647 visits, with the next-highest contenders all in the four million range). Gulf Islands National Seashore jumped three spots to make it into the top five most popular park units in 2023. And Glen Canyon National Recreation Area climbed into the coveted top-ten list with a near doubled 5,206,934 recorded visits, a massive jump from 34^th in 2022, when it saw 2,842,776.

protects 1.25 million acres of land in Utah and Arizona, including Lake Powell. A multi-year drought had kept many visitors at bay, but the record-breaking snowfall of the winter of 2022 to 2023 brought water levels back up, allowing several boat ramps and access points to reopen. I鈥檝e explored Lake Powell by packraft at low water level, when it was muddy around the edges, but still pretty damn spectacular. Visiting the lake when the water is up would be amazing.

Then again, I like this next trove of data鈥攂ecause it tells you where to go to avoid crowds. My home is close to both the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so I know a little too much about the popular places.

While the top 10 or so most-visited parks see millions of people a year, the parks at the bottom of the list see only a few thousand. Alaska鈥檚 Gates of the Arctic National Park has reclaimed the longtime title of 鈥淟east Visited National Park鈥� in the U.S. after the National Park of American Samoa displaced it in 2022. Congratulations?

These overlooked parks are no less spectacular: offering tropical islands, massive sand dunes, 18,000-foot peaks, and more glaciers than any other spot in the U.S. It might take extra time and work to reach some of them, but the rewards are dramatic landscapes and big adventures鈥ll to yourself.

Here are the 11 least visited national parks in 2023.

1. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska

Recreational Visits: 11,045

Location: Sitting in Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle, Gates of the Arctic covers 8.4 million acres of the rugged and cold Brooks Range. There are no roads or maintained trails within the park, although there is one small village, Anaktuvuk Pass (pop: 451), a Nunamiut Inupiat settlement typically reached by small plane.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: Backpack among the Arrigetch Peaks, a cluster of mountains known for steep, vertical spires deep within the Brooks Range. It鈥檚 a that requires a series of bush plane flights.

2. National Park of American Samoa

Recreational Visits: 12,135

Location: In the South Pacific, 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii, National Park of American Samoa covers portions of three volcanic islands full of tropical forests, coral sand beaches, and traditional Samoan villages. The seascape is just as impressive; the ocean surrounding the islands are home to more than 950 species of fish and 250 species of coral.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: The national park facilitates a where visitors can stay with locals to learn Samoan customs and the South Pacific lifestyle.

3. Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Alaska

Recreational Visits: 16,728

Location: Roughly 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, Lake Clark is 4,000,000 acres of glaciers, peaks, and active volcanoes. No roads lead to the park, which can only be reached by small plane. The park is home to three National Wild and Scenic Rivers (the Mulchatna, Tlikakila, Chilikadrotna), attracting paddlers and anglers alike.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: Backpackers should hit the 50-mile Telaquana Route, where you can follow in the footsteps of local Dena鈥檌na Athabascans and fur traders who blazed the path between the shores of Lake Clark and Telaquana Lake.

4. Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska

Recreational Visits: 17,616

Location: Sitting 25 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Kobuk Valley National Park protects the river of the same name that has served as a thoroughfare for wildlife, particularly caribou, and the people who have been hunting the river valley for 9,000 years. Kobuk Valley is home to the 25-square-mile Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, which rise abruptly from the surrounding trees.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: Take a bush plane into Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, camp, hike, and watch for caribou.

5. Isle Royale National Park, Michigan

Recreational Visits: 28,965

Location: A cluster of islands in the middle of Lake Superior near the Canadian border, Isle Royale is a car-less wilderness where moose and wolves roam. The park is only accessible by boat or float plane, but once you鈥檙e there hikers have 165 miles of trails to explore. A small population of gray wolves have lived in Isle Royale since 1948, when the first wolves crossed an ice bridge that formed, connecting the island to mainland Canada. The population had nearly died out when, in 2018, park wildlife experts relocated wolves to the island.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: Backpack the 40-mile , which crosses over the park鈥檚 main island, connecting backcountry lakes and campsites. Or, hike an 8.5-mile stretch of the from Windigo Dock to Feldtman Lake, which includes a quick, .8-mile side trip to Rainbow Cove, where a rocky shoreline on Lake Superior offers long range views of Rock of Ages Lighthouse on a clear day.听听

6. Katmai National Park and Preservation, Alaska

Recreational Visits: 33,763

Location: Man, Alaska has a lot of lonely national parks. But Katmai is special because it鈥檚 so diverse. Situated on a peninsula in southern Alaska, roughly 260 miles southwest of Anchorage, it has the rugged mountains and glaciers you鈥檇 expect, but also lush valleys, tumultuous coastline, and 40 square miles of desert landscape, thanks to the eruption of Novarupta Volcano, which scorched the earth more than 100 years ago. Katmai is probably best-known for its , where you can sit in your office and peep at brown bears eating salmon at Brooks Falls on the Brooks River.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: Katmai isn鈥檛 connected to any town by road, so most people show up via boat or float plane from King Salmon or Anchorage. That alone is an adventure. Visitors usually start by visiting Brooks Camp, home to the park鈥檚 summer headquarters, to check in and get the required bear-safety orientation, then head to the various platforms that overlook the Brooks River. If you鈥檙e looking to dig deeper, consider paddling the 80-mile , which connects a chain of lakes through Katmai鈥檚 backcountry. Starting at Brooks Camp, kayakers will paddle a circle around 3,183-foot Mount La Gorce, navigating two class I-II rivers and huffing a 1.5-mile long portage between open-water stretches of three different lakes.

7. North Cascades National Park, Washington

Recreational Visits: 40,351

Location: Only three hours from the city of Seattle, North Cascades is a rugged expanse of mountains with more than 300 glaciers, the largest collection of any park outside of Alaska. In other words, North Cascades is wintry and snow-covered most of the year, so much so that most visitors only hit the park between June and September.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: Hike , a steep, 9.4-mile ascent from the edge of Ross Lake that delivers sweeping views from a lookout tower of the Ross Lake National Recreation Area.

8. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska

Recreational Visits: 78,305

Location: Sitting more than 200 miles east of Anchorage, Wrangell-St. Elias encompasses 13.2 million acres where four major mountain ranges converge, encompassing both the largest collection of glaciers and the highest concentration of 16,000-foot peaks in the U.S., including seven of the 20 highest peaks in America. The park is a land of extremes鈥�14,163-foot Mount Wrangell is an active volcano with vents of steam on the summit, and Bagley Icefield, near the coast, is North America鈥檚 largest subpolar icefield.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: Climb Mount Bear, a 14,831-foot peak deep in the St. Elias Range that doesn鈥檛 require any technical climbing, but is a beautiful adventure.

9. Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida

Recreational Visits: 84,285

Location: Head to Key West and then keep going, 70 miles west into the Gilf of Mexico to Dry Tortugas, a collection of seven islands only accessible by boat or seaplane. The atolls are a mix of palm trees and soft sand beaches with world-class snorkeling and diving just offshore. Visitors can camp on the largest island, Garden Key, in the shadows of the massive Fort Jefferson, a Civil War-era prison.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: Dive the Windjammer Wreck, the remains of a ship that sank in 1907 off Loggerhead Key after running aground on the surrounding reef. The wreck is in shallow water (20 feet at the deepest point), so snorkelers and divers can explore it together. Or, bring a kayak and paddle around Garden, Bush, and Long Key, a trio of islands so close together, they鈥檙e sometimes joined by sandbars. You鈥檙e looking for nurse sharks and sea turtles in the clear water below and, above, any of the 300 species of birds that migrate through the park every year.

10. Great Basin National Park, Nevada

Recreational Visits: 143,265

Location: The 77,180-acre Great Basin National Park sits in the high desert of Eastern Nevada, 300 miles north of Las Vegas. The terrain ranges from the 13,064-foot Wheeler Peak to an expansive cave system, called Lehman Caves. You鈥檒l also find alpine lakes, old-growth bristlecone pine forests, and Nevada鈥檚 only remaining glacier, Wheeler Peak Glacier.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: Glimpse Nevada鈥檚 last piece of permanent ice by hiking the 4.8-mile to the bottom of the two-acre glacier. You鈥檒l cruise through groves of ancient bristlecone, some estimated to be 4,000 years old.

11. Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota

Recreational Visits: 220,825

Location: In Northeastern Minnesota, up against the Canadian Border, Voyageurs National Park is mostly made up of water. This 218,055-acre park is loaded with lakes鈥攆our big ones that form a border for the park and 26 smaller interior lakes, most interconnected by 60 miles of canoe and kayak trails. There are endless shorelines and islands to explore, and dense habitat for healthy moose and wolf populations.

One Big 国产吃瓜黑料: Head to the interior lakes, where marked canoe听trails lead to primitive backcountry campsites you can only reach by boat. And you have to use the national park service鈥檚 boats; once you have a , you get a code to unlock one of the canoes that the NPS has staged at certain points for use to prevent the spread of invasive species. The Chain of Lakes are four small bodies of water on the interior of the Kabetogama Peninsula that you can piece together via short portages and creeks to create a 13-mile hiking and paddling adventure. Each of the four lakes has its own campsite, one per lake, and most people will pick a single campsite as a basecamp and explore from there, so the mileage of your adventure will vary.

Graham Averill is 国产吃瓜黑料 magazine鈥檚 national parks columnist. After researching these remote parks, he鈥檚 thinking it might be time to get his pilot鈥檚 license and invest in a float plane.

For more by this author, see:

7 Most Adventurous Ways to See the Total Eclipse听of 2024

The 6 Most Adventurous Train Trips in North America

The Creepiest Unsolved Mysteries in U.S. National Parks

The post And the 11 Least Visited National Parks Are鈥� appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The hike was hot and brutal. My wife and I started on the edge of Sabana de la Mar, a village in the Dominican Republic, after breakfast and drove our rental car until the road ended. Then we navigated patchwork farms until dipping into the jungle and heading toward the coast. Liz and I were young and unprepared, so we ran out of food and water almost immediately, eating mangoes from trees and trying to crack coconuts in our thirst.

Our goal was an isolated beach with a two-stool, open-air bar that you could only reach by boat or hike. We were tired of crowded resorts and wanted something serene. We didn’t find a boat so we hiked. And hiked. And hiked. The bar was closed when we got there, but we had the beach to ourselves: a quarter-moon sliver of sand flanked by tall palms, the Samana Bay stretched out before us.

Sometimes I want to stand on a beach or outcropping or mountaintop and know that the nearest McDonald鈥檚 is days away. But just because a destination is far-flung doesn鈥檛 mean you actually want to go there.

For example, the farthest-away spot in the United States is Saint Matthew Island, which is technically part of Alaska, but located in the Bering Sea more than 180 miles from the nearest human settlement, halfway to Siberia. You have to take a 24-hour ship ride to reach the island, which is battered by storms and shrouded in fog. Oh, and it鈥檚 cold. I鈥檓 sure Saint Matthew has its charms, but I can think of more pleasant remote places to vacation.

So, I started looking into destinations across the globe that occupy that sweet spot of 鈥渞emote鈥� and 鈥渁ttractive.鈥� There鈥檚 a variety of landscapes on this list, from dunes to hot springs, so it鈥檚 not just tropical atolls,听although they鈥檙e in here, too.

Here are 11 far-flung places worth the endeavor to see them. These spots are just the beginning. It鈥檚 a great big world out there. While this is bucket-list stuff, damn, it鈥檚 fun to dream.

1. Remote Tropical Island

Lord Howe Island, Australia

Traveling to a remote island doesn鈥檛 always mean you have to enter survival mode. is a volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea, roughly 320 miles east of New South Wales, Australia. It鈥檚 remote, sure, but it also has some pretty plush digs, and a small population (roughly 350 people) living on the northern tip of the island opens apartments and small lodges to travelers.

The south end of the island is comprised of primeval forest, isolated beaches, volcanic crags, and towering peaks. The island is only seven miles long and 1.25 miles wide, but roughly 70 percent of that mass is protected as a Permanent Park Preserve. Moreover, locals limit the number of tourists, not allowing more than 400 on the island on any given day.

While you鈥檙e on-island, spend your time snorkeling in the crystal-clear waters of Ned鈥檚 Beach, where sand leads to a coral reef teeming with mullet and kingfish. Arrange with your lodge host for a guide to take you on the three-mile trek to the top of Mount Gower. It鈥檚 an all-day adventure that has you scrambling up volcanic rock and hiking through the lush interior forest. The summit rises 2,870 feet above sea level, punctuating the south end of the island.

Or, book a to Ball鈥檚 Pyramid, the largest sea stack in the world, rising 1,807 feet from the ocean roughly 14 miles south of Lord Howe. There, you鈥檒l see turtles, wahoo, and the rare Ballina Angelfish. Trips and rates are determined once you鈥檙e on island, but you can book single-dive excursions to other sites for $160 per person.

How to Get There: A limited number of commercial flights reach Lord Howe from Sydney. It鈥檚 a two-hour flight. Accommodations are scarce on the island (there are only 400 beds in total), so book your lodging at the same time as your flight. has relatively affordable rates (from $300 a night). If you鈥檙e looking to splurge, stay at the , which has nine suites with views of both the Pacific Ocean and Mount Gower (starting at $1,900).

2. Remote Hike

Hornstrandir Nature Reserve, Iceland

The is one of the most isolated areas in Iceland, enveloping a 220-square-mile chunk of the Westfjords, a peninsula on the northern tip of the country where towering cliffs meet deep fjords. Uninhabited since the 1950s, the reserve is blossoming from an environmental perspective; since the last residents left, and with a hunting ban now in place, local species like the Arctic Fox thrive, while seals flock to the rocks against the water.

The beaches are a mix of sand and smooth stones, while ferns and wildflowers dominate the slopes up to the cliffs, with icefields above and waterfalls that drop straight into the sea. Hornbjarg, a massive buttress that rises 534 meters from the Arctic Ocean, looking like a cresting wave, is the biggest draw for hikers. The starts on the gray-sand beach on Hornvik Bay where most people are dropped off (see below) and climbs 3,500 feet up the side of the cliffs.

How to Get There: It鈥檚 a four-hour drive from Reykjavik to Isafjordur, the capital of the Westfjords, from which you charter a boat across the Bay of Hornvik, or arrange for a guide service to take you across. Arriving at the reserve, you鈥檙e on foot, as there are no roads or infrastructure. offers daily boat rides across the bay, guided hiking trips, and multi-day camping excursions into Hornstrandir (from $375 per person).

3. Remote Ruins

Rio Bec, Mexico

The , in the state of Campeche at the base of the Yucatan, Mexico, is known for its Maya archaeological sites. Here, the great ancient city of Calakmul has more than 6,000 documented structures, some towering over the surrounding jungle. You can take organized tours of these and other ruins along with thousands of other tourists every year.

Rio Bec, however, is a lesser-known Maya city tucked more deeply into the jungle of the same reserve that gets a fraction of the visitors. The ruins are so remote, and the jungle so dense, that an entire section of the structures was lost for more than 60 years after the original site discovery in 1912. Put in the extra effort (see below) to come here and you鈥檒l likely have the site to yourself as you climb the steps of stone pyramids stretching 50 feet high, built around 700 A.D.

Some of the buildings have crumbled, while others still boast the skyward-reaching twin towers indicative of the Rio Bec architectural style, unusual in that it serves no practical purpose other than to make a building look more grand. Faux steps going nowhere are even carved into the tower walls. The jungle surrounding the stone structures is full of howler monkeys, jaguars, and wild pigs, and reaching the site is half the adventure.

How to Get There: Fly into the city of Campeche (there鈥檚 an international airport) and drive 300 kilometers to Xpujil, the largest town near the Biosphere Reserve. That鈥檚 the easy part. No roads lead to Rio Bec, and most tour operators eschew expeditions to the site, as it requires an approach of 15 kilometers (about ten miles) on narrow, difficult trails. Your best option is meeting up with the local guide , who takes small groups into the jungle on ATVs and motorcycles ($450 for two people, in cash).

4. Remote Hot Springs

Uunartoq Hot Springs, Greenland

The Inuit word 鈥淯unartoq鈥� translates to 鈥渢he hot place,鈥� appropriate for this natural spring on an uninhabited island in the middle of a fjord in southern Greenland. While the island has never been permanently settled, legend says that Vikings visited this steaming pool more than 1,000 years ago.

Aside from the addition of a small wooden structure built as a changing room, the springs are the same primitive, rock-dammed pool they have been for centuries. Unlike most hot springs in Greenland (most of which are actually too hot to soak in), the water of Uunartoq is heated not by volcanic activity but by friction, as layers of the earth鈥檚 crust rub against each other, warming the water and sending it up to the surface.

The springs are usually between 98 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or about the temperature of a welcoming hot tub. Soak in the pool and savor the views of the iceberg-choked bay and the rocky peaks that define southern Greenland. There is no lodging on the island, but you鈥檙e welcome to camp. Keep an eye out for the resplendent northern lights.

How to Get There: Fly into the international airport at Narsarsuaq, then catch either a flight or boat to the town of Qaqortoq, the gateway to Uunartoq. A number of operators in town offer boats and tours to the springs. It鈥檚 a 1.5-hour ride across the Qaqortoq Fjord, which is full of icebergs and where you may see the occasional humpback whale. offers a half-day trip from June to September ($375 per person). The company also guides trips to the nearby Greenland Ice Cap and multi-day hikes through South Greenland that have you spending nights on local sheep farms (starting at $140 per person).

5. Remote Lookout Tower

Three Fingers Lookout, Washington

Lookout towers are by definition remote, but Three Fingers takes the concept up a notch, sitting on the summit of in the heart of Boulder River Wilderness. It requires technical climbing to approach, so you need the equipment and know-how. Built in 1933 using dynamite to blast off a section of the rocky peak, the structure is so significant that it鈥檚 on the National Register of Historic Places.

The journey to the tower is awesome but to be taken seriously. Hike for six miles through a dense forest and amid subalpine meadows to Tin Pan Gap, where the technical climbing begins. You鈥檒l need ice axes, crampons, rope, harnesses, and route-finding capabilities to negotiate snowfields and a glacier, scramble up rocky pitches, and finally climb a series of vertical ladders to the lookout on the south peak of Three Fingers Mountain.

The lookout tower sits at 6,854 feet and sleeps three or four people鈥攆irst come, first served. The views extend deep into Boulder River wilderness, and you鈥檒l be able to spot the 6,865-foot Whitehorse Mountain to the north and 5,437-foot Liberty Mountain to the south. Goat Flat, five miles from the trailhead, is a ridge-top meadow that makes an excellent campsite if you can鈥檛 score a night in the lookout.

How to Get There: Granite Falls, Washington, is the closest town. The shortest route to the tower is from the trailhead for Trail 641, the , at the end of Tupso Pass Road (FS41). It鈥檚 a 15-mile out-and-back trek into Boulder River Wilderness, with almost 4,200 feet of elevation gain. If you want a longer trip, check the Washington Trail Association website for the status of Tupso Pass Road, which was washed out at the time of publication and would add eight miles of gravel road walking. You can also take this .

6. Remote Whitewater

Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Idaho

You want the middle of nowhere? The , in Idaho, is that and then some. The wilderness comprises 2.3 million acres, making it one of the largest roadless areas in the lower 48 (only Death Valley Wilderness is bigger). With two major whitewater rivers鈥攖he Salmon and the Middle Fork of the Salmon鈥攆lowing through the Frank Church, the best way to explore this vastness is by raft.

Let鈥檚 focus on the Middle Fork, which slices through the heart of the roadless area for 104 miles, from its source at the confluence of Bear Valley and Marsh Creeks to its convergence with the Salmon. Many consider this to be the best river trip in the country, thanks to the scenery (the waterway rolls through a landscape full of 10,000-foot peaks, vertical cliffs, and thick Douglas fir) and the adrenaline rush (100 rapids, from class III to class IV, in 100 miles).

Thousands of people paddle the Middle Fork every summer. Fortunately, the river is managed for its wilderness quality, with only seven group launches allowed per day during the summer and a 30-person max for commercial trips. During the week-long trip, you鈥檒l camp on the beaches, see Native American artifacts like petroglyphs and pottery left by the Nez Perce and Shoshone-Bannock tribes, and soak in hot springs.

The most out-there you鈥檒l feel is 80 miles into the trip, paddling into Impassable Canyon, a narrow, steep-walled gorge packed with big rapids. Shortly after entering the canyon, eddy out and take a quick side hike to Veil Falls, a waterfall that drops into a cave-like amphitheater.

How to Get There: Most boaters and commercial trips put in at Indian Creek and take out at Cache Bar, after the rivers converge. offers six-day trips on the whole river ($3,599 per person) with catered meals. If you want to lead your own group, apply for a , to be assigned via a random lottery ($6 reservation fee and $4 per person per day recreation fee). Applications for lottery permits to raft between May 28 and September 3 are accepted from December 1 to January 31, with results announced on February 14.

7. Remote Hike

100-Mile Wilderness, Maine

The 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail is legendary, but it鈥檚 not exactly remote, considering that it crosses roads and dips into towns along the Appalachian chain up the East Coast. The section, in Maine, is an entirely different story, however, offering a stretch of trail interrupted only by the occasional forest road and fishing camp/hiker lodge.

Hike this piece of the A.T. from highway 15 to Abol Bridge in Baxter State Park if you want a bit of solitude, but be prepared to work for it. The route typically takes 10 days and features more than 20,000 feet of elevation gain up and over the Barren-Chairback and Whitecap Mountain Ranges. You鈥檒l ford rivers and traverse ankle-turning scree. You can filter water along the way, but will need to carry your food, so count on a heavy pack, too.

Cranberry bogs and isolated ponds punctuate the landscape of dense pine and hardwood forest, and you can see Lake Onawa from the rocky peak of Barren Mountain. As for fauna, you may well spot moose as you hike. You can add another 14 miles to the hike to tack on Katahdin (5,268 feet), Maine鈥檚 highest peak and the official end of the A.T.

How to Get There: It鈥檚 easy to reach the southern end of the 100-Mile Wilderness; it鈥檚 located off highway 15 in Monson. But traversing the truly remote stretches of the A.T. through this stretch of wilderness is up to your legs and lungs. July is the best month, as the black flies have mostly disappeared and the north-bound thru-hikers haven鈥檛 showed up yet. in Monson offers shuttles and can arrange for food drops to lighten your load. The 100-Mile Wilderness isn鈥檛 completely devoid of civilization; the Appalachian Mountain Club operates a few lodges in the area, but you won鈥檛 see them from the trail.

8. Remote Surf Break

Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park, California

Channel Islands National Park protects five islands off the coast of Southern California, and all offer the kind of remote setting many of us crave after spending time in a generally populous region. While coming here is an effort, the 53,000-acre Santa Rosa Island promises secluded backcountry beach campsites on soft patches of sand tucked into coves and surrounded by cliffs and sea caves, with wilderness-style surfing where you鈥檒l never have to wait in a lineup for a wave.

The only access is via boat. If you take the ferry operated by Island Packers (see below), you鈥檒l be dropped off at a pier in Becher鈥檚 Bay. Just 1.5 miles from the pier is the 15-site Water Canyon Campground, with drinking water and shelter from the sun. There are even flush toilets. You could feasibly base out of here and day-hike to various beaches on the southern coast of Santa Rosa, where the surfing is the most consistent in summer. Water Canyon also has its own beach that extends from the pier to East Point for several miles during low tide.

But the best surfing is further south, as the coast picks up south-southwestern swells during the summer. There are breaks along the beaches starting at East Point and moving south down the coast. After a drop-off at the pier (see below), follow Coastal Road south from the pier for several miles through grassland and Torrey Pines until it wraps around East Point. This means carrying your surfboard and camping gear. You鈥檒l see small beaches along the rugged coast that are open for camping between August 15 and December 31. Look for the high-tide line to determine which beach is safe for camping (and then pitch your tent way above that mark). Larger beaches are just another mile down the coast.

Santa Rosa offers loads of other adventures as well. The water is surprisingly clear compared to what you find off the mainland, so snorkeling is primo, with reefs and kelp forests hiding abalone and lobsters. And there鈥檚 no light pollution, so the night sky is popping.

How to Get There: If you have a friend with a boat, call in a favor, as you could cruise the 40 miles from SoCal to Santa Rosa and surf one of these remote breaks without needing to camp. Otherwise, catch a ferry with (from $45 per person, one way) and get dropped off at Becher鈥檚 Bay and start hiking. Make sure you have a in advance (from $15 per night), because you鈥檒l need that to reserve a spot on the ferry.

9. Remote Safari

Mount Nkungwe, Tanzania

Africa is brimming with remote places, but , in the western edge of Tanzania, has a special mix of isolation, exceptional wildlife, and beauty. There are no roads within the 632-square-mile park, so all travel is on foot, and Mahale occupies a peninsula jutting into the massive Lake Tanganyika, one of the largest lakes in the world, so the only way to reach it is by plane or a day-long boat ride.

The park was established in 1985 to protect the world鈥檚 largest known population of chimpanzees, which today are thriving at 1,000-strong. It鈥檚 also one of the few places in the world where chimps and leopards share the same terrain. The park鈥檚 landscape quickly shifts from white sandy beaches on the shore of Tanganyika to dense forest and steep mountain slopes cloaked in mist.

Reaching the park alone is a feat, but if you really want to tick off a far-removed spot, climb Mount Nkungwe (8,077 feet), the tallest mountain inside the park鈥檚 borders. It鈥檚 a grueling 10-day hike, requiring that you go up and over two sub-peaks and gaining more than 6,000 feet in elevation to reach the summit. Most hikers break the trip up into three days, camping along the way. The views from the top are astounding鈥攜ou can see all of the Mahale Mountains and Lake Tanganyika below鈥攂ut the summit isn鈥檛 the real highlight of this journey. In addition to chimpanzees, you鈥檒l have the chance to see elephants, giraffes, and buffalo, not to mention the red colobus monkeys that live in the higher elevations of the park.

How to Get There: The fastest way to reach Mahale Mountains National Park is by plane, but most people arrive by boat. It鈥檚 easy to charter a boat from the town of Kigoma, and speedboats make the journey in four hours. , a six-tent luxury property on the white sands of Tanganyika, is the most popular place to stay, especially since a family of chimps lives in the jungle nearby (from $2,250 a night during high season between June and September, all inclusive). Published fees to enter the park are $40 per person, but reports from some previous visitors indicate the price fluctuates. All hikes require accompaniment by a ranger. Reach out to the directly for timing, fees, and other information.

10. Remote Dunes

Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park, Saskatchewan, Canada

The Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park covers 62 miles of sand dunes in far north Saskatchewan. These are the most northerly sand dunes on the planet鈥攁 slice of the Sahara in the midst of Canada鈥檚 boreal forest. But unlike the Sahara, Athabasca, which is flanked by a large lake and dissected by three rivers, has plenty of fresh water.

You can only reach the dunes by float plane or boat, and there are no services within the park. No roads, no cell service, no rangers or structures, so be prepared to take care of yourself in a wilderness setting. Head to the William River Dune field, where the longest, largest dunes are. Land on the shore of Thomson Bay and hike west across the smaller Thomson Bay Dune Field for four miles to the Williams River. If the water鈥檚 low enough, you can wade over to explore the largest dunes in the park. You can within the park from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

How to Get There: Stony Rapids, on the eastern edge of Lake Athabasca, is the closest gateway town, though 90 miles east of the dunes. It has a float-plane base, making chartering a plane easy (but not cheap). Fly to Thomson Bay and start hiking west. offers a guided six-day backpacking adventure that includes the flight into the park from Fort McMurray ($3,900 per person).

11. Remote Mountain Peak

Mount Khuiten, Mongolia

A trip up Mount Khuiten (14,350 feet), the tallest peak in Mongolia, presents experiences in both solitude and culture. Khuiten sits in the heart of Altai Tavan Bogd National Park, which preserves 6,362 square miles of lakes, glaciers, and snow-capped mountains in western Mongolia. Altai is one of those places where you want to have a good map and a local guide, because if you get lost here, you could end up in either China or Russia (the park shares a border with both countries). This is a dream trip but a demanding one, so be experienced and prepared, and arrive fit and with top-flight warm gear. See below for intel on finding a guide.

The park encompasses groupings of petroglyphs and burial sites that illustrate the development of Mongolian nomadic culture over a 12,000-year time period, earning the area status. You have the chance to see some of these petroglyphs on the multi-day journey to the summit of Khuiten. You鈥檒l also see modern-day nomadic culture, as the road into the park passes communities in traditional yurts.

As for the approach, the 10-mile trek from the edge of the park to basecamp ends at the 8.5-mile-wide Potanin Glacier, with camels to carry your gear. Most people climb the smaller sister mountain, Malchin Peak, to acclimatize to the altitude before navigating the crevasses of Potanin Glacier to High Camp on the edge of Khuiten. The final push to the top of Mount Khuiten is 3,000 feet up steep, snow-covered slopes requiring crampons, ice axes, and ropework. The view from the snow-capped summit encompasses all of the Altai Mountains as you gaze down on three countries: Mongolia, China, and Russia.

How to Get There: Fly into UlaanBaatar, Mongolia, and take a domestic puddle jumper to the village of Olgii, on the edge of the park. From there, it鈥檚 a six-hour drive over rough roads to the ranger station just inside the park. Next you鈥檙e on foot for days, depending on how much you want to acclimate, before your summit bid. The trek requires mountaineering skills and local knowledge, so hire a guide. is a trekking company owned by locals that offers a variety of expeditions on and around Khuiten (from $2,600 per person).

How to Be a Conscientious Visitor

Keep in mind some basic rules when you鈥檙e traveling to these far-flung locales. Follow Leave No Trace principles, taking everything you brought to the destination back home when you leave. Respect local cultures and customs, and learn about whose land you鈥檙e on. Whenever possible, stay in a lodge where the money goes directly to local entrepreneurs, and use local guides and services. Buy something if you can afford it. Always protect the wildlife and natural environment, which means keeping your distance and minimizing your impact.

Graham Averill is 国产吃瓜黑料 magazine鈥檚 national parks columnist. If he has to choose between a remote beach and a remote mountaintop, it鈥檚 going to be sand and surf every time.

For more by Graham Averill, see:

7 Most Adventurous Ways to See the Total Eclipse听of 2024

The 6 Most Adventurous Train Trips in North America

The Best Budget Airlines鈥攁nd 国产吃瓜黑料 Locales They Go To

The post 11 Remote Destinations That Are Definitely Worth the Effort to Visit appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

It was late fall, the Texas sun sufficiently merciful, and I was standing on a wood platform overlooking the humid, green core of Hazel Bazemore Park on the western outskirts of Corpus Christi. Though forgettable by most metrics, this 87-acre swatch of honey mesquite and lowland grasses ranks as one of the country鈥檚 richest and most diverse places to see migrating raptors. Three North American flyways converge here and by the time I鈥檇 arrived in early November, more than 1.2 million broad-winged hawks, turkey vultures, Mississippi kites, kestrels, and more had passed through, a record number for the second year in a row.

The park was a fitting testing ground for some super cool tech aimed largely at birders, still one of the of outdoor enthusiasts. I joined about a dozen of the country鈥檚 more influential bird nerds鈥攅ach of us armed with a pair of the , the most advanced set of binoculars in the world. , the Austria-based offshoot of the larger, highly secretive, luxury crystal brand, Swarovski, would not introduce them to the world until Jan. 9, 2024, and as such we were asked not to let other birders see them up close. That鈥檚 because the AX Visio can do what no other binocular or scope in the world on the consumer market today can do: tell you what you鈥檙e looking at, instantly, at least when it comes to virtually every known bird on the planet. The binos can also identify hundreds of species of mammals, and soon, butterflies and dragonflies. And that’s just the start.

鈥淚f you have a database on wildflowers or mushrooms or stars or whatever, we can train the system to identify them,鈥� Ben Lizdas, Swarovski Optik鈥檚 business development manager. 鈥淭he idea is absolutely for developers to be able to contribute to this. It鈥檚 limitless.鈥�

The identification feat alone is groundbreaking, but so are the other tasks that the smart binoculars can handle. The AX Visio has a tagging feature that allows you to drop a pin on a certain subject or location, like a mountain goat on a distant ridge. Hand the glass to a friend and a reticle in your field of vision will direct the viewer to the exact spot you just pinned. Paired with a smartphone app, the binoculars can also stream a live feed to up to four other devices at a time (though they need to be within about ten feet of each other), so everyone on safari can watch the jaguar eat. The display projected directly into the viewfinder can also show a digital compass offering both cardinal directions and azimuth angles. It has an onboard camera, a GPS, and Bluetooth capabilities for firmware updates and app connectivity. To function fully, it needs no signal from anything whatsoever.

Of course, Swarovski optics aren鈥檛 cheap, think $3,000 or more, and neither is the AX Visio. With an MSRP at about $5,330, they are not for everyone. But after three days of playing with them in Texas, followed by another two weeks around my home in Oregon, I can say they鈥檙e a blast, intuitive, and offer all sorts of implications for birders, hunters, guides, travelers, and those who just like to navigate the natural world by name. 鈥淚 think there are applications that we can鈥檛 even imagine yet,鈥� says Janet Moler, a manager with Portland (Oregon) Audubon. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 recall anything on the market even close to this.鈥�

At the moment, in Texas, I trained the glass on a flamboyant yellow bird with a sky blue head and a black throat that had materialized as if out of a Walt Disney film. I鈥檇 never seen a bird like it. The words 鈥淕reen Jay鈥� illuminated in a simple, unobtrusive orange font almost instantly along the bottom of the hyper crisp image. Suddenly I could appreciate this park a little more.

The Swarovski AX Visio Binoculars Basics

The AX Visio (a riff on something like 鈥渁ugmented-experience vision鈥�) looks like a chunkier, more militaristic set of binoculars with 10×32 lenses, which, like all optics, translates to 鈥渉ow big by how bright;鈥� In the AX Visio鈥檚 case, 10x magnification with 32 millimeter objective lenses. That鈥檚 enough glass to collect sufficient light for most outdoorsy applications, though a little under-gunned for dimmer conditions, like in the thick of a rainforest.

Like all of Swarovski鈥檚 optics, the lenses are crafted to nanometer precision. But the real magic lies with a fiercely guarded mix of light-altering chemical coatings applied in as many as 50 layers to enhance clarity and contrast. So secret is the recipe for these coatings that Swarovski has opted not to patent them, a protection that would require the company to divulge its materials and methods. Better to let the competition spend the time and money trying to reverse engineer it all with lasers and gas spectrometers than to spell it out in a patent, or so the thinking goes.

Some of the experts on this trip, most of whom are on the front line of the birding world as dealers who sell optics to other birders, said they could see birders wanting a brighter lens, say 42 mm, but the smaller 32 mm glass saves on weight. That was necessary because a third optical barrel sits under the bridge linking the other two barrels near the focus wheel. This third barrel houses a 13 megapixel camera with a fixed 2.2 f-stop (and maximum exposure time of 1/125) that鈥檚 capable of shooting HD video at 30 to 60 frames per second. Figuring out how to pair a camera with the binoculars was key to the whole 鈥渟mart鈥� process.

鈥淧eople have tried to put cameras in binoculars before, but the technology was changing so fast that by the time it came out it was already obsolete,鈥� says Daniel Nindl, the company鈥檚 head of product management. Now the components are so small and the processors so robust that Swarovski Optik, which first began toying with smart binocular designs about a decade ago, felt confident enough to move into prototype stages about six years ago. In the end, engineers packed the AX Visio with 37 lenses, eight prisms, and nine electronic boards powered by a removable, rechargeable lithium battery pack. Combined with the 390 individual parts (think sensors, a gyroscope, magnetometer, accelerometer and more) all housed in a forest-green, IP68-rated moisture- and dust-tight body, the unit is about three pounds. Though it鈥檚 a bit of a beast, it feels great in your hands.

How Does The AI-Generated Identification Work?

The ID feature is well worth the heavy weight, especially when you consider some of the alternatives. I got into birding the way many others did during the pandemic, when I happened to look out my window to find a delightful little guy with a body as yellow as an Easter Peep sporting a jaunty black patch atop his tiny birdy crown. I went full analog and hauled out a dusty copy of , eventually landing on page 825, a Wilson鈥檚 warbler.

Though I鈥檓 not a serious birder, I鈥檝e learned a few very basic tricks that make identifying birds so much easier than that, namely the free Merlin Bird ID app. Merlin is a 鈥渕achine learning -powered bird ID tool鈥� put out by the avian gods themselves at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University. I take a picture of a mystery bird with my smartphone, record its song or enter its description, and Merlin will spit out a list of species possibilities. I use it almost every day just walking the dog.

This app, or rather the research and database behind it, forms the muscle behind the AX Visio鈥檚 ability to identify birds. Swarovski Optik obtained the rights to use the data and then figured out how to pack the hardware and software into binoculars that could make sense of it. The system includes a processor similar to one in your phone that powers an algorithm using a 鈥渘eural processing unit鈥� based on the Merlin app. In short, artificial intelligence.

What鈥檚 truly amazing is the sheer size of the bird reference library that the AX Visio鈥檚 AI can tap. On your phone, the Merlin app is so data-heavy with photos and sound bites that you have to pick and choose which 鈥渂ird packs鈥� to install based on your geographic location. Those packs narrow down the realm of possible birds to those the user is most likely to see in that particular area. For example, that鈥檚 717 birds for 鈥淯.S. and Canada: Continental鈥� and 810 birds for 鈥淐osta Rica.鈥� The AX Visio, meanwhile, can only identify birds by 鈥渟ight.鈥� That data set consumes less storage space than the full Merlin app and allows the binoculars to have an on-board reference library that essentially includes every bird from every bird pack鈥攔oughly 8,000 birds total. The processor needs no connectivity to access it. That means it can identify a satyr tragopan in a remote rhododendron forest in Bhutan as easily as a mourning dove in New York City.

Understanding how this all unfolds is material for a graduate degree, but as a user, it couldn鈥檛 be more simple. To identify the green jay, I powered the unit on, waited for it to lock in a GPS signal, and turned the 鈥渕ode wheel鈥� to the bird ID function. Looking through the viewfinder, which included adjustable eyecups I could dial in to fit my sunglasses, a reticle appeared in the shape of a circle cut into four equal, curved segments. The more the bird can fill that circle, the higher the confidence in the AI result. Holding the binoculars naturally, you can toggle the size of the circle by depressing a button using a right forefinger.

A second, adjacent button acts like a shutter release on a camera. Once I had the jay lined up in my sights, I depressed the second button halfway, and the unit鈥檚 autofocus took over. Depressing it the rest of the way, the unit took a picture that was automatically uploaded to my paired iPhone 12 and then produced an ID readable directly in the viewfinder. All four segments of the circle had grown thicker, like a font in bold, signaling a high-confidence result. The fewer segments in bold: the lower the AI鈥檚 confidence in its result.

The system isn鈥檛 perfect. The unit couldn鈥檛 decide if a seagull was a laughing gull or a Franklin鈥檚 gull鈥攊t kept alternating between the two each time I hit the release. Ideally, the viewfinder needs to be filled with 224 x 224 pixels, though the minimum it needs is 100 x 100. Other times, it tested my own limitations. A hummingbird showed up and it was difficult to get a clear, stable shot of it that filled the circle. I tried anyway and the unit said it couldn鈥檛 recognize it or it wasn鈥檛 in focus. When I did get a decent shot of the bird face-on, the AI thought it was an Allen鈥檚 hummingbird when the birders all knew it was actually a Rufous. The differences between the two are difficult for beginners to distinguish and boil down to the shape of the tail feathers.

鈥淭o be fair,鈥� said Clay Taylor, a naturalist who joined Swarovski Optik in 1999 as the division鈥檚 first in-house bird specialist, 鈥渆ven (famed ornithologist) David Sibley would need to see its back before he could tell you what it is.鈥�

Other times I was shocked the AI could make sense of what I fed it at all. A raptor rocketed by and I fired off a sloppy shot. The unit called it a northern harrier, correctly. In the most comical, extreme example, perhaps, a bird never seen anywhere north of Panama suddenly showed up in downtown Corpus Christi, having likely hitched a ride on one of the many ships that come into port鈥攁 vagrant in birder-speak. The AI must have overridden what its own GPS said it couldn鈥檛 possibly be (or perhaps the unit couldn鈥檛 lock in a solid GPS signal among the buildings) and identified it as a cattle tyrant, a fly-eating fiend with a yellow breast and olive-brown back that had found an endless feast in a blue downtown dumpster. Soon hundreds of people from all over the country had gathered around this greasy trashcan to catch a glimpse.

Additional Features

I played with the other functions over the next few weeks. The location tagging setting led me right to a vermillion flycatcher a friend had spotted on a fence. Another time, I put it on mammal mode and drew a bead on a shih tzu walking down the beach, but all it could say was 鈥渄og.鈥� One day, for giggles, I pointed it at my teenage daughter. 鈥淗uman,鈥� it said, though the state of her habitat would suggest otherwise.

I wondered if hardcore birders who already know hundreds of species by heart would have a need for something like this, and the answer is maybe. 鈥淲e can all go someplace new and be totally lost,鈥� says Diane Porter, co-founder of . Moler of Portland Audubon agrees: 鈥淭here were many birds in Texas it identified when I didn鈥檛 have a clue,鈥� she says. Having a pair to share among a group seems ideal, like an outfitter that equips its trip leaders and guides with a set to help clients see an owlet in the redwoods or a lion snoozing in the shade.

I shot a video of one egret bullying another in a pond and took pictures of distant buildings with architectural features I thought were cool, which was easy since I didn鈥檛 have to put down the binoculars and take out my phone or a camera. Though I enjoyed the photo function, it still can鈥檛 compete against a dedicated camera with, say, a 600 millimeter lens. 鈥淣o way will it replace my big camera,鈥� Porter says.

The most exciting features, however, may be the ones to come. The mode wheel already includes two empty slots ready to be claimed by future functions (which will also be open to third party developers). Perhaps one day one will go to the names and elevations of distant peaks or even climbing routes to the top. Maybe plane spotters will find a way to use it. In the meantime, there鈥檚 no doubt they鈥檙e game changers for many.

Personally, I鈥檇 kill to own a pair for the sheer amount of joy I got out of the Genesis-like gift of being able to give names to these delicate, gorgeous marvels of the world, and for the way that knowledge enriched my time in Texas, expanding doors and introducing me to others. (Like those 1.2 million raptors spotted at a tiny park for starters.)

鈥淚t鈥檚 a revolutionary product,鈥� Moler says. 鈥淣ow when a person walks in and says, for that price, those binoculars should identify the bird for you, I can say, they do.鈥�

The post Swarovski鈥檚 AI-Powered Binoculars Tell You What You’re Looking At appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.