Conservationists File Lawsuit to Defend Scenic, Natural and Historic Values of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument
6/23/09 - The Western Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Montana Wilderness Association (MWA) filed a complaint in Federal District Court against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for violating laws protecting the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in north-central Montana.
Wildlife Protection Groups Challenge Great Lakes Wolf Delisting
6/22/09 - Five wildlife protection groups filed a complaint in Federal District Court challenging the removal of Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region.
Groups Applaud Western Governors’ Efforts to Protect Wildlife Corridors
6/22/09 - In a historic agreement, state and federal agencies have agreed to work together to protect wildlife corridors essential to the survival of animals like pronghorn, caribou, mule deer, and elk.
Ellen Meloy Fund Announces Winner of 2009 Desert Writers Award
6/18/09 - The Ellen Meloy Fund has chosen Amy Irvine as the recipient of the fourth annual Desert Writers Award.
 Gear Up for the Black Canyon
For this month’s reviews, I decided to hook up with my good friend Madaleine Sorkin and head into Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Mads and I rapped down the south rim to the base of a route called Tague Yer Time, named in honor of a fallen hero, Cameron Tague. No pushover, the 2,000-foot route demands a cool head and serious skills, which is why I brought Madaleine.
 The Lost Art of Scrambling for Supper
It might’ve been the summer they found Elvis on the bathroom floor, but I’d abandoned rock ‘n’ roll with the British invasion and one more dead, fat star made little impression at the time. What I do know is that the big fires two years before had killed most of the trees in this valley, the windfalls were enough to keep most fishermen away from some of the best trout water I’d ever seen and the biggest lunkers were in a place we called The Box ...
 PENMEN Cartoons
Updated Daily! Mountain Gazette is pleased to present the PENMEN Cartoons by Colorado Springs artist Gary Blehm. Visit his website penmen.com for posters, animations, music videos, games, and more...
 On the Railroad, Again
When my copy of Paul Theroux’s new travel book, “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star,” arrived in the mail, I thought: Oh god, can’t this guy do anything in this world but ride around on trains and write books? If you look over the list of Theroux’s endeavors, you’ll count 14 books of nonfiction, one book of criticism and 27 books of fiction. This is an astonishing list, and a little creepy too.
 2009 South Park Music Tour
Colorado's South Park Music Tour on June 25-28th, 2009 is for a fact, "The Highest Independent Music Tour in the World". Featuring 80 bands on 10 Stages, "The Tour" Art Show and SongsAlive Songwriters Camp This is an Event for music lovers with taste ranges in all genre.
 Bridges of the Butte 24-Hour Townie Tour
The Adaptive Sports Center hosts this relaxed and funky 24-hour bike tour which loops around downtown Crested Butte, crossing a number of picturesque bridges along the way. Rustle up a fabulous costume, dust off that cruiser that’s been sitting in the back of your garage and pull together some friends for a fun day and night in The Butte on June 27-28, 2009.
 2009 Kayak DIVAS Camp
Outdoor DIVAS has revamped their women’s kayak program and are offering a 6 day progressive camp over three weeks that will get women to the next level. Women will leave with the knowledge and skills to venture out and paddle with girlfriends safely and confidently. The kayak DIVAS camp includes intensive flat water training, safety, river running, basic roll technique and drills. Register now! Class begins on July 7, 2009
 The Colorado Peace Ride
The Four Corners area of Southwest Colorado is buzzing with the news of an awesome new bicycle tour that is gearing up to be one of the country’s most desirable cycling events. This summer Durango will welcome 500 riders and countless supporters for the start of the first annual Colorado Peace Ride, taking place Aug. 9–12, 2009.
 Mountain Gazette Cover Archive - Issues #1-129
Each Mountain Gazette cover is a special and unique work of art. We pride ourselves in selecting the best paintings, drawings, photographs and digital works that contain the essence of the mountain experience. Shown in this gallery are covers from the very first Mountain Gazette way back in September 1972 up to issue # 129. Click here to view MG Covers #130-151
 Back In The Saddle Again ...
The Mountain Gazette is a flat-out magazine legend. For eight years, from 1972-79, Mountain Gazette was considered by many people to be the best and most influential outdoor publication in the Known Universe. It gained a well-deserved national reputation for eclecticism, irreverence, intelligence, wit and insight that has yet to be matched by any of the outdoor publications now in existence.
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 The Great Fourteener Debate
And, speaking of climbing . . . Colorado’s mountain country is dominated literally, and increasingly figuratively, by all those lofty summits above 14,000 feet in elevation. The process of standing atop the Fourteeners has evolved in recent years to both a craze and a bonafide tangible outdoor- recreation industry sub-component. According to the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, more than 500,000 people a year attempt to climb the state’s Fourteeners every year.
 Boys of the Wood
June 2009 - Castlewood Canyon, about two miles south of Franktown, Colo., isn’t exactly a rock-climbing Mecca. It is east of I-25, for one thing, which is practically Kansas to most climbers living in or visiting Colorado. The rock here isn’t the vertically seamed granite of Lumpy Ridge, or the 300-foot sandstone walls of Eldorado Canyon. Nobody’s driving cross-country to come climbing here.
 Tree Climbing in Fort Collins
June 2009 - The willows of the Poudre River Trail are a great place to start. They often grow in tight groups and some of the older ones create a massive network of crossing trunks. Occasionally a branch will arch gradually back to the ground, allowing for one to walk across it and arrive at a different place on the ground from where they left.
 Social Climbing and Exploding Poop Tubes
Climbers are simply acting on the subconscious drive to take their selves to a higher position, something that no doubt has its roots in our evolutionary march from pond scum to Homo sapiens. Certainly on the physical level that means scaling mountains, large rocks and chunks of ice, but climbing also applies to the social games that don’t require ropes or ice axes (although they may certainly help).
 The Day of the Thousand Thousand-foot Waterfalls
It was a miserable morning in
a transcendent landscape. We huddled
in the rafts under a steady businesslike
rain, learning about all the
leaks in our waterproof gear, while
looking out and up to waterfall after
waterfall, waterfalls coming freefall
in 500- or 1,000-foot leaps over the great
limestone walls in the lower Grand Canyon.
Shifting convocations of mist, fragments
of clouds drifted through and died against
the walls; occasionally rocks rattled down
the walls, startling us and plopping into the
river; but mostly we just huddled, stunned
by the wet chill ...
 Goddess of Glen Canyon
Jerome, Arizona - There's a rumor in the historic copper mining boomtown of Jerome, Arizona that river runner, rabble rouser, and eco-activist Katie Lee celebrated her 80th birthday by riding naked on her mountain bike through town. "But that's not true," smiles Katie as we sit barefoot on her back porch. "I was only 78."
 The River Goddess
On a mild winter morning a young woman, alone in her travels, wound down the mountainous blacktop strips between two piney towns of the highest elevation. On a soft curve with little moisture and no conclusive reason for doing so, her SUV made a wide swing, tumbled some twenty feet, and wound up top-to-the-river-rock, tires turning hopelessly in the crisp alpine air.
 CLUELESS IN SPOKANE, A RIVER DESCENT
MY FIRST . . . AND WORST - Slouching low in his '49 Mercury, Tom Ruhe slugged down another mouthful of cheap red wine, wiped his mouth, made a face as if he’d swallowed straight vinegar, and passed me the jug. Childhood pals, Tom and I were evolving into "partners in crime and adventure." I’d just as soon he’d screwed the lid back on and tossed it out on the pavement.
 I Should Stay Away from Rivers
I should know to stay away from rivers by now. Or away from kayaks on rivers. Something about an eddy turn runs counterintuitive to my feeble brain. Lean this way if you’re going to and that way if you’re going to….No matter. Before I know it, I’m over, flopping like a bear stuck in a honey pot, forgetting everything I said I knew.
 2009 Mountain Dog Photo Contest
M. John Fayhee's inspiration behind the Mountain Dog Photo Contest was unusually succinct: "Mountain people are dog people," he declared. "I'll bet a shitload of photos come in." And come in they did — hundreds of them! Congratulations and thanks to everyone who submitted photos to this year's contest.
 Rocky Mountain Wildlife
Photos by Greg Joder - The photographer, naturalist and very patient observer, Greg Joder has captured a variety species in Colorado's Rocky Mountains in this gallery: bobcats, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, rattlesnakes, nuthatches, chickadees, turkey, bear, fox, elk, wildflowers and more. Over the years Greg has moved from rock climbing and trail running to wildlife photography and always has a camera near at hand for just those occasions when he comes face-to-face with a bear, bobcat, or beautiful myco-heterotrophic coralroot orchid… He can be contacted at gjoder@yahoo.com
Mountain Gazette's Travel Channel
Find Weekly Travel Deals and Top Travel Destinations from Expedia. Plan your next trip to the mountains and browse through photo galleries and features to places like: Colorado's Ski Hills, California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, Nepal's Annapurna Circuit, The great Mountains of Alaska, Joshua Tree National Park and more.
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