#Discovery Trail

[thorsenmark]

Get Yourself to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Discovery Trail and taking in views of the ancient bristlecone pines in this portion of the Schulman Grove and Inyo National Forest. The view is looking to the southwest with a distant view of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

[inky-skyes]

Girl and her dog🖤

[shelldive]

Latest Publication: Hillsboro Park Discovery Trail

In the US heartland of Missouri, in a suburb of St. Louis called Hillsboro, lies an idyllic city park with a few lovingly implemented recent additions. Hillsboro native Ryan Hurtgen is a multi-talented artist; painter, poet, composer, and designer. Readers of My Writes might recognize Ryan from his work with Rene Breton, TJ & Tosc, and Perfect Beings. Beyond music and literature, Ryan has a few…

[jojo-oliver]

oceans and forests 🌲paintings i did

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Hello from Manhattan--Kansas, that is! I'm on my way to Missouri again to do some teaching, exploring, and visiting my family. I spent all week driving and was set to arrive last night. But I woke up yesterday morning with a mild cold (oh no!) and so I extended my stay at the hotel a couple of nights to let it run its course since this is NOT the sort of gift I want to give my family. Thankfully, it's my absolute favorite hotel on the entire route, the Best Western in Manhattan, so if I was going to be grounded anywhere for a couple of days en route this would be it.

On the bright side, I did manage to have a good (outdoor) meeting with the educational director at the Flint Hills Discovery Center, which I recommend visiting if you're ever in the area and want to learn about the native tallgrass prairies of this region. We're putting together some plans for me to do some teaching during my seasonal peregrinations, and a book signing next year when The Everyday Naturalist is out. I'm very excited about this collaboration, because this is a first-rate educational facility and I love everything they're doing there.

Unless this virus decides to take a turn for the worse tonight--which it shouldn't--I'll be on my way tomorrow morning, with a detour over to Konza Prairie for a nice ramble. I've been stuck in the car and indoors way too much this week, and while I got to do a too-short but pleasant jaunt along the Chief Standing Bear Trail Thursday afternoon on my way to Manhattan, I've really been looking forward to my prairie time.

[despazito]

ace attorney starts making a lot more sense when you start reading about the japanese legal system

[meekosthemeparkphotos]

Pocahontas

[slerralartz]

Bit of concept work with his (in theworks) mimicry ability (inspired by iiba_z’s comment)

[thorsenmark]

Get Yourself to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Discovery Trail and taking in views of the ancient bristlecone pines in this portion of the Schulman Grove and Inyo National Forest. The view is looking to the southwest with a distant view of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

[wanderguidehub]

Unleash Your Adventurous Spirit: The Ultimate Hiking Guide to Pinnacles National Park, California

Welcome to the magnificent Pinnacles National Park, the hidden gem of California! Discover the thrill of hiking through untouched wilderness, climbing steep terrains, and immersing yourself in mesmerizing landscapes that leave you breathless. This comprehensive guide will equip you with all the information you need to make your hiking experience unforgettable. From trails that challenge seasoned…

[dragons-in-spaceee]

They should make all the queer (oh and neurodivergent) headcanons we have about disco characters canon in the last season. A final FUCK YOU to all the cishet “why are they trying to make star trek woke :(“ bullshit disco haters <3

[rabbitcruiser]

Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Lisbon (No. 1)

Padrão dos Descobrimentos (lit. Monument of the Discoveries) is a monument on the northern bank of the Tagus river estuary, in the civil parish of Santa Maria de Belém, Lisbon. Located along the river where ships departed to explore and trade with India and the Orient, the monument celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery (or "Age of Exploration") during the 15th and 16th centuries.

The monument was conceived in 1939 by Portuguese architect José Ângelo Cottinelli Telmo, and sculptor Leopoldo de Almeida, as a temporary beacon during the Portuguese World Exhibition opening in June 1940. The Monument to the Discoveries represented a romanticized idealization of the Portuguese exploration that was typical of the Estado Novo regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. It was originally constructed as a temporary construction, located in the Praça do Império as part of an urban renewal project favoured by minister Duarte Pacheco, but with the resistance of Cottinelli Telmo. Yet, by June 1943, the original structure was demolished after the exposition as there was no concrete formalization of the project.

On 3 February 1958, in decree No. 41-517, the government, through the Ministério de Obras Publicas (Ministry of Public Works), the Overseas Provinces and the Câmara Municipal of Lisbon, promoted the intent to construct a permanent Monument to the Discoveries. Between November 1958 and January 1960, the new monument was constructed in cement and rose-tinted stone (from Leiria), and the statues sculpted from limestone excavated from the region of Sintra. The new project was enlarged from the original 1940 model as part of the commemorations to celebrate the fifth centennial of the death of Infante Henry the Navigator.

Although the project was based on Cottinelli Telmo's plan, he was replaced after his death by António Pardal Monteiro (as primary architect), and stability studies were completed under the direction of engineers Edgar Cardoso, Ruy Correia and António Franco e Abreu. The interior plan was executed by António Pardal Monteiro, who also worked with Cristino da Silva to plan the monumental square. The northern part of the property was completed by the firm Pardal Monteiro, while the southern area was completed by José Raimundo. The sculptures were modeled by Leopoldo de Almeida, with the assistance of sculptors Soares Branco and António Santos, using models by António Cândido and Carlos Escobar (under the direction of António Branco and Alfredo Henriques).

Source: Wikipedia    

[inky-skyes]

October 2021

Me and Pluto🖤

[pcttrailsidereader]

Pastor Mary Dodges the Mosquito Fire

Mary Davison, who completed the Triple Crown a few years back and at 81 has been chipping away at the American Discovery Trail, is truly a force of nature. Pastor Mary, as she is known on the trail, started long distance hiking late in life and hasn't stopped. In our anthology of PCT stories published as Crossing Paths: A Pacific Crest Trailside Reader (Mountaineers, 2022) we included a contribution from Pastor Mary based upon some of her first experiences hiking on the PCT in southern Washington. That glimpse into Pastor Mary on the trail is both humorous and inspiring.

This is an article that appeared in SF Gate back in late September.

Mary Davison in the Tushar Mountains of southern Utah, part of Fishlake National Forest. (Bob Palin)

Amanda Bartlett, SFGATE

When Mary Davison smelled smoke as she approached Palisades Tahoe on the American Discovery Trail earlier this month, she instantly knew something was wrong.

The 81-year-old hiker had already logged at least 4,000 miles on the westbound route of the nation’s only coast-to-coast trail, which stretches from Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware, to Point Reyes National Seashore in California. Davison kicked off her journey in 2015, and has been working to complete the trail in 300- to 400-mile sections twice a year since then. She had hoped to finish the final leg of her trek in Nevada before heading to California, when her friend and travel companion, Kathy, texted her. 

“I think there’s a fire in Foresthill,” the message read.

Sure enough, it was the Mosquito Fire, which had consumed more than 41,000 acres at the time and was rapidly spreading north, causing the United States Forest Service to issue a closure order that shut down a large portion of the trail until the end of the year, as Hiking America first reported. As of Thursday, the fire has burned 76,539 acres with 60% containment and is California's largest of the year.

Davison was the only American Discovery Trail hiker immediately affected by the blaze, Bob Palin, Utah trail coordinator for the American Discovery Trail Society, told SFGATE. She had no choice but to turn around as the fire raged about 45 miles away and a thick layer of smoke shrouded the hills around her. Even so, she said the circumstances could have been much worse.

“If it hadn’t been for the heat wave, I would have already been down [on Foresthill road],” she told SFGATE by phone, noting that she had adjusted her route so she would be closer to Washoe Lake, where the temperatures were slightly cooler. She would have met up with Kathy at Robinson Flat, which turned out to be in the evacuation zone. “If I was coming there after three days of backpacking, and I had no food and water, and a fire separating me from everything, I wouldn’t have been able to get out.”

In spite of the mounting obstacles further derailing Davison’s trip — her travel companion’s van where she sometimes sleeps also recently broke down when they were driving through Truckee — she feels fortunate.

Trees burn during the Mosquito Fire on Sept. 14, 2022, in Foresthill. The Mosquito Fire has become California's largest wildfire of the year. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

A retired pastor, physical therapist and grandmother of 10 who grew up in Puyallup, Washington, Davison always loved the outdoors — a passion that began when she became a Girl Scout in fifth grade. 

“The rest of my life was immaterial and irrelevant to me,” she said, chuckling. “I just wanted to go to Girl Scout camp again.” 

As an adult, Davison became a member of the Mountaineers and learned how to climb snow glaciers, eventually conquering Mount Saint Helena and Mount Baker. From there, she went on backpacking trips and day hikes just about whenever she could, but it wasn’t until she was 60 years old that she decided to pursue long distance hiking. 

“When I retired, I picked a number out of the air. I thought 400 miles sounded like a good hike, so I could make the trek but go home and have the rest of my lunch, too,” she said.

Since then, she’s earned the Triple Crown of Hiking for traversing the entirety of the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail, chronicling her expedition in two books — “Old Lady on the Trail” and “Aren’t You Afraid?” (It's a question she’s asked rather frequently, be it about bears or other dangers a hiker might encounter on the trails.)

She isn’t — and still hopes to check the American Discovery Trail off her list.

“When you see that you’ve ticked off states as they go, and you only have two left, you think, I ought to be able to do that,” Davison said. “I’m probably only going to get 150 miles this year, and that means if I want to finish next year they would have to be longer hikes than I would have anticipated.”

But ultimately, the decision she made to turn back was an invaluable one, and she hopes other hikers heed that advice, too. 

“You do have to be flexible on long trails because things can happen. We all know the West has been burning, and if you’re on any long trail, you have to take into account there’s going to be a fire,” she said. “You have to make the call if you value your life.”

Davison acknowledged that there can be a pressure for thru-hikers to complete a trail from start to finish without stopping. But learning to pursue longer hikes later in life taught her to be patient with herself — she hikes 13 miles a day, sometimes less for elevation gains, and makes sure to limit the weight of her backpack to 20 pounds or less. 

“You have to know what you can do with the age that you are and the physical condition that you have. I have two knee and shoulder replacements, but I can still do stuff. I can’t do it fast, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do them,” she said. “You have to arrange your hiking plans to fit your ability.”

At this point, Davison is uncertain whether she’ll be able to finish the trail at all, or how long the journey ahead of her could be. Trail coordinator Palin helped her find an alternative form of transportation to Utah so she could attempt to continue her hike from there while the van underwent repairs, but floods and mudslides from the recent downpour upended those plans, too. Fortunately, she was able to meet up with Kathy and the van again, and their next course of action is to drive to Baker, Nevada, and see if she can venture west from Cave Lake State Park. 

“I’m an upbeat person so I’ll deal with whatever I have to deal with. I didn’t come by that easily,” Davison said. “There’s things in life you can’t change. … I can’t make the fire not happen. Sometimes, it’s a matter of realizing you’re not in control of the world. It’s about enjoying the time you have.”

[chillyarticles94]

how does social security work abroad?

how does social security work abroad?

While the European Health Insurance Card covers certain medical costs within the EU, taking out travel insurance is highly recommended elsewhere in the world. Feeling unwell, spraining your ankle, suffering from food poisoning… When traveling as in everyday life, no one is immune to an accident or falling ill. If the Social Security covers these risks during stays in France, the question of…

[dazzlesizzle]

Check out the new product Adventure Awaits Mountain https://www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Adventure-Awaits-Mountain-by-Dazzle-Sizzle/159377300.IJ6L0?asc=u