Author Archives: Shawn E. Bell

National Forests, National Parks

National Park Service announces public engagement campaign as centerpiece of 2016 centennial

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

I wrote about this yesterday, but there’s a press release about the shiny new logos for the National Park Service and National Park Foundation, so I thought I’d put the press release up here for you as well:

National Park Service and National Park Foundation Unveil Expanded Graphic Identity

The National Park Service today announced that the centerpiece of its 2016 Centennial will be a broad public engagement campaign to reintroduce the national parks and the work of the National Park Service to a new generation of Americans, inviting them to visit and get involved. The two-year effort will begin in 2015 and run throughout the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary year in 2016. Plans for the campaign, entitled “Find Your Park,” are underway in collaboration with the National Park Foundation, the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service.

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News

The Owens Valley Committee

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The Owens Valley Committee is a non-profit citizen action group dedicated to the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of Owens Valley natural resources, especially water. The Committee monitors compliance with and implementation of water management agreements, educates the public, encourages participation in local government, and advocates an inclusive and open decision-making process.

Owens Valley Committee WEBSITE

Owens Valley Committee FACEBOOK

This is a great video that introduces the Owens Valley Committee and the issues facing the Owens Valley.

 

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General

How Bogart became Bogie: The making of an icon

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Stephen Whitty of the Star-Ledger has posted an article over at NJ.com about one of my all-time favorite movie stars, Humphrey Bogart.

From the article:

Close your eyes and you can still see him.

The fedora, pulled low. The trench, belted tight. The shoulders hunched up, and the eyes squinting with suspicion. The right hand, with a bourbon in it, or a Chesterfield, or just pulling, ruminatively, at one ear.

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Day Hikes, Goals, National Forests, National Parks, State Parks

Revised Goal: SoCal Six Pack of Peaks

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Since I didn’t win the Mount Whitney Lottery this year, I’ve opted for a different goal.  This goal is actually a series of goals, and will – in theory – help me to train better to get my fat ass into shape to conquer the formidable peak that Mount Whitney is.

There is a series of day hikes known as the SoCal Six Pack of Peaks.

The hikes are all day hikes, so – in theory – I should be able to drive out to the trailhead, throw on my Keens, grab my trekking poles, toss on my CamelBak, and go for a walk. In practice, these are all all-day hikes ranging in distance from 10.4 miles to 17.3 miles. Some have snow that sticks around ’til June, others are over exposed areas that you just don’t want to hike on during the hot summer months without bringing a water sherpa along with you.

I’ve done a bit of research, and think I can put the hikes in an order that will allow me to hike from ‘easiest’ (relatively speaking) to ‘hardest.’  None of the hikes is particularly easy (I’ve already done some of them; I’ve hiked San Jacinto several times, for example, which is supposed to be the most strenuous of the hikes – although only once up Marion Trail; I took the tram the rest of the time).

So. In order, here are the heavy-duty hikes I’m going to accomplish this year:

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