If you're in the Brainerd lakes area on August 28th this is definitely worth checking out. Jarrod McKinney, a professional skydiver who was inspired by the balloon couch, plans to don a wingsuit and lift himself up to 13,000 feet with the aid of 100 6-foot helium balloons and skydive to raise $13,000 for Special Olympics Minnesota athletes.





The event is at the famous Paul Bunyan amusement park in Brainerd, MN. Admission prices are $5 for the event and $14.95 for the event and the amusement park. All of the admission proceeds go to Special Olympics Minnesota.


Falling For A Cause Website

The public comment phase is now open for the Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) on the proposed extension to the over 3,000 mile North Country Trail (NCT). The new 25.6 mile section proposes eight primitive campsites for backpackers hiking the trail and parking for day hikers and overnight backpackers.

The NCT was designated in 1980 as a National Scenic trail which will eventually stretch across seven states from New York to Lake Sakakawea State Park in North Dakota. At that point it will connect to the Louis and Clark Trail.


In Minnesota the NCT already uses the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT), the Kekekabic Trail and the Border Route Trail. When completed it will run up the North Shore from Jay Cooke State Park to Two Harbors where it will use the SHT until it hits the Border Route Trail. Then it uses the Kekekabic Trail which runs almost all the way to Ely, MN.





Backpackers on the Kekekabic portion of the NCT.


Link to PDF map of entire proposed route in Minnesota.



"The North Country Trail Association proposes to build 25.6 miles of new trail and designate 19.3 miles of existing trail and rural road-walk as an extension of the North Country National Scenic Trail (a non-motorized footpath).


This section of the trail would begin about six miles west-northwest of Ponsford, Minnesota, in east-central Becker County, and terminate at the city limits of Frazee. The trail would connect to a previously designated section of the North Country National Scenic Trail at its northern end and traverses southward, mostly through forested habitat on public and private lands."



The public comments phase for the proposal is from July 26 to Aug. 25.

For the EAW and Maps visit this page on the DNR website.


For the DNR news release visit this page on the DNR website.

A mother and her son got lost while mountain biking at the Lebanon Hills mountain bike trail. Normally I wouldn't mock people about this kind of thing but I simply can't help myself. How can you get lost in a park in the middle of Eagan? Welcome to lost-ville population two.


The trail they were on is clearly marked with signs and arrows telling you how to get around. The woods are also pretty thick. You can't really go off trail that easily. The trail crew had trimmed back the branches there over the last few weeks. It's very easy to tell where the trail is and where it isn't. You can also walk in any direction for about 20 minutes through the bush and find civilization. You can actually hear cars driving on the roads that surround the area. Just walk in that direction!


This link takes you to the trail page on the Minnesota Off Road Cyclists website. You can clearly see the trail can't be confused.


MORC Lebanon Hills Trail Page


Here is a google map of the area. You can clearly see that there are roads on all sides and the Minnesota Zoo even borders the southern section. Good thing they didn't jump any fences there! The headlines may have read: "Lost Mother And Son Eaten By Lions!"



View Larger Map


This just doesn't make any sense to me. It's a good thing they weren't in the back country.


From the news desk at WCCO


http://wcco.com/local/mother.son.lost.2.1814113.html

Last month a ban was put into effect on a state highway in Black Hawk, Colorado. Many believed this would set a precedence for future bans and it has. Chalk up St. Charles County, Missouri as the next government body to try and push a bicycling ban through. One council member even used the town of Black Hawk, CO as an example of places it's happened before.


In the embedded video below they show a girl that was injured trying to avoid a cyclist. What they don't tell you is that she was thrown from her car because she wasn't wearing a seat belt.





The Missouri Department of Transportation currently has authority over all highways constructed and maintained with state and federal funds. It's unclear whether or not they'll oppose this ban in the end but it looks like they may due to the ability of federal funds. Federal Department of Transportation money is also at risk for the entire state if this ban is enacted.


For more information check these websites:


Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation


League of American Bicyclists

The town of Black Hawk, Colorado recently passed an ordinance banning bicycles from roads. This means no riding bicycles on public roads.

Black Hawk is an old mining town about 20 miles west of the Denver area. Although there have been no fatalities spurring this on they decided passed the new law. The fine for riding a bicycle in Black Hawk is $68.

Editors note: You decide where and how you spend your money. When you do that you may be inadvertently supporting people and ideas that don't support you. This is a pretty clear case of not being supportive of the outdoor active lifestyle.

Visit the Denver 4 news site for more information.

If you're one of the people that love the outdoors and especially the BWCAW you should take note of this. Currently 32 permits have been requested for sulfide mine exploration in the area adjoining the the southern section of the BWCAW. The area includes the South Kawishiwi River. The potential environmental fallout from this could be catastrophic.


Read more at the Friends of the BWCA website.

The film premier of Anthills Follow Me is set for May 8th and the Oak Street Cinema in Minneapolis. The event is being put on by MFC (Minnesota Freeride Community). There will be some swag and possibly an after party.

For ticket information and the trailer visit the MFC Website.

Tom Smitheringale who was attempting to be the first person from Australia to do a solo unassisted trek to the North Pole fell through the ice on Friday ending his bid for a first. Suffering from hypothermia and frostbite he decided to activate his beacon signaling an emergency. He was rescued six hours later by Canadian military personnel that were on special ops in the area.


Smitheringale posted on his blog site OneManEpic.com "I know you know but I'm off the ice and at the SF base in Alert. No international calls here so I can't call and the iridium's down." He also said he "Had a bad fall into the ice today and came very close to the grave. Activated the epirb and luckily the Canadians were on military ops close by and i was off in 6hrs."


Already the media is spinning and comments are rolling onto websites with words of support. There are also some other words I won't mention but I'll say this.
If it weren't for people like Tom Smitheringale we would have never crossed the Atlantic, explored space or seen the real mysteries of the deep blue sea.

Yesterday Google released a route mapping version for bicycling. Features include being able to use bike lanes and avoid big hills.


After looking at it for a bit I noticed that people were having some trouble with the application. Some people had routes returned that told them to ride on a cloverleaf for a freeway and in a few cases to ride on the freeway. Obviously this isn't only unsafe it's also illegal.


On the Minneapolis Bikelove forum site someone mentioned worries about using this for a city they traveled to and didn't know the roads. Some routes may be dangerous or in the case of the cloverleaf, a place where it was somewhere where it's legal to ride part of that road but not specifically in that area. This could actually create a longer commute and possibly some headaches. They do have functions to report these errors though. It's probably going to take some time to get the bugs worked out.


One thing I'm wondering is whether or not google will be able to keep up with changes that are being made to bike lanes and trails. For areas like Minneapolis the roads aren't going to change much if at all. Most have been the same place they were 100 years ago. The bike lanes and bike trails are changing though and at a speedy rate. What we see now in urban areas like Minneapolis will be very different in the next few years when it comes to cycling transportation. Lets see if they can keep up.


Check it out here

This is from iReport on CNN. It's a story about Ray Wheeler, a local kayaker, and his efforts to clean up the Jordan River in Salt Lake City, Utah.