CAMPING -- Double the life of the ice in your cooler during long camping trips by wrapping it with your sleeping bag when not in use. Better yet, I dedicate an old rectangular sleeping bag to the cooler and leave it on to insulate all…
PAY TO PLAY – Washington’s first general hunting-fishing license fee increase in a decade kicks in Sept. 1. Now’s the time to buy and save on most licenses – but you might want to hold off on buying some youth, senior or disabled licenses, which…
BOATING -- Idaho’s $7 invasive species sticker, which is required on all boats and inflatables longer than 10 feet, cannot be transferred from one vessel to another, Idaho Parks and Recreation officials say. A story in the Sunday Outdoors section (Aug. 7) suggested otherwise, noting…
FISHING -- It's cool that KHQ TV followed up on my Tuesday story about the Spokane teenager who surprised himself and a lot of onlookers as he hook,fought and landed a 42-inch-long northern pike in the Spokane River near the Loof Carrousel. Joe Buster, who…
HUNTING -- Field & Stream magazine has just announced the 27 winners among 150 products it's editors tested for their annual Best of the Best hunting gear roundup. Here's a sneak peak at the list of top products ranging from bows to trail cams. FIELD…
FISHING -- Anglers on the lower Columbia records are setting records with the number of steelhead they're catching on the lower Columbia, according to a detailed report by Northwest Sportsman. It's not clear whether that's a good omen or a bad one for upstream anglers…
TRAILS -- Volunteers interested in helping manage noxious weeds on Spokane’s High Drive Bluff are invited to participate in a work party this evening, (Aug 17). "We will cut rush skeletonweed plants away from sections of the trail where they are impeding trail use," said…
CAMPING -- Rich Servatius sent in this report after 12 days of exploring the Route of the Hiawatha and Loop Creek areas along the Montana-Idaho border. My extended family and friends have been going there for about 15 years for a week or so. Each…
SALMON FISHING -- My enthusiastic post regarding the pink salmon flooding into Puget Sound apparently left Spokane angler Dan Hansen feeling a little blue about his vacation to visit West Side relatives. He writes: "My beard’s getting full, due to my pledge to stop shaving…
PREDATOR CONTROL -- Oregon's new fund to boost predator control is appallingly misnamed environmental groups say. Even Governor John Kitzhaber complained of the name when he signed the measure into law, according to a Northwest Public Radio report. Few people would balk at contributing at…
HIKING -- Since Congress overturned the Reagan-era restrictions on openly carrying firearms in national parks, we're seeing noticeably more heat on trails in and outside of parks nowadays. Nevermind the research in Alaska showing that pepper spray is a much more certain defense in case…
NATURE -- It's prime time to join the Idaho Native Plant Society to get in a good hike and marvel at the native plants in the high country near St. Maries. Gerry Queener will lead a group field trip to Freezeout on Saturday (Aug. 20).…
ADVENTURE RACING -- I can't report where the coed teams are going in Expedition Idaho, the North Idaho adventure race that started Sunday -- that's a secret that even the racer's don't know until they find their next clue on whether to hike, bike, climb,…
HIKING -- Today is the first day of the annual late-summer closure of several roads leading to prime recreation areas in the Sullivan Lake Ranger District of the Colville National Forest. The closures were instituted in the 1980s to reduce human disturbance in prime grizzly…
SALMON FISHING -- Puget Sound anglers are in the pink, hooking up with the building surge of six million pink salmon forecast to flood Puget Sound during the next two months. The catch of pink salmon hit an all-time high last week at Sekiu in…
TRAIL REROUTED: Upriver Drive from Freya to Frederick: A sewer construction project will create an Upriver Drive detour for Centennial Trail users for almost a year, the Friends of the Centennial Trail report. The trail will be closed from Freya to Frederick Avenue on Upriver…
HIKING -- It's mid-August and snowshoes are still de rigueur at Mount Baker hiking trails. John Frankhsuser of Spokane snapped the photo above last week as he ventured toward from the Heather Meadows trailhead parking area. The snow around the plowed area of the parking…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has scheduled three more special meetings to discuss the state's recommended Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and take public comment. A meeting in Ellensburg is set for Aug. 29 while the others are set for Oct.…
CITY FISHING -- An 17-year-old boy fishing for trout and bass by the Loof Carrousel at Riverfront park surprised a crowd of onlookers and himself Saturday by hooking a 42-inch northern pike. Passersby got in the water to help him get the lunker ashore after…
ADVENTURE RACING -- Starting from Silver Mountain, the Expedition Idaho adventure race is off and running/biking/paddling for 500 miles around a mostly uncharted course in North Idaho. Two of the 13 registered teams are less than 50 minutes apart heading into segment three partway through…
CAMPING -- With bear problems under control, Graham Creek, a popular dispersed camping area near the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River has been reopen for public use, Idaho Panhandle National Forests officials announced this morning. Graham Creek, 14 miles north from I-90 on…
LAKES -- Dana Strode reports the Pollution Control Hearings Board granted a stay on the herbicide permit issued to control native aquatic plants in front of several properties on the Spokane County lake and popular trout fishery. Strode is one of seveveral property owners who…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- While lots of eyes and camera lenses are out there trying to get a handle on the growth of northwest wolf packs, a remote camera in Oregon came up with at least one solid find: The Imnaha wolf pack in northeast Oregon…
FISHING -- While the decades-out weather forecast poses big challenges to cold-water fisheries, this year's high cool water spells good news for endangered Snake River sockeye salmon making their amazing 900-mile return from the Pacific to the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. The fish started showing…
FISHING -- Native cutthroat trout are likely to feel the heat from climate change. A new study shows a changing climate could reduce suitable trout habitat in the western U.S. by about 50 percent over the next 70 years, with some trout species experiencing greater…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.
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