Anchorage Daily News

Nature's bounty

Using a rubber mallet, Matt Weaver gently hammered the plastic tap into a half-inch hole in a birch tree at Kincaid Elementary School.

Video Tapping trees

How to get started

Chugach Adventure Guides merging with Lower 48 company

Chugach Adventure Guides of Girdwood said it is merging with a leading Lower 48 heli-ski operator, Sun Valley Heli-Ski Guides of Sun Valley, Idaho, and they are launching an international adventure travel company called Epic, which will be based in Jackson, Wyo.

Thursday is Bike to Work Day

The city has proclaimed Thursday Bike to Work Day, and more than 700 people have e-mailed the city saying they plan to participate -- a tip-of-the-iceberg number, based on last year's figures.

PDF: Municipal trail map guide

54-pound king salmon 'hit like a ton of bricks'

Six chilly hours had passed trolling Kachemak Bay off Seldovia without a single thrill, and Homer angler Kenneth Morris, 26, was considering heading home. He well knew that fishing for winter or early spring king salmon can be spotty at best.

Reader poll: How big is big

CRAIG MEDRED

It's not really 'outdoors' if you're driving

Americans deserve $4 per gallon gasoline, and more. Yes, escalating fuel prices are going to make those midnight 105-mile runs to the Russian River to fish for red salmon painfully expensive this summer, but we've had this coming for a long time.

5 climbers reach McKinley's peak

Five climbers have now reached the summit of Mount McKinley, according to the National Park Service, with good weather likely to help many more reach the highest point in North America soon.

Field notes

Outdoors highlights of the coming week

Outdoors hot line

Notices and listings of upcoming outdoors events

Solo paddler

Dennis Eagan spends most of his time in the foothills of California's Sierra Mountains these days, but there was a time when he called Alaska home. Back then, sitting in a kayak paddling along a wild coastline was the epitome of his ultimate day.

Sea kayakers have lots of options for dipping into sport

CRAIG MEDRED

Gear is fine but won't replace skill or good sense

When did everything become so much about the gear?

Reader poll: Who's the toughest woman?

About two weeks ago, we asked readers who was the toughest outdoors or sportswoman in Alaska. More than 450 of you voted. Some suggested names not on our list.

Outdoors hot line

Notices and listings of upcoming outdoors events

Sea kayakers have lots of options for dipping into sport

More than 20 years ago, when Doug Van Etten first organized a sea kayaking symposium in Seward, some 400 people showed up.

Climbers sign up to top Mount McKinley

In the 95 years since Walter Harper became the first person to stand on North America's rooftop, 16,769 climbers have enjoyed the view from the top of Mount McKinley.

THE BIKE ISSUE

Bicycles: Is bigger better?

Dan Bembenek was among the first to jump at a chance to have a bigger mountain bike. The head bike technician at the Spenard REI store, the 6-foot-3 Bembenek faced the same challenge many tall or big riders encounter: Their bikes feel like toys.

Video: Basic bicycle maintenance

Video: Changing a flat tire

Choose a bike that fits your body, budget and type of ride

Harrowing ride down trail convinces cyclist it's time to install disc brakes

Good helmet does not need to cost an arm and a leg

Will Alaskans play with wallets pinched?

Skyrocketing fuel prices and the falling dollar could change the busy summer recreation season in Alaska, but not necessarily the way one might think.

Outdoors hot line

Notices and listings of upcoming outdoors events

Free food in forest? Take a hike, government says

The Government Accountability Office has turned down a request by rangers from the Southcentral Alaska forest to provide free snacks for hikers participating in National Trails Day, a June 7 event designed to get people off their sofas and into the woods.

$312,000 goes toward improving Anchorage parks

Sixteen grass-roots parks projects in Anchorage got $312,519 in total grants Thursday from the Anchorage Park Foundation.

Popular bottles may hold toxic chemical

REI over the weekend stripped its shelves of hard plastic water bottles containing BPA, a chemical many scientists believe to be toxic.

Canada declares chemical in plastic water bottles toxic

A birder's heaven

Sometimes overlooked among the best places to see migrant birds headed north is the 45-square-mile Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge.

Alaska's bird world is changing