Breaking News: President George W. Bush Lifts National Park Gun Ban

President George W. Bush and the Interior Department have lifted the 25 year-old ban on allowing loaded weapons in United States National Parks. The new measure will begin in January and will allow the carrying of loaded and concealed weapons in parks where states already allow concealed weapons in other venues. This new measure will also override any state law against concealed and loaded weapons in parks, as long as that state has other legal laws for the carrying of concealed weapons. (confused?)

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Tough Break

By Lucas Will

I ruined 2 digital cameras this past summer.  Granted, they weren’t the industries leading models, but they were still nice, functional cameras worth a few pennies.  Worse yet, one of them wasn’t mine.

During a two-week trip paddling the wilderness lakes and rivers of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota, my camera went down.  In my defense, I knowingly did nothing wrong.

At some point, the dry box that I kept it in obtained some moisture, either from dew or possibly a splash of water.  Not realizing this I continued to store the camera in the box, sealing it tight when not in use.  One morning as I went to snap a frame of my crusty eyed brother emerging from our tent, its functioning went awry.

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My First Ghost Town Trip, Part II: Cortez, Nevada

By Clint Thomsen

Click Here For Part I To This Ongoing Series

CORTEZ? I didn’t remember seeing a Cortez on Chris Case’s map, but our collective euphoria spiked again and we were off. The mining woman’s instructions led us up a winding canyon past a modern-ish mining operation. We stopped on a sandy knoll and got out of the Jeep to do what men do after they’ve just downed a twelve-pack of Dr. Pepper. That’s when we noticed remains of foundations in the distance and old wood strewn on the ground.

That’s also when we noticed the flames under the Jeep.

We frantically tossed handfuls of sand until we extinguished the fire. Turns out the Jeep’s undercarriage had collected some brush during earlier bushwhacking. Unfortunately, the Jeep also leaked oil. Oil plus brush plus engine heat makes for a scary situation, and we were happy once the flames were doused. We were even happier when the Jeep still worked.

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